Create & Cultivate 100: Beauty: Cassandra Huysentruyt Grey
Cassandra Huysentruyt Grey created a cult-following of beauty aficionados with her editor-approved curation at Violet Grey. Her loyalists are devoted to this very curated selection of the world's best products—each is given the Hollywood stamp of excellence. Most of her Violetites travel from far and wide to visit her exclusive Melrose Place boutique (or shop her magazine-like online store.
With the beauty industry literally bursting with new products each week, it’s comforting to know there is someone helping us edit our choices down to the ones that matter. Now Grey is teaching us all with her “less but better” mantra and we’re all chanting it, willingly. Read on to hear more sage soundbites from the beauty visionary and how why she’s swapping the ‘never give up’ mentality for faith.
CREATE & CULTIVATE: Your beauty mantra is "less but better." Where did this mantra come from? How does this shape the way you run your business?
CASSANDRA HUYSENTRUYT GREY: I believe in quality and the power of simplicity. I don’t like to have stuff around that is offensive to the eye. I think about possessions as an edit of stuff that I would want in my Christie’s catalog when I die.
You curate a collection of celeb favorites for your store and each product must pass the "Violet Code." What process do you use to pick these products? What is the "Violet Code" and what standard must products live up to?
The Violet Code is a proprietary testing process and set of standards by which our 150-strong community of top makeup artists, hairstylists, estheticians, dermatologists, and celebrity influencers distinguish the finest beauty products in the world from the tens of thousands on the market. First of all, our merchandising and edit teams identify gaps in our assortment and then scour the world and field submissions in order to find the next Violet Grey hero product. Once our teams have done an internal audit, we send it to a cross-section of our committee to rigorously test against the Violet Code which includes ease of use, delivering on its brand promise, packaging form and function and whether the product solves a beauty dilemma.
Our editors go through the feedback only accepting products that are truly coveted and championed by the committee—products that are essential for their kits. Seventy percent or more of our committee must agree on the greatness of a product before slotting it onto the shelves at Violet Grey. These artists and experts also original editorial content on The Violet Files in relation to the product. It’s an exhaustive process but one we truly believe in and one that has helped us garner unprecedented trust amongst our customers.
When you hit a bump or hurdle in your career, how do you #FindNewRoads + switch gears to find success?
I used to have this ‘never give up'‘ mentality until a few years ago when I realized the only thing I can control is my state of mind. I am successful when I have faith and trust in God’s plan. I now see hurdles as a sign I may need to go in another direction. I take it one day at a time and my faith always gives me the gut, grit, and grace to get through anything. Also, I have learned that success isn’t at the end, it’s all in the process.”
What do you wish your younger self knew when you were first starting out in the beauty industry?
Don’t pet the snakes. I love the beauty industry so much, but much like any powerful and competitive industry, there are killers that secretly want you dead. There are good guys and bad guys, I ride with the good guys in the back.
You credit your team for much of your success. How have you built such a strong team? What advice do you have for those building teams for their own small businesses?
I’ve always loved people and I’ve always been obsessed with the motivation of talented people. The kind of people I get to work with is driven by excellence. I surround myself with people who are strong and accomplished in the areas where I am lacking. I empower each department head to run their area of the business with a focus on common goals and collective responsibility for success and then I get the fu$k out of their way. I always look for a producing mentality. I put a lot of value on hiring people with an entrepreneurial spirit. I encourage my team to see problems as opportunities. My crew never met a problem we didn’t have fun solving.
Where do you find the most inspiration? What drives your passion?
Art. If it weren’t for my late husband Brad Grey, an image of Coco Chanel’s couch, and Guy Bourdin’s Bloomingdale's advert ‘sighs and whispers,’ I would not have had the obsession to build Violet Grey. Brad had style, cared the most about talent, and always chose quality. The couch represented where great ideas happen, and the insert was advertising that then became iconic art that inspires people like me to think about art and commerce in a deeply emotional way.
You never went to college or had any formal business training. How did this affect you when starting VIOLET GREY? What advice do you have for others who have no formal schooling?
The wise learn from their mistakes, the wiser learn from the wise. I’ve been both the wise and the wiser. I have learned so much the hard way and probably just as much from books, Google, and mentors. Mentors are key.
How do you set yourself apart from other major players in the industry?
It really comes down to our relentless dedication to the quality of our curatorial process. We take our product recommendations very seriously and we are the best at what we do. We believe that the secret to a good life is curation. Our customers want to feel confident in their purchase decisions and they have come to rely on us to build and maintain their world-class beauty routines.
How do you define beauty? What makes you feel beautiful?
That’s what’s so great about beauty, it can’t be defined. I only feel truly beautiful a few times a year and it’s usually after two to three hours of professional glam construction. I felt the most beautiful when Jules, my four-year-old said to me, “You know mama, I chose you to be my mama ‘cos you were the most beautiful one.
What is next for Violet Grey?
We’ve just moved into Violet HQ which is our very own Warhol Factory for the beauty industry. Right now, we’re focusing on making this space—which includes our flagship office, a photo and video production suite—and an evolving product curation space that does double duty as a venue for beauty events and retail activations - everyone’s new favorite creative space. We really want to pull back the curtain on life at Violet Grey and give our customers a behind-the-scenes view on what it takes for a product to be violet code approved and therefore worthy of their consideration.
Photographer: Jenna Peffley
Hair: Styled by OGXpert & Celebrity Hairstylist Jillian Halouska