A 101 GUIDE TO RMS BEAUTY

With over 35 years of experience as a renowned make up artist, Rose-Marie Swift is the name behind RMS Beauty. Famed for creating ‘no-make up make up’ and a pioneer of the less is more phenomenon, her eponymous beauty brand features multi-tasking mineral pigments that enhances your natural radiance. 

Having worked on some of the world’s most recognised faces – hello Giselle, Cindy and Adriana – Rose was privy to the effects that harsh make up was having on their faces and wanted to formulate something that soothed and nourished instead. She developed RMS Beauty in 2009 to be kinder to the skin while delivering adequate cover and pigment. 

Now, we’ve piqued your curiosity about RMS Beauty, it’s time to talk to the founder herself. We caught up with Rose-Marie Swift to uncover everything from the brand’s origins to its bestsellers and everything in between... Brushes at the ready... 

WHO IS RMS BEAUTY 

Growing up in the 70s and describing herself as having “an Aquarius, Jill-of-all-trades, fake it till you make it” personality, Rose-Marie Swift began her career as an MUA by “pretending to be” one. After being introduced to a manager of a Burlesque show and tasked with teaching the dancers how to apply make up properly, Rose began “buying small make up products from a private label manufacturer and selling them to the dancers.” This opened doors for her and after gaining the attention of magazines and advertising agencies across Canada, she left and travelled across Europe as a freelance make up artist honing her skills as she went.  

HOW DID RMS BEAUTY BEGIN 

After returning from Europe and settling in New York, Rose noticed she wasn’t feeling her best and sought medical help. “I was full of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Some which are known for being in the beauty industry.” says Rose. Not only was this a major wake up call for her but it prompted her “to do every healing modality known to man and became a raw foodist for several years,” she adds. While simultaneously researching what was going in and on her body, in 2004 she launched her website dubbed Beauty Truth. “Here I started exposing the damaging ingredients some chemicals and sunscreens can have on us. Due to the success of this site, I immediately found myself being the topic of conversation regarding this and believe it or not it opened doors for me.  Everyone screamed “what shall we be using, what do you suggest”. Well, what I would suggest wasn’t available at all, so here I was put in a position to figure it out, and figure it out I did...” Rose recalls.  

But it was Rose’s work on the Victoria Secret models that really instigated her to develop her nourishing line up. “Seeing a model's face blown up on a monitor at the shoot gives you a real wakeup call on what the make up is doing on the model's face. My reaction was “What the hell?” – pardon my language – but these girls are young, beautiful, why are they looking dry and wrinkly?” Rose reminisces. “Their skin was beautiful when they first came in. What happened? Harsh chemicals, alcohols, drying agents and the list goes on. I got very, very upset that I was putting this stuff on absolutely drop-dead beautiful skin. I felt guilty. Guilt is the biggest motivating factor for everything I do when it comes to my brand or what I put on my face or in my mouth.” adds Rose.  

And that was the foundation of RMS Beauty.  

HOW DOES RMS BEAUTY UNIFY MAKE UP AND SKIN CARE 

Looking to “take the concept of skin care and add mineral colour” the brand’s formulas “consist of pure, ingredients from nature — preserving their vitamin, mineral, antioxidant protection and healing properties that work in synergy to the skin.”  

Eliminating “the shortcuts being taken to create beauty products,” Rose wanted to “do something about it.” Packing her everyday essentials with skin care secrets like jojoba oil, vitamin E and caster-seed oil, RMS Beauty ensures that pigments and skin care work hand in hand to achieve unrivalled radiance without compromise. She explains that “you can avoid silicone; you don't have that super slippy slide-y feeling but we have found alternatives.” A case in point? The ReDimension Hydra Powder Blush from Rose-Marie Swifts signature style range. It "leaves out a lot of undesirable, dead synthetic chemicals as they have no synergistic life force with the skin.” explains Rose. 

“In the past, natural colour cosmetics were just not desirable. They were mostly dry powdered mineral lines. Many had no colour payoff, inferior ingredients, minimal expertise in formulations, bad textures, and were definitely not fashion forward by any means. I helped change that, thanks to my experience in the beauty industry as a make up artist for over 35 years, challenging the status quo on formulas, ingredients, textures and education itself.” Rose says. Passionate about creating a range that can be used by everyone, RMS Beauty has been a purveyor of mineral based pigments since its inception. Taking Rose-Marie Swifts skin care secrets and blending them with mineral pigments, the brand’s products are able to adapt to a wider range of skin tones and undertones. Not only making colour matching easier but they are simultaneously non-drying and offer a natural, radiant finish.   

 RMS BEAUTY’S BESTSELLERS