Lisa Rinna Discusses Upcoming Product Releases, What’s Next for Rinna Beauty

“It’s like Groundhog Day,” Lisa Rinna said of her life amid the pandemic in Los Angeles.

“I’ve been probably as good as everyone’s been,” she continued. “I mean, we’re just taking it one day at a time, just getting through it as best we can.”

While the world can understand the impact of COVID-19, not everyone can relate to launching a new business venture during this time. Rinna — an actress and one of the stars of Bravo’s hit reality television series “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” — fulfilled a longtime dream of hers in November when she introduced her first beauty brand, Rinna Beauty.

“It was very challenging,” she said of navigating its release during an unpredictable climate. “We just had to really be on top of it. We didn’t know any better. Do you know what I mean? Like, here we were, and we had a deadline, and we were trying to make it with the added, you know, COVID-ism of the world.”

That deadline kept getting pushed. Working with her team over Zoom, Rinna Beauty — a partnership with brand incubator SEL Beauty — was initially scheduled for release in September, then October and finally November. The delays were due to the pandemic and its disruption to the supply chain.

brand thus far — and her next launch, to be unveiled this spring.
By Ryma Chikhoune on March 19, 2021

“COVID-19 delayed decision making tremendously, because it was a lot of back and forth with parcels and samples, then dealing with factories shutting down, and then not being able to book freight, just because there were no flights,” said Cheryl Krakow, founder and president of SEL Beauty. Rinna Beauty is manufactured in Canada with elements sourced globally. “It was very hard to get components flown to where our fillers were. With COVID-19, the fillers had to change the way they work. People had to be six feet apart, and they had to be spaced out.”

he entire production process took longer than expected. But when the line became available, it sold out.

“We were very nervous about launching a lip line when everybody was wearing masks, but I will tell you that we started with a pre-sale, and the day we started that, our computer system crashed,” added Krakow. “There is definitely an appetite out there for a Lisa Rinna beauty line.”

Very much on brand for Rinna — who’s known for her plump, enhanced lips — the offering is a collection of vegan and cruelty-free nude lip glosses, lip liners and lipsticks. Lip kits are priced at $45, while lipsticks cost $22 each, and lip glosses are at $19 each, available direct-to-consumer at Rinnabeauty.com. According to the brand, Rinna Beauty has seen steady 25 percent increase in sales month-over-month and is expected to be an eight-figure d-to-c business this year.

“I just was over the moon about it,” Rinna said of the brand’s reception. Her other endeavors include a fashion line with QVC. “For me, when I create something that I want to share with people, of course, I want them to love it. Of course, I want people to love it as much as I do, but you just can’t ever tell.”

Rinna, who’s married to actor Harry Hamlin (with whom she has daughters Delilah Belle and Amelia Gray), rose to fame in the ’90s, acting on shows like “Baywatch,” “Melrose Place” and “Days of Our Lives.” But “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” which she began appearing on in 2014, has enlarged her fanbase. And thanks to the reality show’s international success, along with the U.S., Rinna Beauty has been shipping globally to Canada, England, Ireland, Australia and Europe. Rinna is often blunt and speaking her mind on the show, which has resonated with fans. (She has 2.6 million Instagram followers.)