by
Lisa Jean Francois
Juvia’s Place owner, Chichi Eburu, has brought black beauty to the cosmetics industry in a way we’ve never seen before. The Nigeria-born wife and mother of two, launched her cosmetic company a little over two years ago, and even she can’t quite wrap her mind around the rapid growth of the brand. Juvia’s Place is known for highly pigmented eyeshadow palettes that feature images of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.
We sat down with Eburu to learn more about the brand:
How did you go about developing the concept of your brand?
Eburu: I’m African, that’s my background. I took a look at the beauty industry and there was nothing that truly represents black culture. I feel like the market is here, we’re here [black women] and we’re beautiful and nobody is listening. To me the idea of the a Nubian queen  is representative of a  beautiful black woman and that’s what I wanted my company to show.
What made you go with Queen Nefertiti as a part of your visual branding?
She’s a black queen!  I have an artist I work with and I told her I wanted to use the image of Egyptian queen, Nefertiti. I gave her an idea of what I wanted and she came up what you see on the palettes.
How has your brand grown in the last two years?
Eburu: IÂ will say most of the growth has happened within the last year. We started with makeup brushes, and when we launched the Nubian palette it just went viral, so the growth has been rapid.
Aside from the Queen Nefertiti on the packaging, how are your shadows different from other eyeshadow palettes at the same price point?
Eburu: I have dark skin, so anytime I pick colors, I always test on my skin and even darker skin tones and we compare colors that will pop. That’s how we pick our products. If it shows on my skin and on darker skin then it will show on anyone’s skin. For me personally, I want colors that any woman of color can wear. A lot of the bigger brands don’t go that extra step and it shows.  I want to be able to produce products that women of color can wear comfortably and not look like a clown.
As a black-owned brand, have you encountered any racism or challenges specific to being black-owned?
Eburu: We had a customer service issue that became public due to social media and when that happened we started receiving a lot of racist comments. We got called n****r so much we had to shut down our Facebook page. Instead of it just being a customer service issue it became about our race. It was really upsetting. We also see that when we feature dark skin women on our Instagram page, they don’t get as many likes or comments. Since a lot of our customers are black it’s really shocking to see that. Sometimes we even go and look at the pictures some of our followers are liking and we can see that they are black women who are only liking the pictures of light skin or white women. It’s really shocking.
There are probably quite a few women reading this would have aspirations of starting their own company, and maybe even a cosmetics line. Do you have advice for them?
Eburu: Don’t stop. Don’t give up. I started this company with only $2000. My husband thought it was a joke! He didn’t understand this whole makeup thing. But we’ve done so well, it’s shocking.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your brand?
Eburu: We always knew social media was powerful, but we didn’t know how powerful. Instagram has really grown our business, so we’ve had to learn to be really protective of our brand and always put our customers first.
For more following Juvia’s Place on Instagram HEREÂ and shop the collection HERE.
12 Responses
Hi Eburu,
“Society was multiracial [in ancient eygpt.]
Ancient Egypt, it seems, was a genuinely multiracial society. It was a crossroad at the juncture of black Africa and white Eurasia. There were black pharoahs and there were white pharoahs and there were many in between.” Nerfititi was not black nor white. She was mix.
It’s great to see it’s owned by a Nigerian. Well done! Please make sure you fix your customer service issues. Trust me, social media can build you up, but can also throw you down.
Please leave naija mentality behind when it comes to customer service and satisfaction; Don’t mess with people’s hard earned money.
Never buy from this website! You will never receive your order.
DO NOT BUY!!! No product is worth the hassle juvia’s place put customer through for purchase and delivery. What’s worse you can’t call them on the phone you are stuck with chat live with clueless responses and unreplied emails … I ordered from them on the 17th 2 weeks after my products still not processed or shipped . 16 fucking eyeshadows and no definite answer . No company is worth surviving with this level of incompetency .
Save yourself the stress and order elsewhere .
I purchased an eyeshadow palette and absolutely love it. Shipping was timely and I can’t wait to order another and the blush as well. Very happy with this product!
You are lucky. I didn’t receive my own and they have my money.
DO NOT BUY FROM THEM TRUST I’ve never been so disappointed by a company in my life. Their customer service is terrible. If you end up with a defect product you’re basically stuck with it as you’d have to pay for shipping just to return it. They don’t even email me back. I spoke to them in live chat and they said I’ll only get a refund when it’s in their hands but they can’t even email me back how do I know that I’ll even receive this refund. I ended up paying extra charges that they DO NOT let their customers know about. They give you a delivery charge when purchasing, and when I went to go pick up I had to pay an extra 15$ to get my package. So I ended up paying a lot more then I was told for shipping. They claim they offer various shipping companies yet they choose the one where it benefits them the most causing you to get unknown charges if shipped internationally. They do not try to accommodate their customers in any way. No reimburse for extra charges, no discount, no offer of refund, nothing. They don’t care if you have pictures of the product or receipts. This company is only in it for the money. They don’t care about keeping their customers but they’ll keep that paper doe. I will never purchase from this company again. There goes my money down the drain.?
i have been reading so many reviews of the product cause i want to buy the palettes, but there is always some coment like this saying that they have troubles with the shipping and delivery and that the company does not resoulve the problem and it has bad bad customer service, so bad i really wanted to buy, but with these i gues i´ll stay with the wishes…..
I am totally going through this process , I wish I read and heed reviews …. This mess would have been totally avoided .
Proud that this black company has done so well and gets so much promotion through social media too-good for this lady in having that belief in herself.
The colors are simply beautiful. I would like to try it soon!
OMG!! This post is such a blessing! I’ve been scraping my Naked palette for months because I refuse to give Urban Decay anymore of my money. Can’t wait to buy. Thanks so much for this feature BGLH! Y’all saving lives out here!