How do you feel when brands collaborate with others (individuals, companies, franchises, etc.)?
As long as they seem like there was some thought put into the collaboration, I’m pro-collab! I think it can sometimes get a brand to branch out a bit. Other times, I feel like a brand will collab for a movie or popular franchise, and none of it seems to make sense (at least not to me) re: colors, names, and general vibe. Like UD’s Game of Thrones palette didn’t give me the same aesthetic as the show does.
— Christine
Mostly it does not interest me at all. Experience taught me that collabs are mainly a matter of packaging, and I don’t care very much of packaging (I’ve already written in this blog that my ideal package is compact, plain and made of cardboard). Great boxes but inside nothing more special or with greater quality than usual, (and in some case I’ve found less quality), so usually skip them
I could care less about brand collaborations nor do I usually buy them. I don’t need my childhood sold back to me nor am I interested in the 1 millionth Youtuber collaborating with X brand. It’s beyond redundant at this point and none of the collabs are a bit interesting or unique to me. At this point, they all look like they were shipped from Alliexpress lol. Not to offend anyone who likes them but I find them a turn off!
It doesn’t influence me much one way or the other – bottom line for me is if the products perform well and are colours and finishes I like. You’ve got the GoT palette in the photo and while I watched the first series (I’ve always had a crush on Sean Bean!), that wasn’t my motivation for getting the palette or 2 of the 24/7 liners from that collection. It’s that there were quite a few gorgeous shadows in the palette (and I knew, going in, that Winterfell was a heartbreaking disappointment) and the 2 liners were irresistible.
Sure wish I could have found the liners alone! They were a super rare commodity.
I always cringe a little. So many collabs have gone sideways or were a clear cash grab. The first time I remember feeling that was when Nikki collabbed with TooFaced. The palettes quality wasn’t there and she was apparently treated poorly on top. Last year’s ABH eye palette collabs left a bad taste in how quickly they were released and essentially glossed over by the brand. Pat McGrath did some interesting collabs but they sold out so fast that most people didn’t get them (x Supreme lipstick sold out in 8sec apparently). Some collabs are just head scratching – the US x GoT is a good example. It didn’t have the feel of the show. Others just seem… random, like the brand just became a private label for someone – MAC suffers from this, I think. It made me lose interest in and regard for the brand as a leader in the industry. Smaller brands can get exposure but even then, it’s always something. The Sydney Gace x Mel Thompson palette had a near exact dupe in the Colourpop Garden Variety palette that came out just before. None of the beauty bloggers wanted to touch the subject because it would have rained on Mel’s parade.
In short, I’m not a fan of collabs, as there always seems to be a high likelihood of drama or disappointment around them.
Yes!
My thoughts exactly!!!!
I am not pro collab unless it is for the benefit of charity; a significant portion if not all.
I pretty much agree with you, Christine. Most collabs in the past few years have been in honor or with, a particular person and these days I don’t know most of them. When collab’ing with someone I do know and want to honor, and if the are either dead or had a hand in the collab, then I am open to it. Like many have mentioned, a lot of collabs are hastily cobbled together and the quality isn’t there so I don’t buy if the products are poor quality. Some collabs appear as if they have no relationship to the person and those are an easy pass for me.
I think the only collab I took to was UD Wizard of Oz. It was more the color story than the collab though. I’ve actually avoided collabs unless I could depot them if I dislike the person doing the collab. For example, I dislike Angelina Jolie (I have a friend who is a camera man who worked with her…uncool stories) and collect Guerlain perfumes. I was glad to pass. I also like classic packaging.
I’m generally not interested in collabs for the superficial reason that the color theory (or lack thereof) involved in selecting the shades nearly always makes me wince. Now, if the collabs were with painters and illustrators, I’d be so into that.
While I do find it fun sometimes, ie; SG x Mel Thompson or MAC x Selena or Aaliyah, most of time I could care less.
I don’t really care. To be honest, Ive never felt collabs interesting. I haven’t seen anything unique or interesting enough. There are a few people I would be interested what they would create, but I think collabs are not about honesty and personality, but simply and purely business.
Agreed
I liked when MAC picked their spokesperson and Viva Glam ambassador for the year but now everybody is collabing with everybody and it’s just….meh. I don’t care for them and it dilutes the brand’s appeal and prestige for me.
I question the quality as soon as there’s another name attached to it. And anymore – maybe this is just my cynicism these days – there’s really nothing new and ‘brandxrandom’ is just a diversion or trying to make xxxx product interesting again.
I did enjoy Pat McGrath’s Star Wars collaboration – not because of Star Wars, simply because it was more palette-y goodness from her and the quality was consistent.
Collaborations are just cross-promotion. I think they can offer an exchange of ideas between creative teams that creates something inspired and thoughtful, but they’re just as likely to be “we already made this based on market research, sign here to put your name on it and license your likeness.”
I don’t have nothing against collaborations, I think people and brands should collaborate as often as they can, because interactions are the catalyst of creativity and innovation.
That doesn’t take the fact that sometimes collaborations are cash grabs, poorly done, not cohesive to the theme, etc. But then people don’t buy them and it does down.
But I do wish people being more… open minded and creative with their collaborations, not recycle the same themes, people / types of people.
Not a huge fan of collaborations unless it’s for a good cause, like donating a significant portion of sales, if not all, to charity.
If a company collaborates with someone who has been bigoted in the past, I won’t ever buy from them again.
Generally collabs with a celebrity or movies etc. don’t interest me, as quite often the shades selected are not those that suit me and too many of them are poorly done. As far as they go, it usually about the packaging and not the product. Lots of them end up looking the same to me.
I’m so skeptical. And sometimes brands keep propping up terrible people! Broke my heart when Morphe collabed with J*. But the brushes were Morphe afterall, so I ended up buying a couple. At least they were discounted.
It’s usually someone I don’t know so no big deal to me.
I see it as an opportunity for the brand to explore new themes and ideas. And an opportunity for the person they’re collaborating with to create a product they wouldn’t have had the chance to otherwise.
Now… what the brand and person choose to do with this opportunity is where the judgment comes in. In your example, the UD Game of Thrones collab, there didn’t appear to be much done beyond packaging. None of the products felt connected to the source inspiration at all.
If UD wanted to collab with a similar show again, let’s say The Witcher (because I just watched it), they could be inspired by the scene where Yennefer applies her lipstick with a large brush, and create products to mimic the scene. Or a “doppelgänger” contour palette, promoted by makeup artists using it to morph their faces into other people.
The concept of a brand/celeb or brand/show collab isn’t bad itself, it’s just that so often, the execution has been.
I could care less whose who in the zoo. I want a superb product that performs nicely and makes me look good, give me that and you can have my money honey.
Very interesting reading through the responses here because I honestly have never given much thought to how I feel about collaborations in general. I do tend to support certain makeup artists but they are very few. I think the Sydney Grace collaboration with Mel is the best example of a collaboration working out well. I also did buy the Becca x Jaclyn Hill face palette and some of the Selena Mac products. But I still always go off how Temptalia and other bloggers that I follow review the products more than anything. I do think collaborations are a way to make money but so are regular collection releases too. I never watched Game of Thrones but bought two of the eyeliners after I loved how they look swatched on here. I will say I would feel negatively if I didn’t like a youtuber or celebrity based on them being racist or something and a company chose to associate with them.
I love them! They’re fun. Colourpop’s brand collabs are, in my opinion, the best ones out there… Like, the Sailor Moon and Disney ones are PHENOMENAL.
As you said, as long as it’s inspired and thoughtful, I love collabs. Especially ones with visual artists. 🙂