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In Her Prime
Big-city living can feel like a grind, but In Her Prime is where women hit pause, tune in, and turn up. From boardrooms to brunch tables, we’re bringing bold conversations about careers, confidence, and crushing it—all while keeping it real.
We’re Elise and Domenika, the voices behind the mic and the movement. What started as a sister brand to House of Movement has evolved into the podcast women actually want to listen to. It’s where stories get honest, growth feels effortless, and inspiration flows.
Follow us on Instagram @houseofmvment to get involved and keep the conversations going!
In Her Prime
Taylor Frankel on Burnout, Beauty, and the Truth Behind Nudestix
She launched Nudestix at 17 and built it into a global beauty brand. In this episode, Taylor Frankel shares what it really takes to build a business, navigate success in your 20s, and stay grounded through it all. The convo you didn’t know you needed.
Hi guys, welcome back to our podcast. I'm Elise. And I'm Dom. This week we have a very special guest. Today's guest is someone who truly needs no introduction in the beauty world, Taylor Frankel, co-founder of Nudestix, the brand that redefined minimal makeup and made no makeup makeup a global movement. Taylor launched Nudestix at just 17 years old alongside her mom and sister, and what started as a family venture is now a global brand sold in over 30 countries and loved by celebrities, influencers, and beauty lovers everywhere. Welcome, Taylor.
SPEAKER_01:What a nice introduction.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you. Elise always does like such a good job of writing her little spiel, which I love hearing.
SPEAKER_01:It's so good. And thank you for having me. I'm so excited. I was saying earlier, I haven't done a podcast in so long, and I was listening to your podcast before this because obviously, you know, I listen to it, but also have to do my research beforehand. I have to, you know, be a good student. And I just like love how like genuine and real both of you are, and how it just feels like you're listening to like two of your girlfriends. So I was really excited because I was like, oh, like I need this. This is so nice. It's like a therapy session.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. We start off every episode with peek and pit. So either highlighting something really well that happened in your past week, work, relationship, family, you purchase something new that you're loving and something that's not going so well. So do you want to start off?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. I had to think about this for a second. Let's start with my pit. Um I would say it has to be this week from this week. I would say the past like past couple weeks.
SPEAKER_03:Past couple weeks. I mean that's like a stood-out moment, good or bad.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I this is like definitely more like business-y, but my pit has like been just this tariff takeover. I've I mean it's it's challenging for both businesses and consumers, but like as a business, it's been definitely something challenging that we've been navigating. And then my peak, I would say I'm planning my wedding, which has been a really fun project and like kind of a distraction from everything else going on. I never thought I would be. I'd never, I was never someone who was always envisioning my wedding. Like it was like, oh, I want to be a bride and I can't wait for this big day, da-da-da. Probably wasn't until like the past couple of months that I really started to get excited.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like I've never been that type of person either. Like, yeah, but some girls have their their mood board from when they're 15 years old and they have it planned. And I'm like, I have no idea what even diamond shapes there are.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I had no idea. When when I when people were asking me, I was like, what is you know a cushion cut or and then there's lab made and real?
SPEAKER_03:There's a whole argument between that on like what route you should go and and whatnot. So you're getting married June?
SPEAKER_01:In late July. So early July. So July 4th is like the official wedding date.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, we're actually doing like a very small like civil um ceremony. Ceremony in Toronto.
SPEAKER_03:Nice. Um is that for family that can't travel or just people like the extended group?
SPEAKER_01:Just for family that can't travel, and it's more so just because we have to legally get married here before we go to Europe. So um I'm like my grandparents and just like my immediate family, just to have a dinner and it's very chill.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and everything's finalized. Like dress, flowers, I'm assuming all like the big decisions. The big decisions are all finalized.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah, which was fun, but like kind of stressful. Yeah. Because like, I don't know. Like I, at the end of the day, I think the the most important thing is obviously like you feel good and you're happy and you're excited, and you and the groom and your partner just like have good energy going into it. But then there's like another part of me that's like this, like, I mean, you get it, like type A, like you do events all the time, you're like, what are people gonna think? Like, yeah, you're like overthinking like the color of the flower and the tablecloth. I'm like, oh, this is a good thing.
SPEAKER_03:But like no one is even gonna think about that in the moment of like, oh, she should have done a little bit of a lighter shade of pink, or like she should have done this, and like no one, no one's gonna care. It's just huge.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like there's just like so much pressure on one day. And even when you have like a big wedding and you're having like first introductions on your wedding day, and you're like, it's like a meet and greet sometimes.
SPEAKER_03:I don't think I could do that. Like, I want everyone that's coming to my wedding, like, I better know you on like a deep personal and like I'm not doing a meet and greet at my wedding.
SPEAKER_01:Like I yeah, like your dad's cousin's cousin or like you know, colleague. And I'm like, and that's what I liked about also doing a destination because it forces you to keep it really small. So like everyone that is coming we know intimately and um has known both of us too together and individually. So I'm excited. So that's that's my peak. Okay. Nice. Yeah, that's a good peak.
SPEAKER_03:Um, okay, peak. I'm finally like doing my home office. I started this project. Remember how long ago? Like six. I remember you were like, I'm gonna get it done in like a few years. I was like, I'm gonna get it done in seven days. I purchased a ton of stuff. The room has been like accumulating so much dust, and literally today I was like, enough's enough. I like ripped down my mirror, moved my couch, everything, but I need to now like compile it and put it together just because I work fully remote, so I have like obviously house of movement, but then I work nine to five for a tech startup, so I need my space, like I need an office. And at first I was kind of just like working literally from my bed, and I was like, no, I'm like too grown to be like sitting like in my bed, like this is not. So I'd convince my parents to like take down the guest room and do a home office, and then pit, I would say, honestly, this weather is dreadful, and I think I can speak for like all of Toronto when I say that confidently that it's just been awful, like awful.
