When I started Cheekbone Beauty, I was using someone else's formulas—just like most beauty brands do. It’s called private or white labeling, where manufacturers around the world put a brand’s logo on a standard product and sell it as their own. At the time, I didn’t know any better. I found a private label manufacturer in Toronto called Pinnacle—look them up, and you’ll see many brands use their products.
But then, I realized something that changed everything.
Alibaba was changing the game. Brands in North America could source a lipstick for just $1 and sell it to unsuspecting customers at a huge markup. The more I learned, the more concerned I became. Some of these products contained terrible ingredients, and there was no way a product could be ethical if it only cost $1 to make. Who knew what conditions these products were made under—potentially by exploited labor in unknown countries.
Let me be clear—Cheekbone Beauty never chose that path, but I knew our current method wouldn’t last. The barrier to entry in the beauty industry is incredibly low. If I could source products this way, so could anyone, and I noticed other Indigenous brands in the U.S. following the same path.
I started asking Pinnacle questions about their supply chain, and I was met with silence—completely ghosted. That’s when I knew it was time to take matters into my own hands.
I did what any sane entrepreneur would do—I rewrote my entire business plan. This time, it included seeking investment, building our own lab, and hiring a chemist and sustainability scientist to help figure out a better way. The vision was clear: our lab would be built on my Anishinaabe roots and married with Western science.
Through this journey, I discovered a concept called lifecycle analysis. I knew I wanted to incorporate its values into Cheekbone Beauty, ensuring that everything—from the harvesting of raw materials to the end of a product’s life—was considered. Packaging, raw ingredients, and everything in between had to align with our sustainability values. We didn’t want our packaging to end up in a landfill, nor did we want our materials to harm ecosystems.
In 2020, as the world shut down, we finally had our first truly sustainable lipstick ready to sell. I personally sourced every ingredient, ensuring it was natural, sustainable, and vegan—everything I had ever dreamed of. And that’s how Sustain Lipstick was born.
Each shade is named after a different word for “earth” or “land” in one of the 300 Indigenous languages of North America. Indigenous people are the original stewards of sustainability, and at Cheekbone Beauty, we’re building a brand that makes products better for people and the planet.
Join us on this journey.