Pics or it Didn't Happen

So, I put my fear aside and asked her some questions. Naturally, she was just as inspiring as I imagined. See for yourself, below.

What was your experience at Pratt as a fashion design major and how did that help you figure out that you wanted to pursue makeup?

I grew up being pretty obsessive about makeup. I wasn't like, super crazy about it when I was younger, but I was very obsessed with getting perfect eyeliner. Like, people would say things about it. When I went to Pratt, I was very interested in fashion at the time, and my experience there was intense. There was definitely a culture shock coming from Nashville—I think Pratt, in general, was really stressful. My reaction when I got out was like, ‘Wow, I hate the fashion industry.’ It’s not that I hate New York, but it was just shoved in my face for so long and the teachers at the school were trying to push so many things down my throat. Forcing someone to be creative is a hilarious way to go about creativity.

But it ended up kind of serving me in a way, because I hated it so much that I blossomed in another way. So, I left for three years and kind of chilled out, figured out what it was that I wanted to do. I started posting makeup and people just responded to it like that. It was not something I ever thought about doing before—it was very in response to people. It's like, you're getting a huge response to something and you think, ‘Well, what if I push it a little more this way?’ It's almost like a communication between your followers and you. That’s how it happened and it just grew from there.

What do you see as the biggest differences between fashion and beauty?

I would say that makeup, in a way, is really more inclusive than fashion because you don't have to be a particular way to wear makeup. In my mind, I have less pressure to show off my entire body instead of just creating a picture on my face where I can contort it into any shape that I want. You can do that with fashion, too, but it's almost more work to source clothing, and making clothing is very time consuming. I do love making clothes and I would want to do it more, but makeup is so fast in the social media world. Also, people are automatically attracted to faces. I’m responsive to what people like, and I want to give the people what they want—but in my own way.

Do you ever think about the images you’re posting on Instagram in a historical context? Are product arrangements and your own content this generation’s version of a still lifes?

Absolutely. Thinking about it in a historical context is very strange. Not everyone is on Instagram, but not everyone was in an art museum. It feels to me like it’s at that level. I feel like less people go into museums now—they go online. Also, I just got a VR headset the other day for the first time, and I’m so excited. You can go anywhere. It’s freaky, but I love it. There are art museum tours in the headset. I know it’s going to be the future of a lot of things. Of course, real things will exist, too. But it's so interesting that we're so hooked into social media that they're going to keep pushing it into different dimensions.

I actually just watched the video that you posted for your palette where you're layering it all over your face and I was just like, ‘Thank you, yes, someone needed to do this!’

I know! I would post stuff like that all the time because I love doing super perfect lines and everything—for years I would just film myself drawing all over my face. Some people's responses were hilarious. They were like, ‘What's wrong with you? You need to go to the psych ward.’ People post way crazier shit—that’s actually not that intense. And it just feels good. What is the level of what’s okay to post? Six, seven, eight years ago, this platform didn’t even exist. So, should there be any rules?

I also feel like I’m drawn to maximalist beauty, but I grew up with people telling me to find colors that ‘matched’ my look and to always tone it down.

That’s the bane of my existence! I want to do whatever I want, whenever. People have done palettes a million times, I'm aware of that—I’m aware I’m not bringing anything new in terms of that. But the assortment of colors is new, I think. And I think partially what I’m selling and trying to promote is a freedom from whatever the current beauty world is trying to do. I like yellow highlighting my cheeks; you can literally put whatever shape you want on your face. You look to the past, and there's so many different types of adornments, culturally. Why don't we create something new that's specific to our generation that has nothing to do with perfect winged eyeliner? As much as I love to wear it, we’ve got to push through!

How did you find the confidence to put yourself out there and be so colorful, with your beauty routine and your personality?

I can't help it. My mom’s a designer—she designs fabric—and I was just around a lot of color growing up, so it's natural to me. When I see people dress in a certain way, I think, ‘I have to break out of this.’ But it's like I'm not wearing crazy things all the time. It's mostly on the internet that I act this way, and I really like pushing people. Like, ‘Oh, you hate this? Great. I’m doing something right.’

I think that’s needed. Going back to your Claropsyche palette—how did you go about picking the colors?

