When Gisselle Hernandez picks packaging for her makeup line, the phrase ‘over-the-top’ means nothing. “There’s no such thing as too much,” she tells me over a phone call. “We went viral off pizza makeup. Once you take it to that extreme and you build an audience that is okay with that, there’s nothing else that they’ll feel like it’s too much.”
And she’s right. Glamlite easily boasts over one million followers across Instagram and TikTok. The brand stands out from its competition on the market, with Hernandez opting for sleek, minimalist packaging and instead trading in bold and colorful bundles. Launching in 2017 and channeling childhood nostalgia and blending high-quality eye shadow formulas with shimmer so bright they could blind you, setting sprays that can erase even the smallest pore, and lip kits that rival Kylie Jenner’s for the perfect pout.
“I never thought I was gonna be a big brand, especially right now in the beauty space where I’ve watched so many of my peers, a lot of amazing, black-owned brands that I’ve been friends with over the years, completely shut down,” she says.
But, despite beauty brands facing the challenges of recovering from COVID and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) rollbacks from major retailers, Glamlite continues to steal the spotlight, churning out collaborations with Tiktok’s largest influencers and innovative original concepts.
Hernandez has amassed a cult following, with her marketing videos reaching in the millions, and has also licensed some of the biggest names, from Coca-Cola to Strawberry Shortcake, and most recently, Saw, just in time for Halloween, and her most recent accolade, her products being worn by the likes of celebrities, including critically acclaimed rapper Cardi B.
Fresh off her album release, Am I The Drama?, fellow Afro-Latina and artist’s makeup artist Erika la’ Pearl relies on the famed Glamlite bake and set setting powder to keep the rapper matte and pore-less through all of her performances. The sweetly named concoction is crafted with precision to effortlessly set and bake your makeup. While the star-studded appraisal would be enough to make anyone happy, Hernandez felt a sense of camaraderie.
“It was such a beautiful feeling, especially both of us being from New York, from the Dominican Republic. It was like a stamp of approval,” she gushed. “Whenever we see celebrities big make-up artists using our products, it lets us know that you can have fun innovation, high quality, and that the sky’s the limit.”
Unlike many, Hernadez’s story starts with a heart-shattering beginning. A victim of sexual abuse, the Brooklyn native came from an abusive household and fell into the heartbreaking and difficult cycle of women who struggle with domestic violence. Looking for a way out, Hernandez would use her love of makeup to strategize an exit plan.
“I loved makeup, but the number one thing that I wanted to do was to be able to earn enough money where I can make my own living and be able to get out of the situation,” she recalled.
Starting a brand from scratch is no easy feat and is certainly not inexpensive. Determined to break away from her abuser, Hernandez would turn to social media to find the one thing any business needs to lift itself up: community.
It would be the colorful and bright swatches, the creativity, and the brush to canvas effect that makeup had that would eventually save Hernandez and give her the strength to leave. “Every order that came in was a way of me saying, ‘Hey, when I move out, I can go put this deposit down, I can get furniture.’ The beauty community saved my life—if it wasn’t for my brand, I don’t know where I would be today.”
She would go on to ink her first brand deal with Frosted Flakes, a testament to all of her sacrifices paying off. She vividly recalled the story of the time she had to return a box of the famed cereal to the bodega so she could afford train fare. The collection would go on to sell out and become one of the brand’s most notable collections, further solidifying her decision to bet on herself.
Despite signing deals with billion-dollar brands and a successful social media following, Hernandez often struggled with the trope that many Afro-Latinas have struggled with for years: their identity. Hernandez struggled with a double dosage of socio-economic disadvantages, from being a formerly undocumented immigrant to not quite fitting into the typical ‘idea’ of a Latina, lacking fairer skin and having a more textured curl pattern; she often faced discrimination and accusations of not being ‘x’ enough, sometimes from her own fans.
“I always fall short because some people say you’re not black enough to be fully embraced in the black community, but you’re also not Latina enough to be embraced Latina community. I’m still trying to navigate how I can just show up and be myself.”
Still, she shows up as her authentic self on social media, rocking her versatile curls to pin-straight wigs and promoting the inclusivity of her brand, and more recently, celebrating love for love a she came out at the beginning of this year. She prides herself on her values and dares anyone to challenge her on them.
“I made sure that I never created a space where anyone who supports hate will feel welcome. I’d rather not have a customer, I’d rather you keep your money, and I don’t get your support than to know that in order for me to get your support, I have to support hate.”