If you wear makeup, you’ve most likely heard of the beloved little sponge, the Beautyblender. Although makeup sponges have been around for years and years, the design of the Beautyblender took applying makeup to the next level.
Although the Beautyblender is one of the most favored makeup tools, little know about it’s actual origin.
For instance, did you know that it was designed by a woman who was a first generation college student and makeup artist?
Rea Ann Silva is the woman behind the Beautyblender, and she has quite the interesting story. Rea Ann was born in 1961. She lived in Los Angeles with her Latino family.
At a young age, Rea Ann had a creative spirit with an interest in art, which prompted her mother to enroll her at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
This was a big deal for Rea Ann’s family, as her parents did not have the opportunity to go to college when they were her age.
At FIDM, Rea Ann developed her skills for drawing and sketching. She learned all about art which eventually led to an interest in the beauty industry.
Although she didn’t begin working in makeup right away. She actually began by selling perfume at department stores before showing interest in cosmetics.
Once she learned how to properly apply makeup, Rea Ann took her skills onto various film and television sets around Los Angeles.
Reda – stock.adobe.com
Over time she worked extremely hard, paying her dues and building her portfolio. She fought through various challenges during this period.
She was a single mother and often faced discrimination for her ethnicity. This led her to working with more actors and workers in the film industry of color. For example, she has worked with Kerry Washington, Regina King, Brandy, etc.
After working so hard for so many years, it began to pay-off for Rea Ann. She got a job as a makeup artist on the set of Girlfriends, a sitcom that premiered on the United Paramount Network. The show was filmed in high definition (HD), which was a challenge for Rea Ann as a makeup artist. High definition often emphasizes any blemishes or imperfections on an actor’s face.
Rea Ann tried all sorts of makeup-applying techniques while working on set, and realized that using a sponge was her preference. However, old makeup sponges were more likely to be imprecise or couldn’t cover certain areas of the actor’s face.
That’s when she began playing around with sponges and creating her own designs. After some experimenting, she landed on that famous egg shape that makes the Beautyblender so unique. The shape made it so that one can easily get makeup into the tight crevasses of the face and seamlessly blend products into the skin. She began using the sponge on her clients. It worked so well that her coworkers would start stealing them!
Rea Ann knew that she needed to turn these sponges into a business. She started her own company, which she named Beautyblender, out of her home in California. She used her connections in the industry to help her manufacture and sell tons of sponges. They became popular fast! After all, the Beautyblender has qualities that a normal makeup sponge simply does not have. It’s reusable, works with all kinds of makeup, and gets the job done better.
The Beautyblender made its way from film sets, to the hands of YouTube creators, to everyday people all around the world. By 2008, Rea Ann was able to open a manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, where her success has continued to grow. Now, Rea Ann has her own line of foundation called Bounce, and Beautyblenders are an essential part of any makeup user’s collection. According to Forbes, Beautyblender had made $175 million in sales in 2019. How cool is that?
Rea Ann continues to be a powerful reminder that with hard work, perseverance and creativity, you can have your own success story.
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