Jay Manuel Talks His Namesake Beauty Collection

Over 20 years ago, Jay Manuel began his career as a makeup artist. His overwhelming passion would soon open several doors into the fashion and beauty industries, which eventually lead him to establish a career as a noteworthy visionary artist working with some of the top beauty icons, covering the red carpet of Hollywood’s hottest award shows, appearing as the creative director on America's Next Top Model, and attending our 2013 Simply Stylist New York Conference as a Keynote! Basically, Jay is your go-to guy for anything involving beauty, fashion, and style, so it is no surprise that he recently decided to make his beauty expertise tangible by launching a stellar line of cosmetics, Jay Manuel Beauty!

If there is one thing that it is for certain about Jay, it’s that his lasting experience within the beauty industry has given him the knowledge to create a line of beauty products that women all over the globe can benefit from. The Jay Manuel Beauty brand was specifically designed to highlight each individual’s unique beauty and make runway beauty achievable from the comfort of your own home. These products were created using high-end ingredients, including diamond dust, crushed gemstones, and micronized silk, in order to mimic the results attained by a professional makeup artist and produce an overall Jay-approved look. We sat down with Jay to learn a bit more about his beauty collection.

What does beauty mean to you?

I've always looked at beauty as the opportunity to realize your true self-image, the way you see yourself. Once you realize how you see yourself, your confidence level is boosted because you are living how you envision yourself. This is about a journey to you, where you get to self-source your style.

Tell us a little about the Jay Manuel Beauty brand.

This is my first full makeup line where I have designed everything from the formulations to the packaging design. I spent a lot of time going back and forth to Korea researching new cosmetic manufacturing advances with the intention of bringing these new technologies that have not made it to the market here yet.

What was the inspiration behind starting a cosmetic line?

This collection has been 20 years in the making for me. I wanted to bring my understanding of formulation to a consumer level.

When I felt it was time and the technology had come around to keep my conceptual product at a price point that makes sense to the consumer, I spoke to my good friend Iman. During our 17-year relationship, Iman and I would always talk business; I learned a lot from her. It seemed natural to talk partnership with her first!

How did your background as a celebrity makeup artist & creative director help you in creating cosmetic products?

A lot of the differences that I have put into my products are born directly from the questions and concerns that women have given me, either by stopping me in the street or in an airport, or if I’m shopping or even online, especially through social media. When I sat down with Iman and my development team, I had the technologies and products that I thought really address what consumers are asking for.

A lot of women have told me they want this more-filtered illusion to the skin. A lot of makeup and foundation products show up on their face and they want to be able to have it not look like makeup. That is a big concern.

What makes these products unique?

The core of Jay Manuel Beauty is based around our Filter Finish collection™.

When you say “filter finish,” it is really descriptive in today’s language, no matter what age you are. The consumer filters everything now; they are armed with the knowledge and technology to adjust or retouch the way they look. What women want is how to look like their pictures in real life; if a photo filter can do that, why can’t their makeup do that?

I created a collection that simplifies this grey space so a woman’s makeup looks natural, and at the same time, retouched. With the Filter Finish Collection™, women look like a more beautiful version of themselves. My products are formulated with ingredients like crushed gemstones, diamond dust and micronized silk. These components refract light different than traditional pearl and shimmer formulas. Diamond dust, along with micronized pearl, creates a soft focus glow, so you actually don’t see the fine lines or any skin issues, truly creating a filter for your skin.

You have noted that most women fall into one of three broad categories: Classic, Iconic, and Avant-Garde. How are these themes translated through the Jay Manuel Beauty products?

The categories were developed from years of working with women and realizing they really do put themselves in these categories. This was a very important part of developing the line, that everything has these three pillars. When most women approach a new line of cosmetics, it’s overwhelming, and it’s important to be able to find your personality. A woman would know if she’s Classic, Iconic or Avant-Garde, so I’ve done all of the shade work and product categories that speak specifically to those women, and it helps to personalize the process.

I’ve also created a free mobile app called ‘Jay Manuel Beauty’ that helps you demystify the whole foundation and product selection process. The app is powered by Plum Perfect, which has a patented shade selector. It will tell you exactly which Filter Finish coverage shades you need to have. From there, it will ask you if you’re Classic, Iconic or Avant-Garde, and it’ll pull up the shades that match your skin tones and the color of your hair and eyes. There’s also a “Mix” button so you can get new shade suggestions and even switch your category to shake things up. When you’re done, you can save the products to your wish list go to purchase them.

What is one product every woman should have in her purse?

Knowing the importance of a great lash that's never crunchy and dry, I created Jay Manuel Beauty's The Everything Mascara. It has a telescopic applicator wand that will give you length AND volume as you desire in one tube. With a twist on the handle you can go from day flirty lashes to night pumped up volume!

The Jay Manuel Beauty line can be purchased HERE.

Article originally published on Forbes.com.