Spending $30-$60 on lipsticks is played out to makeup artist Diego DeMatos.
Having over 11 years of experience in the beauty industry DDM Cosmetics opened the budding entrepreneur’s eyes to the experiences of everyday makeup consumers: excessive prices for lacklustre lipstick formulas that fail to ‘last for hours’.
DeMatos knew he wanted to see change, and his journey to lipstick innovation began with his personal line of luxury lipsticks. He debuted his eye-popping colours on the lips of David Dixon’s models during Fall/Winter 2015 World MasterCard Toronto Fashion Week.
“I want everyone to have a DDM Cosmetic lipstick in their purse – whether you’re a celebrity, socialite, a professional makeup artist or a regular person.”
“The everyday woman can’t afford a $50 lipstick,” says DeMatos. “I want women to experience more fashion and trends. I want everyone to have a DDM Cosmetic lipstick in their purse – whether you’re a celebrity, socialite, a professional makeup artist or a regular person.”
With the cooler breezes settling in, adding a hue of deep lip colour to a woman’s fall attire would be sure to make her chilly-chic outfit stand out at any time.
And with a price tag of $14.95 to $18 – which includes the lipstick accompanied by a side mirror and LED light cap for quick and easy touch-ups – women can experience the luxury of a long lasting, trendsetting pout from DDM.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO CREATE YOUR OWN COSMETICS LINE? Well I’ve been in the [make-up] industry for over 11 years, and having my own line has always been a dream of mine, growing up as a little kid in Brazil and surrounded by colours, beauty and fashion. I lived in Dubai for five years and that’s when everything started to come together. By visiting laboratories, and chemists, I just wanted to go ahead with a “now or never” kind of mind set. Then I finally came back to Canada and started from there. I wanted to bring something that was affordable and high quality and high pigmentation that stayed on the skin. I was spending so much money on lipsticks working as a makeup artist, and I would never finish a lipstick tube; I would give it away or throw it out. So I wanted to create a brand that was not expensive, but high quality and luxurious so you wouldn’t have to break the bank.
WHAT IS YOUR LINE BRINGING THAT IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE? The packaging and colours – all of our colours are limited edition and we constantly change and work on new formulas. A lot of inspiration for the colours comes from Asia and Europe, where I feel they are a lot more advanced than we are in terms of colours, trends and being fashion forward. Once the trend is done, it’s done; once the colour sells out, then it sells out and we start working on a new collection. That’s exciting because we are constantly changing with new colours, but the formula is always the same, packaging always the same, we only work with certified materials that are organic, vegan and paraben free.
“I don’t take no for an answer, I just kept thinking about it until it finally came to life. It’s a lot of work, but I love it.”
IS DDM COSMETICS ONLY LIPSTICKS? Right now DDM Cosmetics is only lipsticks, because I’m lipstick crazy. Not to say we won’t come out with something, it’s just right now we’re focusing on lips.
WHAT DRAWS YOU TO LIPSTICKS? I feel that lipsticks can change an entire outfit just by lip colour. I feel like lipstick can brighten up your whole face and your whole day. It’s just sexy. It’s a little thing that is so powerful.
HOW HAS THE TRANSITION FROM MAKEUP ARTIST TO BUSINESS OWNER BEEN FOR YOU? It has been a little crazy, but I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. It’s been fast paced, a little bit overwhelming because I am still a working makeup artist in fashion, editorial and TV, and I do my celebrity clients as well. But my main focus has been the business. Formulating a lipstick is a lot more work than I thought it was going to be. The first time I went to the lab [in France] to see how they make everything, it was just overwhelming. I told them (the chemists) that I wanted a lipstick that was long lasting, super pigmented, non-drying, really hydrated with vitamin E, and they were looking at me like I was crazy and it was impossible. But I don’t take no for an answer, I just kept thinking about it until it finally came to life. It’s a lot of work, but I love it.
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