While IT Cosmetics offers a full range of products, it’s the brand’s brushes that I absolutely cannot get enough of. The brand has a brush for every feature and/or technique and they are of supreme quality, from the fluffy bristles to the handles. Hit an ULTA store and tickle your finger tips by running them through the display and you will be blown away by how divinely soft they are.
Because of my obsession with the brushes —and it is an actual obsession, since I have incorporated them into my daily routine and love using them—I knew I had to pick the beautiful brain of brand founder Jamie Kern Lima. I have since become an “IT Girl,” which the brand’s customers have christened themselves.
She truly cares about women and their beauty regimens and giving them the affordable tools to expose their natural beauty rather than just covering up their skin. Get to know her and her brand. You will be glad you did. Her enthusiasm and passion for what she does leaps off the screen. Can you feel it?
BN: What is your favorite product that you have created?
JAMIE: This is the hardest question because at IT, we only launch products that we truly believe will change women’s lives. The product I get the most life-changing stories about would be either Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer or our CC+ Cream. So, if I have to choose one, it’s our Your Skin But Better™ CC+ Cream because it truly is everything your skin needs – complete skin care, full coverage, and SPF 50+ Physical Only Sunscreen – all in one step. It actually starts its life as skincare, and we’ve infused full coverage into it. I have rosacea and hyperpigmentation and I feel like I’ve spent most of my life trying every foundation and concealer out there and they almost all crease and crack and make us look older, especially if you need coverage. Our CC+ cream gives full coverage but is developed to make your skin look younger instead of older, so it’s really so different than anything else out there.
BN: What is your favorite product you didn’t create and why?
JAMIE: I love the Clarisonic. The product itself is amazing, but I am always inspired when other entrepreneurs change the game in beauty, which rarely happens. Dr. Robb and the Clarisonic team took something as traditional as cleansing and completely changed the way we do it.
BN: One IT product every woman needs in her makeup bag and why?
JAMIE: Bye Bye Pores Pressed Silk Airbrush Poreless Finishing Powder is one of those products that, after the first time you use it ,you wonder where it has been all your life! It is airbrushing in a compact. It’s completely translucent and perfect for all skin tones, Bye Bye Pores Powder is formulated to blur away the look of pores and imperfections, giving you smoother looking, velvety soft skin. It’s talc-free so it doesn’t make skin look dry or ashy. This is the easiest way to absorb excess oil and keep your makeup flawless all day. And on those no-makeup days, you can just dust this over your skin and get the airbrushed finish in an instant.
BN: Okay, I have to ask about the brushes. What is your favorite IT brush?
JAMIE: The Heavenly Luxe Dual Ended Complexion Perfection Brush is our best-selling brush and it’s definitely my favorite brush; it’s an application powerhouse. The smaller end is ideal for precision application, like applying concealer under your eyes or around your nose. The larger end is perfect for applying your favorite foundation —liquid, powder, or cream— effortlessly onto your skin. Building a brush wardrobe is really important to make the most of your makeup. But if I had to recommend one brush to start with, this is it.
BN: What is your favorite drugstore product?
JAMIE: Secret Clinical Deodorant. I am live on TV on-air on QVC and do more than 200 shows a year. Under the hot lights of the set, this stuff really works!
BN: Do you have a favorite splurge product?
JAMIE: I used to splurge and spend hundreds of dollars on face and eye creams —and then my husband would apply them to his elbows and it would drive me crazy. But now I am obsessed with IT Cosmetics Confidence in a Cream™ and so that’s what I use every day. Now the only thing I splurge on when it comes to beauty is when I travel. I travel about 90% of my time for work right now, and I try to take a moment whenever I can in different cities around the world to splurge on new spa treatments whenever I can. One of my recent faves was trying a cold spoon facial in Korea. It also inspired our CC+ Eye Cream with a cold spoon tip.
BN: What is your favorite scent?
JAMIE: I love fragrance and love collecting fragrance. One thing I notice is, even with a counter of really fun fragrances that I love to switch up, I often still reach for Philosophy Pure Grace.
BN: One universal beauty tip or technique you can share with our readers?
