Rachel Reid on the practical logic of a five minute stack

Subtl Beauty sells one idea in a small black rimmed stack: complexion in five minutes, in a crossbody bag, with refills at fourteen dollars. Founder Rachel Reid talks about contact lens cases, a hundred interviews and why time pressed women left the twelve step routine first.

There is a particular kind of complexion founder Gloss Report keeps meeting, the one who did not start with pigment load or finish but with a bag that was too small. Rachel Reid belongs in that group. In summer 2016 she was traveling weekly for work, living out of bags and dating someone new, with only a crossbody for the night.

What she did next is now brand lore. She filled three empty contact lens cases with the basics she needed for morning, a workaround friends quickly borrowed for sleepovers, offices, planes and cars. They called it Ho On The Go. After months of interviews with over one hundred women, Reid renamed it, built real packaging and launched from Pittsburgh, with company records citing 2018 and Reid herself citing work in 2017 and a basement launch in 2019.

What Subtl Beauty is now is easy to describe and harder to copy. The Subtl Stak holds cream concealer, lip and cheek tint, powder bronzer, powder highlighter and shine control powder in stackable pucks with a lid, brush and base. The formulas are vegan, cruelty free, gluten free, fragrance free and paraben free, and the case is refillable by design. What others miss is the discipline: fewer shades done carefully, small prices held steady, and no claim bigger than a workday face that still looks right at hour eight.

Thank you Rachel. In summer 2016 you were traveling weekly for work and carrying only a crossbody bag while dating someone new. How did that one night without an overnight bag lead to three contact lens cases filled with makeup.

Thank you for having me. Well, I am not gonna lie, the story is a little weird, and probably not what you would expect, but I thought it would be important to share the realness with you, as embarrassing as it is. I was traveling every week for work and living out of bags. I started dating someone new and I did not want to bring an overnight bag, so all I had was my teeny tiny crossbody. Subtl Beauty started as a very basic solution to a very common problem, my products were way too big to take with me in my teeny tiny bag. I looked online for something small enough and found nothing. So I filled three empty contact cases with the basics I needed for next morning. After filling three empty contact cases with products I started attracting attention from other women who were struggling with solving the same problem. That was the start. What if everything I needed was in one handy stack, an abbreviated beauty routine that was wearable and wonderful with everything I needed today, tonight or tomorrow.

Your friends called the contact case version Ho On The Go and borrowed it for sleepovers, offices, planes and cars. After months of interviews with over one hundred women you renamed it and built real packaging. What did those conversations change.

They changed everything. Ho On The Go was funny and honest, but it was not a brand women wanted on their vanity. After months of interviews with over one hundred women, I decided to build a real solution. I heard the same thing in different words. Women were not skipping makeup because they did not care. They were skipping steps because the routine did not fit real life. The car, the gym, the office, travel, a bathroom with no counter. They wanted coverage that looked like skin, color that could move from cheek to lip, and powder that controlled shine without looking dry. Hi, I am Rachel Reid. I started Subtl in 2019, a newbie with very little background in beauty, inspired by an experience we have all been through. I did not come in with house rules. I came in with questions. Whether you are a beauty vet or newbie, I created Subtl to give your vanity a healthy dose of sanity. That line still guides every shade and every puck we add.

Company records cite a Pittsburgh launch on September 20, 2018 with a Kickstarter, while you often cite working on stackable makeup in 2017 and launching from your basement in 2019. Which version should a buyer trust, and what do those early months explain about the Stak.

Both are true, which tells you how small we were. I started working on stakable makeup in 2017 and officially launched SUBTL from my basement in 2019. The boilerplate says 2018 because that is when we went live in Pittsburgh with a Kickstarter and started selling beyond friends. On October 4, 2018 Next Pittsburgh ran the headline that still makes me laugh, Lets face it, your makeup bag sucks. That was the thesis. We were a small business with a Pittsburgh based team, packing and answering messages from the same rooms where we were testing shades. The early Stak was simple because it had to be. One base that screwed together, one brush, pucks you could swap. We learned fast that women did not want another palette. They wanted a system they could refill and reorder. Pop in a fourteen dollar refill when you run out, keep the case. That refill idea came from those basement months, watching cost per gram and watching drawers fill with half used compacts.

You describe Subtl as makeup for your great and not so great days, with the tag Beauty at the Speed of Life. For a reader who knows undertone, meaning the warm, cool or neutral cast under foundation, how does that promise show up in payoff, meaning one swipe color, and wear time.

