Archived Post
How do you feel about the current pace of new releases in beauty?
It feels even more like a revolving door presently than it ever did before, though beauty has always had a ton of new launches/products so it’s not new, but I think that visually,
we’re all aware of a lot more brands and their products today than before, so it is just harder to ignore.
I don’t mind a lot of releases if they were all of good quality, but there are some brands and releases that seem done solely to be done or check a box off.
— Christine
Yes, exactly! And all that is influenced by our hunger for more. I wish brands would pace themselves and not release products that are sub par. Especially since the price tags are not cute.
For me there’s too much.
There’s very little in releases that feels innovative any more – one brand comes out with something and then everyone copies it for the next 18 months, until the next new thing rolls round. It feels very overwhelming to try and keep up as a beauty lover and I’m at the point where I’ve really had to separate myself from the new releases that come out, certain brands *cough, Colourpop* are really riding a wave of success, but they’re churning out so many products constantly that I’m already like well how is this palette different to the last 11 palettes you popped out!? It wasn’t that long ago they hadn’t released any palettes and now there’s 11 pressed pigment palettes on their site.
It’s rare a release actually feels exciting any more.
Too many and the market is way too saturated with brands. It’s good to have choice but now so many subpar products are passed off as good simply bc it’s hyped up on social media
The pace is positively frenetic.
Downside:
Margins: Price points are high to account for the massive amount of product that never really ‘makes it’
Quality Control: the pace is so fast quality control goes out the window
Waste: Unpurchased products do not end up in cosmetics heaven.
Upside:
The pace spurns innovation.
Variety keeps us all hooked into this bat channel
I’ve been thinking about your first point (“Margins…”) for a while now, and my new take on it has me disagreeing with people who get irritated at very limited edition runs that sell out, or even, additionally, when a company brings back something like that for a second run. I honestly feel like the only way to produce decent quality products while keeping price (margin) down is to produce only enough that you’re absolutely certain will completely sell out so that you *don’t* have to price to make up for the dead stock. And then bringing it back would be a possibility if the first release was overwhelmingly positive, but again, it has to be limited (possibly even *very*) to make it worth it.
There are definitely companies out there that value a nickel over their customers, but I think we’re too quick to judge a company as being greedy and manipulative in flogging a sense of urgency for limited products. It’s easy to get disgruntled about the need for speed or about lost opportunities, but honestly, we’re not the ones that bear the financial burden of product overruns.
This all comes from a conversation with an artist who produces limited edition prints of his paintings, and his runs are *very* limited, to a degree that some people who have been trying to own a piece of his work for quite some time get very verbally frustrated. He knows it makes some people unhappy, but ultimately, he’s not a stockist, he’s an artist. Yes, “artificially” limiting his runs increases the perceived value of the work, which makes it more likely for him to sell through, but that’s not greed, it’s necessity — he can’t afford the alternative.
I don’t think any business is duty-bound to burden themselves financially for the sake of sating our product lust. There’s a kind of gluttonous undertone to collection (art, makeup, whatever…) that overrides our common sense and makes us less empathetic or understanding of the realities of owning a business that has a bottom line and a future to plan for. Again, I’m not saying that we’re never manipulated, but it seems like the current customer expectation of “high quality, unique, limited, but enough for everyone who wants one” is incredibly unrealistic, and more than a little selfish.
Having said all that, I think most companies could make much better decisions about how to balance these things if they’d get off the new release treadmill and give us all a chance to take a breath.
Thoughtful response. I enjoyed the read! As a small business owner all too familiar with tip-toeing around tight margins, I can relate.
I sometimes feel like I’m rushing to meet a deadline on a (SALE(s)) that Beauty Companies put out. So as competitors market their latest palette or improved formulas on existing items, it really puts time restraints on whether or not the item is worth buying. I would like to think that I check out your Temptalia reviews
(I do) & Youtube tutorials & authentic opinions before purchasing. But I do feel like a gerbil on a wheel trying to just buy a FEW items isn’t possible anymore….or at least for me. Internet side bars feature more beauty items…ooohhh boy!
I have come to the point where I will leave items in my Bag and wait. If it sells out or returns to the regular price and I don’t want it…Great…But if I really have to have it, the cost somehow doesn’t matter.
I pick & choose carefully but I still feel like the person who had to build more storehouses to hold his belongs… When did this Beauty Overkill begin? I’m taking a stab at it by saying the Anastasia Renaissance Palette started this makeup revolution. I have two of those palettes by the way….
Anyhow Thanks For your Wonderful Temptalia Beauty Site to guide us through the internet aisles❤️?
