ABBY’S CORNER | AUDIO INTERVIEW
Intro:
Hey, everybody. It’s Abby. I hope everyone’s doing great. I don’t know what the weather is like in your all’s area, but boy is it hot in my area today, but it’s even hotter because I get to hang out with Jasmine Glass, the creator and founder of innovative makeup, Spktrm Beauty. Jasmine, it is so fun hanging out with you today.
Jasmine:
I’m so glad to be here. Thanks for having me, Abby.
Abby:
We were chatting before this. You know my obsession with lipstick and I was talking to Steph, our creator of BBB and me, and she’s telling me all about your lipstick and, oh my gosh, can you please share with everybody?
Jasmine:
Absolutely. We’re about to launch our second product, which is an inclusive range of nude, true nude lipsticks. There’s been a lot of progress made with foundation shade ranges expanding over the past few years, but still very few brands that are offering a true nude match for people with varied skin tones. That’s one aspect of the product and we also have been working with Bold Blind Beauty as consultants because we have decided to incorporate braille into all of our packaging moving forward to be of service to the visually impaired community as well. We’re very excited about this launch for those reasons.
Abby:
I have never myself been able to find a good match for a nude lipstick. It always makes me look kind of pale or it’s not, so I love this. I want to talk about that for one second and then of course we’re going to get into the braille because, oh my gosh, I’m shaking with excitement. I want to talk with a nude lipstick, I just feel like it can really bring out my own natural beauty. Are you all about that?
Jasmine:
I love a good nude and I feel like it’s a good daytime look, a little more subtle and I just think it’s important that we make available all products that all different communities are looking for. That’s really the goal here is to draw attention to the fact that there is still a limited amount of these shades available. I’ve had conversations with our beauty consultant, Julissa, who is a black woman, and she’s talked to me about the fact that black women are still using eyebrow and eyeliner pencils on their lips at this point or having to blend colors together or just using other products that aren’t lipstick to create that look. This is a step in the right direction and we hope other brands will follow suit.
Abby:
You’re a leader, a real leader, and it’s awesome. I like a good day too. It’s awesome and I just feels delicate. I just feel like I’m featuring my own beauty that I have within. Tell us all about the braille. What inspired that?
Jasmine:
Gosh, it’s been such an inspiring journey all around. My whole team has been educating ourselves through several different resources, including working with Bold Blind Beauty along this process. I was not even aware when we started this journey how many people there are in the world that are either totally blind or visually impaired. I believe it’s around 400,000*. We started thinking about the experience of a visually impaired person going into a major beauty department store, having not a single brand that is offering braille on their products and it’s really an area of the many areas of the beauty industry is lacking still at this point, despite a lot of progress that has been made. It’s something that we wanted to address because I think it will make a lot of people think in new ways, put themselves in the shoes of somebody who has a different human experience than they do and really just to continue to expand our mission to be inclusive of people from all walks of life and to be able to provide what they need to have a positive experience with beauty.
Abby:
Can you tell us where you’re going to put the braille on the packaging and what it states?
Jasmine:
Sure. We have our brand name in braille on the lipstick tube itself, and we also have the shade distinctions. We are associating them with skin tones to make it easier for people who have never seen color to understand. Our shades go from deepest to fairest and in each category, there’s a one, two, three, so you can get an idea of the shade range within that category of deep or tan. We’re also going to add some additional information on our website in the coming weeks. We plan to create a YouTube video to explain the functionality further, so we really encourage people to go check that out too. Then on the box we’re going to have a QR code so that you can just scan that and easily get to our website to find that additional information.
Abby:
Can you tell us about your product? I read that it’s animal and cruelty free, which is such a plus for me because I am all about natural and bringing wonderful beauty to life nature. Can you talk to us about that?
Jasmine:
Our products are currently cruelty-free and actually we’re really excited that we are now going to be expanding into being fully clean as well by Credo Beauty and Sephora’s clean standards. I believe there is a list of 50 chemicals that you have to keep out of your product and I recently added somebody to my team, Julia, whose family’s been in beauty manufacturing for 50 years. She’s just a powerhouse of knowledge in this area, so with these additional resources on the Spktrm team now, we’re able to make strides in these areas. We really want to be mindful of every aspect of the brand and to be approaching it from an ethical perspective. This’ll be exciting progress for us as well.
Abby:
I cannot wait to give this a try. I really cannot. I just love what you’re doing and your passion behind it. This is just thrilling to me. If people wanted to find out more about your product and when it’s going to be introduced and where to purchase it and all that fun stuff, where could they go?
Jasmine:
I would encourage people to go to our Instagram first because that is the place that we’ll be announcing our launch. We’re working on some website updates right now related to compliance for visually impaired individuals, so that’s still in process, but if you follow us on Instagram at spktrm.beauty, you’ll be the first to know when our lipstick and rebrand launch happens.
Abby:
I’m already following you, but I’m just going to go spread the word even more. I cannot wait about this. I am jumping for joy. I am so excited about it. It’s going to be so much fun. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Jasmine:
That’s it for now, but we’ll be making a lot of updates on our Instagram, so definitely keep your eyes peeled there.
Abby:
Oh, I totally will, and I cannot wait for this. You guys, this is Jasmine Glass of Spktrm Beauty. I’m [inaudible 00:07:25] keeping it real, keeping it natural, keeping it lovely one cane tap at a time. This is Abby with Bold Blind Beauty and thanks so much for tuning in with me and my friend. Oh, this is so fun. I have a good one guys.
Globally the number of people of all ages visually impaired is estimated to be 285 million, of whom 39 million are blind. ~Word Health Organization
Connecting With Spktrm Beauty:
- Website: spktrmbeauty.com
- Instagram: @spktrm.beauty
- Facebook: @SpktrmBeauty
- Twitter: @spktrm_beauty
Image Description:
The header image is a vintage chrome microphone and stand.
CREDITS:
- Cover by Daniel Lubiner
- Interviewer Melody Goodspeed (Voice of Abby)
- Audio edits by Michael Moran, www.clearvisionnetwork.com