Well, I've tried a lot of different makeup in my lifetime, and I knew that I love creating bases for any intricate design that I'm doing with just matte colors, because it creates more of another layer, if that makes sense. Sometimes I think about it like I'm on PhotoShop—like, there are different layers when I'm putting things on my face. So, I would think of this palette as my background layer before I put on everything else. Color-wise, I really want it to be vibrant because it really sticks out when you're posting online.

Also, the pastels—two are my favorite colors, in general. So, I just combined basic colors with my favorite pastels and black and white. It really is the perfect palette! Anyone can use it, and you can make whatever you want.

Where did the name ‘Claropsyche’ come from?

A few years ago, I had I started with the account name @lettersmack, and that's when I started doing makeup. People were re-blogging my pictures like crazy and not crediting me, and it was driving me so insane that I deleted the account. This was before you could archive stuff. So, I deleted all of my pictures and changed my name to Claropsyche. I just wanted something clean-feeling. Claro means clear, and in Greek ‘psyche’ stands for soul or butterfly. So, ‘clear soul’ is what I wanted to use—I just made up the word basically.

Do you ever wear your designs in public? Or are they solely for artistic purposes?

It's totally half and half—it depends on what the situation is. I used to wear them out a lot more, but it would really stress me out. I’d be like, ‘I'm gonna wash this entire thing off my face and do a new look,’ but lately I've been very okay with not putting on a base before I put makeup on, and just kind of letting it be because I've been having a more freestyle feeling, which really feels good. So, I'll just rub a little bit away and leave purposeful things in some places. It just depends on the context. If I'm going to a party with a bunch of people I know, then I'll just leave it on my face. But if I'm going out—I live in Nashville—so, if I don't feel like being confronted on the driveway about what I’m wearing, I'm just not going to do it. There’s this weird stigma like, ‘Do they wear that makeup out or not?’ But why does it matter? I created it in the first place, and it's an image that I put in the universe, stuck in our psyches. That's the only way people see me, anyway—people on the internet see me through that view, because they're never gonna see me in real life.

I’m really fascinated by that idea of ‘Did this look really exist if you didn’t wear it outside?’ Like, ‘Pics or it didn’t happen.’

I honestly feel like whenever I take a picture of it, I'm getting a specific angle of the look that looks good. Oftentimes, when I’m editing it, I make it look nice. So, it's never going to live up to the perfection that you see in the picture IRL.

Lately, I just love drawing big flowers on my cheek because I think I get the best reactions from people with those naturally. Like, I wore a flower on my cheek one night and nobody treated me differently, whereas the next morning, I was going through a coffee shop and people were like, ‘I like your flower!’ I like it too—it’s really simplistic. But I'm changing all of the time. Right now, I feel like I'm moving away from eyes and going into more face stuff. I’ve gotten attention for eyes for so long that now I'm over it. Like I said, I want to do whatever I want, whenever, and when I see people wearing certain things, or liking certain things, I have to break out it and do something new. That’s just how I am.

Follow @officebeautynyc for more on our favorite club kids, models, makeup artists and product reviews from our office Beauty Committee.

Beauty

Kindred Black: Love for Our Mother

Throwing factory-produced recipes and excessive packaging to the wayside, the ethical beauty and scent brand collaborates with herbalists, farmers, and expert perfumers to create sustainable perfumes and cosmetics — while also marrying the worlds of art and beauty through their one-of-a-kind hand-blown glass vessels. Because beauty is truly an art, and we should decorate ourselves as worthy canvasses. office sat down with Kindred Black’s co-founders to discuss their unique process below.

What originally spurred you both to introduce a disruptive, apothecary-esque brand to the beauty scene?

Alice— I think it’s kind of age-old: I had this need in my own life and couldn’t figure out a way to fill that need in a way that aligned with my values. We’re both makeup and skincare lovers but with packaging being what it is, there was so much we didn’t feel right buying. We wanted an alternative where as much thought is put into the packaging as it is in the ingredients, where every single element of the line is considered.