We are SUBTL. But do not let the name fool you. Makeup has always promised fantasy. But is it not time it dealt with reality. We created the Subtl Stak for people who get right out there and live. People who laugh and cry, work and play. It is makeup for your great and not so great days. For me that means payoff has to be honest and wear time has to survive a real day. The Cream Concealer is buildable, not full cover in one swipe, so you can tap a little under eyes or sheer it as foundation. The Lip and Cheek is a cream you blot, then layer for more color. The bronzer sits where sun hits, forehead, nose, cheeks, and the highlighter sits on high points. Shine Control goes on the T zone, forehead, nose and chin, where oil shows first. Nothing needs a twelve step order. You dab, blot, blend, dust, sweep. If the undertone is wrong it will show by lunch, so we spend more time on undertone than on extra shades. Finish should look like skin at hour eight, not like powder at hour two.

The Starter Stak 5-in-1 Travel Makeup Kit sells for fifty five dollars on sale, against eighty dollars regular, with a unit claim of three dollars and seventy two cents per gram versus eleven dollars and sixty one cents for others. What does that math include, and who is it for.

That math is our answer to the vanity drawer. The Starter Stak includes Cream Concealer in shades like 001C Fair Cool, Lip and Cheek, Powder Bronzer, Powder Highlighter in Champagne, and Shine Control Powder in Translucent, plus Lid, Brush and Base. Use is simple. Dab concealer where you need it. Blot lip and cheek and layer. Blend bronzer on sun points. Dust highlighter on high points. Sweep shine powder on the T zone. The per gram comparison is us saying compare what you actually use, not the size of the compact. We built for on the go, time pressed women who want a streamlined routine in car, gym, office or travel. Sell through, meaning how fast a product sells after it reaches stock, matters more than launch noise. If a Stak sells through and restocks, meaning it returns after selling out, because women use it daily, that is success. The Starter is the entry. You learn your shades, you learn the order, then you refill only what runs out.

Whether you are a beauty vet or newbie, I created Subtl to give your vanity a healthy dose of sanity.

Rachel Reid

Your Cream Concealer sells for sixteen dollars, in nineteen shades from 001C to 021N, with Coffea Arabica Seed Oil for puffiness plus Bayberry Fruit Wax and Vitamin E. How should someone use it without it creasing, and what should they realistically expect.

Warm it for three to five seconds with your finger, tap it on, then layer only where you need more. It doubles as foundation if you sheer it, which helps with shade matching because many women sit between two concealer shades. The formula base is Isododecane, Caprylic Capric Triglyceride, Synthetic Wax and Mica plus Coffee Oil. We reformulated to add Bayberry Wax and Vitamin E to meet our clean standards. All formulas are cruelty free, vegan, gluten free, fragrance free and paraben free. For the appearance of puffiness in the morning, Coffee Seed Oil supports a smoother look and helps skin appear more radiant, it does not change structure. Expect buildable medium coverage that looks dewy, not matte. If you need full cover for evening, layer twice rather than pressing hard once. And keep the case. Refill is fourteen dollars on sale against sixteen regular. That keeps price steady and waste lower than buying a new compact each time.

Lip and Cheek at fourteen dollars mixes Shea Butter, Sunflower Wax, Jojoba and Sweet Almond Oil in shades like Petal to the Metal, a cool dusty mauve. Powder Bronzer at eighteen dollars comes in Leche, Latte, Mocha, Cocoa and Espresso over a Mica, Squalane and Silica base. How do you keep creams blendable and powders soft in one stack.

We formulate the stack as a system. Lip and Cheek has to melt a little on skin, so Shea Butter, Sunflower Wax, Jojoba and Sweet Almond Oil carry color that blends with fingers. You blot on lips and cheeks, then layer. Petal to the Metal is a good example, a cool dusty mauve that reads natural on lips and gives cheeks a lived in flush. Powders have a different job. Bronzer is silky matte over Mica with Squalane and Silica, so it blends on forehead, nose and cheeks without looking orange. It also works as contour or shadow, which saves space. Shine Control is talc free with plant squalane, so it helps with the appearance of oil in the T zone without a dry finish. The Stak 2.0 refillable bezel technology holds both textures in one column without crushing the cream. Refill for bronzer is twelve dollars, which matters because bronzer is often the first powder to hit pan. One stack, two textures, same five minute order.

