Texas Southern University social alumnus Jermelle Pitts (left) and marketing and management alumnus Joseph Chargois (right) have added numerous products to their cosmetics line, Body of Royalty. | Courtesy of Jermelle Pitts
A luxurious cosmetics brand created by an alumnus has continued to fuel confidence in women with the newest additions to its line.
Body of Royalty was established in March 2013 by marketing and management alumnus Joseph Chargois and Texas Southern University social work alumnus Jermelle Pitts. What started as a selection of high-quality lipstick has become a brand that now offers lip gloss, eye shadow, primer and mascara.
“Body of Royalty is constantly evolving and making steps toward beauty domination. We are working on possibly going into retail and gearing up for the fall/winter season,” Chargois said. “We are focusing on the #PhuckYourShade campaign as well. Stay tuned, and for exclusives, sign up on our website.”
The #PhuckYourShade campaign ties into Body of Royalty’s 2014 spring/summer collection, with colors including “Silence,” “Love Hard,” “Gurl Code,” “Soul Work” and a new gloss, “Always and Forever,” which pays homage to famous drag performer Alyssa Edwards.
The campaign photos are provocative, daring and bold; however, the campaign still delivers a message, Pitts said.
Body of Royalty plans to offer handmade eyelashes, but these are still in production.
Other than updating and adding merchandise to the website, the duo is also planning a tour around the country.
“I am super excited about the tour and pop-up shops. There are a lot of dates and stops — so far, I want to say we are at 15, and we are still adding dates and locations. I am challenging my team; I told them that I will stop when we hit between 30 to 40 stops,” Pitts said. “I think it’s going to be fun. We are taking beauty to the streets. I think now that we have announced that we are doing a beauty tour, you will see other cosmetics companies start doing the same.”
Surprise guests are joining the team on its tour as well, Pitts said.
Since the last time Pitts and Chargois spoke to The Daily Cougar, Body of Royalty has shot and released its “Gurl Code” campaign, which features an aspiring solo female rapper.
“We have also released more products since the last time we spoke. The process of releasing and creating is stressful but super fun. Joseph and I have an amazing working relationship. We understand the importance of producing quality products, so that is always the focus with us,” Pitts said.
The cosmetics line has produced more than 20 shades of its six products in about a year, all because of passion and commitment.
“Body of Royalty has been on trend since day one, which is not by luck but by hard work and dedication. I think the process has to start from within,” Chargois said. “We take ideas and concepts that inspire us, and we translate it into our brand’s creations. Jermelle and I have a lot of creativity between the two of us, and that’s also what sets us apart. We are hands-on, working daily on our company’s products to give our beauty queens the absolute best.”
As CEO and creative director of Body of Royalty, Pitts believes it’s important to emphasize beauty in its natural state, regardless of differences in appearances.
“It’s super hard to say what the biggest accomplishment is to date, but I’m super excited that we are gearing up to release our second campaign.”
“I think that everything that this campaign is promoting and saying is going to have people look at beauty differently,” Pitts said. “It’s important for me to show different aspects of beauty and remind people that beauty is not a stereotype. I don’t care what your skin color is, your weight, your hair color, your ethnicity, your gender or your sexuality — you can still be beautiful. I definitely think that I captured that with this new campaign.”
You can still be beautiful…. If you buy my product! What a joke. There is no need to sell any cosmetics if people are beautiful just as they are. Also, since everyone is physically beautiful and no one is ugly, when are we going to see all those a-list celebs stop having models under their arms, and instead prefer the obese, average person you can find in a Walmart at 3:00 AM?
Even more sad, is that they feature nude women of a body mass index that is mainstream for modeling. They don’t really practice what they preach. Would they put a bunch of morbidly obese women on the main page of their website in the same nude poses? Some of my socially conscious sisters feel that this company run by self identified males is objectifying women. One lesbian sister of mine feels that they are fetishizing lesbians.
Its quite offensive that they named their company “Body of Royalty” which is very antagonist towards people of lower socio-economic status. Why would someone want to be “royalty” which means that you oppress others for your own selfish game. That is not very sensitive to people like me. I would never buy any of their products.