The Ment

In honor of the end of Being Mary Jane (#TeamMJ) we are bringing you the top 5 reasons why we're obsessed with Gabrielle Union. She's our flawless fun girl next door and we've highlighted all the ways we're in love!

Reason 1: She simply doesn't age and we're her witness. From her debut performance as Katie in She's All That (1999) to her latest Instagram post in 2017, she's ageing like a pro. 

Reason 2: Can we say #bodygoals? She's inspired us all to stay motivated and stay fit. Those abs, those arms, those curves oh my!

Reason 3: She keeps it cute! Whether it's street style, red carpet, or just fancy celebrity outings, Gabrielle is our style guide.

Reason 4: She's a #boss. She's directing films, creating a hair care line for textured hair, writing books, and so much more. We're loving her entrepreneurial spirit and her drive to build a empire.

Reason 5: She always rocks the perfect nude lip! Shop some of our favorite Gabby Union looks.

Victoria Reese

I'm a Brand Architect at Victor Group, my brand and creative consultancy. In my role, I help major brands enforce their connection to their audience. Brands partner with me to curate an authentic experience for our shared audience. I love creating Brand Partnerships, creatively directing content and storytelling. Last year, I created an online store called BAUS, where we believe that your environment has EVERYTHING to do with your inner peace, productivity and success! I get to hand-make products to create that environment for women who simply want to dominate their universe. I battle with Multiple Sclerosis but I fight back by advocating through a campaign I recently launched called #WeAreILLmatic.

What does it meant to be BAUS? Well, I started BAUS because I saw a void. I wanted certain products that weren't available to me or didn't quite match my personal style. I'm a girly girl at times (I'm an AKA, I got it honest) but at the same time... I'm a hustler and a guy’s girl at heart. I'm not super dainty and I’m definitely not a tea party kinda girl. I’m really big on sustaining peace of mind and I like to be constantly inspired. At BAUS, I create products that give me the pinks but also give me that hard core, rough around the edge feel (like an army fatigue jacket). I like clever or smart aleck gestures on my personal belongings that can speak for me when I don't feel like talking. And I want things that simply make my life better, easier, or more productive. I realized that I wasn’t the only one who craved those types of products. My goals are lofty and bold, so I made products that represent me.

Being BAUS is an entire lifestyle, not just products. Our goal here is to support anyone who wants a better quality of life. A BAUS woman is a natural born winner but wants her friends to win too. She craves inspiration and always strives for better quality of life. She practices self-care: Mind, body and soul. She knows that her body is her temple and despite being super busy, she prioritizes taking care of herself. I thought I’d share my beauty-routine. 

A BAUS woman is a natural born winner but wants her friends to win too.

SKINCARE

I keep it pretty simple in this department. I have sensitive skin and don't need super strong products to get the job done. I just love CLEAN skin! People ask me quite often about my skincare regimen and I try to be as specific as possible because it's just that serious! For my face, I'm very faithful to Neutrogena products! We go way back and I'm very loyal. (Hello Neutrogena??!! Holla at me!) I just can't go wrong when using their products. My daily regimen includes washing my face with Neutrogena's Fresh Foaming Cleanser and their Alcohol-Free Toner. Since a moisturized face is a must, my go-to moisturizer is Olay's Complete All Day UV Moisturizer SPF 15 Sensitive Skin - It's pretty old school but if it ain't broke don't fix it! At night, I use Neutrogena's Oil Free Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes and their Healthy Skin Eye Cream (for under my eyes). It's very important for me to stay far away from oils on my face! I try to mask weekly and I've been going back and forth between Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque and a CVS brand.

MAKEUP

Daily, I throw on some tinted moisturizer, lashes or mascara and a lippie - Then I'm out! I'm a busy girl who loves to have a makeup-less look, so this will do most days! NARS Tinted Moisturizer has been my go-to for the past four years and I'm super loyal here. It just covers where it needs to and somehow just KNOWS where those areas are. I also use NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer! It's a must-have in any busy girls makeup bag. So, I have to admit that I've jumped on the Mented Cosmetics bandwagon as well! I mean, you just can't go wrong with these shades! I typically only wear lippies that fall in the nude family everyday because I really love the natural beauty look! My favs are Brand Nude (obvi!) and Dope Taupe.

BODY

Here's goes this Neutrogena plug again but I just can't help it! I've been using Dove's Unscented Bar Soap for years but I have to do a second lather using Neutrogena's Rain Bath Body Wash! Smells absolutely amazing!! I use exfoliating gloves to give my skin that extra clean feel. Since I turned 30, I've made moisturizing my skin a PRIORITY! I've been using NIVEA's Skin Firming Body Lotion and Dove's Advanced Care Antiperspirant Deodorant.

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From the moment Fenty Beauty, Rihanna’s new cosmetics line, launched, we’ve received variations of the same question: “Is Mented worried now that Fenty is on the market?”

Worried?? We’re ECSTATIC.

First of all, let’s just acknowledge that Rihanna is a force to be reckoned with and we are thrilled to be mentioned in the same sentence as her, in any capacity really.

Second, Amanda and I have said this from the beginning: we built this brand because we believe every woman should be able to find herself in the world of beauty. Traditional brands have failed at making this industry a welcoming place for women of color, and that’s where we stepped in. But the great thing about beauty is that it isn’t a winner-takes-all market — there’s room for many of us, and in our book any brand that’s shining a brighter light on the need for more diversity in beauty is a brand we can rock with.

