MissWYA Interviews: Amy of Sugarpill Cosmetics

If you’ve ever watched a YouTube video, you would have definitely heard of Shrinkle before. Beauty gurus, such as xSparkage and Petrilude, have used mentioned the name so many times, it prompted me to take a gander at the sellers goods. Amy sold Kryolan makeup to countless beauty aficionados and now she’s debuted her very own vibrantly hued color line under the name Sugarpill Cosmetics.

I’ve been following the colorful haired ingenue and I’m beyond excited for this interview! Strong willed, independent thinker and full of flavor are just a few words to describe Amy. Read on to find out how she began and what inspires her.

Left: Amelia Arsenic modeling Sugarpill makeup.

MissWYA: Tell me a little about your background.
Amy: Hi! I began designing clothes under the name Shrinkle about eight years ago. I specialize in making colorful club clothes for party girls. Several years ago I decided to create an equally loud and colorful cosmetics line that would perfectly compliment my clothing line. After four years of sleepless nights, Sugarpill was born.

MissWYA: Describe you earliest beauty experience/ memory?
Amy: I was the last person in my class to start wearing makeup! I was all braces and bushy eyebrows until I turned 16. That’s when my best friend came over one night and pulled out a tube of black lipstick by Wet ‘N’ Wild. We put on shiny vinyl outfits, smeared the black lipstick on our lips, and took pictures of each other doing what we thought were fashion model poses. I would give anything to know what happened to those photos!

MissWYA: What inspired you to create your own makeup line?
Amy: I am a huge makeup junkie and couldn’t think of anything more fun than coming up with my very own eyeshadow colors. I wanted to have complete control over the quality and pigmentation, packaging design, brand image and marketing. I like being able to dream up a product and see it come to life. Instead of searching for the perfect eyeshadow, I can just make it myself!

MissWYA: What keywords can be used to describe your quintessential beauty style: the inspirations, moods, and muses?
Amy: I love anything colorful, mismatched, over-the-top and slutty!

MissWYA: Whoa! Well how has your aesthetic vision evolved since you’ve started in the industry?
Amy: Heehee this is kind of hard to answer since Sugarpill only just launched this past February. So let’s go back to that black lipstick story. I don’t wear black lipstick and head to toe vinyl anymore!

MissWYA: What is your personal makeup routine? How would you describe your personal style?
Amy: I can spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours on my makeup. During the day I keep it pretty simple- sunblock, eyebrows, anti-shine powder, and I’m out the door. But the evenings are a totally different story. When I’m getting ready for a night out, I love to spend hours piling as much color onto my face as humanly possible. I never go out at night without at least 3 different colored eyeshadows, huge false lashes, and glitter eyeliner.

MissWYA: Are there any makeup artists who inspire you or that you look up to?
Amy: When I first discovered the legendary Kevyn Aucoin’s work about 15 years ago, I was immediately blown away and inspired to explore the magical world of makeup. He had such a beautiful heart. I keep a quote by him taped to my computer: “Life is too short to spend it hoping that the perfectly arched eyebrow or hottest new lip shade can mask an ugly heart.” Everyone should live by that!

MissWYA: As a startup company, how has social media helped you business (if at all)?
Amy: Social media has played an enormous role in our company. We honestly haven’t done any advertising outside of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and my personal blog (www.shrinkle.net). The internet is a really awesome way to get yourself out there, and it’s free!

MissWYA: What are some of the obstacles you face as a brand new makeup company?
Amy: I’d say the anticipation of waiting to hear what people thought of the product. I put my heart and soul into this, so in the beginning there was that nagging fear of losing my entire life savings if everyone hated it! Just kidding, I’m not really that insecure. But I was very nervous about launching something brand new and waiting for the public’s reaction to it. So far the reaction has been very positive, so I’m no longer worried!

MissWYA: Favorite spring trend?
Amy: My favorite thing about spring is that all the blah grays and browns from fall and winter start to disappear and are replaced by more colorful, loud, obnoxious hues! I don’t really follow trends though, I wear bright colors and mini dresses year round. But still, it’s fun to see more color everywhere in the spring!

MissWYA: What is the best advice you’ve received and from whom?
Amy: I was pretty stuck up in high school and never thought twice about judging others. Everything that came out of my mouth was negative. My best friend Zoeria never participated in my endless petty rants and jealous shit-talking. One day I asked her how she resisted the urge to talk crap about everybody. She told me, “Because I’m not perfect either. I don’t like pointing out other peoples’ flaws because I have lots of them myself.” What a humbling statement! I suddenly felt sorry for all the ugly things I’d said about others because I myself was very, very flawed. I realized how incredibly lucky I was to be surrounded by so many friends despite MY flaws. I decided to change my outlook on life and stop searching for every reason under the sun to be angry and annoyed. It sounds really cheesy and generic, but my life changed so much once I started to focus on the positive and laugh off the negative.

Talk about sass! I can’t wait to see how Sugarpill evolves over 2010 and beyond. Be sure to check out her blog to stay up to date with Amy. If you want to see more products from her line (or buy!) check out Sugarpill’s online shop.

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