Fazit’s founders on how Taylor Swift and her glitter freckles changed their business

That’s because, in October, Taylor Swift wore Fazit’s Faux Freckle Makeup Patches to a Kansas City Chiefs game. The patches, which come in a variety of metallic hues and some sports-themed shades, apply like temporary tattoos. They launched in April 2024.

Within 48 hours, the brand’s site traffic spiked by over 3,500%, resulting in $1 million in sales. Last week, Fazit entered 400 CVS doors with its Gold Stardust Speckle Makeup Patches. It is also sold at Urban Outfitters and on Amazon. On the latest Glossy Beauty Podcast, Buttelman teased that a dream retailer is coming soon and noted that the experience with Swift gave her and LaBruna more confidence in negotiating such deals.

Below are highlights from the episode, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

Who wears glitter freckle patches, and when and where

Buttelman: “We have a team spirit collection, [which includes] different colors that a lot of teams use, so red, blue, orange and purple. We knew back in the summer that it would just do well for female fans looking to show team spirit in an elevated way, and Taylor going to her boyfriend’s football game has naturally brought our product and our brand into this intersection between beauty and sport, so naturally, … What’s interesting is that, as a beauty brand, we’re really hitting two interesting markets, which are music and sports. I don’t see a ton of brands [that have products that fit both of those niches]. We’ve had Lisa, the Korean pop star from Blackpink, wear them; Rita Ora wore the strawberry speckles; Hilary Duff; … It’s really resonating with two different audiences. And [we’re] trying to seed to all of the WAGs as we go into playoff season and Super Bowl season.”

On going viral without selling out

Buttelman: “It was funny because I was looking at Shopify, just waiting to see the spike, and it actually didn’t happen as quickly as I thought it was going to happen, but it was the immediate press. We had every single beauty and media press outlet in the U.S. write about us. Internationally, our videos were going viral in the Philippines, our friends in Europe were seeing it, people in Australia were seeing it. Then, into the morning of the next day, the sales started spiking. Within 48 hours, we’d done seven figures, which surpassed what our brand had ever done operationally. We never sold out, which is insane. I think that is a clickbait [thing] for brands to say, ‘We sold out of this product.’ But for us, we’re like, ‘Thank God we didn’t sell out of our product.’ We had the supply and we had the infrastructure and the team to support the demand that we were experiencing. I think for a little bit of time, Amazon themselves was going in and out of stock because there were just capacity restraints that they had in their own warehouses for our product. So [we were] literally sending them more product every single day.”

On how Taylor Swift changed their lives

LaBruna: “The biggest thing she did for us is not just put our brand out in the public … It’s wonderful to have a viral moment, which is what we had, but what she’s given us is a platform to have a voice. She’s given us access to so many more open doors and given us more leverage, power and negotiating advantages. The way she impacted my life, personally, is I have found a voice in all of this, and I found more confidence and more freedom. I have the ability to give back to others and to make changes. Aliett [Buttelman] had this amazing giveaway idea where we’ve been able to give free tickets [to the Eras tour] to our community and fans and create these little moments of impact that create joy in somebody’s life. Those little moments have been rewarding for us to be able to give back. [We’ve also been able] to expand our team, give everyone raises and make others feel good in the way that we’ve been able to feel good from what Taylor has done [for] us.”

Buttelman: “[We’ve been able to] go back to being two women in our mid-20s, building this brand. There are a lot of sacrifices that go into being an entrepreneur and taking this risk to build the brand. Nina [LaBruna] and I hadn’t taken a salary for years. When you’re building brands, there are so many nos and rejections along the way, whether it’s raising money or pitching to retailers. And back to what [LaBruna] was saying, this opportunity and momentum and virality that we’ve experienced from Taylor [Swift] has given us this leverage into opening our own doors, of being able to call upon the top retailer we want to be in and say, ‘How do you move mountains for us if we are the ‘it’ brand right now? How are we going to work together?’ Taylor [Swift], as a celebrity, realizes her power, and we’ve seen it in other brands she decides to feature. There’s a reason why she doesn’t always represent luxury brands, but she’s calling upon these small, female-owned businesses and featuring them and giving them a platform.”