SPEAKER_00:It's awful. I feel like that's my pit too. We have our brunch event on Sunday, and it was supposed to be like this rooftop brunch event because we launched a mouth tape today, and we're supposed to be like, I just started using mouth tape. Okay, and I have a really funny story, but I won't I need you to Well, it was supposed to be like our launch event, and we got everybody like custom PJs and like Codalie gave everybody their skincare and whatever it is, and now it's supposed to rain. So we had to move it inside, and I'm like, this is just not giving what it's supposed to give, but we'll try our best.
SPEAKER_01:Listen, my my whole thing is whenever we host events, because there's always something that goes wrong, yeah. Right? You're never going to be able to flawlessly maybe maybe you have, but like flawlessly.
SPEAKER_03:No, but that is a truth. That is a truth. Like you'll always see like a flaw in what should have happened.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. However, everyone who's attending your event doesn't know anything and they're experiencing it for the first time. So that's something that makes me feel a little bit better that like they don't know any different. And you know, as someone, you know, when you put on an event or you're a founder of a company, like you're so meticulous in the way you see things. So I guess just like know that. Like everyone's going to come see everything for the first time, and they're gonna have an amazing experience because you guys are gonna give them such a great experience. No, thank you for that. But mouth tape. So I'm I've now recently started using mouth tape because I guess TMI or whatever, but I well, I started wearing a retainer to go to bed and I feel like okay.
SPEAKER_00:I I, you know, realized at 24 that my teeth weren't straight enough, so I got Invisalign.
SPEAKER_01:Oh no, it's just saying No no, I so okay, I don't actually know if a lot of people know this, but um it doesn't really matter. But um I'm not I'm not ashamed of it. So two years ago I got veneers. And part of the reason why I got veneers, this is like so unrelated to mouthsave comment, but because it was you're like, but they do correlate somewhere down the line with when we get there. Yeah. Um, and a part of the reason why, first of all, like I had very small teeth. And so um I had braces growing up, but I had a lot of gaps in my teeth, and they couldn't fill the gaps because with bond, I mean they could technically fill them with bonding, but it would kind of look odd because like some teeth would look bigger. You have to redo all the time. And because I'm on camera all the time, my teeth would always bother me. It was like one of those things, like I would smile on camera and I would just see it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no matter what, or like how many people told you, like, Taylor, don't you worry, you're like, nah, I see it.
SPEAKER_01:I see I was like, I see it. And so, anyways, I did it and I actually like listen, I'm very much in the camp of like, if you if something is really bothering you to the extent that like it's a normal thing for to be bothered by, um, it's not like obsessive of any sort. Like, I do think that, you know, all the power to you to make that change, right? If you thought about it and like it's something that you really want to do. I will I will say that it's like actually made me a lot less like self-conscious about certain things, like the way I take content and me talking on camera and smiling and photos and all of that. And I know this also sounds maybe odd, but like, you know, the whole quote around like the more you smile actually like sends um, you know, it triggers your brain to just be happier.
SPEAKER_00:That's actually why I got Invisalign because my teeth were my number one insecurity. And like to anybody's just normal eye, you would never notice what I'm talking about. But I just feel like it would prevent me from smiling with my teeth.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:It would just prevent me from smiling in general. So I'm like, okay, then let's just fix it.
SPEAKER_01:Right? Exactly. I'm so such a believer in that. Um, and it's something that it's enhancing, right? And it make if it makes you feel more confident. Um, so that was so that's actually so that's why I have a retainer. Circling back to what I actually was. Circling back, it's like my ADHD, just like going from here to here. But um, why I have a retainer. So um, anyways, I felt because the retainer's so big, like I've started to become like a mouth breather when I sleep.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, same. Yes, see? Like I like clench my jaw too. Like it's just yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, it's it's and it's funny because like my fiance actually made a comment to me. He's like, You're so loud when you sleep. Like, I'll like literally breathe so heavily. And so that's when I'm like, okay, maybe I should try this mouth tape trend. Like I've been seeing it everywhere. Where did you get your mouth tape? Um, from this do you know Mint here? That's what we just clipped with. Oh, that's what you clipped. Yeah. Oh my god. So you did like a whole like, yeah, we did like packaging, everything, and designed it. Yeah, I love them. And also like another Toronto based guy. Yeah, yeah, the two of them, they're sweethearts. And it's like pink and girly. Yeah. Oh my god, wait, okay. I'm so excited to try. Um I use them like I've been using them, I would say, for the past week. And my partner, my fiance, did say like he's been able to sleep better because I haven't been as loud.
SPEAKER_00:Also, I find that my breath doesn't smell as bad. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Because it doesn't get dry in the middle of the night. Like I would jug water. Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_03:Wake up at 3:30. Yes. I think I did that last night.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. But um, well, funny story, the first time I tried mouth tape, I had just come back from like a road trip and I was just like a little bit sick. I was super congested. And so I was like, more mouth tape tonight. Literally in the middle of the night, I wake up, I couldn't breathe. Like I was like just feeling I was feeling congested. Like I wasn't, I couldn't breathe out of my nose, and I wasn't breathing out of my mouth because I had to.
