On a Thursday night – just a few blocks from Miami’s Calle Ocho – cousins Vanessa Enriquez and Marivette Navarrete are hosting a party to celebrate the continued growth of their joint venture, Nevermind Cosmetics. Just a year in, the duo has already made waves on the internet. Now, they’re focused on complementing their line of cosmetics with apparel and accessories.
Born to Nicaraguan parents, the two Miami natives find themselves at a crossroads as entrepreneurs, as women, and as citizens of a changing world. Here, on a relatively mild January night, they’ve parlayed their latest product release into a full-blown ladies night, a celebration of where they’ve been and where they’re headed.
Nevermind Cosmetics pays homage to famed designer Lisa Frank.
Enriquez and Navarrete got their start at cosmetics subscription companies, but they soon found themselves eager to be creative on their own terms. Inspired by a new wave of woman-led entrepreneurs, they launched Nevermind Cosmetics, a cruelty-free line of lipstick heavily influenced by 90s aesthetics (think whimsical, Lisa Frank-esque shades, with names like “Hair Flip” and “Grl Talk”). It wasn’t long before their savvy, social media approach had garnered them attention from the likes of Yes Julz, and gotten them picked up by online retailers like Dolls Kill.
Still, as the two women grow, so do their tastes and, naturally, their products. If their early foray into cosmetics was a nod to the past, Nevermind’s braintrust seems steadfast on offering products that make sense to the young women of the present and future. Nevermind’s newest line promises to be minimalist, subdued and conscious of a global ecosystem in peril. Put simply, the cousins have grown up and their product reflects that growth.
“I think consumers are now more aware of what they’re using on their bodies and we wanted to sell a product that we’d feel comfortable buying as well,” they explain about their newest direction.
That slight reworking of their original business model, from bubbly to business, has taken shape in less than a year – a year that has already seen them in print and on TV. Still, with their eyes fixed on the big picture, Vanessa and Marivette have already plotted out their next moves. During our FaceTime call, Vanessa makes it a point to mention the Nevermind hats and apparel ready to be rolled out in the coming months.
“We’re making products for the sophisticated, hardworking girl. Our mission is to cater to that girl who’s working her way up at her job or interning, anything really. Our mission is to cater to that girl so she can feel her best and feel empowered to kill it at that meeting.”
“Our mission is to cater to that girl so she can feel her best and feel empowered to kill it at that meeting.”
Vanessa and Marivette represent Miami’s next generation of Latinx entrepreneurship, and they’re conscious that the sacrifices of those who came before them have given them the luxury to pursue their dreams. Nevermind Cosmetics is a testament to the legacy of the generations who found themselves on U.S. soil under completely different circumstances. In other words, those who’ve fled the turmoil of the Americas often did what they had to in order for our generation to do what we want to do.
With the internet at their fingertips, Vanessa and Marivette do exactly that – filling a need in a beauty industry that is often stagnant, void of women of color, and mismanaged by men.
“People try to talk to us like we’re little kids, telling us to remember to do this, remember to shake hands… The biggest challenge is having people not believe in you from the second they first meet you,” Vanessa tells me.
With a tinge of defiance in her voice, “we change that right off the bat.”