JAMIE: Don’t underestimate the power of your eyebrows! Your eyebrows are the only feature on your face that give you your frame of symmetry, and symmetry is what equates to beauty in the human eye. Just doing your brows, even if it is the only thing you do each day, instantly makes you your most beautiful you, because it’s your frame of symmetry, and hence it’s your beauty.
Choosing a brow pencil that matches your hair color, adheres to skin, and looks like real hair is key. Brow Power™ is our number one selling product, and I think it’s because it not only does all of those things, it also literally does give you the power to be your most beautiful you. I am so passionate about this that we actually partnered with Look Good Feel Better, and for every Brow Power pencil we sell, we donate one to go to women in the program to help them face the effects of cancer with more confidence. We’ve donated over $5 Million in Brow Power pencils to date.
BN:IT stands for “Innovative Technology” and was developed with leading plastic surgeons. What is the philosophy regarding the brand and its products?
JAMIE: When I set out to create IT Cosmetics, my entire mission was to create game changing products that when in the hands of real women everywhere, would give them life changing results whether for skin, brows, lashes or lips. Because nothing I had ever tried, even at the highest price points, ever worked for me, so I knew it had to be different from what has ever been done. Because I partner with plastic surgeons and dermatologists, experts in skin rejuvenation and aesthetics, we look at makeup completely differently at IT Cosmetics. We start each product as skincare first and then infuse color and coverage into it after. The results are skin changing for so many IT Girls —our customers call themselves IT Girls, so amazing! Most of our customers don’t have any skin issues at all, but they use IT Cosmetics because they can achieve coverage without it looking like they’re wearing makeup and the thing I hear most often is ‘I get compliments on my skin, not my makeup’ and to me, that is everything!!!
I believe that great makeup can give you great skin…and set out to create a company that truly makes IT happen.
BN: What is your main beauty philosophy?
JAMIE: I truly believe in every ounce of my being that every woman is beautiful, and that every woman deserves to look and feel her most beautiful. I remove my makeup live on TV and QVC in our 250+ shows a year mainly to be brave and to hopefully inspire women to know that if they do have a skin issue, whether it’s hyperpigmentation or redness or anything else, so do I. And so do SO many of us! And we are all in this together. And it’s never about coverage or covering issues, but rather its about feeling beautiful and finding products that truly give you your most beautiful skin and help you look and feel like your most beautiful you. That is truly our mission at IT Cosmetics.
BN: What trends are you seeing for spring?
JAMIE: Always being on trend, no matter how many times they change in a year, is to focus on the unwavering features of beauty. Great skin. Symmetrical brows. The perfect timeless youthful pink to your lips and cheeks. Long lush lashes. Celebrating your natural beauty and calling the attention to your most beautiful features will always be on trend. And one fun color trend happening this spring is pastels. Soft pinks and blues are big. Both are the Pantone Colors of the Year also. Those can be fun added to your beauty routines especially for lips. Our Je Ne Sais Quoi is your perfect soft pink for lips, and our News Anchor Blue Lip Gloss counteracts yellow giving the illusion of a brighter whiter smile.
BN: The IT brushes are gold standard. Can you summarize what sets your brushes apart from the others? They are so luxe and are worthwhile investment pieces. Can you explain why?
JAMIE: When it comes to great skin, makeup and skin care get a lot of the credit. But BRUSHES play a much bigger role than many people realize. All IT Cosmetics brushes are custom cut and feature proprietary micro-fine luxe hair that gives you streak-free, perfectly flawless application every time no matter what brand of makeup you use them with though hopefully it’s IT Cosmetics!
Each brush features an extremely high hair count that ensures plush touch for perfect coverage and airbrush finish. And the custom cut brush heads are like a designer haircut and hug your features for complexion perfection. It’s important to know that what makes IT Brushes different goes beyond how they each expertly and effortless apply your makeup, but also every brush is 100% synthetic and cruelty-free.
Our brush hairs are anti-bacterial and anti-microbial, custom cut and ideal for even the most sensitive skin. Many of our brushes have 50,000 or more hairs densely packed into each head and the result is when you apply your makeup, it literally applies in a way that makes your pores appear minimized; skin texture issues like fine lines appear smoother, and all from a brush. We designed each and every brush to truly love your skin and to give you your most beautiful skin. What I love most is no matter what brand of makeup you wear, when you apply it with an IT Cosmetics brush you really do see a huge difference even the very first time you use one.
