This profile is part of the Glossy Pop Guide to Influencer-Founded Brands, covering the fashion, beauty and wellness companies started by people who built their careers on social media. More from the series →
As an aspiring singer-songwriter looking to break into the industry, Courtney Shields started sharing her lifestyle tips and tricks on her blog in 2014. Shields would keep a consistent content schedule, in hopes of making women who came across the platform feel more confident in their skin. Years later, in 2020, Shields collaborated with Tula to launch an under-eye solution product called Glow Hour. Then, in 2021, Shields created her own brand, Dibs beauty. Aimed to cut makeup bag clutter with a focus on the essentials, Dibs offers products from body highlighter to lip gloss to brush sets.
Who: Courtney Shields (DIBS Beauty)
What are you known for & how did you get your start?
I want my followers to visit my Instagram channel not only to get access to my favorite product recommendations, beauty and fashion tips, and lifestyle and wellness advice, but also to have a sense of community with each other.
What’s the brand: makeup
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Find it: Dibsbeauty.com
Why did you decide to bring a brand into this crowded marketplace?
Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to establish my own beauty company. It started with me daydreaming with a colleague about what we would take with us to a desert island. I had this vision of not just the essentials, but also the things that could be just for me and spark joy every day. Instead of following a look or trend, I want people to be unbothered, effortless and confident. I was inspired to create DIBS for people like me, too busy dealing with their own lives to bother with anything but effective, beautiful formulas that help take them from day to night, no matter what is on their packed schedule.
What makes the brand different?
DIBS is about elevating your everyday essentials. From the start, we knew we wanted to create a collection of fundamentally modern, unconventional, hyper-innovative and multipurpose formulas that are enriched with the finest ingredients and go everywhere you go. We wanted these products to become things that are so essential to your everyday life that you would take them with you if you were going to a deserted island, hence the name: Desert Island Beauty Status. Since we all tend to live on-the-go, all of our products are designed to make applying makeup fun again.
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Everything — from the waft of vanilla that transports you when opening one of our sticks, to the multipurpose formulas that are totally stackable for building and changing looks throughout the day —is meant to change how people approach makeup, setting them free from conventions that don’t match their lifestyles.
Fun fact: Even before launching, we had a 22,000 person waiting list to be the first to shop. We did $750,000 sales in just around our first day.
Best seller: Desert Island Duo in Shade 2
To read the rest of The Glossy Pop guide to influencer-founded brands, click here.
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