SPEAKER_00:This actually happened to me recently, and I'm like, I sat up in the middle of the night and I was like ripped off. Yeah, I was like, okay, like price is the burden. Yeah, we're good. Oh my gosh. Well, yeah, that's actually funny because that's who we did our collab with, and that's what our launch event on Sunday is for. Well, congratulations.
SPEAKER_01:That's so exciting, and I cannot wait to try it and to see it. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:No, honestly, I didn't like I thought mouth tape was just kind of like that big hoax of like beauty trends and like going to sleep with like 50 things on, but I genuinely do like notice a difference. Yeah. And it's not like a hoax. Yeah. It's not just like a a f like a trend or like something for be like I'm like, it genuinely does work. Yeah. And it's like the just the way it sticks on and it fits and it has a little ability for you to like drink water and still breathe through it, works. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, I love it. And I have noticed like my mouth has begun become significantly less dry in the morning and doesn't smell as bad, which all pros. Listen, we all experience it. There's no shape.
SPEAKER_03:There's no shame. You wake up, your breath is atrocious.
SPEAKER_00:Actually, we talk about that a lot. I'm like, oh my gosh, like I just know that I have like chronic bad breath. Okay, we have a solution. No. Um, my peak is I work freelance, so I have like a bunch of different clients, and I actually let go of like the whole roster. Cause I realized that my whole life is work, which is like pros and cons. And it's like gotten me to like a place where I can let go of the whole roster. But I also was like, what do I like to do? Like, who am I? So I'm rediscovering hobbies recently, and like I started coloring because I see it all over my TikTok. I started doing tennis lessons. Like, I'm like, I need new hobbies.
SPEAKER_01:I love that so much. I feel like as I think there's like a few things, like as women, as we get into like our mid to late 20s, where we're kind of going through this rediscovery phase, because when we're younger, we're kind of forced into hobbies, and then eventually we kind of give up on them when we realize we're not gonna be the professional dancer or the professional song player.
SPEAKER_03:And like we're trying to mold you into being. You're like, mom, I'm not a ballerina.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're like, I need, you know, and and you realize you're like, okay, well, I'm committing so much time to this, like, you know, do I really need to do this like every single night? Um, but and then as we get older, to your point, it's like you start work and you get busy and you kind of like don't have that, you're not forced to discover that part of yourself, that creative, kind of like childlike part of yourself. So I think it's really amazing to to go through that process and really almost rediscover like what you like, what you don't like, and kind of trigger whether it's like you know, the fitness side of you or like the creative side of you is awesome.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's hard when also like your work is your hobby and you love what you do. And like, don't get me wrong, I love you know working for other people too, but house and movement is like so fulfilling to me, just like through the podcast and through like just it's like such a creative outlet that I'm like I I don't feel like I like to do anything else. So that's my new thing.
SPEAKER_01:I feel like that's when you know that you want to pursue like your your business full time when you're like, well, this is what drives me. I'm so passionate about it. I want to put my all in it, and I don't want to do anything else. And obviously, you know, you feel like you can also monetize it or you're willing to kind of like you know, just give and take, give and take right. So I think that's that's awesome. Wow. And what have what has been the biggest like learning experience throughout like this hobby discovery for you?
SPEAKER_00:I think my main thing is finding satisfaction without success. So like being able to just sit and read a book or sit and go on a sauna or whatever it is, and even though like maybe you haven't had a productive day or a productive week, like that's productive on its own, in like its own type of way. So I think it's just uh finding happiness in like a present moment. And my mom said to me, she was like, I feel like you expect too much out of life. She's like, I feel like you expect this like exciting day-to-day, everything is sunshine and rainbows. And she's like, That's just not what life is.
SPEAKER_01:Every day is a rom-com.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So I'm I'm rediscovering what that means.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. Yeah, it is so important to find things in your life outside of work and find an identity outside of that. Although in your early 20s, obviously you're building your career, and that will be such a huge part of your life. But I feel now entering, or I'm not there yet, I'm not gonna age myself, but entering my 30s or soon entering my 30s, I've almost had to create an identity identity for myself outside of nude sticks because that's really what I've been known for for the past 10 years. Yeah, and it's really hard to do that. So the fact that you're doing it now is is huge.
SPEAKER_00:We're trying.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:So getting into you, how did you get started in the beauty space?
SPEAKER_01:Well, so I started the business um when I was 17 years old alongside my mom and my sister. My mom, Jenny, she is a beauty entrepreneur and engineer. So she's actually she graduated in Toronto from UFT. One out of like five women who graduated from her UFT chemical engineering class. Wow. And um she started her career working at Matt Cosmetics, um, developed a bunch of their iconic products, went on to develop a brand called CoverFX and built that for about 10 or so years.
SPEAKER_03:I think I saw your mom online recently.
SPEAKER_01:Really?
