KJ Miller and Amanda Johnson on the necessity of nudes that match

Mented Cosmetics began with six nude lipsticks made for skin tones the market had ignored for years. Co-founders KJ Miller and Amanda E. Johnson talk about kitchens, counters and large retailers, and why finding yourself in beauty should never feel rare.

There is a specific disappointment familiar to anyone who has ever been told a shade is universal. It looks brown in the tube, pink on the hand, then pale and grey on the lips. For Amanda E. Johnson, that disappointment lasted more than three years. She was searching for a nude lipstick that matched her dark skin tone and kept coming up short.

Her Harvard Business School classmate KJ Miller listened, then joined her at the stove. The pair spent months meeting before they settled on beauty, then began mixing shades in a kitchen with hot plates and working from a living room. In spring 2017 they launched Mented Cosmetics with six nude lipsticks, on the belief that nothing signals everyday beauty like a go to nude.

What has happened since is retail scale built on a narrow promise. The line now spans complexion, lip, eye and cheek, and sits in Target and in more than 490 Ulta Beauty stores. The mission has stayed fixed. Everyone should be able to find themselves in the world of beauty, no matter the skin tone. No one deserves to be an afterthought.

You launched in spring 2017 with six nude lipsticks mixed first in a kitchen with hot plates and run from a living room. What did those early batches teach you about pigment that a lab brief never could.

We learned with our hands first. That sounds simple, but it changed everything. When you mix in a kitchen with hot plates, you see how pigment behaves in heat, how it cools, how it sits on skin with real undertones and not on white paper. We started with nudes because nothing signals everyday beauty like a go to nude, and a nude has to be exact. Too light and it casts grey. Too warm and it turns orange by noon. We would make a batch, wear it, wash dishes in it, talk in it, then adjust. We decided if we could not find that brand, we would create that brand, and creating it meant testing on ourselves and on women we knew. That living room phase kept us honest. We were not thinking about a large assortment. We were thinking about one product that had to work on deeper skin in daylight, in office light, in photos. That discipline still guides us. Start with wear, then scale.

Amanda, you searched for more than three years for a nude that matched your dark skin tone before Mented existed. What did that long search show you about how the industry defined nude.

It showed us that nude had a default, and the default was not us. So many shades called nude were sheer beige or pale pink. On deeper lips, which often have more than one tone, those shades sat on top instead of blending in. They made lips look washed out. That is why we talk about multi hued lips and build nudes from browns and pinks that add depth. A true nude for us is not one flat color. It is a blend that respects the center and the edge of the lip, the brown and the mauve and the plum that many of us already have. For three years I bought, tried and gave away. Each miss made the need clearer. Women of color, especially in deeper tones, were being asked to adjust to the product. We wanted the product to adjust to her. That idea became our filter for every shade after.

You have said, we decided if we could not find that brand, we would create that brand. Once you made that decision after months of meeting after business school, what did creating the brand require week to week.

It required focus and a lot of unglamorous work. We both left careers after Harvard Business School and wanted to start something together, but we did not rush the category. We met for months, talked through ideas, then chose beauty because the gap was personal and clear. Week to week, that meant sourcing, sampling, wearing, rewriting copy, packing boxes, answering customers. Our first funds were about 10,000 to 15,000 dollars of personal savings, so there was no cushion for waste. Every dollar had to show up on the lips. We also had to learn to speak plainly about who we serve. We founded Mented because we believe every woman should be able to find herself in the world of beauty. That sentence set priorities. Shade first, formula second, story third, and all three had to be true. If a sample did not serve deeper tones, it did not move forward, no matter how pretty it looked in the pot.

You raised about 400,000 dollars in a pre seed round drawn largely from Harvard Business School alumni after starting with personal savings, and you have spoken about advice to put your white man hat on in investor rooms. What did that fundraising period demand from you.

It demanded preparation and steadiness. We started with our own savings, which forces care, then raised about 400,000 dollars in a pre seed round with help from school ties and introductions. That network opened doors, and we are direct about that. Once inside the room, the work was to stay clear about numbers, margins and reorder logic while some listeners doubted the market. The phrase about putting a white man hat on came from advice Kristen received, and it points to a real pressure. Walk in with the confidence that matches your preparation. Do not shrink the plan to seem safe. We kept our focus on women who had been treated as an afterthought and showed there was volume there. Do what you love sounds soft, but for us it was practical. If you build where you have lived experience, you will keep going when diligence drags. That period taught us to ask for specifics, to track every introduction, and to keep standards high when capital was tight.

Your mission states that everyone should be able to find themselves in the world of beauty no matter the skin tone, and that no one deserves to be an afterthought. How does that belief change a shade meeting in practice.

It changes who is in the room and what counts as a pass. We do not approve a nude on one model or one light setting. We look across depths and undertones, and we pay attention to the edge of the lip as much as the center. Many deeper lips carry brown, rose and plum at once, so a single pigment rarely does the work. We layer browns and pinks to keep the shade from turning flat or ashy. If a color only works on light or medium skin, it does not ship as a universal nude. That rule sounds strict, and it is meant to be. Pigmented and essential are values we list for a reason. Payoff has to show in one or two swipes, and the shade has to earn a place in a small kit. When someone finds herself quickly, without mixing three tubes, we know the meeting did its work.