It is mind boggling. I think it has actually started to turn me off a little. I would prefer if brands did maybe seasonal makeup lines twice a year lines and took the time to really work on their products to maximize their performance. Quality over quantity! Unless someone releases a really good cool toned palette, I don’t see myself purchasing any more palettes this year or maybe longer.
It depends on whether I have “the shoppies” or not. If I am not in the mood to buy, I skip over the news. If I am open, then I pay attention but only if it is a CF brand. Lately the only thing I have paid attention to was the launch by Physician’s Formula.
Too frantic, too hectic, too many subpar releases, like the companies are racing to see who can beat their competitors to the finish line! As an earlier post suggested, a few seasonal releases each year – but GOOD ones – would be better than constantly churning out rubbish masquerading as something decent.
It’s bananas – there are so many brands and the industry/market is over-saturated, in large part due to social media. I am easily overwhelmed and I only watch out for 3 or 4 brands!
The pace is frantic and the amount of stuff being released all the time is out of control. It’s a race for who launches the most new products in the least amount of time. I think there’s a general fatigue that is starting to spread (I read more and more negative comments about the excess of new releases), so in my opinion brands will have to find another way to stay relevant in the long run.
Looking at the brand that seems to have started the trend, MAC, I don’t think constantly launching new collections/products has been a good business decision. Their reputation took a hit because they released tons of mediocre products, and their relevance slowly started to decline. I think that on the long term brands who understand that quality is more important than quantity will be more successful.
It feels like the major brands are just copying each other over and over again. I find myself drawn more to indie brands now because they do their own thing. It’s often were the trends start as well. MAC went down the path of inundating the consumer with collections and I think it’s part of the reason why people don’t bother with them today. I think the major brands should learn a lesson from that.
It is new. Before there were all the once-small artist brands (Bobbi Brown, MAC, Stila, etc.), collections were usually released twice a year–spring/summer and fall/winter. Skincare was introduced in-between. In fact, when Stila was new, Jeannine Lobell released only two new collections a year to augment their base collection, but they were perfect–shadow, blush, and lipstick in warm, cool, and neutral. That was it. Then EL bought up all those brands and the mayhem started in the early-to-mid 2000s. And it’s ridiculous. How many brown shadows and pink lipsticks can you make that are unique? It’s a rare occasion when a truly innovative, quality product comes along, like NARS Liquid Blush last year. Most of it is trash, but people keep buying, so they keep selling. They’re also aided and abetted by social media, from which we got crazy brows, bad contouring, overly highlighted faces, and the other trends that drive the market (as well as the LE frenzies). I wish that one company would have the courage to buck this marketing model, give us a well-edited collection of quality basics, and release two seasonal collections a year. I seriously doubt it’ll happen, but I’m hopeful.
I really enjoy the new releases! It’s fun to see new packaging and cosmetics! The more the merrier for me.
I think because of the internet, blogs, youtube etc. that we are more aware of new releases than in the pre internet days, also there are far more brands competing for space in the makeup/skincare market. Added to that, the rise and rise of online shopping tends to make the whole creation, marketing and release stages speed up.
I think there will always be brands that will cater to certain demographics – whether they be teenagers to more mature makeup wearing women. And there will always be, too, individual makeup preferences that will cut across demographic lines.
However, quality over quantity is always preferable to me.
It’s harder, faster, more, more, more. It’s so overwhelming that I tend to back off and not buy into it all. If something gets rave reviews and is still available then possibly I will purchase. LE are usually not worth the hype, I’ve backed off purchasing them unless it’s something spectacular. They need to pull back and put the quality back into the products and not the quantity and then the pay off will come with the customer base.
There are just too damn many. It feels like the sort of insidious greedy neoliberalist capitalism that seems to be seeping into every part of our culture and I am NOT here for it.
I have disowned several companies due to the ‘laziness’ of their launches. I’m disappointed in
Too Faced
Urban Decay
Tarte
They don’t release good products like before. Tarte is turning into a ‘lazy and generic’ looking like which saddens me because the only two products I like from them are their Amazonian Clay Powder Foundation and purple tube mascara. I don’t know what has been going on with Urban Decay and Too Faced.
I think collabs don’t help much. I noticed the change in release quality once companies started collabing with Youtubers and celebs.
This year, I plan on only sticking with quality products that I know I will use. That is why my blog isn’t full of releases.
Dizzy! And I don’t even go into expensive stuff often but it overwhelming everywhere I go. Too Faced & MAC couldn’t care for them so repeated I get sick if just seen the names and a few others. It is just too much but I don’t follow them blindly love to see them for fun to compare and swatch and for fun. Arghhh! Lol!
It feels relentless. I find myself ignoring new releases more and more. I get overwhelmed lately.
I love novelty, but I hate it because I’m broke lol.
Far too much options – it’s overwhelming and I often feel like I can’t keep up!