We speak to Natasha Moor, the Founder of Natasha Moor Cosmetics on all things life and lipstick! Read on to deep dive into her story and learn about how her beauty journey began.
As Natasha Moor always says, true beauty is #Moor than makeup. We speak to the 32 year old Founder of Natasha Moor Cosmetics on her journey starting out in the beauty industry, where it has taken her, and how she is using her platform to empower a huge community of women.
Tell us a little about yourself!
Natasha started, “I started my brand Natasha Moor Cosmetics about four years ago. The reason I launched it was because I was traveling internationally doing brides all over the world. I was doing this every three days in different countries, and that’s really where I got my foot in the door. I love dolling up my brides because it’s the most important day of a woman’s life where they want to look their very best, and when I see the confidence that shines through them after I dress them up, I realise that I was able to give them that power.
Initially, I thought I was crazy because how am I someone who’s able to give someone this confidence when I don’t have it myself? I grew up really insecure, and was bullied a lot in high school. I was overweight and had horrible skin so I turned to makeup for comfort.
That’s when I realised make up is about enhancing rather than masking your features, which is when I decided to create a cosmetic brand that accentuated and emphasised your best features.”
The first product Natasha formulated was a matte lipstick, explaining, “As a bride, you’re usually dolled up for hours and you tend to get sweaty – but you obviously want the makeup to stay on. So I wanted to create a matte lipstick that was hydrating. It took a long time to formulate and it was a struggle to find shades to suit darker skin tones. That’s when I mixed and matched whilst working with different factories! This is how the brand was born.”
She shared that although creating her brand was challenging, there were also brides flying her out as their makeup artist giving her lavish experiences, but she thought to herself, “What about the people who actually need this confidence boost?”
This is when she visited the United States to work with victims of human trafficking in particular and eventually branched out to work with drug and rehab centres with the goal of making sure every woman feels confident in their own skin.
Have you always wanted to be a makeup artist?
Natasha explained, “I’ve always enjoyed doing people’s makeup for fun. However, I knew I didn’t want to turn this into a career because I wasn’t sure if it was going to make me any money. I didn’t think it was going to in all honesty. My father then told me, ‘If you believe that you truly love something, you’ll never work a day in your life,’ and that’s when I thought it’s time to try this out. I can’t explain how much I love making women feel good and look good.”
Also when she started, she was seeing many heavy and dramatic makeup looks and she knew she could fill that gap, “I know people like no makeup and I knew I could deliver that to my brides instead of a heavy look.”
Being a new business owner comes with many challenges, especially in terms of marketing and getting your name out there, how did you go about this in the beginning?
“Word of mouth and being extremely blessed to have the most loyal and loving clients and followers, it’s what got me to where I am today. It’s how people know about my brand. I am very grateful for it for sure,” Natasha shared.
What’s one product everyone must have from your collection?
“That’s a really tough question,” Natasha laughed, “I cannot live without my lipsticks, my liquid magic concealer, and of course my mascara. So I would say to each their own!”
Natasha added that she works around the clock with scientists and laboratories with every product she creates and it does not just stop at the formula. She goes the extra mile ensuring the quality of her packaging, price points, and everything in between. Natasha Moor Cosmetics works to remain affordable luxury charging US$25 for a lipstick on average.
“All my products are formulated by me, a makeup artist, so it’s perfected for skin tones that I’ve worked with – which is so many different types of people!” Natasha added.
Can you tell us a little about some obstacles you have faced in your career?
“I’ll give you an example- a company ordered 15,000 pieces of mascara during the peak of Covid-19. Due to shipping and supply chain issues that came up, 15,000 pieces of mascara went missing. No one knows where it’s gone. I had to sit there dealing with it. I was really sad.
Another obstacle that comes to mind is malfunctions with factories where I’ve received the wrong product which automatically leads to me spending more on shipping. However, these obstacles are unavoidable in all businesses. What matters is how you overcome these kinds of stressful situations,” said Natasha
She added that she focuses on spending a great amount of time healing internally with her spiritual healer. She works out, eats clean, and does everything in her power to keep her mind at ease.
Natasha shared, “I try to be real about it. There was a period of three months recently where I didn’t want to be on social media. I recently started dating someone and I told them I’d like to keep our relationship private. And suddenly, one day, it clicked. Who am I hiding from? I promote authenticity and realness which is what I’m supposed to be, as well. It’s important for your mental health to not care what others think. That’s how you overcome most kinds of obstacles.”
What is your advice for people going through similar situations?
Natasha replied, “First of all, you should know that as you get more successful, you lose more friends. As you grow in life, there’s more jealousy built around you by negative people in your life – even if you’ve tried your best. I know it’s the most simple piece of advice anyone can give you, but it’s probably what’s helped me the most. People will always talk, make it worth their while for sure.”
What’s been the best moment of your career so far?
“I’m very critical of myself, I find it very difficult to find things that make it seem like it’s good enough. I’m constantly waiting for bigger things. Once we launched on Macy’s and Sephora, I asked myself – what’s next? Definitely seeing my banner on the Sephora homepage was very emotional for me, it was a big deal,” shared Natasha.
Tell us more about your #DoMoor initiative!
Natasha responded, “#DoMoor started off with the women’s shelters I previously spoke about. However, when Covid-19 hit, I wasn’t able to go visit any charities I don’t work with and I was very upset that I wasn’t able to help.
I’m a person who loves helping friends or whoever it may be. In the past, it’s not always been a good thing because you can get taken for granted. I’ve taken that with a pinch of salt and been like, it doesn’t matter because I always want to help.
#DoMoor is really about trying to see how you can help people. I want to build that initiative – a community of supportive women. When Covid-19 first hit, I was stuck in Hong Kong and I couldn’t travel. A lot of small businesses came to me and were like ‘you have a platform of people that listen to you, can we work together in some way?’ This is what I classify as #DoMoor.”
How has the pandemic impacted the beauty industry in general, as well as your business?
“My business as a makeup artist got affected dramatically. However, Natasha Moor Cosmetics actually increased in sales! We launched in Macy’s, and we grew our exposure. However, the biggest issue was the supply chain. The increase in prices has just been ridiculous which has affected us a lot,” said Natasha.
Achieving a work-life balance is something many of us struggle with. Can you tell us how you do it?
Natasha shared, “In the past, it’s always been work, work, work, work, work, work to me. I don’t take holidays – Sunday is a working day! I don’t really have a day off, ever. There’s no balance unless I force myself to do it. So I force myself to workout, and I love it!
I took a barre instructor course and that is an example of balance in my life. However, I one hundred percent believe a work-life balance is so important. Too much of anything is not good! It’s important to have your mind detached from your heart.”
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