If a color only works on light or medium skin, it does not ship as a universal nude.

KJ Miller and Amanda E. Johnson

Your Semi-Matte Lipstick in Mented No. 5 is described as a multi dimensional purple brown blend with a long lasting matte finish that feels lightweight and non drying. How did you land that balance between payoff and comfort while staying vegan, paraben free and cruelty free.

We started from wear time and comfort together, not one after the other. A matte that drags or cakes will not become a daily nude, no matter how good the color looks for ten minutes. Mented No. 5 is a purple brown blend because that family flatters many deeper tones without going too red or too dark. We wanted strong payoff with a light feel, so we worked on base waxes and oils that spread evenly and set without pulling water from the lips. Staying vegan, paraben free, non toxic, cruelty free and made in the USA set clear borders. Those borders remove some classic texture aids, so we had to test more. Retailer ingredient lists for the line show emollients like caprylic capric triglyceride and castor seed oil, structure from polyethylene and microcrystalline wax, plus tocopheryl acetate, with fragrance and phenoxyethanol also listed. That mix explains both the glide and the need for careful dosing. If the finish looked right at hour six and still felt kind, we kept it.

From July 31 2022 you entered more than 490 Ulta Beauty stores, and you are also sold at Target. What did it take to move from a living room launch to that many doors while keeping shade logic intact.

It took systems and restraint. Early on we could adjust by hand. At national retail you cannot. Shade logic has to be written down, with swatches, undertone notes and reorder rules that a field team can follow without us in the aisle. Entering more than 490 Ulta Beauty stores from July 31 2022 meant planning inventory by depth, not just by hero shade, so deeper tones were stocked and not only listed online. Target added daily access in another setting, where price clarity matters. The brand direct price for the Semi-Matte line has been listed at 16.50 dollars, with Target listing noted at 14.99 dollars for the same line, which shows how channel and timing can shift the ticket. Through both, we kept assortments tight. A wall of thirty nudes looks full but helps no one if five depths are missing. We would rather place fewer shades with full depth behind them and restock what sells.

The homepage now shows Cloud Cream Skin Tint and Lush Lip Liner alongside foundation, palettes and cheek, after eyeshadow was named as next back in 2017. How do you decide what earns a place beyond the original lip focus.

We ask whether a new formula helps the same customer get ready faster with fewer misses. Lip earned trust, but most of us do face and lip together. A skin tint has to match across the cheek, the jaw and the forehead without turning grey or orange in daylight. A liner has to define multi hued lips without a harsh ring. Foundation, palettes and cheek follow the same test. Does it serve deeper tones first, does it layer cleanly, does it hold through a workday. We do not add for novelty. Eyeshadow was named early as a next step because eyes carry pigment well on deeper skin, and later steps into complexion answered the same need for match. Each addition must pass the afterthought test. If she has to mix, correct or settle, the product is not ready. When it lets her find herself quickly, it belongs in the range.

Press has included the TODAY Show with Jill Martin plus Refinery29, Allure, Essence and Oprah Magazine, and your own line is that people of color often toe the line and play it safe in careers. What advice do you now give to founders who look like you.

We tell them to do what you love and to prepare like an analyst. Loving the work matters because beauty retail is slow and detailed. Shade testing, stability testing, line reviews, chargebacks, all of it takes stamina. Preparation matters because belief alone does not open doors. Know your costs, your margins, your repeat rate, your hero and your second hero. Bring receipts in the form of sell through and reviews. We also tell them not to play it safe when it comes to career bets. So often, people of color toe the line and play it safe, and that caution can keep a good idea small. Build for the customer you know best, state plainly who she is, and keep her at the center when buyers ask you to blur the line. Community will tell you quickly if the match is real. Listen there first, then scale what repeats.

Closing note from the desk

What stays with us is the clarity of the filter. Find herself in the world of beauty is not a tagline here so much as a test applied to pigment, price and doors. The founders speak like operators who remember the kitchen and the living room, and like classmates who learned how to ask for capital without softening the customer.

Mented set out to fix the nude gap for deeper skin tones and then to carry that logic across face, lip, eye and cheek. The promise is plain. No one deserves to be an afterthought, and the shelf should show it.

Product spotlight

Semi-Matte Lipstick in Mented No. 5, $16.50, 0.13 oz. A purple brown semi matte for deeper lips with multi tones. It gives long lasting matte color with a lightweight and non drying feel. Apply directly from the bullet, blot once, then add a second light layer for evening depth.

Semi-Matte Lipstick, nude range, $14.99 at Target for the same line, 0.13 oz. A set of brown and pink nudes built for multi hued lips. They give pigmented everyday color with a soft matte finish. Smooth on clean lips, line first for definition, then fill and press lips together.