The actress Drew Barrymore says she is so committed to the cosmetics she is producing in partnership with Maesa that she has hit "pause" on just about everything else in her career.

"I hate it when it's just a name on that, or they weren't involved in every aspect or I didn't know they even liked that or even cared," she said. "Things are so personal to me; I work on them infinite percent."

Ms. Barrymore, 37, is entering a crowded field of famous faces who have gone from endorsing products to helping create them and becoming executives themselves.

An acknowledged success story belongs to Iman, the former model who in 1994 introduced makeup centered on foundations for women of color.

"I knew in my heart I wouldn't model forever," Iman, 57, said. "That could have been the beginning and end of my career. A model is nothing without her pictures."

She concocted her own foundation to tote around to shoots, then began selling it at J. C. Penney. The brand is now carried at 2,000 stores around the world and at Ulta.com. Iman remains chief executive of her company.

In 2004 another model, Cindy Crawford, now 46, chose infomercials to sell Meaningful Beauty, a skin care line she developed with Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh. Last year was Meaningful Beauty's most profitable year, with sales approaching $175 million, the company said. Ms. Crawford also has a line of home decor.

"What I did discover, once I started these other businesses, is that even though there are finance guys or marketing specialists in the room, no one knows more about my brand than me," Ms. Crawford said.

Meanwhile, Leilani Bishop, 36, a successful model, is having a moment with perfume oils and is expanding into home fragrance and body oils.

But fame does not ensure overnight success as a cosmetics entrepreneur, as Josie Maran, an actress and former model for Maybelline, can attest.

In 2004 Ms. Maran, 34, started a beauty company whose products were based on argan oil. Within a year, while still in the development stage, she was nearly bankrupt.

"My accountant said, 'You're going to have to sell your house,' so I went out to look out for money, but it was impossible," Ms. Maran said. But she did not give up, and her products, which made their debut in 2007, started to catch on at the beauty counters. Today Josie Maran Cosmetics is a best seller at Sephora.

The business has pitfalls. Last October, Jemma Kidd Makeup School, a company started by the former model Jemma Kidd, 37, filed for bankruptcy in Britain; her line, JK Jemma Kidd, was discontinued.

"I just trusted the wrong people," Ms. Kidd said. "I went off to have babies, you see, and had to step away from the business for a while. And I wasn't a business person."

Ms. Kidd is regrouping and considering the popular natural-makeup category, where she thinks she can differentiate herself. This time around, she will have a "good back office," she said.

In that respect Ms. Barrymore might be at an advantage, since she has already run a successful film company.

According to Ms. Crawford, the proof is in the powder puff.

"It comes down to product," she said. "I don't care how famous you are."

The New York Times

(China Daily 01/27/2013 page10)