By 
While the popular cosmetics brand Too Faced was a fruitful endeavor for co-founders, Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson, Blandino told Hello Gurl during a Zoom interview that the beauty brand Polite Society is an opportunity to unveil the duo’s personal vision of beauty.
“Polite Society is really the modern version of me and my interpretation of modern beauty,” Blandino said.
“I created Too Faced in my early 20s, and we had an amazing time being disruptive and being really creative. But the aesthetic, you know, what Too Faced looks like today, is not what I would have it would look like if I were behind it,” he added.
From Too Faced to Polite Society
Polite Society, which launched in August 2023, was a chance for the married couple that are also business partners to explore new avenues of clean beauty, including making their own rules.
“It’s taking everything that I’ve learned over the last 25 years, everything that I’ve done, and creating really efficacious, kick-ass, vegan, cruelty free, non toxic, clean [products],” the beauty brand founder said.
Too Face Cosmetics became a staple in the makeup world after its launch in 1998 in Irvine, California. The “Better Than Sex” mascara, the “Born This Way” foundation and the “Lip Injection Plumping Gloss” continue to be coveted for their creative names and affordable quality.
However, for the beauty brand pair, Too Faced was no longer the right venture after being behind it for 24 years. They were ready for something fresh and bold.
After selling the Too Faced to Estee Lauder Companies in 2016 for $1.45 billion and eventually leaving the brand altogether in 2022, Blandino recalls feeling inspired to pursue a different approach to the beauty industry, one that surprised even him.
“That’s new for me. I’m clean, you know what I mean, but the clean aesthetic wasn’t mine,” he said, expressing that marketing a clean beauty brand was a step into some unknown territory.
“I love a full beat face. I want results immediately. But I also want to create products that your tomorrow self is going to thank you for,” he added, which helped make the birth of Polite Society.
What places Polite Society Apart
Blandino’s goals for Polite Society include the brand not just being about the eco-friendly ingredients, but also being about empowerment, personality and pride.
“It’s really me, and the way I see beauty, and how inspired I am by these amazing, incredible modern young women and men who are owning their lives, who are in love or looking for love, or they’re in their career, they’re kind of on their path, and they’re not taking anything less than going for fulfilling their dream,” Blandino said.
Polite Society products are vegan, cruelty-free, and use natural ingredients. Some of the standout products for him include the “More Than a Pretty Face” foundation, the “B.I.G. Mouth” lip plumping oil and the “Polite Pops” blush sticks.
“It [More Than a Pretty Face foundation] gives beautiful, amazing, medium to full coverage that’s undetectable. It looks like skin, but it actually does improve the quality of your skin. There’s powerful skincare ingredients in there,” the beauty entrepreneur added.
Some of the standout ingredients in the foundation include:
- Niacinamide, which is a form of vitamin B3 that promotes clear skin and anti-aging.
- Willow bark extract, which reduces redness and inflammation.
- Jojoba esters, which are derived from jojoba seed oil and help to soften, hydrate and firm the skin.
Polite Society Has Plans to Go Bigger
Since its 2023 launch, Polite Society continues to evolve and refine its brand identity.
“Every day I’m learning new things,” Blandino said.
We’re improving ourselves every single season, bringing in new sciences, new technologies, new approaches. We’re really aligning ourselves with manufacturers and companies and raw material suppliers who kind of mirror our point of view to the world, which is, ‘let’s make this world a better place,'” he added.
