We ask questions like who are we talking to on our live channels and what charities are we donating to? Are they trans-focused? Or are we donating to Black communities? In our flagship store we showcase other brands and a majority of them are queer and/or BIPOC-owned. On the outside, we’re really celebrating what these communities look like 90-95 percent of my models have been from queer, trans, non-binary, and/or BIPOC communities. Since I’ve had the luxury of hiring a larger team, we have really ensured that we are hiring an array of queer, BIPOC individuals that really bring NOTO into function. Tell me how about inclusivity and diversity fits into your brand.ĭiversity and inclusion has to start at the core of who your hires are. I think these stances and missions are what make supporting a beauty brand worthwhile for customers today. All brands should stand for clean ingredients, diversity and inclusion, social justice, and safer environmental practices at this point. Today, where people put their money is ultimately a vote for what they believe in. I think the purpose of any beauty brand in the coming years will be much bigger than the surface level outcome. When I started my brand - at the core of it - it was ultimately a stance and a belief. What is the purpose of a beauty brand in 2020? I paid my first employee by having her do makeup on a client while on set for me! I feel like NOTO is just beginning because the last two and a half years is when I’ve truly been able to grow my team and conceptualize things. The first three years of NOTO were really a side hustle for me. I started out making twelve pots of Hydro Highlighter in my kitchen at a time. In a lot of ways it still feels like the brand is a baby, because we’ve just grown so much recently. How do you feel at the five-year mark of owning a beauty brand? I was asking myself, “Why aren’t we being shown?” As a queer person, I felt there was a giant gap in that space for me and my friends. But when I was taking time off in Thailand, I looked around the landscape and, remember this was six years ago, there were hardly any clean beauty brands using minimalist packaging and advertising and definitely far fewer featuring queer and/or BIPOC people in their advertising at that time. At first I didn’t think the world needed another beauty brand. Tell me what does NOTO stand for as a company and how did it get started?Īround ten years into being a makeup artist I had to ask myself, “Is this an industry I still want to be a part of?” The answer was not necessarily in the capacity that I was at that time. Here, Noto speaks with Elite Daily about stay-at-home beauty looks, rapid changes in the beauty sector, and inclusivity. “It’s about the collective experience when it comes to products.” And all of this, Noto says, makes the daily grind of running and expanding NOTO worth it. “Beauty is not so vapid or self-indulgent anymore,” Noto says. Sheer, minimalist offerings such as the Hydra Highlighter Stick and Moisture Riser Cream build on Noto’s distinctive “no makeup makeup look” and put a greater emphasis on how the products make you feel over how you look. It also helps that NOTO’s products are really, really good. This year alone, NOTO has raised money for the LGBTQ organization Project Q and featured up-and-coming POC-owned brands in its brick-and-mortar storefront in LA. NOTO Botanics stands out for its inclusive and charity-focused approach to beauty and products that feature all-natural ingredients. I was a hired hand.” She no longer felt the same sparks of creativity and artistry as when she flipped through the work of 90s makeup legend Kevin Aucoin as a post-grad art student, figuring out what to do next with her life, so she decided to create the brand she wished was in the market herself. Then I was expected to do makeup changes in under ten minutes. “Before, I had time to focus on my craft. In 2016, Noto launched the raved-about range of clean skincare and beauty products after becoming disillusioned with how the internet and social media had utterly redefined the roles of makeup artists. The all-in approach Noto employs with running her brand represents just how personal NOTO Botanics is to her. “Just the life of running a business,” she says, followed by a hearty laugh. Gloria Noto, a makeup artist with over 15 years of experience and work featured in i-D and Dazed, has faced her share of challenges this year but has found ways to adapt. Running a beauty company remotely during a pandemic is not easy.
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