A beauty entrepreneur, celebrity stylist, and mother of three, Marcia Williams knows what women need in order to feel beautiful — just a little embellishment! — whether it’s on their way to work, their wedding day or in front of a national TV audience. After getting married and giving birth to her daughter in 2009, Marcia launched her own cosmetic line featuring lipstick products formulated for women on-the-go, brides and busy entrepreneurs. As a beauty expert with almost 25 years experience, she launched her luxury brand offering cosmetics to women of all skin tones. Marcia Williams was recently on the Today Show.
FWM: When did you develop your passion for beauty?
I had a passion for beauty as a young girl. My maternal grandmother was in the business and I just loved the way she made the women in the community feel. She was a strong advocate for women’s rights and loved creating beauty all around her. I always knew I wanted to be in the industry . I loved creating different looks for myself more than anything. It was something very refreshing about reinventing myself with a new look. When I graduated from high school my mom wanted me to attend Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia. That was something that I knew wasn’t going to happen. I immediately attended Gordon Phillips Cosmetology School. Following a 1 year program , I graduated. Shortly after I became a single mom and my family talked me into getting a job at a pharmaceutical company because they feared I wouldn’t last as a hairstylist. After 5 years of working at a world renowned company , I was miserable. I woke up one morning and went into the office to give my 2 weeks notice and never looked back. In that Moment I reinvented how I wanted to see myself. I spent 15 years strong at a multicultural salon as a stylist and built my client base. I had many changes within that, I worked as a freelance makeup artist for 5 years while working as a hairstylist.
In 2011, I launched Embellish Beauty Concepts offering on location hair and makeup services to women on the go. I also formulated foundations, lipsticks, lip glosses and eyeshadow. My vison has transformed into offerings for bridal, tv shoots, branding shoots, etc. In 2014 , I was hired as a platform hair and makeup artist for QVC. I continued to run my freelance business during this time. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, I was laid off from QVC after 5 years and all weddings were canceled. I decided to reintroduce my line with new lipsticks that were mask proof for everyday women. Even in the mist of that , I understood the “lipstick effect”. This Effect is a real term that happened during an economic downturn. It’s known that women still wanted to splurge on one product that was inexpensive that made them feel good and it’s the almighty lipstick. So with that, I launched 7 new shades.
FWM: Share your experience with QVC hair & make-up.
QVC allowed me to see my ability as an artist and I was able to really dive into makeup in a way I had not done before. I was able to find my passion for it and I really discovered selling with passion.
FWM: Tell us about your luxury beauty brand, Embellish Beauty.
Embellish Beauty provides a multicultural audience with clean, high-performance cosmetics, nourishing skincare and professional haircare that invoke a woman’s inner“badassness”. We do this by creating signature products that are purposefully informed by 20+ years of real-world beauty expertise behind the chair, on-set and on camera, through our deep understanding of a woman’s daily beauty challenges and the notion that beauty should be both luxurious and attainable — while always unapologetically hers. Our products are Vegan, gluten free, and paraben free. They are high performing products that have a long wear approach.
FWM: Get inspired by long-lasting, moisturizing lipsticks in gorgeous reds, pinks, and neutral shades named Justice, Passion, Serenity, and more. What are the hot sellers?
Our Best Sellers are our liquid lipsticks in the shades Brazen, Embellish, Boss, Fabulous, and Scarlet.
FWM: Can you share beauty tips for the holidays?
The holidays are such a special time of year and I always think this is the time to try that perfect red lipstick without apology. There is red for everyone. For fair skin with cool undertones, shades with blue or purple undertones will complement and enhance while crimson reds will work for a statement lip. For fair skin with warm undertones, Orange-reds, or red-toned browns will also work for those with fair skin and warm undertones. For Olive skin with neutral undertone. You can get away with more yellow-toned shades and bright colors like coral -reds ,and dark berry tones can also bring out a bronzed warmth to your skin. For Medium skin with cool undertones, Go for the wine colored reds. For dark tones like plums, cool reds and berry hues are ideal for darker skin tones with cool undertones. For dark skin with warm undertones, go for the corals and cool reds.
FWM: You are also passionate about social justice and health & wellness causes. Share your initiatives.
Social Justice has always been important to me for so many reasons. Being a woman of color, it’s so important that change happens for my children. I want everyone to have a fair chance in this life that we live. I am most passionate about women against abuse. I have worked with many organizations to help women with rebooting their lives and learning how to navigate on their own. This has been most rewarding to see them through the rough seasons of their lives as they adapt to change. For these initiatives, we always donate 10% of proceeds as much as we can. I also love to help women that have experienced hardships after a devastating diagnosis.
FWM: Any plans for new products?
Yes, we are launching new products in December. We are launching highlighter Sticks and a multi-purpose blush and eyeshadow. In January we are launching our volumizing mascara.
FWM: Please share your social media.
Our Social Media is Instagram: @embellishbeautymakeup , Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/embellishbeautymakeup/ LinkedIn @embellishbeautymakeup Twitter: @embellishmylook
