Aliett Buttelman, cofounder of Fazit, says the most consequential moment in her company’s short history didn’t arrive with a funding round or a retail partnership, but during a Monday night NFL broadcast. Speaking to Business Insider, Buttelman recalled the moment Taylor Swift appeared on screen wearing Fazit’s glitter freckles — a split second that instantly transformed the brand’s trajectory. “When people hear that my company took off after Taylor Swift wore our product, they might assume it was a matter of luck,” she said. “But really, it was the result of a 360-degree strategy we'd developed to get the product into Taylor Swift's hands.”
That distinction still matters now because Fazit’s story has outlived the viral moment itself. A year on, the company’s experience has become a case study in what happens after celebrity validation — when explosive demand collides with fragile infrastructure, limited headcount, and high-stakes leadership decisions.
The Real Impact on Fazit’s Sales and Growth
Fazit was not an overnight idea when Swift wore its product in October 2024. Founded roughly three years earlier by Buttelman and Nina LaBruna, the company began in skincare patches before expanding into cosmetics — a strategic shift that brought greater visibility but also higher execution risk.
That bet paid off early. Fazit launched its glitter freckles in April 2024, and the product went viral almost immediately, selling 100,000 units in its first week. The response suggested product-market fit, but it did not prepare the business for what came next.
When Swift appeared wearing the freckles during a Kansas City Chiefs game, the scale changed instantly. Fazit generated more than $1 million in sales within 48 hours, while website traffic surged by roughly 4,800%. The brand name initially lagged behind the visual moment, forcing Buttelman into rapid-response mode to connect the product with the company behind it.
“I knew this moment counted: it was about to open the door to so many possibilities,” she told Business Insider. “It was our chance, despite the brand being so young.”
Within hours, Buttelman began contacting media outlets directly and hired a publicist. National television appearances followed the next day, ensuring Fazit owned the narrative before competitors or imitators could fill the gap.
Where the Pressure Is Building Inside Fazit’s Business
The commercial upside was immediate, but the operational strain arrived just as fast. Before Swift’s appearance, Fazit employed only one person beyond its two founders. Warehousing capacity was modest. Fulfilment systems were built for steady growth, not viral demand.
“The first two months were primarily about staying afloat and avoiding too many cracks in the business,” Buttelman said.
Warehouse space had to be doubled almost overnight. Friends and family were enlisted to help pack and ship orders. Every delay risked customer frustration at a moment when attention was at its peak.
Financial pressure cut both ways. Prior to the spike, Fazit had been operating with limited runway. The founders initially bootstrapped the business with $13,000 of personal savings before raising $200,000 from friends and family. By autumn 2024, they had roughly five months of cash on hand.
The Swift moment changed that calculus completely. Investor inquiries flooded in from private equity and venture capital firms, but the founders chose not to raise. For the first time, the company generated enough profit to sustain itself — and to pay its founders.
That choice placed full responsibility for the next phase squarely on Buttelman and LaBruna, without the buffer or discipline of outside capital.
What Happens Next for Fazit After Viral Success
A year later, Swift wore the glitter freckles again, delivering another sales bump. This time, Fazit was better prepared operationally, but the experience reinforced a harder truth: viral relevance can return, but it cannot be controlled.
“A lot of the past year and a half has still felt like a fight or flight response,” Buttelman said. “We're just trying so hard to take advantage of opportunities and make all the right decisions.”
The company now faces questions that matter more than the original endorsement: how quickly to expand headcount, how much infrastructure to build ahead of demand, and how closely the brand should remain tied to a single breakout product. Each decision carries trade-offs between resilience and agility, particularly for a company that is now profitable and no longer forced to raise external capital.
The question now facing Fazit mirrors a broader shift playing out across entrepreneurship, explored in The Million-Dollar Exit From Corporate Work Is Reshaping How Professionals Measure Success, where founders confront what growth actually means once survival is no longer the goal.
Leadership dynamics have also evolved under pressure. Buttelman and LaBruna were not friends when they started Fazit together. Hypergrowth reshaped that relationship into something closer to family. “No one, with the possible exception of our husbands, can truly understand what it's like to go through this hyper growth,” Buttelman said.
That closeness has helped the founders move quickly — but as Fazit grows, informal systems will need to give way to structure.
The Bottom Line for Celebrity-Driven Startup Growth
Fazit’s story still matters because it exposes the gap between visibility and viability. Celebrity validation can unlock demand overnight, but it does not build warehouses, train staff, or design durable systems. Those outcomes depend on leadership decisions made under extreme pressure.
For consumer startups, Fazit illustrates a modern reality: virality is not the finish line. It is the most fragile stage of growth — where execution, not attention, determines whether a moment becomes a lasting business.
