Kryolan Tour, History, and Tidbits

Exciting news, my dearest friends, Temptalia was invited to tour the Kryolan facilities in San Francisco!  Franchesca invited us to take a sneak peek at the show room, as well as take a tour of the on-site production facilities. Claudia Longo, led the tour, while Jake (showroom manager) introduced us to all that is Kryolan (and boy is there a LOT to see and play with!). Before I forget, I urge you to call 1-800-KRYOLAN to find your nearest retailer so you can check these products out!  You can expect more individual product coverage for the upcoming season; I have one hint:  waterproofing.

Kryolan is a brand that has been headquartered in Berlin Papierstrasse since 1971, but began in 1945, and they still have 90% of their production in Germany.  Kryolan is often known for their involvement in theatrical, film, and editorial, as the brand originally began because the founder was a theatre enthusiasist.  Arnold Langer, who was also a chemist involved in cosmetics, founded the privately owned company with the support of his wife Waltraud.  The philosophy of Kryolan is “To offer professional makeup artists of the world a system of products and services to better accomplish their tasks.”  This philosophy continues to exist as Wolfram Langer, son, works towards to expanding and improving the already established brand.  Kryolan distributes to over seventy countries, and they also do private label projects, which means you never know exactly where Kryolan products may show up.

Let me introduce you to some of Kryolan’s favorite and most known products, which there are many (and the line is so extensive). The DERMACOLOR system is known for its ability to cover discolorations and skin anomalies, including tattoos, birthmarks, or burn scars.  I really liked how this line is posited, because it shows its usefulness to those who have serious skin difficulties or have undergone trauma, and I feel this line is excellent in giving those people a way to discover who they are and feel better about themselves.

AQUACOLOR is a grease-free, washable makeup for face and body that is used in theatrical makeup quite often.  It is one of their most known lines, and it is something that makeup artists truly seem to rave about.  They are incredibly pigmented, easy to use, and Kryolan does not know the word “discontinued.”  If they develop and produce a product, you can be sure that it will continue to exist when you run out.

They also have a lot of special effects makeup available, ranging from latex parts to faux vomit to blood capsules.  I liked that they packaged some of this special effect smakeup and products into a line called Fun Faze, which are specially packaged, often with step-by-step guides, to achieving face masks or certain looks for parties, carnivals, or even Halloween.

One of the best things I have learned about Kryolan is that they’re a company that is on the cutting edge of development and product safety. Because they have a presence globally, and they tend to import the majority of their products from Germany, they often adhere to the more stringest standards and practices of the EU.  For instance, on many of their products, you will find a jar that has a number, such as “24m,” which indicates that the product is good for 24 months after it is opened.  I think that is so handy, and I hope they implement this in the US soon!

Learn more about my tour, plus see a ton of photos!

Kryolan has an amazing range of eyeshadows and eye products with every color one could imagine.  They have AQUACOLOR, but they also have loose and powder shadows available.

This is the “clean room,” where specially trained employees hand-package many of the Kryolan products.

They have three machines that are used to help in production.  The one on the right (and there is a second one behind the green machine) is used to produce the AQUACOLOR.  Claudia was explaining that these machines gride the pigments so they are micronized.  If you have ever taken a swipe of a product, and it changed colors on you, she said it is because the pigments weren’t ground fine enough.

Part of the production facility, looks kind of like a kitchen, doesn’t it?

An employee is getting ready to mix up a batch of a product.  Kryolan has their own recipes for each color and product, and sometimes there may be as many as four versions of it, depending on the country of distribution.

We walked through storeroom after storeroom of product!  They have so much warehouse space with shelves full of product waiting to be bought.

More and more products!

This is the craziest part — it makes you feel less like you’re in a beauty shop and more like you’re in a pharmaceutical laboratory.  It’s kind of fun and it’s great to see this side of cosmetics.  But yes, barrels and jars and containers filled with ingredients that will be later mixed and combined.

Look, a whole barrel of brush cleaner!

Liquid body base, anyone?  This was such a fascinating experience, because how many of us get to see the innards of beauty?

Kryolan also offers classes where you can learn various types of makeup and techniques.  They also rent out chairs to makeup artists and students.

Ready for class?