Shen Founder Jessica Richards's Adolescence Was Straight Out of The OC

Laguna Beach native Jessica Richards at prom (corsage and all!).

Cult-favorite Brooklyn beauty mecca Shen is known for stocking the perfect version of whatever makeup or skin care item you might be seeking. Which is why it’s no surprise founder Jessica Richards has been zeroing in on obsession-worthy products since long before she was queen of the indie makeup market. In her Haystack Story, the SoCal native and former wild child looks back on Laguna Beach house parties, playing hooky and avocado-topped pizza (gross… in a good way!), all through ocean blue-rimmed eyes. (Cue the Imogen Heap.)

Name: Jessica Richards
Occupation: Founder of Shen
Handle: @shenbeauty
Location: Brooklyn, NY

What’s the item that stars in your Haystack Story?
Nars eyeliner in Ocean Drive!

When did you get it?
It was freshman year of high school. My best friend Rachel’s mom was the most beautiful person. She never really wore a lot of makeup, but every few months she would order the latest beauty products from Neiman Marcus. She’d get a box of every new Chanel item, a box of every Nars item—but she’d never really use them. So, Rachel and I would play with them. The Nars liner was in one of the deliveries. I was putting it on one day at their house and Rachel’s mom walks in and goes, oh you need to get that wet under hot water, it’s so much easier to use that way. She did it for me, and I was like, oh my god. I’m still terrified of liquid eyeliner, it goes everywhere and is hard to apply. So this was a trick that turned the pencil into a less intimidating version of liquid eyeliner—and it really stays put. I remember it perfectly. It became my thing that I would always do.

Do you still have it?
I have it, but it's a tiny little nub of a thing. It's the size of a quarter of my pinky.

Why is it so perfect?
I have blue eyes, and I feel like it really brought out the color and made my eyes look more blue. A blue eyeliner with some mascara makes me look more put-together.

When you think back on it, how does it make you feel?
It brings me back to high school. I grew up in Southern California, in Laguna Beach, and it makes me feel like I’m back in high school and going to the beach instead of going to class, which I did often.

Nars eyeliner in Jessica’s signature shade: Ocean Blue.

If your eyeliner could talk, what would it say?
Oh my god. It has seen a lot. It was on my eyes in my heyday! It would probably say, “holy shit, you're crazy, you’re out of your mind!” And it wouldn’t be a lie. It would say, “You’re lucky instagram doesn’t exist.” I AM lucky there’s no proof from those high school years. I always tell my kids, do not post anything because it will come back to haunt you.

Who did you have a crush on back then?
I’m still friends with him! I’m still friends with most people I grew up with. Actually, there were two, and they were friends. William and Dan, and I ended up dating them both. I was dating Dan in-between William, and then William came back and was like, “we need to be together!” I dated him forever and was madly in love with him. In my yearbook there was a photo of us and the caption said something like, "most troublesome couple"—something like that. We were two party animals together.

What did a typical Friday night look like?
It was either going to a house party at this guy Matt Shuster’s house—he’s now married to my friend Danielle, they were together in high school and now have two kids. He always had the parties. Or it was Dan’s house. His house had a gazebo, and we’d all hang out there. We’d have crazy high school parties at whoever’s parents were out of town. Unless I was grounded, I was grounded a lot.

What did you get grounded for?
Staying out past my curfew, or coming home and sneaking out my window. I’d come back hours later and my mom would be sitting there, and I'd be like, "oh, I was just checking on the mail." You know, one of those excuses you give as a kid that is just a blatant lie.

If someone gave you $20 to spend, what would you have bought?
A pack of Marlboro Lights.

What show did you rush home to watch?
Beverly Hills 90210, or Melrose Place. I still watch the reruns. I got my little one into Fresh Prince of Bel Air recently. Now I see my Amazon bill, and it’s like, oh he ordered the next season of Fresh Prince.

What was your favorite snack?
We always went to Gina’s Pizza, and we’d add sliced avocado on top. Now I think, that’s like 9,000 calories. But then it was the best thing ever.

How are you the same as you were back then and how are you different?
I think I’ve changed more than I’ve stayed the same. I’m a lot more mellow and a lot more understanding, but it all depends on the day and what’s going on. I'm also a mother now, so that changes your perspective on everything. The one place that I'm still 100% the same is I’m incredibly outspoken and speak my mind. I'm direct to the point. And I'm still a workhorse. I've always been a worker.

Has your relationship to makeup and the beauty world changed since then?
I think about that often, because I’m really not beauty-obsessed. Yes it’s my job and yes I have a million products in my house, but I actually always wanted to work in fashion. I started out in fashion, and opened up a beauty store because there was nothing like it around me. I’m not interested in beauty broadly. Instead I've always been interested in that ONE cream or that ONE mascara—the best cream for hydrating, or the best mascara for lengthening. Today, everything in the store is meant to become a customer’s signature product. My job is to try to wade through the noise. In the store, I don’t replace an item I carry unless I find something with better efficacy, better branding or a better price point. I’m not going to ditch something that works for an of-the-moment brand. These founders are my family. Most of the brands in the US that are big now, I was their first retailer, so to get rid of a brand takes a lot for me. Unless they end up in Ulta.