SPEAKER_03:In a I think I did too. In a reel or something. Probably. While she was literally talking about this exact like what you just said, she was like, I graduated from you. Like, does she have darker hair? Yes. Yeah, I literally saw your mom like I want to say two or three days ago online. Really? I was just scrolling, yeah. And I what you just said was like word for word verbatim. Oh, I'm sure. Because we know, but the that like it's such a powerful like story, and not that but like, yeah, I remember just seeing that recently.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it could have been our Mother's Day video that we did together. That's what that was. Yeah, that's what it was, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. That exact same video.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I have to force her into getting content to getting her to create content with me. Um, but I've been surrounded by beauty essentially my entire life. Um, and it's interesting because even like on PA days, I think like I feel like that's such a Canadian term um or like a Toronto term, but on our on our days off, like she would always say, Well, what are you stressed about? You don't need to take the day off. This is when I was like in elementary school. You'll you'll come to work, you'll work in the warehouse, like you'll do other things. And so I feel like throughout my life I've always been exposed to it, um, which has been a blessing because I've been able to see her be an entrepreneur and really see that side, you know, of her life. And when my sister and I were entering kind of our adolescent years, as we all do, we like to experiment and we like to play with makeup and we would go into our mom's makeup drawer and we would take out whatever she had in there to kind of try and play with. And, you know, part of that discovery process, we said, well, why is there no brands that were kind of like easy and effortless and like not like tons of color or tons of coverage? Like, we just want something that enhances.
SPEAKER_03:So at the time, what were the brands that like really I guess were making an impact in the beauty space 10 years ago? Is that the time for yeah?
SPEAKER_01:So, well, obviously Mac. Um, I think like you had Too Faced, you had Anastasia that had just launched, you had um Makeup Forever. Um I feel like Benefit was Benefit. Yeah, Benefit was huge. NARS, like those they were artistry brands. Like, you know, um, you didn't really have the option of the time to wear, let's call it, you know, no makeup makeup or less.
SPEAKER_03:You guys were looking for more of like a I don't want to say like kid approach, but like more user-friendly.
SPEAKER_01:User-friendly, but not necessarily because we were in experience, but I think it was because we didn't want to do all of the steps that you would walk.
SPEAKER_03:If you wanted no makeup without no like trademarking it as no makeup, makeup. Exactly. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um and at the time, like no makeup, makeup wasn't even a term. But we would just say, yeah, we wanted kind of like this. We used to call it, you know, the I woke up like this beauty.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Where we didn't want people to know we were wearing makeup, but we wanted to wear something like that.
SPEAKER_03:I think that's the best compliment, especially like I was actually talking to uh my boyfriend's brother two days ago, and he's like, I love when you can look when you stare at a girl and like you can't tell that she has makeup on, but like she has a full or but he's like, I just think that looks so good on.
SPEAKER_01:It's so funny. There's like this trend now on TikTok of when a guy thinks you're not wearing makeup and like all the steps that it takes to look like to look like it's not wearing makeup.
SPEAKER_03:But it's like you're like, it's like it's like you're sweaty, but you're not sweaty. It's just like it's like lived in makeup. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And that was honestly like exactly what we wanted. Um, and both my sister and I, like, as much as we were surrounded by it, we were always like we we would always say to our mom, like, who who has the time to spend an hour on their makeup routine every morning?
SPEAKER_00:I always say that we we surprisingly do our makeup in 10 minutes flat. Like we are ready to get fast. But sometimes I see people take two hours to do their makeup. I'm like, what are you doing for two hours?
SPEAKER_01:I think some people really enjoy it and I respect that. Like, some people will wake up at 6 a.m. to do their makeup for an hour, and that's their joy, like that's their self-care. For me, that's just that just was never self-care for me. Like, I would prefer to sleep in, work out, or like maybe take more time to shower. Like, I I love beauty and I loved just like you know, this enhancement versus like masking myself and spending lots of time doing it. So that was what really inspired the brand. And then there was all these, you know, other elements that, you know, weren't as trendy back then, whether it be clean beauty, sustainable packaging, um, you know, just like sensitive, skin-friendly makeup. So we kind of took that all into consideration when we were developing our formulas and creating our packaging. Um, and now it is so how did you decide that you wanted it in stick form? So we were playing with a bunch of different packaging. I remember we were at a kitchen our kitchen table, and and this is all while you were 17?
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Okay. So like you hadn't even finished high school.
SPEAKER_00:No. And your mom still had her brand going at the same time? No. Oh no.
SPEAKER_01:So she she had she had exited her previous her brand in 2012. Okay. So let's say this was between the year. Like a transitional 2012 to 2014. Yeah. Okay. Um, and we would come home from school and she would come and she would have like some of these samples of beauty products, and she had compacts and palettes and pen. I remember there was one pencil, and my sister and I both picked it up and we're like, wait, this is so fun. Like it's a pencil, like it's not intimidating. We can kind of just like play around with it and like not have to worry about using brushes or tools. And she was like, Really? Like, pencils have been around for so long. Like, how did you not know what a pencil was? And I think that was her aha moment where she realized that although it brands may have had this type of you know, packaging or or formula, we had we weren't even seeing it because the brand was speaking to us in such a way that just did not resonate with our generation and the way we saw beauty. Um, so we loved the pencil concept, and we, you know, and then the pencil concept inspired like, oh, well, why can't we just use this one pencil like for ice sheet flips? Like, why can't we literally just draw and use our fingers and not have to worry about tools because we hated using brushes. I remember I had this moment struck a chord with me. I was in high school and a bunch of my girlfriends and I were getting ready to, I don't even know if it was like a house party or some type of some type of weird event at the time. And one of my friends was like trying to do her eyeshadow, and she like threw the eyeshadow palette on her vanity, and she's like, Oh, I'm not going out. I just like don't know how to do my makeup, and I feel so self-conscious. Like, she just because she couldn't do her makeup, or she thought she couldn't do her makeup well, or she didn't know how to do it, she just immediately was like, I'm not, I'm done, I'm not going out. And that for me was like, wow, like the fact because you you felt so overwhelmed with this, like you felt like you couldn't even like just go out with your phone.