Jen— We always said we’re not going to be the “please recycle this plastic bag” type of company — that’s such BS! Companies need to invest in alternatives so the public isn’t left guessing how to make their products more environmentally friendly. We spend a lot more money than we would have to if we just mass-produced bottles overseas and bottled up some pretty skincare. But we’re super anti-greenwashing — we want our behind-the-scenes to be 100% true to the ethics and values that we put out there to our community.

Your packaging — artisan-crafted glass bottles — really takes thoughtful production and consumption to the next level.

Alice— When we initially set out to design the collection, we envisioned a vanity with beautiful vessels, no branding, just pure oils and scents in colorful shapes and silhouettes. Life is already so cluttered; we think of the beauty routine as a quiet time, a private, sacred space. The entire line is plastic-free and every single item in the collection comes in an individually handblown glass vessel. Behind each bottle is an artist blowing out the glass, one by one. They’re not producing mass quantities; everything is designed to be treasured.

Tell me about the Kindred Black community. Not only do you work closely and travel to meet farmers and herbalists, but you also partner with artists and artisans for your one-of-a-kind glass bottles. What does this community mean to you?

Jen— They’re everything for us and we couldn’t have such a special line without them. We’ve met such extraordinary people doing this — a chemist turned perfumer who only creates using ancient methods of extraction with the flowers and plants that she grows. An herbalist that specializes in Sonoran Desert flora. Glass blowers from all over the country who show their work in museums and create our bottles one by one like unique sculptures. Even a collective in Mexico that creates bottles using glass from residents and restaurants because there is no municipal recycling. They all have different specialties, but our community shares a set of values when it comes to our planet.

You also mentioned that the brand is historically rooted. How does the past inform every scent, cosmetic, or rich skin serum?

Alice— We’re both hugely into history and just curious people. When you start to look into it, some botanicals have been used for thousands of years to heal and scent the skin and as primitive cosmetics and ‘medicine,’ dating back to the earliest civilizations. People have always used what’s around them for beauty. Our formulas all start with who used this plant, what for, and whether or not there is a good reason to still use it on the skin. For example, our Aker Fassi lip and cheek pigment is a recipe that makes use of a dried poppy flower that North African Berber women have used as makeup for centuries. It’s a beautiful, flattering shade of berry red and we were just so taken by its place in history.

What is your favorite scent you have created to date?

Jen— This is hard — I love Earthly because it’s just so different from anything I’ve ever smelled. It’s like grassy damp moss and violet leaves but also has a lot of lilac enfleurage in it. Not many people use real lilac because it’s incredibly difficult and time-consuming to make and has a more subtle scent than say a jasmine or a rose. But real lilac is incredible and complex.

Alice— Delta Dawn is my current favorite. It's a classic floral rose but has real depth to it — an underbelly. The star ingredient is a night-blooming Damask rose that’s harvested before the sun rises. You can smell the cool night air, but also the warmth and muskiness of the jasmine oil, known as the perfume of love.

How does art play a role in Kindred Black? Many of the handmade bottles sold are antique or vintage-inspired. Where did that shared interest spur from?

Alice— We’re both big collectors, verging on hoarders, and have shelves and boxes full of trinkets and treasures we’ve picked up over the years — everything from piles of shells and rocks to antique Lalique perfume vessels, antiquarian snuff bottles, folk art liquor jugs, and on and on. We often find ourselves using an old glass piece as a jumping-off point — or a piece that we’re lusting after in an auction or Museum catalog. The halls of The Met are filled with incredibly beautiful glass perfumes and cosmetic tinctures that have survived millennia. Pre-plastic everything, in the early 20th century, many cosmetics were refillable and came in the most exquisite packaging — lipsticks in sterling silver canisters, blush in bejeweled compacts. They were practically pieces of jewelry. We like to think of our bottles as precious objects that people will hold on to and cherish as the years go by.

You just launched your refill program. How do you hope this sways the wider beauty industry?

Jen— We were really excited to start doing refills for our skincare — like I said, our bottles are like little, individually made sculptures. We chose aluminum for the refills because the necks are wide enough to clean the bottle out and aluminum is the most easily recyclable material. We’re hoping that if a tiny company like ours can spend the money and do it, more of these million and billion-dollar brands will start paying attention to their footprint. They have such power to create real change, it’s heartbreaking so many of them choose to sidestep the opportunity.

