Raging Rouge: Sisters Jaqua! What a pleasure to have the opportunity to ask you a few questions about your decadent line of bath and body products! I’m just going to jump right into the questions… One of you previously worked in the spa industry, the other in the entertainment industry. What made you leave your former lives behind and start anew in the beauty industry?
Jennifer Jaqua: I had lived in Texas for a number of years and when I moved back home to Santa Barbara my sisters and I decided to start a business together. The Beauty Parlor Night Kit (in a paint can) was our first product and it was more about Girl Gatherings than being in the beauty industry. It happened that we chose really good quality ingredients for the products in the kit and over time the demand for those products was so great that we started selling them individually and that’s when we really became a part of the beauty industry.
Sarah Jaqua: We knew that there was a need for quality bath and beauty products with great ingredients at a reasonable price. It was exciting for us to create products together that we both wanted to use.
Raging Rouge: One of my favorite things about Jaqua Beauty is it’s the perfect gift for the woman who has everything… How did you ensure your product would be appealing to the celebrity-set, who could most certainly afford pricier product?
Jennifer Jaqua: The celebrity-set is somewhat jaded by the product offering out there and our products are so fun and different that they make you smile when you see them and smell them. I think that the appeal is on 3 levels. The packaging is irresistible and when you see it you can’t help but gravitate to it and pick it up. Then you smell it and the fragrances are so true-to-life and compelling that you have to buy it and try it. And then when you take the product home and use it and discover that it really, really works then you become a fan.
Sara Jaqua: We really create products for ourselves first, and if we are excited about them, we find that to be a great barometer that others will love them too. In fact, we have a rule to "create only products we love, love, love!"
Raging Rouge: Hollywood certainly seems to be head-over-heels in love with Jaqua product. When you were developing the line, did you have a muse?
Jennifer Jaqua: Audrey Hepburn!! She was so graceful and elegant yet she could be really silly and fun too. To me that is what Jaqua Beauty is all about; sophisticated whimsy.
Sara Jaqua: Sara Jessica Parker and Audrey Hepburn both represent our official Jaqua motto, which says "Be whimsical and confident and beautiful and pampered and sophisticated and delicious and adored."
Raging Rouge: As Raging Rouge is a blog about all things beauty, I must ask: What are your all-time favorite beauty products- from both your own line and from other brands?
Jennifer Jaqua: I’ve become addicted to anything Pina Colada from Jaqua (but especially the Body Polish and Body Butter) because the fragrance is more pineapple then coconut and that is so refreshing. The new Pink Potion fragrance is now my first choice when I want to have more of a “perfume” smell on my body. For my skin care I use Decleor products, especially their Cleansing Milk, and for my lips I use Dr. Haushka’s lip balm. These are the staples but I like to experiment across different brands to see what’s out there.
Sara Jaqua: It’s got to be our Lip Gloss Rings because I am never without one! From other brands, I love Santa Maria Novella and Manuel Canovas candles.
Raging Rouge: I was thrilled to get a sneak peek of Pink Potion- the delightfully girlie scented product that also benefits cancer research. Any new products in the pipeline that you’d like to mention to Raging Rouge readers?
Jennifer Jaqua: We are launching a bag line in November that I’m really, really excited about. An overnight bag, a toiletries bag and a set of 3 smaller cosmetic/jewelry/makeup bags. It just makes sense that we would create a bag line that allows you to take your Jaqua product with you wherever you go!!
Sara Jaqua: All we can say is that our new products are going to make you very happy because we are already anxious to use them!
Raging Rouge: I’m seeing a distinct trend among the founders of nostalgic brands like Jaqua– each creator has been in love with beauty products since childhood. Any childhood makeup stories you’d like to share with us?
Jennifer Jaqua: We used to get ALL my mother’s make up and skincare products out of her bathroom and use it all at the same time. We called it “Beauty Parlor Night” and that was the inspiration for our very first product. It was so fun to be three sisters playing in my mom’s dressing room with all her product. When we were in grade school we used to create “perfume” and sell it door-to-door to the ladies in our neighborhood. It was pretty stinky but it gave us our first taste of entrepreneurship at a very young age.
Sara Jaqua: I loved the mini lipstick samples my mother would get from Avon. She used to let me use them around the house and I felt very grown up because they weren’t the waxy fake lipsticks for little girls. They really saturated my lips with color! They certainly influenced my love for mini sized beauty products!
Raging Rouge: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions about your product, and how it came to be the fantastic brand we all know and love! Readers, be sure to head over to Jaqua Beauty to check out this fantastic line!
