What makes for a compelling campaign visual? What beauty ads are your favorite? What grabs your interest?
I love either really stunning beauty looks where natural beauty really comes through–so an emphasis on skin, glow, and highlight/contour, or something avant garde and fun and experimental–something most wouldn’t wear in real life.
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I love it when the ads are conceptual. So while I absolutely love Illamasqua’s ads where the focus is the avant-garde make-up, something like the recent MAC Indulge ads would also grab me.
I feel the same! Show me something new I have not seen before, with lots of colors in the add.
It’s hard to say, because I think it’s a lot easier to either get it horribly wrong or to be forgettable than it is to be amazing. I guess I like things that are creative, but that’s pretty broad.
I thought MAC’s Strength promo image was really good, because it managed to be very unique, still be appealing (I like Illamasqua’s campaigns, but they can be a bit too weird and alienating), get people talking and tie in to the theme the products were trying to get across.
I don’t like campaigns that are obviously photoshopped, like Guerlain’s oft reused photo of Natalia Vodianovna and one of the Chantecaille campaigns (and ALL mascara campaigns). It’s a bad advertisement for the products, kind of like, you can use all of our makeup, and you’ll *still* need photoshopping at the end.
I think there’s a lot of blandness in makeup promo images, a lot of ‘O face’ and pouted out lips that tend to run together, but they’re not bad images exactly. I also think there’s a lot of stuff that’s trying to be avant guard or unusual and gets off at the creepy or unappealing station instead. I don’t think most consumers want makeup to make them look scary. So it’s a fine line.
I’m not mad for the avant-garde or experimental. I like a campaign that is a realistic representation of what the products look like and how they’ll make ME look wearing them or at least looks that are achievable. I feel this way about a lot of things. Because I cook a lot, I get more than a bit irate at photos of recipes that have been so “over-styled” that the results when you actually make the dish bear very little resemblance to what’s been shown in the photo (sort of the “food mag” equivalent of those mascara ads that are “filmed with lash inserts”!)
A nontraditional looking model, either with interesting features or exotic ethnicity, always makes me look twice.
me too! I like interesting looking models. something away from the sharp featured white model is always nice.
As much as I admire experimental campaigns, I really prefer it when the models look super natural. And I’m always drawn to something with a red haired model.
anything with glowy skin or rosy cheeks
Something realistic. Something I can actually see myself wearing.
I like realistic ads, so I can see how the product will look on myself but I like experimental ads because I can really see the product being used, like for eyeshadows. Crazy ads tend to use more product.
If I could choose one thing, I would say it would be a strong (or strongly emphasised/shown) conception or idea to me. And to an extent, harmony – not necessarily harmony in the boring sense of the word, but when I feel that something is just good together (even if it is a bit disharmonical).
As for certain things, I love crazy eccentric and elegantly and slightly darkly sensual make-up in campaigns (but not sensual poses or lusty pictures, just that kind of make-up that reminds me of the 1001 nights, velvet, luxury…).
And as for less editorial campaigns, especially drugstore skincare, mascara etc., I love natural beauty, and seeing the product in work.
I guess I am the only one here who is unaffected by ads. I go straight to swatches and no packaging or editorial can change my mind haha.