Eyeshadow Palette

I started making eyeshadow in my apartment kitchen in 2019. The first batch was a disaster. I used too much binding agent and the powder turned into a paste that cracked after two days. I threw away 47 pans that week.

My supplier in Guangzhou stopped responding to emails in March 2020. I had already paid $2,300 for pigment shipments. I spent three weeks calling their office number. Nobody picked up.

Pigment samples and color testing materials

I found a new supplier through a contact at a trade show in Shenzhen. Her name was Ms. Lin. She saved the business.

The 12-pan palette took 14 months to develop. I went through 23 different formulations for the shimmer shades alone. The factory in New Jersey rejected my first three matte samples because the texture was too chalky.

I drove to Edison four times in one month to sit with their chemist. His name was Robert. He had been making cosmetics since 1987.

The packaging was another problem. I wanted a magnetic closure. The first manufacturer quoted me $8.40 per unit. That was too high. I needed it under $4. I contacted eleven different suppliers. Most of them had minimum orders of 5,000 units. I had budget for 2,000.

I found a factory in Dongguan through Alibaba in August 2021. Their samples arrived in September. The magnet was weak. The lid fell open when I tilted the palette. I asked them to use a stronger magnet. They charged an extra $0.35 per unit. I paid it.

The shade names took me two weeks to finalize. I originally wanted to name them after neighborhoods in Brooklyn. My lawyer said I needed to check for trademark conflicts. Three of the names were already registered. I changed them to street names instead.

Brooklyn street-inspired shade naming process

I launched the palette on my website on February 14, 2022. I priced it at $42. I sold 89 units in the first week. That was lower than I expected. I had projected 150. My Instagram following was 3,400 at that time.

I sent free palettes to 15 influencers. Only 4 of them posted about it. One of them had 45,000 followers. Her post brought 200 visitors to my site. 11 of them purchased.

The reviews came in slowly. A customer in Texas said the burgundy shade was too orange on her skin. A customer in Toronto said the packaging felt cheap. I read every single review. I saved them in a spreadsheet.

Customer feedback tracking and analysis

I reformulated the burgundy shade in June. I added more red oxide pigment. The new version looked closer to the original swatch photos. I did not change the packaging. The cost would have been too high.

I am working on the second palette now. It will have 9 pans instead of 12. The smaller size keeps the price under $35. I have been testing formulations since November. The factory sent me new shimmer samples last week. Two of them are close to what I want.