You may recognize Savannah Chrisley from hit television series Chrisley Knows Best, but there’s more to the 23 year-old than her television rankings, booming fanbase and pageant title (she was crowned Miss Teen Tennessee USA in 2015). After welcoming her debut makeup line, Sassy by Savannah, into the world late last month, Chrisley—who also keeps a firm eye on mental health—can now add entrepreneur to her impressive list of accomplishments. We sat down with the family-oriented, quick-witted star to chat all things beauty, open dialogues and why looking inward is always the best answer.
On growing up in front of television cameras and on pageant stages…
“I started Chrisley Knows Best at 15, and I feel like those are very important moments in your life in shaping who you are. It was difficult. I had tons of people coming at me telling me what I should look like and that created a lot of insecurities in me and I didn’t really know how to deal with it. Constantly being compared to other people was difficult, and I used makeup as my outlet and something to help me feel a little bit better about myself. I feel like we all need a quick fix sometimes just to help us get through the day and for me, that was makeup. And then after a lot of therapy I got down to the real issues [laughs].”
On the pros and cons of beauty pageants…
“Believe it or not, before pageants, I was pretty shy and I feel like I didn’t really have much of a personality. But getting into pageants really helped me to kind of bring out who I was and get me out of that shy, awkward stage, so for that I’m so grateful. But at the same time, competing in a pageant at 14 years old with 18 year-olds, who are fully developed and who have already gone through their awkward phase, was definitely difficult. You’re sitting there comparing yourself to grown women and you’re 14 years old. So there’s definitely some pros and cons to it, and some of it affected me negatively, but there was definitely a lot of positive to come from it.”
On the “why” behind launching a beauty line…
“I’ve loved beauty since I was in elementary school. I had to beg my mom to let me wear mascara, and I remember starting out with bareMinerals makeup. We laugh because I say I’ve literally tried every makeup [product] that’s been made. But it’s expensive! You walk into Sephora and you can’t leave without spending a couple hundred dollars sometimes. I see eyeshadow palettes that come out that are over $100 and I ask myself who in their right mind thought this was attainable?
I would hear a lot of people say, ‘I wish that I could have that but it’s too expensive,’ or, ‘Oh, it must be nice to be able to have all of that,’ and I never want someone to feel that way, like they’re not worthy of being able to have something. That’s why I created my line. I wanted a great product, but also for it to be extremely affordable. So we have the Full Face Palette, which has 15 eyeshadows, two contour colors, two highlighters and two blushes all for $22. I might be biased, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whole face palette for $22.”
On launching a brand in the middle of a pandemic…
“We’ve been working on [Sassy by Savannah] for the past five years, so I was definitely told ‘no’ a lot, and then I decided I don’t care who tells me that, I’m going to continue to do it because I know in my heart that this will be a success. We were supposed to launch in the beginning of the year, and then COVID hit overseas much sooner than it hit us. Then I was supposed to do a huge photoshoot for my packaging. It was supposed to be this great, elaborate thing. I had all of these ideas, and then because of COVID we obviously couldn’t do that. So that’s where the Polaroids came into play.
I just took Polaroid photos in a hotel room and decided that’s what we would use for the packaging. Thankfully, it worked and I’m happy it did because you’re forced to be 110-percent you. In this industry you see so many things—packaging or photos—that are PhotoShopped and with Polariods you can’t do that. I love that it made me feel secure with the insecurities that I do have, and we finally got here.”
On keeping an open, honest dialogue with young women…
“2020 has been such a hard year on everyone, even kids. I see how it’s affected my niece Chloe and kids don’t know how to deal with what’s going on right now. They’re being thrown all of these crazy things and don’t know what to do with it all. I love that mothers are telling me they bought my palette for their daughter who is 13 or 14 years old and then I see these girls posting on social media with it—it makes me so happy that people are finding such joy in the products I’m creating.
I am honest about the insecurities that I have had and continue to have, because I think a lot of young girls look at me and think, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re perfect, how do you get that way?’ And I don’t think that’s fair for me to sit here and put out that perfect image. So I definitely do go through those struggles with people because I never want to be the person to make others feel bad about themselves. That’s not who I am.
I always say, ‘Everyone needs a quick fix.’ If that’s getting Botox to make you feel better about yourself, or putting on a face of makeup, whatever it is, go for it. But I always encourage, too, figuring out on the inside why you’re at where you’re at and to work through it.’
On her relationship with in-office treatments…
“Like I’ve said, whatever makes you feel confident in yourself, go for it. Who cares what other people say? At the end of the day, you have to go to bed with yourself and you have to wake up with yourself. But never do I advocate for changing who you are completely. Yes, I’ve gotten some Botox, I’ve gotten some lip filler, but I also go to therapy once a week and I dive deep into that because I feel like all of these insecurities are definitely an internal struggle. If you’re good internally, you’re going to be okay with how you look on the outside. I think it’s all an emotional thing that you have to work through, but it’s 2020. Whatever it is that you choose to do to feel better about yourself, no one else can fault you for that.”
On the best advice her parents have given her…
“My mom has always been the sweet one—she’s going to tell you something looks good even if it doesn’t—so you can’t really look to her for that. But we all know my dad is going to tell you how it is, and he’s always told us that just because you can buy it, doesn’t mean that you should. And the older I get, the more I understand that and that’s something that’s really stuck with me.”
On what’s next…
“Right now, I’m working on hair [tools]! I’ve got hair straighteners that will be launching in three different colors and then blow-dryers coming out. So that’ll hopefully be around the first quarter of 2021. And then definitely some more Sassy [by Savannah] products. I’m going to come out with three fragrances, which I’m so excited about, and definitely some more palettes. My whole idea with the palettes is to incorporate what I’m going through in my life through the palettes. You always have Christmas palettes and Valentine’s Day, but I want to have something different. So we’re coming up with some fun, clever ideas. There’s definitely no lack of content coming in 2021.”