Now let’s be clear — this is still a business, and we’re still focused on giving our consumers the best products on the market. We understand the importance of creating a competitive advantage (hello, business school!), but we also love being a part of an industry that’s always changing, always innovating, and always giving the consumer reasons to buy more. The fact is, we don’t have to convince you to throw out all of your other lipsticks in order to buy ours. And how many of us have rushed to buy a new eyeshadow palette before even coming close to finishing the 3 we already own? For us, being the best doesn’t mean shutting down every competitor — it means giving you the absolute best products and prioritizing you and your melanin every step of the way.

It’s looking like Rihanna’s on board with that mission — and that means we’re on board with Fenty Beauty.

With Lipstick and Love,

KJ

We are such a colorful people. Not only physically with our beautiful range of melanin kissed skin, but also culturally. We create the best memes, the best colloquial phrases, and interact with each other in a comfortable and familial way quickly. And I’m talking about all of us. I “yasss gurl” with women of color everywhere and we all get it. We are no monolith, but somehow, we were all blessed with the gifts of gab and harmless shade.

All of us are trying to find ourselves in the world of beauty the best we know how. It’s been incredible to watch as we create a community around Mented. The brand began as the brainchild of my co-founder and me. We wanted two things; great products meant for us and an engaged community built around our type of beauty. Mented has been such a beautiful and amazing experience because of “us”. I’m talking about the southern Black girl who loves doing the most, the west coast Latina that likes to keep it simple, the midwestern South Asian girl that’s trying to glam it up, and the east coast Middle Eastern girl that needs a sophisticated look. You all have helped to make our dream a reality. 

I love the comments on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and especially Instagram about Mented. I’m not going to lie and say they are all positive (there’s always some shade) but overwhelmingly the comments are about gratitude and joy. You all love that there is a brand finally prioritizing your beauty needs and you can’t wait to share it. We LOVE when you post your pics in your favorite Mented lippie, tag a friend, tell influencers about us, and more. We are all the Mented girl, becoming stewards and ambassadors of the brand we love. We are proud that this is truly for us by us.

From the very beginning we have vigorously and rigorously set out to make a company that celebrates the beauty in all of us. We love reposting your images, videos, and great comments across all of our social channels. We created the page Your Story that highlights your images from Instagram, so be sure to keep tagging us. We also send out a monthly email titled ‘We See You’ that showcases some of your images.  This brand is not just about the founders, but it’s about all of us. We will continue to make sure we all feel valued and included in the journey of Mented.

All of that to say that I LOVE us. You all make this roller-coaster of a journey worthwhile. When I’m having a bad day or things just can’t seem to get right, I’ll read a comment that will change my outlook. So thank you for building Mented with us and being your whole colorful selves.

xoxo

Amanda

Mented Co-Founder and Co-CEO

It was our first year at AFROPUNK BK and it was unforgettable! We loved meeting each and every one of you that stopped by our booth. We debuted our lip glosses and the feedback we received was phenomenal! Summer may be coming to an end but our tour continues, next up is our Chicago Pop-Up on September 29th. RSVP Here and bring a friend! 

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I remember the first time I heard the phrase “mea culpa.” I was watching a TV show - Law & Order I believe - and one of the characters uttered these words. I didn’t know exactly what they meant, but I picked up through context clues that someone was offering a fancy-sounding apology.

And now it’s time for mine.

I’m offering this mea culpa (Latin for through my own fault) because during the first two weeks of August many of our new customers had a less-than-stellar delivery experience, and that pains me to no end. Since the day we launched we’ve striven to provide amazing customer service, and I think we’ve largely succeeded in that goal. We answer every email within 24 hours, we offer a generous exchange program so every woman can find her perfect nude, and, crucially, up until last week we shipped every product within 3 business days (and the vast majority within 1). I LOVE running a business with top-notch customer service - when we get reviews like the one below I swell with pride, because I know a business like ours lives and dies by the service it provides.

The thing about running Operations for a startup, though, is that it’s predictably unpredictable. Having launched just 7 months ago, we don’t have the benefit of years of data to help us predict when our largest volume spikes will be. And as a new company that’s been fortunate enough to receive a fair amount of attention from the press, many of those spikes are entirely out of our control, because we don’t really get a heads up when Essence is going to write the most spectacular article about our nudes and shoot our sales through the roof.

Make no mistake - I’m not complaining. I love Essence and the writers and editors who contributed to this feature. I love the writers at Allure and Teen Vogue and Bustle and Yahoo Beauty too. I love every single person who has ever written a word about Mented because they have contributed immensely to our success, and we are beyond fortunate to have received so much praise.

But this doesn’t change the fact that we are still learning how to prep for the huge swings these features can sometimes bring. If every article swung our sales the same way, we’d have a formula by now, trust me. But not all press is created equal. Sometimes you’re featured on a homepage on Friday (hello, pay day) and sales explode. Other times a great article brings lots of traffic, but few conversions. Some articles bring neither. Adjusting our inventory levels and fulfillment policies so that we are ready for any eventuality has been my number 1 project this month, and I am confident this era of 10-business-day ship times (oof) is one we will never have to speak of again...

But just in case I’m wrong (it’s happened before) please know that we are doing everything we can to deliver on our promise to you - the promise we made to always hear you, celebrate you, and prioritize you. We know delivering on that promise means giving you great products and amazing service - that’s exactly what we intend to do.

With Lipstick and Love,

KJ

Mented Co-Founder and Co-CEO