‘I was freaking out’: Waterloo-based makeup brand celebrates after order from Paris Hilton

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A small business makeup brand based in Waterloo is celebrating after twice receiving recognition from a familiar face.

Ashley Mateo started posting videos to TikTok six years ago.

“I was just making fun makeup related videos, and then the platform grew really fast, and that just kind of allowed me to have the opportunity to start my makeup brand, and it all just kind of grew from there,” Mateo said.

Mateo noted it was a climb to success. Many times, she questioned whether it was worth continuing.

“I would always tell myself, ‘It takes one day for a video to go viral,'” Mateo said.

Her current following on her main TikTok account sits at nearly 399 thousand followers. A frequent method of advertising the product for Mateo is through live streams on TikTok.

“Normally we don’t get a lot of viewers in the lives, and then a lot of viewers started coming in the lives. And then we started getting orders. And then we got so many orders. I was freaking out, and then everybody was commenting that we were sold out. And we did,” Mateo said.

With the overwhelming number of orders after that live stream, Mateo’s husband stepped in to help fill them.

“He texted me, and he said, ‘Paris Hilton bought from your brand.’ And Paris Hilton was an icon of mine,” Mateo said. “He’s not very big into social media. I’m like, ‘Babe, it’s a fake account. Like, it’s not really Paris Hilton.’ And he’s like, ‘No, Paris Hilton really bought from your brand, check!’ So, I went to the order, the order was linked directly to her verified TikTok account.”

That was one year ago. This past Tuesday morning, Paris Hilton went from a silent shopper to a loyal customer.

“I woke up to a comment from her on my video, and she told me that she was so excited to open that package on her set for the “BBA” music video that she was filming, and she said she was going to use it in the video, which is insane,” Mateo said. “And then she said that her trailer that they were filming, like their set caught fire, and everything in it was just lost.”

Mateo said she will be replacing the items that were lost in the fire with a new order and told News 8 she is still in shock at the recognition.

“It just goes back to just knowing that any day that you wake up, could be the day that something like pops off, or a celebrity buys from your brand, or a video goes viral,” Mateo said.

Currently, Mateo Beauty Cosmetics is solely run by Ashley, but she said down the line, she hopes to make it into a larger business she can get her daughter and nieces associated as well.

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