Beautyblender founder and CEO Rea Ann Silva on elevating "a throwaway product"

As a makeup artist for 25 years, Rea Ann Silva was intimately familiar with the pain points for those in her line of work. She tried to avoid bringing unwieldy airbrush kits on set when she could, and worked hard to create natural-looking makeup looks for high-definition video without much product. "My main and number one concern was creating and making a product that was effective," Silva said on the Glossy Beauty Podcast of her hero makeup sponge, the Beautyblender. "I figured that my audience would be other makeup artists like myself." Millions of product sales later -- and a reported $175 million in sales for 2019 -- Silva have proven her Beautyblender is anything but a niche product. On this week's episode, Silva talked about how "retailers didn't really get" Beautyblender at first, learning from influencers and the critical opinions of her foundation launch.