Good Looks
Vbeaute: New York hedge-fund manager turned natural beauty entrepreneur
The Vbeaute: The latest luxe natural line makes this popular TSA-friendly It Kit with five skin-care essentials
It’s not everyday that a woman leaves a high-powered career managing her own $250 million hedge fund to play with beauty lotions and potions. But after a TSA mishap, that’s just what New Yorker Julie Macklowe did.
Three years ago her toiletries were confiscated by security while jetting off to Deauville and the pricy replacements she bought when she landed in France left her covered in hives.
“Clearly I had an awful reaction, says Macklowe, who is now 34. “I was determined that this was not going to ever happen to me—or anyone I knew—again.” So, on her flight home, the sensitive-skinned power mom sketched out a luxury, travel-friendly toiletry kit, that could get past the TSA, complete with packaging inspired by one of her favorite Calvin Klein clutches.
Fast-forward a few years and the It Kit was born.
Julie Macklowe, the coolest former hedge-fund manager turned beauty-brand founder we know.
Macklowe’s business savvy served her well when developing the line, and she capitalized on her researching and networking skills to partner with one of the world’s most respected manufacturing labs in Switzerland.
Together they worked to formulate her five-piece skin-care line that features a powerful botanical technology—namely stem cells from the Alpine Rose.
Macklowe calls these “longevity botanicals,” because these antioxidant-loaded molecules are what’s helped the plant endure punitive conditions, including extreme cold, relentless UV rays, and severe dryness in the High Alps—the idea being that your skin can benefit from the plant’s resiliency in an anti-aging capacity.
Stocked with all the everyday essentials (minus an SPF, which is in the works), the It Kit contains a cleanser, exfoliator, protecting serum, moisturizing cream, and an eye cream, all housed in refillable TSA-friendly containers—and the aforementioned stylish gunmetal clutch. At $165, the It Kit is not cheap. But then the alpine stem-cell extracts and biocellular plant tri-peptides don’t exactly grow on trees.
At the suggestion of Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo, who recently scooped up the line, Macklowe also developed full-size versions ($48–165), along with an additional brightening serum called Lite Up. The entire Vbeaute range is fragrance-, gluten-, paraben-, and nut-free.
So what does the V stand for? “Victory,” explains the affable Macklowe. And given that the seven-month-old line is already sold in discerning beauty meccas like Bergdorf Goodman in New York (next to Tata Harper, no less), we don’t think the moniker is premature. —Sharon Feiereisen
Available at Bergdorf Goodman and www.vbeaute.com
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This has to be the most obnoxious beauty news I’ve read in months! A Hedge Fund baby and her luxury beauty line created when her pricey beauty products were confiscated while jetting off to France?! I feel so bad for her that she broke out in hives when that happened. I break out in hives when pampered princesses create beauty lines because their harrowing TSA experiences inspire them to do better for mankind. This is completely not newsworthy and gratuitous. Not what I expect to read from Well and Good NYC, unless you have a new agenda to annoy your readership!
Lynn,
I believe you are confusing your terms. Let me clarify:
“trust fund baby”: a derogatory term for one who is born into money and goes on to do nothing but live off the fat;
“hedge fund baby”: a nonexistant term created by someone with no knowledge of financial markets.
Lynn: Agree with Gillian’s comment. Julie Macklowe used to manage a $250 million hedge fund, which was her job (in the finance industry). A trust fund baby (ie. born with a silver spoon) I think is what you meant by your rather rude comment.
Perhaps Lynn did confuse her terms, but make no mistake that Ms. Macklowe was indeed born with a silver spoon in her mouth! She interned at Goldman Sachs and was recruited straight out of school by Chase Capital Management. I also thought this was a tacky post and not the least bit impressive. Anyone with her cash could hire chemists to make travel sized beauty products too. If she were creating her own products or designing her own line then perhaps it would be impressive. Socialites with tons of cash looking for something to do and make more cash is a better and more direct format.
Just because somebody interned at Goldman Sachs and got recruited out of school does not make them “born with a silver spoon” in their mouth. Quite the opposite. It is VERY difficult to get an internship at Goldman Sachs and speaks more to her hard work (and perhaps her networking skills). Just because someone got a job right out of college does not mean they things handed to them. Sure, there are cases where that happens but most of the time it is the result of commitment and careful planning. Comments like these fuel such unnecessary anger towards people who have worked really hard to earn what they have accomplished.
This is truly obnoxious! Another socialite, another beauty “guru!” So bored with all the rich New York women who have turned to creating their own beauty companies. Create a school and you’ll get my attention.
The product packaging and the fact that it is refillable is lovely. Love the stem cell and addition of niacinimide. However, at least two of the products (likely more, I only checked two) contain Butylene Glycol and Phenoxyethanol. The are not healthy ingredients and are high up on the ingredient list!