Introducing Vanity Makeup Cosmetics– the cruelty free, all-inclusive cosmetics line created by Instagram beauty influencer Ani Goulayan. Over the last nine years, the makeup guru has used her talents to go viral on social media and establish an industry-altering career that has gained her a fanbase of over 1.3 million followers and helped her build two life-changing, self-made businesses.
The Armenian native happens to be a self-taught artist from a young age. As a freshman in high school, she gained inspiration from models in magazines and celebrities on TV. She would get home from school and practice her makeup skills in the mirror, experimenting with bright colors and pigmented eyeshadows.
Over the years, she persisted in her craft and began to find small gigs that she’d work for free in exchange for exposure and experience. She landed her first official job as a makeup artist in 2010 at a local beauty salon, quickly realizing that the beauty industry wasn’t nearly as ‘glamorous’ as it seemed. She quit after six months and began working at a bank, temporarily convincing herself that makeup wasn’t something she saw herself pursuing long term. But just a year and a half later, Goulayan found herself working weekends at another local salon, where she began to gain loyal clientele.
In 2012, Ani Goulayan created an account under the username @vanitymakeup. She used the page as a digital portfolio, showcasing photos of some of the looks she’d create at home as well as 15-second videos of the clients she’d glam at the salon. “I would create a super dramatic eye at like three in the morning, and then take a close-up picture with a super cheap Canon camera. Then I’d upload it to my computer, edit the picture using Photoshop, and email it back to myself so I could post it,” the makeup guru explained. Since her photos happened to be of better quality than most on the platform, and dramatic makeup looks were not yet considered “trendy”, the posts easily stood out. So much so, in fact, that they began to perform exceptionally well, landing @vanitymakeup on the “popular page” (now known as the explore page) practically on a daily basis. As her posts went viral on the platform, thousands of new followers made their way onto her page and became admiring fans of her work.
In 2015, the beauty influencer started teaching makeup classes at the salon she worked at to a small group consisting of 30-40 students. Her classes continued to fill up consistently, and the number of requests for more classes were constantly overflowing her inbox. She decided to teach a masterclass in downtown Los Angeles, hosting a venue of 120 students. After proceeding to sell out slots for the event, she quickly realized that her influence went much further than she initially imagined.
A year later, she opened up her own studio where she began teaching full-course makeup lessons. She named it Vanity Makeup School.
And all while teaching 3-week courses, creating digital content, and working on clients was enough to drive anyone crazy, Goulayan wanted to take it a step further. In 2018, while business was booming at the academy, she began to work on what would later become Vanity Makeup Cosmetics.
The first product launch of the brand consisted of the “Sculpt & Glow” Contour Palette, which took nearly two years to go through full production. The makeup entrepreneur created custom molding and formulation for her brand, which made the process lengthy, but that much more rewarding. Since @vanitymakeup has been known as the “contour queen” on Instagram since her early years on the platform, the palette was the ideal way to symbolize the launch of her lifelong dream company. The product was released in February 2020, consisting of five shade ranges. It can be shopped on www.vanitymakeup.com.
The cosmetics line is set to release two more launches by the end of the year. But that’s not all the iconic beauty guru has up her sleeve. In summer of 2021, we can expect to see another big project making its debut on an entirely global scale. How big exactly? You’ll have to wait and find out from Miss Vanity Makeup herself.