All hail Patrick Starr the brains behind the ONE/SIZE beauty brand. This innovative man was determined to live his dream and leave his mark in the beauty industry, and no one can argue that he didn’t pay his dues. Starr did, and he still does. In the beginning, Starr used his love of makeup to build a YouTube empire that boasted over 1.8 million subscribers in 2016, and his fame just kept growing.
A creative child from the start, he poured his early passion into studying classical piano and later, in high school, studied photography, becoming fascinated with all the exciting things that Photoshop could do like remove blemishes, add contour, and shape brows. This ability to create was the spark to learn the art of makeup. Starr grew up in a strictly Catholic Filipino household, the eldest of three brothers, and learned how to do hair and makeup at MAC Cosmetics during high school. Like many Filipinos, he was planning a career in nursing but decided to start his YouTUbe channel and was inspired by the late Talia Joy, who had one million subscribers at 13 years old. When Joy passed away, it was one of the last videos on her activity feed, thereby exposing Starr to millions of people who expressed their condolences. Still, the first visual was Starr’s wing eyeliner and red lip video. A friend reminded him that there were no coincidences and that Joy’s spirit had left him a gift. In a 2016 interview with People magazine, Starr said, “My last memory of her [was] when she asked me to get her makeup at MAC because she was in the hospital.”
Understanding that life was short, his mother (a nurse) and his father (an entrepreneur) supported his new direction expressing the need to study hard and learn the industry from top to bottom. Thank goodness Starr took their advice because he created the brand ONE/SIZE, and I am living for it.
ONE/SIZE was founded in 2012 with Luxury Brand Partners, a brand incubator and venture fund for artist-driven beauty brands, including R + Co, Smith & Cult, and V76 by Vaughn. It was through this partnership with Luxury Brand Partners that Starr conceived and developed ONE/SIZE. It is perfect for people of color, and it fits Starr’s philosophy that the makeup space is for everyone. His beauty mantra is “Makeup is a ONE/SIZE fits all.”
Here’s a list of hits and misses in the incredible ONE/SIZE collection. In short, Starr is a star, and most of his products work beautifully. I hope their public relations team connects with me so that I can explore more products and interview the man himself. Fingers crossed.
HITS
TURN UP THE BASE BLURRING FOUNDATION
This blurring foundation is like having magic in a bottle. Regarding skin tone matching, I suggest you don’t purchase online unless you’ve already matched your color. They offer fair, medium, medium dark, dark, and deep.
TURN UP THE BASE POWDER FOUNDATION
This product has 32 shades and is curated under six different undertones — rosy, neutral, neutral golden, golden olive, and golden. It is a versatile product and can also be used as a foundation to bloat away excess oil, set his base blurring foundation (or any foundation), or touch up your complexion.
FANTASIZE — Ultimate Lifting & Lengthening Mascara
This product is vegan, cruelty-free, along with being gluten-free. Its 24-hour wear is smudge-proof with a six-pointed fan brush for definition and volume. It contains coconut, argan, and castor seed oil, which is known to help soften, strengthen, condition, nourish, and thicken. It’s perfect, not as good as Thrive Mascara but almost. The best way to use it is to gently wiggle and drag the applicator upwards.
MISSES
POINT MADE – Waterproof Liquid Felt Tip Eyeline Pen
This waterproof liquid felt tip eyeliner pen comes in three colors (Bossy Blue, Busty Brown, and Bodacious Black), but I’m afraid I have to disagree this is an easy product to use. It’s messy, and you will make a mess unless you have a sturdy hand. But it does not flake, fade, bleed, or smudge.