Tell me about one of the strangest ingredients you have worked with.

Jen— We made a light summer perfume and skin treatment once to benefit the Ocean Conservancy and infused the ingredients with sea salt from the Sea of Cortez. Not a strange ingredient but it definitely gave the scent a unique profile. We once gathered large sacks of rose petals from the world’s largest rose bush that sits inside the courtyard of an old hotel in Tombstone, AZ. We had a lot of grand ideas for it but the petals couldn’t be cleaned well enough to be made into anything marketable, so we had to give up on it. Sometimes these experiments fail!

Alice— Maybe the strangest right now is quite widely used for cosmetics by everyone from Chanel on down because it’s a safe alternative to chemical dyes. The rich berry red of Night Venom is from a pigment that is made from the cochineal beetle, an insect native to parts of North and South America. It’s actually a stain that has been used for centuries – Cleopatra is said to have ground up the beetle in beeswax to achieve her renowned red lips. The Aztecs also used the pigment for dyeing and painting, and it was then brought back to Europe with their Spanish colonizers.

You just celebrated eight years. What do you hope is in store for the next few and how do you hope to continue revolutionizing the beauty space?

Jen— We’re always looking to make things less wasteful in everything we do. There’s always room to improve. We’d like for our line to be 100% refillable and are working on bottle design tweaks that would make that achievable. We’d also love to expand the glass operation down the road and begin recycling our own glass. Our mantra is “love for our mother” and it informs everything that we do.

Beauty

It's Good, it's Weird, it's GoodWeird

December 04, 2023

It’s Silly Bandz, Japanese denim, Maui Punch Pixy Stix, the model "dressed as the giant fur ball at the Christian Cowan show,"; it’s the highest compliment. Founders Jon Wormser and Stephen Yaseen have coined the term “Good Weird” to celebrate the beauty found in being athentically and uniquely yourself, as out there as that may be.

From the “Back from Vacay” bronzer to the “Balmy Weather” stick, Good Weird understands that beauty can be defined by universal experiences rather than conventional standards. Creative direction by Maui-born skate icon Evan Mock ensures that the brand takes a genderless, inviting approach to cosmetics. In our conversation with the trio, we delved deeper into what makes something truly good and weird.

Interview by Soph Lucina
Photos courtesy of GoodWeird

Sophia Lucina— Hi, I’m so stoked to have you all here. I’ve been loving your brand for a minute now. So, give me the rundown.

Stephen Yaseen— Yeah, well I’ve always been super into skincare, and on the beauty side, one of my first favorite products was this tinted sunscreen. It kind of introduced me to the idea of having a beauty product that also acted as a skincare item, something with immediate payoff. That was my conduit into me realizing that beauty doesn’t need to be reserved for a subset of people.

Jon Wormser— I’ve always been one to experiment with beauty products, which meant stealing products from my mom’s makeup … I was always wearing things incorrectly [laughs]. But that led me into this world we’ve built where beauty doesn’t need to fit the heavily pigmented, complicated product … something that doesn’t require a bunch of tools to use. Good Weird was founded out of frustration with the current product offering.

Evan Mock— For me, my earliest memory of using beauty products has to be when I was growing up in Hawaii and applying Shiseido sunscreen before going surfing and being on the beach.

SL— I think one thing that immediately stands out to me about you guys is how you’ve infused pop culture into your brand approach. What’s that been like for you?

JW— Well, obviously when we’re serving consumers like Gen-Z, it would be remiss to leave out pop culture. I think some people might see our branding and ask, “Why are there skateboards and surfboards?” ... for me, that’s the antithesis of mainstream, we wanted to emphasize that Good Weird is all about embracing your own shit, not letting societal structures and norms set expectations for what you should do.

SL— For sure. I can tell you bring in a certain crowd of people, and it’s dope. If you could tell me, what was the first idea you had for Good Weird?

SY— Yeah, so we wanted to go forward with this idea of minimizing the footprint of a product by combining a bunch of steps together, so it’s the concept of infusing skincare and low-pigment beauty, for a “beauty routine in a bottle”. Operationally, that concept didn’t actually work at first, so we ended up focusing on the “white space” in the beauty world, for people who are curious about entering a world that might not feel so welcoming.

