NOMAD Shadow Case
Husband and wife team Antti and Felicia Rintanen are the creators of Nomad Cosmetics, a high-performance cosmetic line inspired by captivating destinations they’ve traveled. The line caters to those who love to explore and discover.
Congrats on a fantastic cosmetics line! Why the name Nomad?
Nomad Cosmetics: Thank you it means a lot to us! The name Nomad is the essence of who we both are as individuals and also what brings our love of experiencing new cultures and destinations together. From living and traveling around the world, we have learned you can find beauty everywhere. That inspires us.
Thinking of what is our next stage in life should be (baby, dog, or starting our brand); the brand won! We’ve been blessed to experience a lot of beauty in our lives which helped us create Nomad Cosmetics.
The focus is to capture and highlight the local culture of the different destinations we love. We also wanted to make sure it wasn’t just about the most favorable locations known to everyone and include some distant travel destinations.
You are a husband and wife team, which is different in the cosmetics world. Tell us how your professional partnership was established?
Nomad Cosmetics: We met while working together for Procter and Gamble in Geneva, Switzerland at Max Factor Cosmetics in 2006. It was a fantastic time, and we loved every minute of the experience. During that time was the first time we did an around the world trip together traveling for three weeks to seven countries; it was crazy but so much fun. But as life would have it, Antti was transferred to Sweden, and I moved back to the US.
We finally decided our relationship was more important than our jobs, so we moved to New York City in 2009 where we got married eloped at the NYC Courthouse. We worked for a few more years and one day decided that we wanted to start the next chapter in our lives.
Antti left his job; we began Nomad Cosmetics. Antti works on Nomad full time. I still work at my full-time day job for financial reasons, but I work on Nomad on the weekends and evenings. The goal is for me, of course, to join Nomad full time once it is big enough.
How long did it take from start to launch to get the line off the ground?
Nomad Cosmetics: About eight months from concept to launch, however, we are still super small so each launch brings the line further off the ground if you will. We started with the four destinations: New York, Stockholm, Florence, and Marrakesh; all places we either lived or spent a lot of time. Now we have nine destinations represented and about to launch three more this year. It is fun to see how the brand evolves with each launch and as new consumers discover it.
“The name Nomad is the essence of who we
both are as individuals and also what brings our love
of experiencing new cultures and destinations together.”
What is your consumer market/customer profile?
Nomad Cosmetics: The broadest target for Nomad, of course, is all consumers that love makeup. A prime target is people that love bold colors, doing fun looks and appreciate the wanderlust touch of the brand. We focus on powder products as that is what we manufacturer so well and we can bring the destinations to life via colors and concepts.
We love the colors and the names. How do you choose what colors you want to create?
Nomad Cosmetics: We are inspired entirely by the destination. For instance, our Marrakesh Jardin Majorelle Eyeshadow is inspired by Yves Saint Laurent’s Garden (Jardin Majorelle) in Marrakesh. In that garden, there are various magnificent colors, but the one dominant color is a vibrant cobalt blue you could ever imagine.
After that, my job is to make sure the shade pays homage to the color it is representing. Others are more personal such as the Suite Aubergine, which was the color of our room in our Riad in the Marrakesh Medina. Of course, I make sure all of the colors work together, so I do some picking and choosing, but we let the destinations guide us.
How has social media helped your brand since its launch?
Nomad Cosmetics: Social media has been beneficial to get our name out there. The makeup community is such a beautiful, caring community. We’re blessed to have collaborators and how open, so many people are to helping us grow. Without them, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near as many beautiful pictures of our products or looks using our product. They are so creative and use the colors in combinations I would not have thought of combining. It is very inspiring to us to see someone take our product creation and bring it to a beautiful place.
Describe Nomad in 3 words.
Nomad Cosmetics: Beauty, Exploration, Destination
How do you balance family and careers (response from both)?
Nomad Cosmetics: Since it is the same family we answered together. Balance is always tough when you are an entrepreneur as there is still more you can be doing. We have to work at it consciously, and sometimes life makes you focus on balance. A year after Nomad launched in 2016, we started our family and adopted Karhu (means bear in Finnish which is Antti’s native language) our rescue puppy, and he helps us keep a bit of balance. We also make it a priority to keep ourselves healthy and workout as well as take a weekend off every once in a while. We also definitely look forward to our Friday date nights where we chat about anything but work.
NEW Marrakesh Medina Palette
Your favorite quote(s) you both live by (one quote from each)?
Felicia: For Life: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.” – Maya Angelou
For the business: “Dream Big, Work Hard, and Stay Humble.”
Antti: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Attributed to Mark Twain
What can your consumers expect next?
Nomad Cosmetics: Love this question! Lots and lots more destinations and lots and lots more colors to create fun looks. For the destinations, there may be places they may have heard of and ones that might be new to them. Also lots more exposure to new consumers. We are working with Ipsy on various events. We will participate in a significant amount of Ipsy’s glam bags so new consumers can get a sample of our cosmetics and we are participating in consumer events so we can meet with consumers and tell our story. We find the personal engagement helps consumers connect with us.
If you want to learn more and purchase these great products, please check them out on Instagram @nomadcosmetics or visit their website: www.nomadcosmetics.com
Naomi is a stylish, adventurous traveler. She’s a bit of a daredevil that loves excursions. Those that know her, call her a shoe connoisseur. She is also obsessed with music and has a playlist for just about any mood. She’s a foodie that loves a good vegetarian/vegan spot. Want to know where she is headed next… stay tuned to find out!
