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into the beauty industry because I am the ultimate consumer. I live and dream in color cosmetics, and I can never imagine myself doing anything else. FRIEDMAN: I love working in industries that help people—and especially women—feel good about themselves. I recently came from the fashion industry where we designed and manufactured fashion bags. Our largest category was cosmetics bags; so this was a natural transition. Would you please share the history behind NYX Cosmetics and the story behind its name? Toni K.: I started NYX in 1999 with only one goal in my mind—to provide the best quality cosmetics with the best price, and to offer the best service to every woman in the world. I researched long and hard for the perfect name to express my passion for beauty. When I came across NYX, I immediately fell in love. I grew up reading Greek mythology, and NYX is the ancient Greek Goddess of Night—and, to me, the ultimate glorification of beauty. work part. The toughest moments were the moments when I couldn't persuade some of the suppliers to believe in NYX. A vendor in China finally decided to give me a chance about three years in and extended me a line of credit, which really helped me. What was the moment when you knew NYX would be a hit? Toni K.: One week after the launch of the first item. I started with only one item and one distributor initially. But after just one week of the product being on the shelves, I started to receive calls from other distributors asking me if I would be able to supply them with the item. The item was the lip liner and eyeliner pencils, and it was a phenomenal success. How does the partnership between the two of you benefit the company? Toni K.: Scott is the corporate mind, and I'm the creative. I know what the consumer wants. Friedman: We're here for our customers and have a structure designed to meet our goals. The people on our team help to support the mission. Toni started the company as a one-woman show. We brought in people for positions that didn't exist before. customer at a time. This has resulted in placement at thousands of professional beauty stores. However, there have been four pivotal partnerships that have boosted our growth. The first is with the beauty supplies and distributors. If it were not for this group of partners giving NYX a chance, we would not be here today. Beauty supplies were, and are, the roots of the company and the foundation upon which the company has grown. The second is the partnership with the early adopters and industry influencers, which includes professional makeup artists, bloggers and vloggers, who use and endorse NYX products through passion and personal experience. The testimonials and tutorials have created more than 1 billion YouTube impressions for the NYX brand, making it the fastest-growing cosmetics brand in the world today. The third partnership in terms of boosting growth was ULTA Beauty. They gave us a chance, and as a result of the success of our products at store level, women can now purchase approximately 1,000 different NYX products at ULTA Beauty stores throughout the country. One additional partnership is Douglas Perfumerie based in Germany. Douglas is a leading, high-end, professional-beauty chain with more than 1,000 stores in Europe. We are now in more than 200 stores in four European countries and will be in several hundred more stores and additional countries by the end of this year. What is your mission for NYX cosmetics? Toni K.: At NYX, we only have one mission: NYX Cosmetics' corporate headquarters in Los Angeles features a new showroom. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting the company? Toni K.: Getting the suppliers to give the Have there been any pivotal partnerships that boosted the company's growth? Friedman: We are grateful to all of our brand a chance. Of course, it was hard work—but I actually enjoyed the hard professional partners since our company has been built on word of mouth one 44 March 2013 | beautystorebusiness.com To deliver the best-quality cosmetics at the best price and have fun while doing it. Friedman: My mission is to be true to the NYX brand. As we grow we are able to focus even more energy on new products, exceptional quality and attractive packaging, all at attractive pricing. We are here for our customers. Our goal is for women to have fun, feel good about the way they look and feel wonderful when they use NYX Cosmetics. We want to give them a solution, regardless of the occasion. We also want to make it easier for women to find our products in the market, but we do not want to be on every corner. The Curve has been a huge hit for NYX. How does the corporate team help to support your vision? Friedman: I am so grateful to the members of our team. We truly have a wonderful workforce. They are passionate about beauty and bring a wealth of experience to their positions. We have recently attracted some additional talent to the company, including product development, operations, marketing, regulatory, international and domestic sales. I am most pleased to see how well the team collaborates. Toni built a very good team based on respect for each employee, and the new team members fit right into that environment. Please tell us about your product offerings and some of the bestselling items. Toni K.: At NYX, we have more than 2,000 SKUs. We are the only brand in the professional masstige category that offers such a wide selection of SKUs, and we are very proud of it. NYX is a professional makeup brand, and we feel it is necessary to carry an extensive color library. We offer something for everybody. The best-selling items are always the classic items, such as black eyeliners, Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, red lipsticks and natural lip glosses. We recently launched an item called The Curve. It is a felt-tip eyeliner that has a special ergonomic grip. NYX was the very first brand to launch such a distinctive shape with unmatched quality, and this item is a phenomenal success for us. As soon as we launched, the items were sold out within one week. All images courtesy of NYX Cosmetics BSB: What inspired you to get into the beauty industry? TONI K.: It was very natural for me to get