Beauty 101 Brings Custom Blending to Bucks County

In Julie Weiss Schwartz's 24 years of experience in the cosmetic industry, she saw makeup lines come and go as well as department store makeup counters only stocking certain colors.

This plus her artistic background and entrepreneurial spirit, Schwartz decided to pursue her passion in custom blending cosmetics.

"Custom blending was something I was really passionate about doing," she said.

Prior to opening her own business, Schwartz was still working in the corporate cosmetic world in New York. Schwartz began her career in the cosmetic industry working at a department store Estée Lauder makeup counter and worked her way up to a national makeup artist, training manager as well as a training director for the U.S. for the prestigious LVMH beauty divisions of Guerlain Paris and Acqua Di Parma.

"I loved what I did and I wasn’t looking to leave, but I loved my husband more," she said.

During her time at department stores, she saw a few custom blend cosmetic lines that were discontinued. Schwartz said she talked about those custom blend lines for years after they went out of business. She also saw women's frustration when other cosmetic lines would go out of business and were no longer be able to get a particular color or shade of makeup.

This further fueled Schwartz's passion to custom blend all different kinds of makeup. And thus, she opened , a Feasterville makeup studio and cosmetic retail boutique that is a destination for upscale makeup, skincare products and, of course, custom blending. 

"Pretty much anything you can dream of, we can make it," Schwartz said. At Beauty 101, Schwartz and her team of beauty experts can create eye shadows, tinted moisturizers, foundations, lipsticks, lip glosses, nail polishes, bronzers and blushes and more. The benefit of these custom blended products, Schwartz said, is that they are made just for the client as well as the ability to match and recreate a product or color of a discontinued makeup line.

When a client works with Schwartz to create a custom blended makeup product, the client is able to give the shade a name and Schwartz keeps the forumla on file.

"We card catalog everything. We have their formulas on file and can ship them out with just a phone call," she said.

At Beauty 101, makeup isn't the only thing made custom for Schwartz's clients. The brow bar specializes in shaping eye brows unique to each person's face. Airbrush tanning is also custom blended for clients to create a custom color perfect for a client's skin color and type.

This type of custom service is now being offered as a holiday gift. Schwartz said you can now purchase the "Gift of Custom" for the holidays. People can now go into Beauty 101 and pick out a custom blended product. The person that receives this gift can come back into Beauty 101, have a full hour consultation and have the product made just for them.

"People are trying to get away from giving gift certificates," she said, noting that people feel that gift certificates are impersonal. But with the "Gift of Custom" you can purchase makeup for someone without it being too personal.

No matter what service a client comes to Beauty 101 for, Schwartz said that "every type of service we offer has some type of consultation."

Schwartz, a Newtown resident, said that when she was planning to open Beauty 101, she knew she wanted it to be in Bucks County because she said she "knew there wasn’t anywhere that offered custom blending" in the area.

"I did want to find a place that was easy to get to. I’m very happy with my location," Schwartz said.

She decided on her Feasterville location because it's right on Street Road and is minutes from I-95 and the turnpike. This "great location," she said, is "a location where we have a diverse clientele."

"I felt I wanted to be able to draw all different clients," Schwartz said. Beauty 101 sees clients from Bucks County, Philadelphia, New Jersey and even Florida.

Since opening Beauty 101, Schwartz has found ways to expand the business through technology.

"Through a website, we're building an online presence," she said. Schwartz said the Beauty 101 website is currently being revamped, has recently become and outlet for clients to shop for products online.