ShopEatSleep

I’ve always shied away from wearing eye shadow, not only because I’m lazy but also because it never really stayed on my lids. I would get the dreaded creasing that makes shadow so ugly, which wasn’t helped by the fact that I have really oily skin that makes all makeup slip and slide. I’ve tried various bases to avoid this, but nothing really seemed to work. Then I tried Pop Beauty‘s Eye Magnet Primer ($18), which I was given as a gift after my interview with the company’s founder, Sara Strand, and now I can wear eye shadow again without worrying about creasing! Not that I wear much makeup, but this stuff does a great job of holding color in place for hours at a time. It comes in an easy-to-use pen-brush applicator, too. There’s also an eyelid primer to create a smoky eye — eyeshadow for dummies!

Sara (pronounced “Sah-rah”) Strand says she has always had an eye for color, even as a young child. Originally from Sweden, Strand moved to London as a teen and started doing makeup by day and sang in a band by night. After nabbing a deal to develop Pop Beauty with Top Shop, Strand, now 27, has made the leap over the pond to the United States, where her very affordable line can be found in Beauty 360 and Ulta stores, as well as on Sephora’s Web site. Oh, and if you attended the What Comes Around Goes Around party at Space 15 Twenty in March, you saw Strand’s handiwork on the models.

Sara Strand

Q: How did you get into the makeup business?

A: I was kind of born into the business. My older sister is a skin therapist, and my other sister is a makeup artist. Personally I’ve always been obssessed with color, what it can do to your mood and your look. When I was 12, I was signed to Sony and had a record deal and learned the importance of makeup for stage and TV.

Q: What kind of music did you make?

A: It was kind of funky with a rap twist and rock ‘n roll fusion. I was a very cocky 12 year old.

Q: When did you start doing makeup?

A: When I was 16, I moved to London and became a makeup artist and had my first shoot with Vogue. I just wanted to get out of Sweden and go somewhere more cosmopolitan, more of a melting pot. And I felt like I wanted to do something else, get away from what the music producers created for me, the image they created for me. So I joined a band in London and played all over for 10 years. So it was like makeup was a day thing, and music was my night thing.

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