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Nicole Bryl is the powerhouse entrepreneur who has transformed her flourishing top-tier makeup career into an all-encompassing skincare line. After pioneering makeup techniques in the A-list industry, Nicole recently expanded her business, launching Nicole Bryl® New York, a luxury handcrafted skincare line promising to turn back the clock on anyone’s skin by years.
Known as one of the most sought-after makeup artists around the world, Nicole Bryl has built her career off of making people feel confident in their own skin. By inventing a golden product tailored around the proven anti-aging benefits of Vitamin C, Nicole has created an empire based on an unmatched beauty experience that brings incredible skincare benefits to both well-known global figures and everyday people. With the organic beauty market predicted to reach $22 billion by 2024, Nicole is positioned at the forefront of a massive clean-beauty industry shift.
Trusted by celebrities and high-profile clientele including Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Princess Charlene of Monaco, and Ariana Rockefeller to name a few, Nicole has created a name for herself based on reliability, creativity, and integrity.
Nicole’s skincare line first came to life as a kitchen counter concoction to slow down her own aging process when she turned 42. Soon after, her clients noticed an extreme difference on her skin as they gazed up at her face while she applied their makeup, immediately requesting she make them a kit of their own. Thus began her unplanned business, where clients started ordering and reordering kits in the multiples, and Nicole’s Vitamin C signature ‘4-minute treatment’ skin prep was born.
Her philosophy as a makeup artist has always been about creating the most precise skin prep possible for her clients before applying their makeup. “Perfect skin preparation is imperative before applying makeup or any other of your favorite products for them to work brilliantly, which inevitably makes everyone look their freshest and most beautiful.” shared the makeup mogul. “You wouldn’t apply paint to a wall without first priming and buffing the wall to perfection, well the same rule applies to the skin. You must prime that wall (your skin) every single day so that you always look your freshest no matter what you are doing. This will inevitably slow down the aging process too.”
Today, Nicole’s homemade remedies have expanded beyond the bureaus of a lucky few clients and into the homes of thousands worldwide. Her dedication to creating the perfect skin prep has spread like wildfire, and customers are clambering to get their hands on her handcrafted luxury Vitamin C infused 4-minute skincare treatment.
I had the pleasure of learning how Nicole’s journey transcended from being a freelance teenage New York City makeup artist, to working with some of the biggest names in the industry over her 35-year career, to selling her signature 4-Minute Treatment to her clients out of recycled Fiji water bottles at the Plaza Hotel. Up and coming entrepreneurs, be sure to take note:
As a makeup artist, your career has reached the pinnacle of success, proving to be an inspiration for so many. How did you grow your career to where it is today?
(NB) – “ I do feel satisfied with what I have accomplished in my career which has spanned the past three decades, but I am the first to be transparent about how I got here: hard work! There were no free rides here! My success was built on 3 am wake-ups, 16 hour days, rushing from appointment to appointment on any given day, being on time, organizing myself and my makeup kits before every job and having them ready to go by the door the night before, always following through with every clients’ needs, going the extra mile for them consistently even when they were not asking me to, remaining discrete about what occurred with my clients in their personal lives and – most of all – sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. When I think about the lack of sleep I experienced for so many decades and all the vacations and personal functions I missed to be there for my clients, I think ‘Yes! I have surely earned this.”
How old were you when you landed your first big client and what was that experience like?
(NB) – “I was first introduced to the industry at the age of five. At that time, I was a childhood actor and performer, but I was always captivated by painting, colors, and beauty. I used to go into my grandmother’s lipstick draw and spend hours in the mirror applying different shades and creating different shapes on my own face. By fourteen, I started practicing full makeup applications when my classmate, who was a supermodel in the making, took me on all of her test shoots with fashion photographers as her personal makeup artist. I eventually landed my first paying freelance gig at sixteen.
“From there, my career took off and I began working with more established photographers who would bring me backstage at fashion shows in Paris, Milan, and NYC. This snowballed into bigger brands, bigger accounts, and jobs booked with some of the biggest modeling and celebrity names in the industry.
“When I graduated from university, I was offered a position running a makeup room for a live home-shopping show called Q2 (the high-end version of QVC at the time). It was an 80-hour a week job. I loved it, but I had to be up at 5:45 am every single morning to open up the makeup room, so needless to say my early 20’s when everyone was going out and partying wasn’t the same as most of my friends!
“After Q2, I began working for Entertainment Tonight for the next 12 years. This experience introduced me to numerous celebrity clients and industry friends, many of whom I still work with today.”
Throughout your whole career as a makeup artist you’ve been booking jobs as a freelancer, have you liked having the freedom and flexibility?
(NB) – “I absolutely loved freelance life as a makeup artist. Have you ever seen a caged lion pacing back and forth? That’s me when you try putting me in a full-time makeup room.
“I always enjoyed having the freedom to create my own schedule and to choose which clients I’d most like to spend my day with and then running around with them to each location. If I wanted to book three jobs a day I could, I just knew I’d be running around for 16 hours that day. I’ve also always loved experiencing all of the unique and beautiful locations my clients would bring me to and entrust me in, places you most certainly would never experience from the steady 9-5 opportunities.”
