Extra Scoop

Suede’s first birthday was in June, and while we celebrated and reflected on her first year with loved ones at her birthday party, I also found myself reflecting on how much I have changed over the past twelve months. I saw a Substack Note around then that really resonated with me; it reads that “a child’s birthday is also a mother’s anniversary,” and a time to celebrate who she became, as well as who the child is becoming.

In 2026, I’m wearing more hats than ever in my personal and professional life, juggling my content creation schedule with mom responsibilities, Annadea Beauty, and working on my first print cookbook, which is out early next year. Adding more to my plate means that my day-to-day routine is often a balancing act, making sure I’m allocating enough time to the most pressing work items, while also reserving ample time to spend with my family and fill my own cup.

It’s been about six years since I decided to leave my corporate job to pursue a full-time career as a content creator. Since making that leap and growing my platform, I’ve only become a fiercer believer in the power of influencers to build trust between brands and customers. Content creators help brands meet consumers where they’re at, showing followers how a product can fit into their everyday routine, rather than showcasing a less relatable, highly stylized ad campaign.

A few weeks ago, I was pushed to shake up my typical routine in many ways when I traveled to Oregon with my husband and baby for my brother’s wedding. I was so excited when my sister-in-law asked me to be one of her bridesmaids! The occasion called for a more full-coverage, high-glam makeup look than I usually wear, so I knew I needed to start practicing a few months in advance in order to nail the look and not be left with breakouts afterward. Typically, I’m a natural makeup girl.

It feels like just yesterday I was ringing in 2026 and announcing plans to launch Annadea Beauty in the summer. But just like that, it’s already July, and Annadea is officially launched, with products available to purchase on annadeabeauty.com and Amazon (this still feels crazy to me). Since launching a new beauty brand was one of my main objectives this year, my 2026 goals have looked a little different compared to past years. Instead of setting many small goals for myself, I set one giant goal.

This is, to date, the single most exciting post, newsletter, email, whatever you want to call it, that I’ve ever written. Today we launched Annadea Beauty, the company I’ve been working on for the past 18 months and dreaming of far longer than that. Annadea is the combination of everything I value: joy, ease, sophistication, ambition, high-performance, and fun.

Today is a big day! I started dreaming about Annadea in March 2025, we committed to the idea and made our first couple of hires in April 2025, and we’ve been working on our product formulations and building our team for the past year and a few months. We announced Annadea, the company, back in January (in our defense, we thought we’d be launching sooner), and it’s been a painful six months of not being able to share the products we’re launching with you.

Today I’m sharing something that, until now, we’ve kept between our team and the lab. When Annadea launches on July 14th, you will see that all three of our first products are serums. They are genuine color formulas built on a serum foundation, not skincare serums tinted as an afterthought or conventional makeup wearing a serum-sounding name.

Kyle here—Olivia’s husband and co-founder / Chief Operating Officer of Annadea. I run the operating side of Annadea, so when Olivia asked me to take this week’s letter, the natural subject was the one she hasn’t written about yet: how we have paid for the company. Short answer: we bootstrapped it. We have funded every part of the business ourselves, without outside investment, and that was a deliberate decision. We could have raised money but we chose not to.

I’m the type of person who is endlessly inspired by others. I love looking up to women who have built impressive businesses or dreamed up imaginative brands. I turn to my trusted advisors when I have big questions that I don’t want to make in a vacuum. I love to collaborate and learn from people who push me in every way. That’s also why I looked to so many brands for inspiration when I started building Annadea.