This month, Business Week provides a peek into the business end of Bésame cosmetics. Entrepreneur Gabriela Hernandez started the company with $1 million of her own money, brought the retro-inspired line to high-end stores such as Henri Bendel in 2004, and is set to do $1.7 million dollars in sales this year alone.
The story has plenty of advice for would-be entrepreneurs, but I was more interested in the accompanying audio slide show. It's a step-by-step tour of the lipstick-making process, from designing the tube to filling them with the finished product. (Remember the Sesame Street segment that showed viewers how crayons are made? It's a lot like that.)
To see a gallery and to learn how lipstick is made, read more
A more in-depth guide explains each tiny step, but here are some highlights:
- The lipstick tube design is inspired by a lipstick case that belonged to Hernandez's grandmother.
- After sketches are drawn, a 3-D prototype is made.
- At the factory, custom-built molds hold 80 lipsticks at a time. The lipstick formula is heated, then poured into these molds before cooling on a frozen table.
- After the lipsticks are inserted into their tubes, they're flamed to create a high-shine finish.
Club des Crﾎateurs de Beautﾎ
John Lewis
Halston
I love this gallery! My fave is the molten lipstick being poured into the molds. So beautiful!
1Aww, the orange crayon Sesame Street episode, I remember that one!! Haven't thought about that for a long time, thanks for the flashback
2Yea Rubita...i remember that episode..
Where else can we find this lipstick?
3You can buy it online at Besamecosmetics.com. Hope this helps!
4cute and good prices! is the quality any good?
5I remember that episode too!
6I don't remember that episode, but I'm so glad you posted this Bella, I've always wanted to have my own makeup line, but I was clueless on how to do it, so this was so inspiring. I love how she was inspired by makeup from the old days of true glamour, I'm so going to buy a couple of things. Thanks again.
7thanks for the website! i checked it out, and the packaging is beautiful.
8What is going on in the last picture? Recently many of my lipstick tubes have broken off at the base (possibly due to exposure to high temperatures) and I'm wondering if there's a way to reconnect them to the bases.
9Also, What do they do with all that excess they scrape off the top?
i love these sort of posts...so very interesting!!!
10I KNOW IT IS REALLY INTERESTING
11I always liked seeing how things are made, that's why I liked MR. Rogers neighborhood and reading rainbow when I was younger, but this sort of creeps me out, it's like looking at...dead lipstick or something. I know, weird. It must be all the red and metal.
12I remember those types of lipstick tubes from snooping in my Mom's old purses. Very retro!
13I used to love whenever kids shows used to go to a factory.
14THE ORANGE CRAYON WAS MY FAVORITE EPISODE! I just love watching how stuff is made.
I also love the idea of red lipstick, but being a red head myself, I'm always wary of trying.
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