All glossed up and nowhere to go–but we lookin’ damn fine 💁🏻♀️
A 24-year-old writer and content associate with an obsession for beauty and an ineffable love for all things sharp–from cacti to hedgehogs to intense winged liner.
A 23-year-old writer and producer who’s got the starry-eyes of a shopaholic with an irrefutable love-hate relationship with carbs and wine .
Meet the new gloss boss on the block: Rachel Torres. 😘
Finding (and creating) the perfect lip gloss isn’t easy. Creating a brand from scratch isn’t easy. Yet, over the past couple of months, we found one of our friends doing both and nailing it at the same time. Though we were first introduced to To Dew Today as our new go-to brand for lip-loving glosses, it has become much more than that in such a small amount of time, making both of us always so excited to see what’s coming next!
But enough chatter from us! We’re both beyond lucky and grateful that this brand’s very own gloss boss has come over to tell us her story, and so although we’d love to babble our mouths off about how much we love this brand (we’ve already purchased glosses for ourselves and will review them very, very soon), we’d love for you to read all about it from the She-EO herself! 💋
I’m Rachel Torres and I used to be (as of now, I think that I will be using past-tense for this) a hair and makeup artist. I was a HMUA for 5 years, and with my job I found that a common problem I always had was what my client would touch up with after having applied the lipstick from my kit.
I usually would ask what the client would have on hand and I would pattern the shade from that, and sometimes they wouldn’t have lipstick at all (who’s to blame them; they pay for my service and products for a reason, right?). With that, I always knew I wanted to have my own simple lipstick line so that I would have something to give my client to touch up with during their event after we work together.
Let me expound on what I said: “former hair and makeup artist”. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, many events are cancelled and even if I have been invited to work for some shoots, I don’t feel safe going to a shoot in an alien environment alongside working with several people. Especially with my role in productions, I would have to get up close and personal with a model. Hence, I thought that this may be my sign to pack up this chapter of my career because it may be a while until I would feel comfortable to go back to work and shoots knowing that I come home to senior citizens and an infant.
It’s not all bad, only because I’m lucky enough that my parents are still willing to provide for me knowing my source of income took a halt. A few months into the pandemic, people started to have small Instagram businesses on the side: selling cookies, old clothes, stickers, bracelets, and hand-crafted products. I took this as a sign that maybe I could use this down time to finally start what I’ve been dreaming of—my own brand for beauty. Although it’s not as easy as finding the ingredients and popping them into the oven or something I could YouTube overnight. It took a few months and almost my whole bank account just to start and experiment on a few products.
In spite of the level of difficulty, I present my brain-child, my brand baby, To Dew Today. It is currently a small cosmetic and skin care brand, locally and Filipina made. I launched To Dew Today with the birth of the perfect gloss duo. Lip Dew is a subtle, shiny, clear gloss that is very moisturizing on the lips. The OG, on the other hand, is made with thicker consistency for those who want to pack in more gloss and shine. Both feel very nourishing on the lips because they’re pumped with Vitamin E and natural oils like sunflower oil and Moroccan argan oil. I made sure when making these two that they were vegan, paraben-free, and, of course, cruelty-free. (We don’t test on bunnies, we test on hunnies 🍯)
Just a few days ago, I officially unveiled my second set called the Brow and Groom (a cute play on the phrase Bride and Groom). They consist of an easy and clear brow gel called Brow Dew and the TDT Brow Soap, which I think is self explanatory. Brow soaps are very trendy now, with people going for the bushy brushed-up brow look. Although I never forget those who just want simple-to-use products, that is why I am first coming out with sets to make sure I tap both markets: those who are beginning and first playing with makeup while they have the time, and those who are makeup savvy and are adding to their collection.
Starting a beauty brand isn’t easy because people are so picky with what they put on their face. It’s even harder starting with lip products in the middle of a pandemic when everybody’s wearing a mask. This didn’t hinder me because my target market is younger people who are staying home, in online calls and meetings, and taking selfies. (I should emphasize that everybody should be staying home, not just my target market!)
With that, To Dew Today values confidence, individuality, and outspokenness—a few of the values underscored when taking a selfie. The first set of girls that I chose to represent the brand are girls who do their own thing, unapologetically who they are, and speak up for their own values and interests. Hopefully this radiates throughout my brand and that other people see these values from the way To Dew Today is presented.
The thought of Miranda Priestly of Devil Wears Prada comes to mind—the heels, the fabulous office. Or! The young Sophia Marlowe of the Netflix series Girlboss—easy, and lots of fun. Ugh, how I wish! I have to be brutally honest and say: it’s un-glamorously hard!
I don’t think about it–the label CEO–as I’m so busy focusing on the brand and working on its growth. Actually, I don’t even feel it. It doesn’t feel so strong-independent-woman and girl-boss-like when my bank account is depleting from the capital’s needs and I’m still trying to break even, which is still a looong way to go!
When you’re starting, especially starting a brand alone, there’s nothing easy and fabulous about being your own research and development team, social media manager, marketing director, and more. Everything’s on me, fortunately and unfortunately.
But you know what? I’m in my mid-20’s and alone I own my own cosmetic brand. That’s crazy! I could only dream of being a CEO of anything, really. I didn’t plan this, but life comes at us unexpectedly. I am so grateful for the growth of my brand, it’s slow but steady. I’m not in a rush to be at the top, I know I’m still in the process of building myself and my brand up, that’s why I accept my current state as well as my brand, and my bank account is in.
It may be un-glamorously hard, as I said, but I’m honestly having a lot of fun. I get to talk to so many people and I get to receive many positive feedback from customers which truly fills my heart. I appreciate all the help and support I’m getting from friends and strangers who buy from my brand and I can only hope to continue to produce good products to reach a larger audience to enjoy.
If any of her products caught your eye (as they should; because they’re GORGEOUS), do feel free to hop on over to To Dew Today’s Instagram (@todewtoday) to order for yourselves! Before we go, we wanted to give as many virtual hugs as our combined Internet bandwidths can allow to Rachel for letting us have an up-close look at her brainchild. Congratulations on the launch; we’re both so proud of you!
As usual, slay safe and stay cute, loves! 😘
A 20-something year old Cancer-Leo cusp, hobbyist, artist, and life-explorer who collects stickers and never sticks them anywhere.
talk t á• y o! 