SPEAKER_03:Like chassel it or like try and make it work.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. And that was when I was like, wait a second, there is something here for a beauty brand that still is high quality, high performance, beautiful formulas, but yet still really simple and user-friendly for everyone who's not a makeup artist or isn't like super into makeup or you know, isn't watching one-hour tutorials every day. Um, so yeah, we just play around with packaging and then we got really into weeds, into the weeds of formula. My sister, she's now a doctor, but back obviously back then she was not. Um, but she had always struggled with eczema and acne-prone skin. So she was always reading labels of every single product she would buy because certain ingredients would trigger a flare-up, um, which was really like debilitating for her because she would literally like all night she would be up just like scratching, like because she was like so itchy and it would be really like irritating and hot. And so she was like, if we're gonna do this, like these formulas need to be sensitive skin friendly, they need to be, you know, good for acne-prone skin as well, because she also struggled with with um inflammatory acne at the time. Um, and then I had my own, like, you know, whether it be peril derbatitis or everyone has like dry skin and my mom having mature skin and like really being concerned with like, you know, using products that were gonna overstrip her skin. She wanted to be glowy, she wanted to look youthful. And not age. And not age the skin already. Exactly. So between all of us, we kind of created formulas that worked. Um and packaging wise, um, I remember we went to like a Sephora or like a shopper's nearby, and I remember we bought all these products for like our, you know, our research. And we'll take the whole show. We'll take all these. Thank you. This is gonna, you know, this is the write-off. This is a write-off. This is a write-off. Thank you. It just reminds me of like the you know, like the shits creek episode. It's like the government pays you back, yes. Um, but I remember like in a matter of five minutes, like our trash went from empty to full. And we all said, okay, if we're gonna do this, can we please create like a reusable packaging system where there's no one-time use packaging, and that's where the tin.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like literally my mom has my mom has been using nudsticks, I'd say probably for the past like eight years, and she has so many of the tins scattered all over the house for batteries, just like miscellaneous stuff. She keeps it in her car for like gum, everything.
SPEAKER_00:Well, when I travel, like I always put like hair elastics in it.
SPEAKER_03:But like genuinely, my mom uses it for every single thing. Like in her car, she probably has like three of them. In her drawers, like they're everywhere.
SPEAKER_01:Because she, yeah. That honestly, that that is the exact reason why we made them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And you can recycle them, like they're made from template, they're infinite infinitely.
SPEAKER_03:But like why? There's always like little p things that like girls need to put away.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, whether it's jewelry, tampons, like literally anything. Um so yeah, that was that was kind of what inspired the brand. And I mean, and you guys know, like you kind of start something out of passion and like out of a need because you felt like there was a gap for yourself, and then it kind of just like has a mind of its own. And then you're like, oh wait, other people like this too, or other girls like this too. And then it kind of just like authentically, you know, builds. Obviously.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like the first collab I remember from you guys was Sophia Ritchie, like years ago.
SPEAKER_01:Two years ago.
SPEAKER_00:Was it two years ago? Oh my gosh, it feels like Sophia. It feels like long ago forever ago. But I remember I saw that and I was like, oh my god, like this is so cool. Like to have like a Canadian business. Because I feel like even though a lot of brands are Canadian brands, it's not advertised enough. And I feel like it's so important to advertise that you are a Canadian business because like Canadians love to support Canadian businesses, especially now with this whole like tariff where like my mom, you will never catch her buying those American blueberries.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes, girl. But buy those Canadian I mean, it does make a huge impact. Um, you know, we're it's interesting because back in the day, 10 years ago, being a Canadian business wasn't cool. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I'm I think now, like more than ever, I do think that people are a lot more proud to be Canadian, especially with everything going on in the US. And now more than ever, people are very proud to say that they're Canadian businesses. But 10 years ago, if you were like a Canadian first business, it'd be very hard to even be successful in the US or in the UK, which is a very sad thing to say. Um, but yeah, now like if you walk into a shoppers drug mart, we have like a part of like our campaigns as like proudly Canadian like founders, and so we're super proud to be Canadian and also like partner with Canadian brands and um yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like super being like a startup and being young founders, working for a startup and now like hearing obviously your process of like starting at a very young age. What were I guess like monumental moments starting so young and obviously like having mistakes and having to work through them? Like, what really defined nude sticks at in the early like years of starting the brand? Like defined it for like like or I guess like maybe stood out to you the most. Like I I just I love the process of things, and we're in like literally the first year and a half of doing House and Movement, and I'm also like I also work for a startup, so I feel like I'm just in the growth process, and I'd love to hear like what was I guess like a really big learning moment for you guys, or like that peak.
SPEAKER_00:Like something you look back on and you're like, I will never forget that, whether that's like something that was so hard or just like such a positive.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I think you it's it's I mean, you can it's it's really about perspective, but I think the positive about being so young and starting the business is that you are a little bit less risk averse. There's a little bit less to lose, right? Um, and you have a you're naive. Like you're starting this business without necessarily knowing like what it fully takes to build to build something. And I think that could be a very good thing because you're willing to try different things and just kind of go with what sticks. Um, and I think that's what you need, especially today, being an entrepreneur and being a business owner or building something, is you need to have that agility. Um, so that was definitely a positive being so young. I think we had this blind confidence as well. I mean, I'm sure you've met like an 18 and 19 year olds, we're like, where do you have this confidence?
