EXCLUSIVE: The Makeup Artist Who Trademarked ‘No-makeup Makeup’ 40 Years Ago Is Launching a Brand of the Same Name
Long before brands like Glossier, Nudestix, et.al. made “no-makeup makeup” an ethos, there was Victoria Jackson.
The beauty veteran, who became the first person to sell color cosmetics on QVC in 1989 and subsequently generated $1 billion in sales in the 10 years that followed — trademarked the term back in 1986. Now, she’s back with a new brand, one that shares the ethos of her original eponymous offering with a name that any Millennial — and beyond — can relate to: No Makeup Makeup.
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And why not: 40 years after its genesis, the no-makeup makeup phenomenon is as popular as ever, with a slew of brands aligned with the minimalist look and an ever-steady stream of no-makeup makeup tutorials circulating on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
“I’m excited to talk to them,” said Jackson of the new generations who have discovered her signature look, but perhaps not the creator behind it, until now. “I’m excited to say, ‘OK — this is what it looks like when you’re getting ready to turn 70,’ and you’ve been talking about makeup your whole life, and how you don’t have to wear a lot of it.”
No Makeup Makeup will debut with a single cream foundation that aims to color-correct and camouflage in one step while maintaining a lightweight, buildable finish. Priced at $55 and formulated in 13 shades, the product — which is a modernized version of now-shuttered Victoria Jackson Cosmetics’ hero offering — is formulated with a FlexShade technology said to adapt to the wearer’s skin tone, making each shade suitable for multiple skin tones.
“We took the base of the original formula, and we knew that it needed to be clean,” said cofounder and chief executive officer Kim Wileman, who worked with Jackson in the early 2000s on Jackson’s second brand, called Lola Cosmetics, before founding a consulting firm through which she has advised brands including Tula and Hourglass Cosmetics.
“We updated the texture, added the FlexShade technology and made it vegan and dermatologist-tested,” Wileman said of the vitamin E-infused foundation, which she and Jackson estimate will do $5 million in first-year sales through the brand’s direct-to-consumer, Amazon and TikTok Shop channels.
“When someone’s skin looks great, it just changes everything — and you can go where you want to go from there with your makeup — but this is where we had to start,” Jackson said.
It was in 2008 that Jackson departed her namesake brand after her then-teenage daughter, Ali, received what doctors believed would be a terminal neuromyelitis optica diagnosis. “Doctors told me I had four years with her and I, as I say, closed the book on mascara, and opened the book on medicine,” Jackson said.
Intent on finding a cure, Jackson and her husband — Bill Guthy of direct-marketing beauty business, Guthy-Renker — founded the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation, through which the pair have since raised more than $80 million to invest in R&D for treatment of neuromyelitis optica, of which advancements to ease symptoms and slow the progression have since been approved.
In 2017, Gloria Steinam inducted Jackson into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2018 Pope Francis awarded Jackson the Pontifical Key Advocacy Award for her work to advance medical research.
“It was a sad decision [to step away from Victoria Jackson Cosmetics], but it was an easy decision — because I had a calling, and that was to save my daughter’s life,” Jackson said. Ali, now 31 years old, has a brand of her own in the works — also in the realm of personal care.
“That mission [of the Guthy-Jackson Foundation] is still ongoing — I’ve learned so much in the medical world now that I need to keep that moving forward, and I know so much in the world of makeup that I need to keep this moving forward,” Jackson said.
Rather than launch a full lineup of products, No Makeup Makeup will roll out new items in a steady cadence.
“Everything will be intentional, everything will be simple,” said Jackson, adding that blush and lip offerings are next. “It’s not going to be 10 shades of blush — it’s very much going to be, ‘this is the perfect shade of blush,’ or ‘this is the perfect neutral lip’ — that’s how I’m thinking about formulating as we move forward.”
As for whether Jackson — arguably one of beauty’s OG influencers — will be bringing her QVC and live-selling prowess to TikTok Live?
“We’re definitely looking at it,” said Jackson, who anticipates an adjustment period into the world of bite-sized content. “With an infomercial, you have the luxury of 20 minutes — on TikTok it’s kind of like, what am I supposed to do — stand on my head?,” she laughed.
Nevertheless, a mission to “move at the speed of life” has carried Jackson through the last 15 years of her career — which have seen her cofound Ellen Degeneres’ skin care brand, Kind Science, and author five books in addition to her investment in medical research. That tenet remains central to the next leg of her journey.
“Putting me by a pool with a book, it is kind of an ‘oh, someday’ sort of fantasy, but there’s too much that I’ve done — and that I’m doing — and I want to share that; that’s what keeps me going,” Jackson said.
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