Beauty has always been a part of Gissel Alvarez’s life. Alvarez, a digital marketing specialist with her own consulting firm, stacked.wav, was born into beauty. Her mom Miguelina has been a hairstylist since she was approximately 16. Miguelina’s hair salon, which she’s owned since her daughter was two years old, is named after Alvarez, Gissel’s Beauty Salon.
“I grew up around beauty. That’s all I know and I incorporate it into my day-to-day life,” Alvarez tells Remezcla. “I like to feel good. If [I want to] throw on a little eyebrow and lipstick, then we do that. If you ever see me walking around and I don’t have lip gloss [on] at least, or a lip liner, then I’m not feeling good.”
Music would not be as influential as it is today, if it wasn’t for the impact of strategy, which is a profession that Alvarez has succeeded in for years. Before launching stacked.wav, she worked on the RENAISSANCE World Tour, on TV networks like BET, Max, and Paramount+, and as the Editorial Lead for @TwitterMusic. As Alvarez’s career proves, the power of music doesn’t solely lie in the product itself, but also how it reaches the masses. Alvarez has creatively boosted artists across multiple digital channels to optimize their performance. That’s one of the many reasons as to why she’s part of this year’s Major Mujeres list of Latinas changing the music industry.
Beauty plays a big role in what Alvarez does in her field of work – in more ways than one. “I love dressing up,” she says. “It’s one of the things that when I wake up, I set the tone for my day. Whether I do my hairstyle a certain way or I do my makeup differently, maybe I change my perfume… if I look good, I feel good. And looking good is different for all of us. I will make the effort.”
While working in the entertainment industry, Alvarez fights against beauty standards every day, as do many women worldwide. “I’ve always been a bigger woman. I’m a fat woman at the end of the day, and I’ll never hide it. I embrace it,” she shares. Despite people treating others “differently if you don’t fit the mold of what they think beauty is,” Alvarez is “very confident” in her body type and how she expresses herself.
“Beauty is literally in the eye of the beholder,” she adds. “As long as you see it for yourself, it doesn’t matter what other people think. Confidence is key. And the way I feel confident is when I put on that lipstick in the morning, no matter what.”
Alvarez has a one-stop solution for all her beauty needs: Sephora. Here she finds all her faves that boost her confidence. She wears HUDA Beauty Lip Contour 2.0 Automatic Matte Lip Pencil “almost every day,” rotating between shades of rich brown and very berry. She always coats her lips with the PAT McGRATH LABS LUST: Lip Gloss in bronze. She doesn’t leave the house before a few spritzes of her daily scent, the Fenty Eau de Parfum.
She wears products that not only make her feel good, but also empower her. The lipgloss from “the Queen” PAT McGRATH adds some “pizzazz to the lip liner.” “I love feeling shiny. It’s like when I dab a bunch of highlighter, I’m like, yeah, I look like the Tin Woman,” she jokes. “Anything that makes it pop, I’m there with it. I’m like, yeah, it makes me shine. I want to stick out.”
Another favorite of hers is PAT McGRATH LABS Mothership IX Eyeshadow Palette: Huetopian Dream, which she says is “perfect for everything.” She uses it as eyeshadow, and sometimes, when she’s in a hurry, it can “double as a highlighter, or even as blush; that’s how amazing this palette is.”
With how busy her day can be and how long it can go, it’s crucial for Alvarez’s makeup to stay flawless and for that, she recommends ONE/SIZE On ‘Til Dawn Setting Spray. It works perfectly for when you’re go, go, go, because it “stays on all day. Not that I recommend this, but, if you just so happen to take a nap… you’re going to wake up [to find] it’s still intact and your face still snatched.”
And, it’s not just about the specificity of a product for Alvarez. She’s mindful of choosing products by founders whose missions align with her own. Majority, if not all, of what Alvarez uses is by brown or Black founders. “Huda Beauty. PAT McGRATH. Fenty. Pattern by Tracee Ellis Ross. I always show up and show out with folks,” she says.
Aligned with Alvarez, Sephora has been intentional in spotlighting and championing founders of color through a range of initiatives, such as their Sephora Accelerate incubation program and their first-ever Impact Summit for BIPOC founded brands.
That’s one of the beautiful things about the beauty space. It has something for everyone – and it can celebrate and uplift different types of beauty. Because beauty is, as Alvarez says, what we create and what we make of it.
For more on Gissel Alvarez, check out her Major Mujeres profile here.