SPEAKER_03:Like, like it just comes.
SPEAKER_01:Where do you cut like where do you come from? And a part of it is because you haven't even got into the world yet for someone to really tell you, like, okay, relax.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like, so I think you have this confidence. And if you walk into a room full of executives and you have this blind confidence, you're just like, oh, like I don't know who these people are. Like, I'm just gonna be me and I'm gonna tell them, you know, my perspective and what I think. I almost feel like now knowing what I know. And knowing who I know, I don't have that, I actually don't have the same confidence that I did. I uh to a certain extent. I am very a lot more confident in what I know. Um, and I'm a lot more confident in what I don't know. Back then I wasn't as confident with what I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00:This started out of a passion project, and like it obviously still is, but I feel like the more it's grown, the more anxiety it causes and the more stress it causes, and obviously like the more positives there are too. But it's scary to like continue to grow something and be like older and wiser and know more people and know what it takes, as opposed to if you're 18 years old and you're just like, Yeah, I'm I'm just building this makeup brand for fun and like I'm just you know living my life and like I'm building it with my mom and my sister, like I'm good. I think it out of that like blind confidence can come like something really amazing, aka nudsticks.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Yeah. And so, anyways, I think, yeah, exactly that's exactly it. And so I think that was definitely a positive of being so young. Um, I think a negative a struggle that I felt being so young was definitely the imposter syndrome of it all of like, I don't deserve to be here, I don't know what I'm doing, you know. Um, like going, you know, whether it's because you're traveling or you're meeting again with these executives or retailers, you're like, well, like, why are they listening to me? Like, who am I? So I think that there's a lot of that. I think there's a lot of just let's call it faking it till you make it, um, until eventually you kind of become this vision that you know you've always aspired to be because you've almost forced yourself to kind of act a certain way in order to be taken seriously.
SPEAKER_00:Um how did you overcome the feeling of imposter syndrome? Because I feel like we talk about that all the time. Whether it's like something as stupid as like, you know, this person liked my photo. Um but I feel like something like imposter syndrome is very it's like a niche thing, but a lot of people experience it. And I feel like nobody really talks about like the steps it takes to sort of build up your own personal confidence to overcome that and realize that like I actually did work really hard to be where I'm at.
SPEAKER_01:I think time and really working to the point where I felt I earned this. Like I did this myself, I earned it. Um, although I had an incredible partner and a mentor, I wouldn't be here if I didn't put put in the work myself. So that has given me a lot more confidence, and um, I have a little bit less imposter syndrome. And then I think what I also realized through just like meeting different founders that span different ages, different generations, so many people have no idea what they're really doing. And I think everyone's just trying different things and yeah, to figure it out. Everyone's figuring it out and they're self-learning or they're asking, you know, for help. And I think that I had, I think a lot of people, and I definitely had this when I was younger, where maybe because I was young, I felt ashamed of asking questions or asking for help when I didn't know something because I don't want people to think that I didn't know what I was doing, right? Because I was so young. But I think now I have a lot more confidence to say, well, actually, like I have no idea what the hell is going on. What is this tariff situation? What is, you know, what does it mean to launch in a certain market, or there's a new social media kind of integration? Like, how do we, how do we, you know, navigate it and searching for people, you know, whether they're in your life or on social media that can like help you grow as a person and you know, both per both personally and professionally.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. We've talked about like doubts obviously that you've had with nude six. What was a moment that your, I guess, the trajectory of where nude six was going, like what was like a key like aha moment for you guys, or something that just really took you to the next level, helped scale you guys, or like maybe I guess another way to word it, like goals that you guys were meeting along the way that you were like, no, like we are on track to obviously where nude six is now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Because I just I love I just I love like hearing people be like, okay, we had this goal, we met it, and then it was this one, and then it was this one, and now to getting to where the business is now.
SPEAKER_01:That's so interesting because looking back, I would say like one of our biggest goals was to go global really fast. And a part of the reason was we knew that this idea of minimalist beauty was going to trend eventually, and that there would be many brands that would do it. So we really wanted to be the first in different markets, so that was a really big goal of ours, and we did that, and it was really hard, and that was like eight years of just like launching new markets and different retailers and just like really being on the ground and traveling a ton. Um and obviously, you know, there's different revenue goals that you have in place, like you're you know, year over year. But I don't know, I think when you have when when you're a beauty, sorry, when you're a business owner and you're you're building your brand, there's always gonna be something more, right? So I think that it is so important to like really kind of sit and reflect. That's what I feel like I've had to do over the past few months um going into this year to really be like, well, wait a second, we we're here 10 years later, we're still in these amazing retailers. You know, there's so many businesses that did not could not survive 10 years. And although there are challenges, like look what all look look at everything that we still have been able to do. So I think it's it's so important to just like celebrate the celebrate.
SPEAKER_00:I think even being able to stay in Sephora for the time that you guys have been able to, not many brands are able to do that. Like, I feel like Sephora's market is like constantly shifting. And the we were had the founders of Three Ships Beauty on a couple weeks ago, and they were talking about the rules that it re that it requires for you to stay in Sephora. And it is like month by month, it is cutthroat. So, like the fact that you guys were even able to just continue to be like a top Sephora brand, that's a big deal on its own.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's huge. No, I'm sure they they explained it all, but yeah, there's really intense sales. We call it productivity goals at Sephora. Um, and it's week over week, month over month, like and like a like seven days, like that's a quick turnover.
