Cashmeare Crest operates as a corporate house, not a single product brand. Two branded divisions face the customer: Sue & Selah, the cosmetics and foundations house — the transfer-proof liquid foundation and the Viole inclusive concealer line engineered for every undertone — and Crête de Violette, the haute French parfumerie behind the Sue Noir and Sue Rouge extrait-strength perfumes.

The company is owned by Francisca Lumumba, Phumelele Faith Mazibuko, Paul Wamweya and Sam Okoth — with the women holding a combined 51% and Francisca as managing owner. It launches on a capital-light model: the owners hold the scent briefs, shade range, brand and customer; an FDA-registered US contract manufacturer blends and fills. Capital goes into inventory, packaging and customers — not idle machinery.

Every product is built for the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) from day one: safety substantiation files, lot records, product listing and a 15-business-day serious adverse event protocol.

3.1 Niche fragrance

Buyers are moving from mass-market sprays to concentrated, signature scents with a story. Extrait-strength perfumes command premium prices and repeat purchase on a tiny cost of goods.

3.2 The inclusive complexion gap

Many concealers still turn ashy, oxidise or crease on deeper and olive skin. Cashmeare Crest builds its shade range from undertone first, not as an afterthought.

3.3 Target customer

• Women 22–45 who buy beauty online and through social media
• Customers underserved by mainstream shade ranges
• Fragrance lovers seeking long-lasting signature scents
• Boutiques, salons and gift retailers in Washington and the Pacific Northwest

4.1 Line A — Extrait Fragrance · Crête de Violette house

4.1.1 Sue Noir — harsh, raw, authoritative (men / bold unisex)

4.1.2 Sue Rouge — lethal, sensual, radiant (women)

4.2 Line B — Viole Inclusive Concealer · Sue & Selah house

5.1 Path chosen: contract manufacturing first

An FDA-registered, MoCRA-compliant US contract manufacturer blends and fills to our formula. The facility registration sits with them; we keep the formula, brand and customer. This keeps the loan small and lender risk low.

5.2 Supplier shortlist (published prices, quotes to request)

5.3 Path two: own studio (Year 2–3)

Once revenue is proven, perfume blending and filling moves into a leased Washington studio: digital scales, maceration tanks, chilling and filtration, crimping and labelling. Concealer stays with the co-packer.

1. Formulate — Scent briefs and shade targets approved by the owners.
2. Source — Supplier SDS and Certificates of Analysis collected for every ingredient.
3. Co-pack — Pilot batch filled, lot-coded and documented.
4. Test — Stability, microbial and preservative-efficacy testing on concealer; stability on perfume.
5. List — Products listed on FDA Cosmetics Direct; labels checked.
6. Sell — Launch online, then boutiques and salons.

7.1 Governance

• Washington LLC owned by Francisca Lumumba (26%), Phumelele Faith Mazibuko (25%), Paul Wamweya (24%) and Sam Okoth (25%)
• The women hold a combined 51% and the company is managed and controlled by them — the SBA WOSB ownership-and-control test
• Operating agreement locks the women's combined stake at no less than 51%; no share transfer without unanimous owner consent
• Deadlock rule for tied votes: Francisca holds the casting vote as managing owner; a named adviser decides on deadlocks involving her own conflict
• Monthly owners' review of sales, stock, cash and complaints
• Advisers: Washington SBDC business adviser, cosmetic chemist, accountant

Costs use published supplier list prices; oil/fill and box figures are estimates until written quotes arrive. Retail prices are working placeholders while market research continues. After shipping, payment fees and marketing, target contribution margin is 45–55% on DTC sales and 35–45% on wholesale.

15.1 The problem we solve

Foundation that rubs onto white shirts, high collars and phone screens. Our hero SKU locks to skin and stays there — the single claim the brand is built on.

15.2 Target product profile

15.3 The 16-shade launch matrix (4 × 4)

15.4 Real data required from each manufacturer

15.5 Outreach — send to every row below

15.6 Live supplier response tracker

15.7 Sample testing protocol (our own bench)

1. White-shirt test — Apply, wait 10 min, press white cotton collar 10 s; score transfer 0–5.
2. Sweat test — 20 min brisk walk or warm room; re-press; score again.
3. 8-hour wear — Photos at 0, 4, 8 h in daylight; note oxidation and breakdown.
4. Shade match — Test on both owners plus 3 volunteers across undertones.
5. Pick winner — Highest combined score becomes the hero formula; order production.

