This week, Serena Williams is checking yet another achievement off her bucket list. After years of winning on the tennis courts, Williams hopes to make a grand slam in the beauty market with her latest business venture, Wyn Beauty. The tennis star’s new makeup line is marketed as an intentional beauty brand encouraging everyone to show up as the best versions of themselves.
“I’ve been working on [Wyn] for about six years now,” Williams told WWD.
According to the athlete and founder, discussions about Wyn Beauty and a collaboration with Ulta Beauty predate the 2020 coronavirus lockdown. However, since retiring from tennis and having her second child, Williams rededicated the last year and a half to bring her vision to life.
Everything from the packaging to the brand’s formula was designed to reflect Williams. For instance, she says the brand’s name and chartreuse packaging “pays homage to the tennis ball, which kind of pays homage to championships, which pays homage to the idea of winning.” Beyond the brand’s appearance, Williams also used her experiences as a world athlete, a mother, and a Black woman to inspire the product’s formulas.
“For years, I would travel to countries that didn’t have products that were made for me, but I still had to show up to press, to events and I had to look decent,” she recalled. “I really had to champion doing my own makeup, learning how to do my own face in order to be able to show up years ago, when there weren’t these 20- to 40-shade ranges.”
Accordingly, when creating the Wyn Beauty skin tint, Williams began with the darkest shades and worked her way toward the lighter ones to ensure the product would cater to all complexions. Using clean ingredients and long-lasting technology, Wyn Beauty is designed for beauty lovers from all walks of life.
“Longevity was the most important thing for me,” she added. “It could be someone who’s going to work for a 9-to-5; it could be me, a mom — it could be someone who works at home and is on Zoom meetings. Active doesn’t mean you have to win Grand Slams or Wimbledon trophies — which is OK, too, because — check. It’s about that one-application makeup where you can apply it once and be able to rely on it the entire day.”
Ranging between $18 and $29, Wyn Beauty debuted with 10 products, including lipsticks, mascara, an SPF 30 skin tint, concealer and more, available online and in approximately 600 Ulta retailers this week.
Shop Wyn Beauty now at wynbeauty.com and at Ulta Beauty.