SPEAKER_03:Like, there's I feel like very little room for error to like keep the numbers where they should be.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and productivity is essentially so Sephora almost looks at themselves like a real estate business. So you have to earn your space. So if you're a gondola or you're an NCAP, like you have to meet certain productivity goals in order to preserve that. Um, and productivity is measured based on it's an average um sales goals based on the brands that are also within your space that have the exact same, like, you know, let's call it um qualifications, not qualifications, but the exact same space as you, essentially.
SPEAKER_00:So obviously you grew this brand with your mom, and your did you grow it with your sister as well? And then she decided to go into medicine?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so she probably was with nude sticks for the first couple of years while she was still in high school. She was living like we were both living like this. We always called it like our double life because we wouldn't tell our friends we were like, we would like leave.
SPEAKER_03:But I'm 17.
SPEAKER_01:We didn't even know what a found like we didn't even know like 10 years ago, like what like now I feel like everyone talks about founders. Yeah. But back then, like, what was it? We were just like, oh yeah, we have this brand, like um, and we would just like leave school to go launch nude sticks in like Australia, but we would be like, Oh, hey, like, we're leaving, bye. Like, where are you going? We're just you know going to Australia. Um, and my sister always knew she wanted to be a doctor um because she struggled with her skin. She always wanted to go into dermatology. Um, and that's exactly what she did.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like that's fitting for the brand. It's like even though she's not like maybe directly involved with like the makeup itself, skincare is the root of every makeup brand and the ingredients and everything. What would you say? Because you I'm assuming wear makeup a lot, what is like your holy grail skincare products to make the perfect base?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, well, I mean a shameless plug, but like I actually only use ironics. So whenever someone asks me, what do you actually? I'm like, I'm telling you, like I all like I wouldn't make something that I wouldn't use. And so our new skin range. It's so good. Like it's funny because people always say, Well, you have good skin, did it? And I'm like, no, no, no, you don't understand like how much the prep, the prep.
SPEAKER_03:The prep is changes your life.
SPEAKER_01:It changes your life. I you'll see. I actually should do a video on this of like a side-by-side of like prepping my skin and doing my skincare versus not and like how it affects your your makeup. But um, I would say to I'm a huge uh proponent of uh very gentle chemical exfoliation on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_03:Um like a BH BHA, is that too aggressive?
SPEAKER_01:BHAs are great, AHAs, BHAs, I love mandelic acid. It's my favorite, it's my favorite acid in the spray. You haven't tried it because it's really gentle, but really effective. Um I would say, because my skin, I have very dry skin, so I can't use anything that's too harsh or too stripping because my skin will just literally like prune up.
SPEAKER_00:That's like mine will get like really reactive and red. Like I can't use any acne creams or anything like that. And I find when my skin gets too dry, I get like the little bumps on my skin, and that's when I'll get acne.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. That is like you're you're essentially harming your skin's barrier. Like your skin's barrier can't take all of those acids. Some people who have like really oily skin or thicker skin might be able to take more concentration. I just am not one of those people. So we've created different like exfoliating products in our line. One of them is called our citrus, um, our 5% citrus fruit and glycolic glotar. Um it's so good. And I use that regularly on a daily basis. And I like to call it you're almost like microdosing your acids. So rather than doing like this crazy chemical peel once every three months, which again, all the power to you if you still want to do. We we partner actually with a dermatologist to identify like what is the most effective thing that you can do daily that can you can just integrate as a part of your routine. Um, and this product was one of them of just like having that, we call it skin renewal, but a medical term for that would be cell turnover. Because think about how much dead skin that builds up every single day, whether it's because oils, oil buildup, makeup, if you get, if it's in the summer, you're getting tan. A tan is dead skin. So using products that essentially nap gently shed that dead skin every single day will also help help alleviate um uh just like whether it's acne, blemishes, blackheads, all of that, um, as well as hyperpigmentation texture. So I use that regularly. And then last night I used our exfoliating mask. It's um 10% Mendelic and 10% niacinamide. I don't know if I'm like getting too much into ingredients.
SPEAKER_03:I live for skincare. Like I that's that's my shit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's like I think I think so many people, especially when we're younger, were used so many like crazy harsh, like whether it was like the St. Ives exfoliation, exfoliation.
SPEAKER_00:The apricot the apacodically, like or like the icy, it was like kind of cooling the same ives one. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, oxypads, terrible, like so bad, like pure alcohol in your skin.