JW— And that’s been the fun part for Stephen and I. We’ve gotten to experiment with how much pigment goes into a product, how much of a serum goes into a product. We’ll chat like “Well, I didn’t see much of [blank] at the store,” or “I like [blank] concealer, but it’s really intense,” and be able to share our ideas towards creating something new. We really jive when it comes to product development.

SL— Especially because you guys don’t have a precedent to go off of. You’re building something that we don’t see.

JW— Right, we’re trying to create a new lane. If we’re going off the beaten path, then it’s important that our products reflect that.

SL— How has the process of creating a “genderless” beauty product been? Why is that important to you guys?

EM— There really aren’t any other options for everyone that exists, until now with Good Weird. It's important that all aspects of life are inclusive to all, but also, who doesn’t want to look good?

SY— I think that the products that are super pigmented, part of “transformative” routines … don’t necessarily have to do with gender, even so we wanted to make products that anyone can feel comfortable using. With anyway you identify, from a gender perspective, everyone deserves to have beauty products that are accessible.

SL— I see. A less intimidating approach, so to speak.

SY— And of course, historically, the cohort demographic for the beauty industry is overwhelmingly female. So it’s really about giving everyone an intuitive, simple product with a low barrier to entry.

JW— A big barrier to entry for me growing up was having to use all these tools. If you look at our products, there are no tools required. Additionally, the way we’ve named our products — yes, “Back From Vacay” is a bronzer, but the name of the product is more emotive. It’s less intimidating to tell your friends, “I use this Good Weird product, called 'Back from Vacay’, instead of 'I use this bronzer.'"

... historically, the cohort demographic for the beauty industry is overwhelmingly female. So it’s really about giving everyone an intuitive, simple product with a low barrier to entry.

SL— For sure. These experiences “Balmy Weather”, “Back From Vacay”, aren’t gendered experiences. You’ll see other beauty products be labeled “Pure Seduction”, “Afterglow”, which evoke these sensual, intense, suggestively feminine experiences.

JW— And it’s not that we don’t like those words. But it’s all about making our products less intimidating. All of our stuff is buildable and sheer, so it can be another step in your routine, or it can be the main star.

SL— Evan, you’ve partnered with Jon and Stephen on creative direction. What's that been like?

EM— My job is to give the people what they want — do it with excellence and have fun doing it along the way. It’s been a great few months with Jon and Stephen, and the word is traveling fast.

JW— Evan was a muse to the brand before we even started working with him. He embodies the whole concept of “Good Weird”, he’s someone who can skate all day then wear a corset to a fashion show later that night. He also holds an amazing place in fashion and culture, and we wanted people in those spaces to feel open to trying the world of Good Weird.

SL— He’s someone that I can actually see reaching for these products, too. As the creative director, are you frustrated with any aspect of the current beauty climate?

EM— Yes, I think the general public’s view of what beauty is, needs to change. People need to realize that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes; it's also subjective.

SL— Subjective, yes. My last question for all of you — what’s something you’ve been recently thinking of as very “Good Weird”.

SY— Oh, yeah, let me think. Definitely what we’ve been posting on Instagram, the 90s vibes are very Good Weird, like those AI-generated yearbook photos.

JW— I’m trying to think of any moments from fashion week that stood out, even.

SL— The model dressed as the giant fur ball at the Christian Cowan show is very Good Weird, the smiley Collina Strada show — all of it.

JW— Exactly.

EM— Japanese denim, pickled mango … eating sunflower seeds with the shell still around it.

SL— Yes, heavy on Japanese denim. Even pickling your own vegetables?

JW— Any brands that feel like a nod to nostalgia. JNCO for sure.

SY— Anything that brings you back, anything that feels welcoming.

JW— Dippin’ Dots!

SL— Oh my gosh, and those spiky, jelly pens. I just saw a ring that was made out of that rubbery, jelly stuff. Well, you guys have created this great community, and I’m so excited to see where it goes. Thank you for taking this time.

SY— Thank you!

JW— Thank you.

EM— Thanks!