This Tucson makeup brand went viral on TikTok. Meet the maker behind it. 💄

Even though Tucson is filled with beauty, the city isn’t exactly known for its cosmetics scene.

One Tucsonan is looking to change that.

Every week, you’ll find 21-year-old Monique “Emilia” De La Torre in her workshop, which is in the backyard of her east-side home. She creates hundreds and sometimes thousands of lip products for her cosmetics line Emiliaxocosmetics (pronounced Emilia XO Cosmetics).

While her products are gaining traction in Tucson, her lippies have been popular on social media sites like TikTok, where she has over half a million followers.

“It just started taking off quickly,” she says. “I first released my lip glazes in October of 2020 and that is when everything started taking off because TikTok immediately sold out everything. There was a video that I had back in 2020 and if you were to look up lip glazes on TikTok, it's probably one of the first videos that will come up with me as a 17-year-old girl. I started this when I was 17 and it was just kind of surreal.”

Her most popular products include her lip glazes — which she says are non-streaky, non-sticky and high-shine — along with her blueberry lip jam that applies with a blue-ish tint and leaves a vibrant rosy color after wiping it off.

Her packaging features ethereal designs from a French artist that highlight her inspiration from old childhood pop culture references like Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, “The Jungle Book” and more. Her next collection will launch this fall and includes an eyeshadow palette inspired by cats.

“I'm inspired by all things of my childhood. All of these things are a part of me,” she says. “That's why I find every product so dear to my heart.”

Despite having a major following on social media and being reviewed by Mikayla Nogueira who is arguably the most popular TikTok beauty influencer in the world right now, De La Torre and Emiliaxocosmetics remain homegrown.

The brand was founded in 2020 as a way for De La Torre to help her family financially when her dad was recovering from surgery.

“It started breaking my heart because (I was) watching us struggle and everything,” she says. “So, I wanted to start a business that could provide and could help me and my family get out (of that situation). So, I started planning out stuff and I started contacting all my friends and family and I was like, ‘I think I'm gonna start a business.’ Because it seemed easy at first, but it is completely hard. This is probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. But it was one of the best things I've ever done, honestly.”

When it came to figuring out what kind of business to run, she knew she had to go with her lifelong passion for makeup. She can still remember the first lipstick that one of her nanas gave her as a child: a NYX lipstick in a unique gray shade.

“It's always been there,” she says of her love for makeup. “My nanas always would help me flourish out my creativity. They would give me lipsticks and give me sparkles. My parents would always look at them sideways, but they wouldn't care.”

Even the Emiliaxocosmetics name is inspired by her family. She chose Emilia because of her middle name, but also because of her great-great-grandmother Emilia.

“She wasn't able to meet me, but I feel like, honestly, I know her from all the stories that I've heard of her. I feel like we would have been best friends,” she said.

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'I’ll definitely always be here for the creative girlies, for the girlies that want a bold look, for the natural girlies. I'll be here for all the girlies.'

Since founding Emiliaxocosmetics, De La Torre has expanded the makeup line to include lip scrubs, eyeshadow palettes, eyebrow pomades, eyelashes and more.

But how do you even learn the process behind making cosmetics? Lots of research.

In the beginning, De La Torre would look up the best types of ingredients, from oils to glitters, to incorporate into the base of lip glosses until she found the best combination for her products. Now, her lippies include ingredients like hemp, Vitamin E and grapeseed oil — all of which she purchases from U.S.-based Etsy shops that ethically source the ingredients.

Creating ethically-sourced, cruelty-free and vegan products is extremely important to her, she says.

“I care a lot about the environment,” she says. “So, I wouldn't want to put anything in my products that would later harm you or maybe the environment around you. I am trying to work on plastic-free packaging, but honestly, that's really hard in this day.”

Currently, it can take around a week for De La Torre to create her lip products. It's a whole process that entails cleaning and sterilizing cosmetic components, mixing products, letting the formula settle, filling lip gloss containers and then, finally, checking to ensure the quality of the final outcome.

If you’re curious about the legality of creating cosmetics in a non-laboratory environment, it’s completely legal, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“It’s not against the law to manufacture cosmetics in your home. Keep in mind, however, that it’s your responsibility to manufacture products in an environment that will not cause them to become adulterated,” the administration states on its website.

Although De La Torre has already found her stride online, she’s hoping to expand the brand in Tucson. 

She currently sells her products online, at local artisan markets like Made in Tucson and at PureLotus Scents at 4500 E. Speedway. She hopes to expand her reach and host community-oriented events like lip gloss workshops at Di Luna Candles and one day create a school bus turned pop-up shop that she can drive around Tucson and across the U.S.

She eventually wants her formula to be picked up by a cosmetics lab so she can make even more products.

“I want (the community) to know that my products are always there for you to branch out your creativity,” De La Torre says. “And I want them to know that my products will always be (created) by me. I will never ever sell out to a bigger corporation. … And I’ll definitely always be here for the creative girlies, for the girlies that want a bold look, for the natural girlies. I'll be here for all the girlies.”

For more information about Emiliaxocosmetics, check out the website, Instagram and TikTok.