The products offered here with Jolie-Laide Cosmetics are specifically intended to offer you high quality formulas that not only enhance your true beauty but feel great on and are good for your skin. We are a cruelty free and vegan brand born and raised here in Canada by an independent, first-generation Indo-Canadian, certified makeup artist, Vinisha Smart. Still young in the industry, however with past years experience with a direct sales cosmetic company, once Vinisha became certified as a makeup artist, the world of makeup really opened and her long-time love of cosmetics (since the age of 3) became even stronger. Her dream is to have her own brand where she can provide beautiful products while helping women feel beautiful. Having experienced much racism as a child, Vinisha’s self esteem took a big hit on her perception of her own sense of beauty. She felt ugly as a child and well into her teens. Name calling was not an uncommon occurrence due to the colour of her skin and her East-Indian heritage. To ignore it all, putting on a lipstick, brightening her cheeks with a little rouge really helped her to feel pretty. It was that simple. Hence the foundation for the term “Jolie-Laide”(pronounced zhȯ-lē-led ) . By basic definition (from the Merriam-Webster dictionary); “A women who is attractive though not conventionally pretty.” She never felt “conventionally pretty”. 

In all the women Vinisha encountered throughout her work with her past jobs, friends, family, co-workers, clients, etc…, Vinisha saw that EVERY women felt the same way about themselves. And makeup always made them feel better. Yes, we live in a society where there are standards and guidelines in beauty. Of course, now more than ever these and other standards on all things physical are being challenged.
But that’s just it, it’s all a matter of viewpoint. Those kids that called Vinisha ugly due to the colour of her skin and not looking like “everyone else” were in opposition to the friends and connections of all races that said the contrary to her.

We all have a different experience and viewpoint on beauty. Whether we prefer to have a fully contoured and concealed face or prefer to just wear a mascara daily. It’s all choice and an allowance of expressing our individuality. This is what Jolie-Laide Cosmetics is about and what we love about makeup. Additionally, having been through the physical ringer and altered beauty due to medical treatments as chemotherapy, and a life saving bone marrow transplant, Leukemia survivor, Vinisha Smart truly understands the dichotomy one goes through with having felt beautiful to feeling the opposite due to illness. But again, always in putting on that lipstick, that blush, that mascara, that complexion corrector, they never failed to make her feel better. Makeup therapy is a truly legit thang, and she celebrates it.
Here at JLC, we are proud to offer you wonderful products for you to celebrate enhancing your individuality!

Thank you for choosing Jolie-Laide Cosmetics!