Meet the Innovating Makeup Lover Behind Hourglass Cosmetics
Cult beauty brand Hourglass was founded by Carisa Janes. (Photo: Hourglass Cosmetics)
Now, more than ever, the beauty market is crowded with cosmetics lines, Hourglass is a brand that stands out from the pack. Known for its cult favorite Ambient Lighting Powders, red carpet moments like Margot Robbie’s 2015 Oscars lip in Raven, and sophisticated, cutting-edge aesthetic, the Venice Beach-based brand is a clear star. The brand’s globe-trotting entrepreneur Carisa Janes started working on other brands until she went solo 11 years ago. Now she has about 100 employees and is leading the way on strobing. With stories of her first makeup experience, chameleonic tendencies, and her unlikely beauty icon, Janes is your next girl crush.
I’m from Newport Beach, and I come from a family of makeup women. My mother always wore a full face of makeup, and my stepmother and grandmother, too. My mother is a redhead and very pale, with no eyebrows. Every morning she would put her makeup on — she called it her war paint — and I would watch her do a smoky eye. She wouldn’t go to the market without it. She would go from no lashes or eyebrows and pale to glamorous in an hour. That made a big impact on me as a kid — it just looked so fun. I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup until I was 15, and I wanted to so badly. It was such a fun way to express myself and feel creative, beautiful, and feminine. On top of that, I struggled with acne as a teenager, so it made me feel better about myself.
When I was a sophomore in high school, my mother took me to the Chanel counter at Robinsons-May for a full makeover. She bought me everything: The quad shadows, powder, brushes — the whole deal. It was a major moment in my life. The woman who did my makeup was named Victoria — French, tall, and beautiful. I connected with her again many, many years later. Now I wear much less makeup, I’m sure of that. I see young girls who wear too much makeup today and I think it looks so fresh. There’s such a short window in your life when you can get away with it — and you should, you’re experimenting. It’s a short phase, and it’s cute.
Hourglass founder Carisa Janes. (Photo: Instagram)
My routine is more minimal now. I don’t mix it up. But when I was in the South of France this summer I wore bright orange lipstick every day: Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Riviera ($28). Sometimes when I’m in a different place I feel like a different person. I lost my mind in the South of France. I started wearing very dark foundation and orange lipstick; I was the Bain de Soleil girl in my bathing suit, wrap, and big hat, playing the part of someone else.
I was one of the first employees at Urban Decay after graduating from Parsons in New York. I worked out of Wende Zomnir’s apartment with her for a year when it was just a few nail polishes. It was as startup as you could be; I was exposed to everything in such a condensed amount of time. It was a great start. Then, I created a cosmetic line for this man who had a chain of stores in Hawaii called Body and Soul. Next I started a consulting business and eventually my own brand.
I felt there was an opportunity for something luxe and innovation-driven that was cool and functional but also had skincare and technology behind it. I launched in 2004, but started working on development in 2000. It was hard. As a young girl trying to raise money to start a cosmetic line, there are not a ton of people lining up to write that check.
Foundation was absolutely the focus. The complexion products are the most important — make or break. I wanted to create something that I felt did not exist. I thought, “This is something you wear all over your face all day long, so why wouldn’t it do more than just cover?” I had acne and rosacea; fragrance and oil were a deadly combination. I started researching ingredients and found Matrixyl, which at that time was and still is great for anti-aging. We decided to use that in clinical levels to improve the quality of the skin. It’s still in the line 11 years later — it’s the one I use, too.
Inspiration is interesting — there’s not just one source. Our biggest-selling franchise is the Ambient Powder franchise. Growing up, my mother had pink light bulbs in all the lamps in the house. I grew up that way. When I asked why, she said it’s because everyone looks more beautiful in pink light — most importantly her. I was always hesitant to do powder, because it can be very unflattering. It’s either opaque and flat and makes you look older and unhealthy or it’s shimmery and tacky. What makes your skin look gorgeous is beautiful lighting, so I wanted a powder to infuse different flattering light sources onto the skin. We found a technology called photoluminescence, where the light bounces off the skin in a very unique way so you don’t look sparkly or glittery, just gorgeous. Mood Light ($45) was directly inspired by my mom.
Our next big thing is strobing powders. Contour we didn’t feel was the right trend for us, but strobing is something we’ve been doing and we believe in, because it’s contouring with light. Anyone can do it and look fantastic. It’s about beautiful skin, not changing the shape of your face or tricking people. For holiday, we’re launching the first strobing powder, called Iridescent Strobe Light ($80).
I don’t think I would have started my business or been as entrepreneurial had I lived in New York. Growing up in Newport Beach, there were a lot of startups and indie surf brands. Those were my friends and the world I lived in. You felt this sense of freedom and creativity and “Yeah, I can do this.” If I lived in New York and was driving down Madison Avenue in a cab every day facing all those massive companies, I would have been too intimidated. Here, you almost don’t know what you’re doing, so you just do it.
When someone is passionate about something it gets me excited. I love Rafael Nadal, the tennis player. And I just bought a Diane Arbus photograph of Mae West at 72, in her home in Santa Monica, dressed in a ruffled robe, with her hair and lashes, in bed with her pet monkey. I look at that photograph and I love her. Her career didn’t take off until her 40s — she was so independent and had her own idea of how she was going to live her life. At the same time she was putting lashes on and doing her hair every day, which I love. There’s something about that commitment to beauty and looking beautiful that I find very endearing.
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