This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Aliett Buttelman, cofounder of Fazit. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When people hear that my company took off after Taylor Swift wore our product, they might assume it was a matter of luck. But really, it was the result of a 360-degree strategy we’d developed to get the product into Taylor Swift’s hands.
I started Fazit with Nina LaBruna about three years ago. Nina had been a marketing client of mine, and she had pitched me on the idea of entering the skincare patch market. From there, we expanded into cosmetics, which was a truly revolutionary move. We launched glitter freckles — a makeup patch to put glittery spots on the cheekbones — in April 2024, and the product immediately went viral online, selling 100,000 units in its first week.
We felt Taylor Swift embodied the essence of the glitter freckles. There would be no one better in the world to wear it. So, we started sending the product to the wives and girlfriends of Kansas City Chiefs players, to Taylor’s make-up artists, and to Sabrina Carpenter, who was opening for her at the time, hoping to catch her attention.
My life changed on a Monday night after hot yoga
The night Taylor wore the freckles, in October 2024, I had just come home from hot yoga, and the Monday night football game was already on. The Chiefs were playing, and a content creator noticed the freckles on Taylor and messaged me. When I saw the product on her face, I just started bawling.
A part of me just couldn’t believe it. The biggest celebrity in the world was wearing our makeup patches, validating all the hard work Nina and I had put in. But really, I was crying because I knew this moment counted: it was about to open the door to so many possibilities. It was our chance, despite the brand being so young.
We did over $1,000,000 in sales in the first 48 hours
We immediately got to work. People noticed the freckles, but didn’t know Fazit was the brand behind them. I started reaching out to as many media contacts as I could and hired a publicist. The next day, I was on CBS and Peacock.
Nina handles the back end of the business, and she was just as busy. She had to double the size of our warehouse overnight. Shipping labels were printing nonstop. We generated seven figures in sales within the first 48 hours after Taylor wore the freckles, and our web traffic increased by 4,800%.
The Swift effect changed the financials of our company
The first two months were primarily about staying afloat and avoiding too many cracks in the business. Before the Taylor effect, Fazit only had one employee in addition to Nina and me. After that, we called any friends and family we could, asking for help with fulfilling orders.
The influx of sales significantly changed the company’s financials. Nina and I initially bootstrapped the company with $13,000 of our own savings. After some success, we raised $200,000 from friends and family. But in the fall of 2024, we only had enough cash on hand to run the business for about five more months.
Taylor changed that. We had private equity and venture capital firms reach out, but we haven’t needed to fundraise. For the first time, Nina and I were able to take a distribution. Now, we have a business that is so profitable and healthy that we can really focus on the next stage of growth.
The explosive growth has brought Nina and me closer
A year after Taylor wore the freckles, she donned them again, which gave us another sales boost. This time, we were better prepared. Yet, a lot of the past year and a half has still felt like a fight or flight response. We’re just trying so hard to take advantage of opportunities and make all the right decisions.
Nina and I weren’t friends when we started the company together. Now, she’s my life partner. We’re closer than friends — we’re family. No one, with the possible exception of our husbands, can truly understand what it’s like to go through this hyper growth.
The highs are so high, the lows are so low, and there are many unexplainable emotions.
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