16.1 Why the finishing line is a legal requirement, not a luxury

Once bulk liquid arrives from the co-packer, it must become a finished retail product with a traceable identity. Three operations make that legal under FDA cosmetic rules:

16.2 Finishing line flow

1. Bulk liquid in — Co-packer delivers bulk perfume or foundation in drums or totes, with a Certificate of Analysis per batch.
2. Fill & cap — Filling line fills bottles, applies pumps or doe-foot wands, torques caps to spec.
3. Batch code — CIJ coder prints lot number + fill date on the bottle base as units pass on the conveyor.
4. Label — Labeler wraps printed labels — INCI, net contents, warnings, brand panel — with photo-eye registration.
5. Tamper-evidence — Shrink tunnel seals collars around perfume cartons; foundations receive induction-sealed or shrink-sealed caps.
6. Carton & pallet — Units are cartoned, case-coded and palletized with a master lot label for warehouse traceability.

16.3 Equipment plan — two stages

The right move is to match machinery to volume, not to buy the full automated line on day one. Stage 1 volumes (an 800-unit foundation run and pilot perfume batches) do not justify $40k of automation — the co-packer's own finishing service or a bench hand-line carries the first runs. The automated line is bought when volume passes roughly 50,000 units per year.

*Supplier-class planning estimates, not quotes. When we request real quotes from equipment distributors, this table and the Section 11 budget update together.

16.4 Compliance checklist the finishing line owns

• Every unit carries a machine-readable lot code linking to the co-packer batch record and ingredient drum lots.
• Labels carry INCI ingredient declaration, net contents, responsible firm name and address, and required warnings per 21 CFR 701.
• Perfume cartons carry tamper-evident shrink collars; foundation bottles carry induction-sealed or shrink-sealed closures.
• Finished-goods QC sample pulled per batch: code legibility, label placement, shrink seal integrity, fill weight.
• Lot-coded units feed the MoCRA adverse-event log — any report maps to its batch within minutes, not weeks.

17.1 Raw chemical & ingredient inventory (bulk commodities)

Sourced as industrial chemical pallets from global distributors (Brenntag, Univar, BASF, Ashland) — not retail cosmetic bases.

17.2 Factory machinery specification

Foundation is a viscous emulsion requiring mechanical tearing; perfume is an explosive volatile liquid requiring air-driven pneumatic power. The two lines are engineered differently by necessity.

17.3 Production protocol — foundation emulsion synthesis

1. Phase A — oil/silicone base — Load Isododecane/Cyclopentasiloxane into the jacketed oil vessel, add TMS resin powder, heat to 75°C at 400 RPM until fully dissolved. Slow-feed treated iron oxide and titanium dioxide pigments; raise to 1,500 RPM for 30 minutes to build a flawless pigment slurry.
2. Phase B — aqueous phase — Charge deionized water, Butylene Glycol and Sodium Chloride stabilizer in the water vessel; heat to a matching 75°C.
3. Emulsification — Seal the homogenizer, pull vacuum to −0.08 MPa, open bottom valves to draw both hot phases into the main chamber simultaneously.
4. High-shear processing — Run the homogenizer at 3,200 RPM with anchor blades at 45 RPM; hold 20 minutes at 75°C under deep vacuum to form the water-in-silicone matrix.
5. Regulated cool-down — Switch to chilled water through the cooling core, scrape at 30 RPM until the batch reaches 30°C uniformly. Vent, pull a 100ml QC sample to verify viscosity and shade against the master standard, and pump the bulk into airtight stainless totes.

