Anastasia Beverly Hills: 25 Tips for Creating a Global Brand
Anastasia Soare is the icon behind the widely popular makeup brand Anastasia Beverly Hills. She is largely credited for creating what has become an important part of the beauty industry – anything that has to do with eyebrows. From getting the perfect shape to products that fill in and define your brows Soare pioneered this beauty segment in the nineties.
A minority investment by TPG Capital in the brand in 2018 valued Anastasia Beverly Hills at $2.5 billion. If you are curious about how Soare built an empire consider these 25 tips for success from a compilation of interviews with the beauty maven herself.
On getting started
1. “For a year or a year-and-a-half I was trying to figure out the perfect [brow] shape, so I didn't charge anybody. I was doing facials and body waxing, and after a year I started charging for eyebrows because people started coming back getting their eyebrows done, even the makeup artists at Neiman Marcus [which was across the street.] I started charging $10.”
2. “I decided by '95 or '96 to open a salon. In my mind I said, I didn't come to the U.S. to be in one little room and pluck eyebrows and squeeze pimples. I opened a salon in Beverly Hills, and at that time there were no products for brows. It was the only boutique salon that did eyebrow services. In 1998 I went to Italy and talked to a lab and started making my own products. We had brow pomade, brow powder, brow gel, tweezers, scissors.”
On the inspiration behind her success
3. “In my lectures at art school, we started learning about Leonardo di Vinci’s theory on the Golden Ratio and divine proportion, which claim that there is a mathematical formula to how the human body is made up. I studied these theories, along with architecture, before starting beauty school in 1989, and I began applying them to make-up and women’s faces. I started developing a technique on how to shape brows according on your bone structure. I knew there had to be a mathematical equation to get that perfect proportion.”
On having a vision
4. “I don’t know if I had a clear vision at that time. I knew I wanted to be significant, to do something that I loved that would be important, but at the beginning I didn’t know what I was longing to do. I think I was able to transform my passion into a job. Or maybe I got the job and it became my passion – I don’t exactly know the answer. Sometimes you hear that people have this plan – I didn’t. It’s hard to explain, but I’m sure every immigrant could relate to similar challenges.”
On following your dreams
5. “My dream was that every single woman on planet earth should have the opportunity to do eyebrows and fill them in. It organically grew to where we are today.”
6. “If I was able to do it – without speaking English, being in a new country with a kid – then anyone can do it.”
7. “After 30 years later … I am where I am because of course I work hard, and because I had a dream.”
On how to succeed
8. “Everything we do needs to be exceptional - if it’s not exceptional we don’t put it out there, because the biggest high for us is when we read comments from our customers saying that they can’t live without them.”
9. “Don’t worry about being famous or making money; the most important thing is being the best. You have to become a master of your craft, and everything else will come.”
On rejection
10. “My landlord—he was an interesting character—was like, ‘Get out of here. This is Beverly Hills. You can’t make money doing eyebrows.’ No one believed me.”
11. “So I decided to rent a room at a salon and start my own business. Everybody thought I was out of my mind. Number one, I don’t speak the language. Number two, there are people who are born in this country that don’t have their own businesses, and I here I try to open my own business. 'I don’t care,' I told myself. I have to do it. I came here to be relevant, to be significant, and I wanted to do more than I did in Romania. I worked seven days a week in the salon from 9am to 10pm every day. By '94, Vogue wrote the first article about this woman ‘Anastasia’ who does eyebrows.”
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12. “First of all, do your homework. You have to be the best and believe in your product. And you should not have a fear of being rejected, because you will be rejected. But if you believe in your products you should fight.”
On never giving up
13. “In this country, you have so many opportunities. That’s why I worked so hard.” “I think coming from another country where you never have opportunities, I saw those. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to sleep three hours a night and work more. You could achieve so much.”
14. “Never give up, and never take no for an answer. Skills you can learn, experience you can gain, but determination and passion will be your guiding lights.”
On believing in yourself
15. “People didn’t believe that eyebrows were a business.” “I believed in it, and I think that’s enough. If you believe it, you can do it.” “My father died when I was 12, so [my mother] wanted me to help her with the business.” “She said: ‘you are smart, I’m going to teach you. You can do whatever you want.’ I think the confidence that she gave me helped me to be where I am today.”
On the importance of excellence
16. “Years ago there were 50 brands, now there are 500 brands. Quality sets them apart and the brands that are authentic have something unique to offer. People in the beauty community don’t like copycats, so I think it’s important to stay true to who you are and people will stay your customer.”
17. “Stay committed to quality, and never launch anything you’re not in love with yourself. “
18. “In my opinion, you need to be the best in whatever you want to do. Do your work. Learn. Maybe work for another company that you can learn from.”
On finding the right product market fit
19. “Every product I make has been designed to solve a problem. We only make products that we are 100 percent in love with. We usually have about 100 products in the lab.”
20. “It was while doing facial and body waxing that I noticed a glaring gap in the market — no one was paying attention to eyebrows! I began to offer brow shaping as a separate service. Demand soared, and I went from renting a room in a salon to opening my own salon. Just like that, I had found my niche.”
On staying relevant
21. “I like to think outside of the box, be alert and learn from young people. I used to read a lot of books and now I read a lot of comments; what customers like, what they don’t. Every day I want to learn. Fans are the people that I work for, the customers are my boss!”
On a turning point in her career
22. “A surreal moment that was also a major turning point was when Oprah brought me onto the Oprah Winfrey Show to do her brows on live national television. After it aired, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing at the salon for months. She is still a client of mine, and also a dear friend.”
On building an empire
23. “I think they should take it slow and be authentic. You should be passionate.” “If you do it for the money, it never comes out well.”
24. “Start step by step. I didn’t start being a big company in the beginning.” “You go to the bank for loans when nobody knows about you. I had to shape eyebrows and work... Those are probably challenges that everybody faces.”
On creating the perfect eyebrow
25. “I really believe the eyebrow can give you a totally different look. In art school I had a teacher who emphasized that if you want to draw a portrait and change the emotion, just change the eyebrow.”
"Brows should begin directly above the middle of your nostrils. The highest point of the arch should align with the tip of the nose and the middle of the iris. Brows should end where the outer edge of the nostril connects with the outer corner of the eye."