The past seven years have seen your career pivot substantially. Yes, you’re still a makeup magician, but you’ve further branched out in launching your own skincare line. How did this transpire?
(NB) – “To be honest the transition came about very naturally. As a makeup artist, I was always known for mixing and creating unique skincare concoctions and formulas right on the spot to meet the needs of my clients’ skincare concerns for that particular day before makeup was applied.
“Mixing just became second nature to me and so after three decades of mixing for clients, I very organically turned to my kitchen and began mixing skincare formulas for myself to see if I could create something that could slow down my aging process using one of my absolute favorite skin prep ingredients, Vitamin C. Because my clients then took notice right away that my skin had changed dramatically, they wanted to know what I was using and when I told them it was one of my concoctions, they began ordering for themselves. I never intended it to become an in-demand business. That was the biggest and most pleasant surprise of all.”
You went from making custom skincare concoctions for specific clients, to running your own skincare company. Given that the skincare industry is known to bring in 23% of the beauty industry’s revenue and is the second-largest sub-branch of the multi-billion dollar industry, your shift was quite brilliant. For you, what inspired your career shift?
(NB) – “When I turned 42, I wanted to create something for my own skin that would slow down the aging process and was more concentrated, with no perfume smell. Something which was straight-to-the-point, no-nonsense effective, yet still embodied the purest feeling a day of relaxation could bring me, in about 4 minutes sharp. I had always mixed various Vitamin C products into my clients’ skincare preparations, because I always liked the result of how it made their skin appear so rejuvenated and fresh so quickly.
“The first product I created was my signature Face Lifting Water. I crafted it from natural Vitamin C and saw big results within just a few days of using it on my own face. It then became a favorite amongst all my clients, that is until the complete ‘4-minute anti-aging treatment + perfecting serum’ came to be. Now they perform this on their own before sitting down for makeup. Nothing gives me greater joy than to see how much they benefit from it and love the products I handcraft.
“My skincare company has come a long way since when it first began seven years ago, but I’ll never forget clients clambering back then to get a recycled water bottle full of my Vitamin C Face Lifting Water. I really am so very grateful for this.”
Following the success of the Face Lifting Water, what inspired a full product rollout?
(NB) – “My clients were ultra excited and enthusiastic about the quick results they were noticing after using my Vitamin C Face Lifting Water. They would call me on the phone and exclaim, “It’s working, it’s working I want 6 more bottles right away.” This instantaneous encouragement paved the way for me to delve deeper and become more creative about what I had begun, which led very quickly to the conception and completion of my entire product line.
“What truly began as a quick anti-aging, secret weapon for myself, then translated into helping my clients create that same great skin prep for themselves even when I couldn’t be with them. To now share my life’s work with the world and help everyone feel their best rather than just a select few is extremely satisfying and I am beyond grateful for this.”
What is one of your favorite ingredients to use in your homemade remedies?
(NB) – “Well the main ingredient that I use in all of my products is Vitamin C. It’s a long-time proven anti-aging ingredient which I always work with to prep my clients’ skin before applying their makeup.
“There is extensive proven scientific research out there on the anti-aging benefits of Vitamin C, but what I love to focus on the most is how it helps to stimulate collagen production, which then helps to tighten and plump the skin just the way I like it. Vitamin C provides a skin-rejuvenating effect by improving collagen, which helps to maintain the appearance of youthful skin, firmness, and elasticity. For myself, I’ve noticed tightening in the saggy areas of my face and the diminishing appearance of my fine lines and wrinkles. Vitamin C’s potent antioxidant power also protects skin from age-causing free radicals. So for me, applying my Vitamin C ‘4 Minute Treatment + Perfecting Serum’ daily has done wonders for keeping my youthful appearance, and now that I’m almost 50, I can use all the help I can get.”
What are your plans for your skincare brand in the months and years to come?
“I’ve now been in the skincare business for seven years, and for most of these seven years, I’ve been operating out of a small studio kitchen making these products by hand. This isn’t the most efficient way to do things, but I am incredibly particular about how my products are created for my customers. What I would like now, is to partner with a lab that I know is capable of upholding the integrity and efficacy that Nicole Bryl® New York is well known for and to find the right investor and marketing/business manager to help me scale my business.
“To date, I sell anywhere between 10-20 products a week. However, demand is quickly surpassing supply, so I’m really excited to expand my production process and continue to grow with demand. Exciting things are happening, stay tuned!”
Having single-handedly built a thriving company off of passion, perseverance, and determination, Nicole Bryl is an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere.
For the many boss babes out there looking to support and be inspired by industry-leading ladies, Nicole Bryl® New York is a must-have addition to skincare routines.
Not only will your skin thank you, but each drop of expertly handcrafted vitamin C skincare will inspire you to level up in a similar fashion to Nicole.
Discover your secret to skincare (and entrepreneurial) success today at Nicole Bryl® New York!
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