Image Source: Courtesy of Lisa Jauregui
Even if you’re unfamiliar with Lisa Jauregui, you’ve likely come across her brand, BK Beauty, on TikTok. It’s not uncommon to see numerous videos of people sharing how the A506 Concealer Brush ($24) changed their undereye routines or how the 109 Foundation Brush ($32) made them officially give up makeup sponges. While the brand is known for the tools that it carries, the co-founder was first introduced to the world of beauty through her grandmother.
“Her name was Frances and she was my beauty inspiration,” Jauregui tells POPSUGAR. “She was a glamorous woman and she never left the house ‘without her face on,’ as she used to say.” This, coupled with the fact that Jauregui was an avid fan of Mary Kay – she would beg her mother to host beauty parties for her and her friends, even though neither knew any brand representatives – was the start of a career in beauty. But Jauregui says she almost didn’t pursue it.
“I started officially in the industry when I was about 18 or 19 years old,” Jauregui says. “I got a job at the MAC counter as a makeup artist because I simply loved cosmetics.” Though the role was only supposed to serve as supplementary income throughout college, when she left to work in advertising, she realized how deeply she had fallen in love with the industry. “I had this really strong passion for makeup and I wasn’t willing to let it go,” she says. This “miserable” advertising experience led to her working as a makeup artist on the weekends to keep the creative juices flowing. While she looks back on her time in corporate America and wonders why she didn’t just take a leap of faith to pursue makeup artistry full-time, Jauregui admits that the time helped her build BK Beauty into what it is today. Still, it was becoming a mother that really catapulted her business into what it is today.
“I was going through these big life changes,” Jauregui says. “I was in my early 30s, then I became a mom and I started reevaluating my ideas around beauty.” In the past, Jauregui says that she used makeup to make her feel pretty, and her appearance really affected her self-esteem; she didn’t want to pass down that constant roller coaster of emotions to her children.
“Aside from my daughters being named Brooklyn and Kate, the BK in the brand name stands for beauty is kindness,” she says. “After having children, I started to do my own self-work and figured out what it meant to love and accept myself the way I am. In turn, I got more comfortable not being in full makeup all the time and that inspired this journey to launch BK Beauty. I want my children to know that not only do you need to be kind to others but you need to be kind to yourself, too.”
“I want my children to know that not only do you need to be kind to others but you need to be kind to yourself, too.”
After a successful first launch with just nine brushes, Jauregui’s husband, Paul, quit his job to lead the brand’s marketing efforts. Just five years later, BK Beauty has grown to heights beyond the couple’s wildest dreams. “TikTok was a huge inflection point for us last year,” Jauregui says. They joined the app in August 2023 when the platform launched its beta rewards program designed to help creators generate higher revenue potential by posting high-quality, original content. “By September or October, it was making up 15 to 20 percent of the business,” she says Today, 50 percent of BK Beauty orders come from the TikTok Shop. “One of the great things about being a smaller brand is we’re really agile and we can figure things out as we go,” Jauregui says. “This has helped us keep that momentum from the beginning and TikTok continues to be hugely impactful for the business.”
Though Jauregui has big plans for the future of BK Beauty – color cosmetics may be coming sooner than you think – what she’s looking forward to the most is the transformation of the beauty industry as a whole. “We’re seeing such a shift already, but I want the industry to continue spreading the message of inner beauty,” Jauregui says. “Everyone needs to know that makeup is fun and can be a confidence booster, but it’s also creative and an art form that you’re meant to just have fun with. It should never be used to hide who you are, but [instead] as a tool that can be used for self-acceptance.”