Stak 2.0 won a BeautyMatter NEXT award and the line went viral on TikTok, with one founder page noting I first saw Subtl Beauty go viral on TikTok. What did virality change about shade range and restocks.

Virality found us before we were ready, which is the honest answer. I first saw Subtl Beauty go viral on TikTok is a line from our own site because that is how many women found us. A creator would demo the whole Stak in a car or at a desk, five minutes, no mirror tricks, and comments would ask for their exact shades. That puts pressure on shade range and on restock speed. Concealer now runs nineteen shades from 001C to 021N across cool, neutral and warm undertones. Bronzer runs Leche, Latte, Mocha, Cocoa and Espresso. We photograph Every Shade of Beautiful and carry a four point nine six verified rating, but ratings do not solve a shade gap. If your undertone sits outside our range, we say so. Waitlist, meaning names held for the next batch when a shade sells out, helped us see which depths to extend first. Sell through by shade tells the truth faster than comments. TikTok also taught us to demo in real light, car light, office light, gym light, not studio light.

On December 22, 2023 you closed about five point five million dollars, five million from CULT Capital plus about half a million from Grouse Ridge and Innovation Works, after about one point two million earlier including AlphaLab. At the time you cited over three hundred thousand Staks sold and one hundred seventy percent year over year growth. What did that money change.

The partnership with CULT Capital marks a pivotal moment for us, it is a testimony not only to our product but also to our business trajectory. CULT Capitals network and experience scaling beauty brands is exactly what we need to take our business to the next level. That is what I said at the time and it holds. The round, about five million from CULT plus about half a million from Grouse Ridge and Innovation Works, after about one point two million earlier including AlphaLab, let us hire, market steadily and plan retail expansion beyond direct to consumer. At the round we had sold over three hundred thousand Staks with about one hundred seventy percent year over year growth. That growth came from refills and Starter Staks, not from adding twenty new products. The money did not change the thesis. Rather one refillable five minute stack done well than drawers of palettes and twelve steps. It let us improve Stak 2.0, hold our clean standards and keep publishing full ingredient lists while we scaled.

Your site carries a four point nine six verified rating beside the line Every Shade of Beautiful. If someone buys one thing this week, what should it be, and what would you tell a founder who wants fewer formulas but fears fewer sales.

Buy the Starter Stak first. Learn your concealer shade, learn Lip and Cheek blotted versus layered, learn where bronzer and highlighter sit on your face, learn how much Shine Control your T zone needs. Then refill. That is the whole business. To a founder I would say small is a strategy. Keep the case, publish the list, answer shade questions in plain language. We left out parabens, fragrance and gluten and stayed vegan and cruelty free because that is what our customer asked for in those one hundred interviews. Lab partner, factory, batch size and third party certifications were not found in our public files, so I will not claim what I cannot prove. What I can prove is repeat purchase. Women who finish a puck and pop in a refill are telling you the routine fits. Fewer formulas means every formula has to work harder. That is the work.

Closing note from the desk

What stays with us is how plainly Reid talks about tradeoffs. A crossbody bag forced the size, a hundred interviews forced the shade logic, and a basement operation forced the refill. She does not present fewer formulas as minimalism. She presents it as arithmetic learned from cost per gram, restock reports and morning light.

Subtl Beauty set out to deal with reality, not fantasy, in Reid’s words. A stack for people who laugh and cry, work and play. A five minute routine that fits in a teeny tiny bag and refills for fourteen dollars. Gloss Report will keep watching the shade extensions, the audit behind the clean claims and the retail doors that come next.

Product spotlight

Starter Stak 5-in-1 Travel Makeup Kit by Subtl Beauty, fifty five dollars on sale from eighty dollars. Includes cream concealer, lip and cheek tint, powder bronzer, powder highlighter in Champagne and shine control powder in Translucent, plus lid, brush and base. For streamlined complexion in car, office or travel. Dab and blot, then blend and sweep on sun points and T zone.

Cream Concealer by Subtl Beauty, sixteen dollars on sale, refill fourteen dollars. Lightweight dewy cream in nineteen shades from 001C to 021N, with Coffea Arabica Seed Oil plus Bayberry Fruit Wax and Vitamin E. For buildable medium coverage that doubles as foundation. Warm three to five seconds with finger, tap on and layer only where needed.