EXCLUSIVE: JENNA-MONET TO LAUNCH BEAUTY BRAND AT ST. CROIX’S VIOLETTE BOUTIQUE

Jenna-Monét Queeley will launch Jenna-Monét Béauty at Violette Boutique in F’sted, St. Croix, on Feb. 13. Photo Credit: Jenna-Monét Queeley.

Add to your Valentine’s plans this weekend a stop at the brand launch party for one of our faves on St. Croix!

Describing the Feb. 13 launch of her self-named beauty line, Jenna-Monét Béauty, at St. Croix’s iconic Violette Boutique as a “full-circle moment,” Jenna-Monét Queeley, the 2019 V.I. Model of the Year and current professional model, is excited to return home to introduce (or reintroduce) the brand to on-island customers and beauty enthusiasts.

“Growing up, I shopped at Violette’s, specifically the fragrances,” she shares of her connection to the store. “Christine, the owner, reached out to me last year and I thought it was amazing that she wanted to partner with me [to offer the brand in St. Croix].”

While Jenna-Monét Béauty has been available online since 2021 and has also been showcased at pop-ups in New York, Florida and the BVI, the launch at Violette Boutique represents the first time the line will be on display and sold in-store anywhere in the world.

A neutral eyeshadow pallet from Jenna-Monét Béauty is great for achieving an everyday, natural glam look. Photo Credit: Jenna-Monét Queeley.

“I remember when I launched my brand [online], I was saying that my goal was to have it be in-store, but I didn’t know where it would be or how it would get there,” Jenna-Monet says. “So, being that it’s going to be launched home, makes me feel even more humbled and really excited and happy, because it couldn’t have started in a better place.”

Jenna-Monét’s love of makeup and beauty dates back well before her modeling career began. She admits her interest in beauty grew out of a minor insecurity she had as a teen.

“I did not like my eyebrows when I was younger and I was introduced to makeup through resculpting and slaying my eyebrows,” she says, adding, “and from there, modeling ultimately “catapulted me to starting my own brand and creating something of my own. I was always the forefront, the face of other brands, and helping them push their brands and their products, [but] I saw the potential in myself, and with the love of makeup, I was like, ‘I can do this, also’.”

Jenna-Monét promotes her Jenna-Monét Béauty brand at The Makeup Show last year in New York City. Photo Credit: Jenna-Monét Queeley.

But the 27-year-old, who now resides in New York City and whose star continues to rise in the national and international modeling worlds, didn’t always have plans to add the title of entrepreneur to her name. She says launching a makeup brand “is no easy thing.”

“I did a lot of research and partnered with someone to do the formulations,” she explains, pointing out that she has been adamant that her products are created with healthy, non-toxic ingredients. “I really took my time, testing out products, making sure the quality was there and that it lived up to everyone’s expectations.”

Jenna-Monét has also set high expectations of the brand meeting her own needs and those of other models of color. “I think the beauty space was missing diversity,” she says. “I think in the modeling industry, whether nationally or abroad, we as models of color, we’re missing that specificity when it comes to our skin and quality matching. Sometimes you deal with makeup artists on set sometimes who, unfortunately, don’t know how to match our skin or deal with our skin tone.

“My brand, I really want it to speak to diversity, equality and inclusivity, so that when people see [it], they just don’t see my face, they see their face and themselves within the brand, as well,” she says.

Jenna-Monét Béauty also offers a colorful eyeshadow pallet, ideal for creating show-stopping Carnival looks. Photo Credit: Jenna-Monét Queeley.

The Jenna-Monét Béauty line boasts a variety of eye shadows (there’s a nude pallet ideal for natural, everyday looks and a pallet with vibrant colors geared toward Carnival flair), a highlighter, mascara, lipsticks, lip liners, and lip glosses. Of all the products, Jenna-Monét says Beauties, the name she affectionately calls her tribe of supporters and followers, should get their hands on her Glossed Up Lipgloss.

“I’ve had such amazing feedback [on the lip gloss],” she says. “When I originally released it last year, I introduced it to New York at The Makeup Show, and I brought it back again this year, and it sold out both times.”

Pink Lady and Embrace are her personal favorites. “It’s smooth, it’s creamy, it’s natural—it just gives you that pop that you need on the lips,” she says.

Jenna-Monét Béauty’s creamy Gloss Up Lipgloss is a must-have from the cosmetics line. Photo Credit: Jenna-Monét Queeley.

In addition to models and makeup artists, Jenna-Monét says her core customers are Black women who are new to using makeup and are in search of fuss-free products that fit their lifestyle. She has focused on creating products that could take women “from day to night, or a simple lip combo that you could wear all day or most days.”

She adds, “As the face of the brand, I resonate with that form of makeup, as well, because I love a natural glam.”

Jenna-Monét knows better than anyone that beauty trends come and go. For her brand long-term, however, she wants it to serve as a reminder to women to embrace their individual beauty in all its forms.

“My ‘I Represent Beauty’ campaign or movement that I have incorporated in the past with other non-profits I’ve worked with [seeks to help] women understand that their beauty comes from within and it shines on the outside, not what society defines beauty as,” she explains. “The looks and the characteristics that [each woman has] makes them uniquely them. Essentially, everyone is their own representation of beauty. There is no standard to what beauty is because we are all representations of beauty in our own way.”

Shop the Jenna-Monét Béauty launch at Violette Boutique in Frederiksted on Fri., Feb. 13 from 5-9 p.m. The event, which also doubles as the one-year anniversary celebration of Violette’s reopening, is free and open to the public.