Brea Fullerton had high hopes when she launched Shinery in 2020. It was the first non-toxic jewelry cleaner on the market, and with her core product, Jewelry Wash, a luxurious soap that also cleans one’s rings and bracelets, she was dabbling in a beauty adjacent category ripe for the taking.
“I thought, ‘Let’s go direct-to-consumer. We can do Facebook advertising. We’ll go viral. We’ll be millionaires tomorrow,’” she recalled.
As she soon discovered, however, “it doesn’t work like that.”
“We launched Jewelry Wash to no one,” said Fullerton, who is based in Atlanta, Georgia. “It was the middle of the pandemic, and people weren’t necessarily concerned with cleaning their jewelry.”
A friend then suggested that she exhibit at AmericasMart, one of the largest trade shows in the world for home and gift items.
“That’s where we built our army of wholesalers,” said Fullerton. “We were approached by gift, specialty, and bridal stores. That’s where we got our start.”
Today, Shinery — which has six SKU’s — is sold in more than 3,000 doors nationwide, including 100 Nordstrom stores. The brand has an ongoing partnership with QVC and is Amazon’s top-searched brand name for jewelry cleaners. Since her tentative start, Fullerton has seen sales double year over year for her bootstrapped, indie brand, and closed out 2024 with $4 million in gross revenue. She expects to double that by the end of 2025 by focusing on expanding national distribution. The prospect of hitting international markets is an alluring one, but that would depend on finding the right strategic partner, she said.
Still, she encounters consumers who are mystified as to why they should spend $28 to polish a ring when conventional products — often priced under $10 and not always in demand — are available.
“For the longest time, it was hard for us to communicate why this is something people should care about,” said Fullerton. “The average beauty consumer thinks, ‘I wash my face; why do I need to wash my jewelry?’ But once they try it, they get it. Our hero product from four years ago is still that — we struck gold with it, no pun intended.”
She came up with the idea for the brand after noticing how unclean her wedding ring looked on her wedding day. Fullerton initially launched with three SKU’s — the signature Jewelry Wash; Radiance Towelettes for easy jewelry cleaning-on-the-go; and Illuminating Pom, a soft puff which removes tarnishes from sterling silver and gold pieces. She has since added a brush, a Drying Stone to hold the products, and the Daily Tray, a jewelry organizer. Prices range from $10 for the Drying Stone to $56 for a gift set.
Despite her success in a relatively untapped market, Fullerton said she is “amazed” at how large the category remains and how ripe it is for further innovation.
“I think what’s wild is that it transcends so much of retail,” said Fullerton. “We still haven’t even considered entering a lot of jewelry stores or big-box retail. The jewelry category is massive. We service pieces ranging from $10 to $10 million. I can see other brands coming in and putting their spin on it. Competition is good, and the more brands we have telling that story, the more it raises the tide for all of us.”
Shinery is Fullerton’s first business, and her first foray into personal care. Born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, she majored in finance and marketing at the University of Virginia before moving to Florida and working in sports and live entertainment, including stints at Live Nation handling tour logistics for Madonna and Taylor Swift, and as Director of Marketing for the Florida Panthers in Miami.
“Selling ice hockey in South Florida was quite the marketing challenge,” she said. “So, nothing fazes me, and that’s probably one of my strengths.”
It’s a mindset that has served her well. Like any founder, she still experiences moments of self-doubt and anxiety — such as when she and her team of six were waiting for the BFCM spike to hit.
“That used to be a three-day shopping Super Bowl, where a brand would make 40% of its yearly revenue. But now, it feels like Black Friday Cyber Monday lasts forever. It’s all of November and December.”
She said remaining sanguine when sales fall short is a trained response.
“The biggest mantra for me is, you can’t allow yourself to get too high or too low. You have to take the time to celebrate the successes. It’s exciting to make Oprah’s Favorite Things or see your brand on Good Morning America. There are the high points, but there are some dark moments too. You have to be quick to move on from setbacks.”
That taps into the advice Fullerton might share with emerging entrepreneurs: “You have to imagine a racehorse with its blinders on. Any time I have not shown up in the best possible way for the brand, it’s because I’ve taken off those blinders. Once you start comparing yourself to what someone else is doing, or chasing shiny objects, things get muddy. And if you can’t tell your own story well, just know that the consumer will be 10 times more confused than you are.”