SPEAKER_03:Toothpaste on pimples, thinking that like that wouldn't burn your skin. You wake up the next day, you're like, oh my skin's raw. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's this is I have like, yeah. Um, no, it's and I so I think like everyone has have has had those experiences where we're all like super conscious about like every single ingredient we put on our skin. Um, so this mask I actually used yesterday and I wore it overnight and like my skin in the morning, like I had like tiny little bumps just from travel, like oil buildup. We call it like um almost like milia. You know, and you have like little oils trapped underneath the skin, they're tiny little bumps, like you can't pop them. Yeah, you need to use a chemical exfoliation for that. Like you can't really you could use a physical, but chemical is like really what's gonna like help reduce um um reduce that. So I used that mask yesterday and it was like life-changing for me. But anyways, that's like but other than that, obviously cleansing is so important. Cleansing, exfoliating, toning, moisturizing forceps.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's so interesting that our generation are like kind of age like 20 to 40. I feel like now is so into skincare and knows all about skincare and uses all the tools and like even the little Medicude device that everybody uses. Whereas like my mom's generation or my grandma, the other day I said to my grandma, I was like, What's your favorite skincare brand? Because I'll get it for you. And she's like, I just I just wash my face with water and like I just you know put on whatever. But she also probably has great skin, she has great skin, yeah, and my mom even like my mom gets skincare products from my sister because my sister does content and just like will give her all of the products. But my mom's like, I don't know what any of these do. Yeah, and I'm like, I just think it's so funny that now like the 16-year-olds of you know that are in high school have like full skincare and retinals, full makeup. I'm gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_03:I just started using retinols and stuff. Um, something that I'm no, sorry to cut you. No, no, you go. Something that I'm super, I just we asked um a previous founder that we had on building like your team and having surrounding yourself and curating like a good group of people around you that get the vision, get the brand, get what you want to do. Over the past obviously 10 years, you started working with your mom and your sister, so people that you're super comfortable around. But what was it like over the past 10 years? And what would you what are tips that you would suggest to just building like a really good group of people around you and like the right environment to make sure that you succeed? Like it's just the two of us and we have one more person to like we are a team of three. But it's hard to build a few. It's hard to navigate awkward conversations and tough conversations, and obviously having people around you that support you and work, maybe not the same as you, but just you guys blend really well.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I think it's a challenge. I think it depends on what you're hiring for, like the role you're hiring for. I think as a startup, because obviously you do work so closely with one another, unless it's a very specific role again, where it's like they need to know product development, or they need to know, you know, they need to be a you know an accountant. But I think for a lot of other like creative roles, marketing roles, a lot can be learned, but personality and just like the way like the cultural fit is something that is a lot harder to kind of teach. Um so I definitely think that's been something we've always practiced in like the way we hire at nude sticks. Um, I also think that there is very much like, and and you know, because you work for a startup as well, like working for a startup is very different than working for, you know, wear a lot of hats. You wear a lot of hats. And I think when you hire someone, like they need to have the flexibility, right? Like when you hire someone, their role could be X today, but it could be Y a week from now. And I think someone who has the ability to be agile and also like willing to grow with organization is super important to be very transparent about that right off the bat, like when you're making when you when you have the interview, because you don't want, you know, two, three, four months from then to have an awkward conversation.
SPEAKER_03:They're in this one cookie cutter role, but it's like, no, you have to transition. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that's just the nature of an entrepreneurial business. Like you are evolving all the time, your business changes, like you also need to adapt based on what your business needs are, right? Like, even let's call it a CEO. You know, where I was listening to this podcast recently about, you know, the CEO's role. The CEO's role is to be in the business based on what the business needs are today. So if the business needs today are, oh my God, we, you know, I'm just making this up. We need to, you know, create an innovation pipeline. So that CEO needs to be in the weeds of that. They might still be in other things throughout the day, because like they might have like a million meetings, but like their priorities are where the business needs are in that moment. So I think that's kind of the role that like everyone plays, I think, in in the beginning of a startup. And I think that's what excites a lot of people about startups is like, oh, well, I can learn so many different areas of the business. Like, I don't have to just do one thing every single day. Like, that's awesome. Whereas other people might really enjoy the structure and like want to do the same thing every day and want that kind of routine.
SPEAKER_03:How big of a team are you guys now?
SPEAKER_01:We're in our head office, we're probably about like 45.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like you guys have always been a pretty small team. Like, I know two people that were with you like for decently long, a long time. And I remember they always said it's such a small team for the size of the business, which I think is actually a little bit of a flex. Because I think it's like obviously it must have its pros and cons, but pros in a way of like it feels like a tight-knit, almost like community where everybody knows everybody. And I think there's something to be said for walking into your office and it's not like 500 people, or you're not getting an email from, you know, somebody you don't know.
SPEAKER_03:You're like, who is this new guy from product? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, everyone knows each other, and you know, listen, we're, you know, we're definitely we're very intentional about who we bring into the organization. Um, I also think, you know, there could be a lot of businesses end up in situations where they scale almost too fast and then their business doesn't catch up to it. Like they almost grow their team too quickly. So you almost need like to grow your team, like as the business. Like just be mirroring each other. Exactly. And I mean, obviously you have your own business, so you know what it is, but like, you know, if you if you have money, you can hire more people. Yeah. Right. Like, you know, it's kind of go it goes hand in hand. So um, you know, and again, we've made it very clear to people of like, yeah, like, you know, this isn't the pros of this of this organization is like you will learn so much. And like we're very transparent. Like, we'll be in a meeting, or Jenny or I will be in a meeting, and like you will learn about product, you'll learn about, you know, production, you'll learn about PR, you'll learn about everything, manufacturing, transit, exactly. But I think if it's unrealistic in certain periods of of the year, especially like during very busy periods where like you'll you're gonna work a traditional nine to five.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I just want to start off by saying thank you so much for joining us um today. It absolutely means the world. We love how having new like founders on and we love hearing like different insights and like just seeing you or just seeing and hearing you grow nude sticks from 17. Like, I know when I was 17, like I was not in the business mindset. So I think that like applauds to you and your mom and your sister. Um, where can people find you online? Your Instagram?
SPEAKER_01:Instagram Taylor. Well, I guess you can follow my personal account if you'd like. Um, Taylor underscore Frankel, and then just at nude sticks on Instagram and TikTok is the exact same.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, amazing. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Of course.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for having me. And I'm honestly like, I'm so glad that you asked me to come. I loved this really just real organic conversation, and I'm so excited for you guys and can't wait to see what you mean.