17.4 Production protocol — fragrance fabrication & ageing

1. Compounding — Pump SDA 40-B alcohol into the explosion-proof tank; mix at 200 RPM while slowly adding Ionone compounds, Iris concrete and musk fixatives. Mix 45 minutes until fully dissolved.
2. Hydration buffering — Add the distilled water portion in a thin continuous stream to avoid shocking the fragrance oils out of solution.
3. Maceration (ageing) — Seal in dark stainless tanks at 15°C for 3–6 weeks undisturbed — the alcohol molecules structurally bind with the aromatic esters, smoothing the scent and maximizing longevity.
4. Sub-zero filtration — Chill the aged fragrance rapidly to −2°C and run immediately through the plate-and-frame micro-filter press to strip all wax precipitates — discharging a brilliant, crystal-clear fluid straight into the filling line.

17.5 Federal compliance mandates (MoCRA)

18.1 The five systems

*Planning estimates from published vendor pricing classes, not quotes. Each system is specified against a named vendor class before purchase, and real quotes replace these figures the same way supplier quotes replace Section 12 placeholders.

18.2 Sequencing — what gets built when

1. Now — pre-revenue — Systems 1 and 2. Both are pure software, need no machinery, and work before the first production run. The shade-matcher is the brand's front door; the formulation assistant shortens the path from sample kit to locked formula.
2. At first production run — System 4. The moment real sales data exists, forecasting turns it into reorder intelligence.
3. At Stage 2 — own finishing line — Systems 3 and 5. They only earn their cost once conveyors and vessels exist. Budgeted inside the Stage 2 machinery plan, not the $50k microloan.

18.3 Total cost of the layer

18.4 Why this matters to a grant panel

• Every system has a named, measurable payback — returns avoided, batches saved, recalls prevented, working capital freed. No speculative 'AI for AI's sake'.
• Systems 1 and 2 are buildable today with no factory — the venture demonstrates Industry 4.0 capability before spending a dollar on machinery.
• Machine-vision QC and the automated defect log turn MoCRA traceability from a paperwork burden into a competitive asset.
• The layer compounds: shade-match data feeds demand forecasting; QC data feeds formulation adjustments. The longer the brand runs, the smarter it gets.

Cashmeare Crest is structured as a corporate house, not a single product brand. The parent holds the governance, the ownership cap table, the intellectual property and every funding relationship. Two branded divisions face the customer, each engineered for a different shelf, a different audience and a different price ceiling.

19.1 The two divisions

19.2 Why a house beats a single brand

• Brand equity is protected both ways: daily-wear colour promotions never dilute the luxury parfumerie, and the parfumerie's prestige pulls the colour line upward.
• One overhead, two revenue engines: shared co-packers, shared MoCRA safety files, shared fulfilment — the divisions share cost, not identity.
• Lenders and grant panels read a portfolio with two margin profiles, not a single-product bet.
• The names carry the story: Crête de Violette — 'the crest of the violet' — lifts the Viole code from the concealer line into the luxury tier, so both houses grow from one root.

19.3 Trademark & IP plan

19.4 Governance flows through the house

Ownership and control stay exactly as filed in Section 7: Francisca Lumumba 26%, Phumelele Faith Mazibuko 25%, Paul Wamweya 24%, Sam Okoth 25% — the women holding a combined 51% at the parent. Every share, every WOSB benefit and every governance right flows through the house into both divisions. No separate ownership structures are created at division level.

The launch campaign speaks in macro: one eye, one look, one shade story. Four looks anchor the series — each shot on a different depth of the 16-shade matrix, each pairing the house colours (turquoise and pink) with the metallic gold of the Crête de Violette tier.

The Crête de Violette parfumerie series

Alongside the eye looks, the campaign carries the flacons: Sue Noir and Sue Rouge photographed as ultra-premium glass-and-gold objects — the shelf presence that justifies the USD 85+ extrait pricing before a single drop is smelled.

The "True Match" foundation series

Every model holds the 30 ml Sue & Selah frosted-glass bottle against her own skin. The liquid in the glass matches the face beside it.

The Sue Rouge muse series

The women's campaign is carried by four muses in the same pink-silk language — every depth of beauty, including a muse with vitiligo. Beauty in every skin is the house standard, not a footnote.

20.1 How the series is used

• Social launch tiles — one look per post, shade code in the caption, Shade Matcher link in bio.
• Retail and boutique cards — the look printed beside the matching foundation and concealer codes.
• Investor and grant materials — proof the brand speaks at luxury level before the first unit ships.
• The series expands with the matrix: every new shade family gets its own macro look in the same arrangement.