"I was actually selling out of my backpack. That's how the story started," says Shaina Azad founder and CEO of Suva Beauty, a Metro Vancouver brand with a connection to one of the most popular TV series of the last two years.
HBO's Euphoria, a neon-noir teen drama, introduced SUVA beauty's signature Hydra Liners to the mainstream with makeup artist Doniella Davy.
Davy used the brand's products to create bold, colourful and graphic looks that have sparked countless articles and trend reports heralding this style of makeup as the next big thing.
Now, the showrunners have launched their own brand but the products supplied for seasons one and two came from Vancouver's very own Suva Beauty, which has been setting the trend for colour cosmetics since 2015.
"I literally had all of my products in my backpack," recalls Azad, who was a full-time professional makeup artist at the time. She's worked on Superbowl commercials and she was also the makeup artist for celebrities like David Hasselhoff at one point. "I'd go on to all of the sets and I would just be selling to my TV and film friends. And then we just kind of blew up," she says, "because I love marketing. And I love video content and photo content."
Azad's eye-catching colours paired with her stunning makeup skills were perfect Instagram fodder. It helped the company go viral more than once.
Now, Suva has a dedicated following on Instagram and in real life. The products have appeared on CW shows like the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Riverdale, and Supergirl and on celebrities such as singer Doja Cat and actresses Keke Palmer and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
But so few people know they're from Vancouver, according to Azad.
"It was like this huge U.S. base that just flocked to us, which is why a lot of our base is in the U.S. and a lot of Canadians don't know that we're actually Canadian."
Azad says she's trying to combat this and connect more with the community in Metro Vancouver and the rest of Canada. Over the weekend, Suva Beauty's offices and warehouse out in Surrey held a crazy sale where people were given three minutes to fill a box with as much product as they could while still being able to close the box.
The line to get in stretched down the block with many people getting back in line after to do it all again. While people waited, Azad had several photo-ops set up where she painted rainbow and galaxy installations using only the Suva Beauty products. One of Suva's collections is dedicated to UV products that glow under a black light. One of the rooms literally glowed in the dark.
"I really wanted to kind of shout it out and let people know that we're here," says Azad. She says the event was the first annual 'Fill Your Box' sale. People who missed it can expect to have an opportunity next year.
Suva wasn't an overnight success, the entrepreneur says. Azad worked hard to create a professional-grade pigmented colour makeup brand that not only appeals to the creativity in people but is paraben-free, eye-safe, vegan and cruelty-free. Azad has even taught a class about cosmetic chemistry at the University of Texas.
"We've been doing it first, we've been doing it forever," she says. "We've had a lot of imitators, which is actually quite nice because I get flattered by that."
Azad is first and foremost an artist, having sold her first painting at 10 years old. She says that a lot of the brand's influence comes from its namesake, Suva, her hometown and the capital of Fiji.
"It's very full, it's colourful, it's island life. And so a lot of people get that kind of vibe of the bold, opaque colour. And it comes through with the artistry of the product."
@vancouverisawesome @editorialallie got to discover the magical world of Vancouver makeup brand @suvabeauty #vancouverisstyling #suvabeauty #vancouverbrand ♬ Formula - Labrinth
