What do you think is the next up and coming beauty brand? Share!
I think Urban Decay and NARS are going to gain ground/market share, while brands like Hourglass are going to make strides but the price point will make it hard to be as universally-appealing.
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I think UK brand Sleek Makeup is growing in popularity due to excellent quality for price point. Illamasqua and OCC I reckon are making a mark too – beautiful, quality products with ethical company policies.
Rouge Bunny Rouge’s products are just of amazing quality. Their whimsical, fairy-tale like image helps too. I def hope it’ll be available in department stores/sephora soon! Their price points are sometimes ridiculously high, but I do think they have the quality to justify the prices.
That’s the first brand I thought of too. Whimsical, Original, and Superb Quality.
I agree with UD, and as unpopular as this opinion may be, it will have a *lot* to do with the acquisition by L’Oreal. With the know-how & muscle in marketing/distribution, and consistent quality in all of their prestige brands, I think they’ll actually edge out MAC, which has only been maintaining momentum with LE hype. I also forsee UD expanding the range of products, and maintaining their current pricepoint.
As for NARS, I don’t see it taking off as much as it can, for a few reasons. First, pricepoint is a factor; it seems many can’t get past $34 for an eyeshadow duo, which actually breaks down to $17/shade, which is the average price for a prestige brand. Second, distribution; even in the Los Angeles area, there aren’t too many retail outlets that carry it. We have Sephora, but the range is limited, and Nordstrom, which isn’t always the most convenient store to go to. Finally, I don’t think the marketing/promos are geared to a younger market, and can be seen as a “mature” brand.
I would love to see Inglot spread out in terms of distribution. If they were to place more counters in stores, or even open boutiques, along with some mainstream marketing, they would take off like wildfire. The idea of creating a custom palette, with the vast selection of product, coupled with the pricepoint would be very appealing across the board. Since the local Macy’s opened an Inglot counter directly across from MAC, MAC has had alot less foot traffic, from what I’ve observed…
Agree, agree, agree. UD rarely disappoints, don’t see how they can do anything but grow for the foreseeable future.
MAC, however, I’m almost never impressed with – and generally not even really interested. At least half of their releases seem like slapped-together poorly thought-out products of middling quality in “collectible” packaging with some [usually lame] theme or celebrity tie-in.
Dude, I would be happy if Inglot would just put together a better WEBSITE, omg it is so awful. And yes, I’d love to see their stuff show up in Sephora or Saks.
Tarte’s been doing some new/interesting things lately, though I still haven’t forgiven them for ditching their eyeshadow singles in those fab little magnetic compacts. Also interested to see whether Kat Von D and Illamasqua gain any traction, and would love to see Obsessive Compulsive A) get more press and B) expand their line.
Actually, inglot is now being sold on the beautylish boutique website, and it’s so much easier to navigate and choose your freedom system stuff! I’ve had nothing but good experiences buying from beautylish, including a hand written thank you note with every order!
Online Lime Crime is really starting to gain a following. I don’t see it being in stores but online I can see it growing even more. I hope to see Illamasqua flourish here in the states and be more available in more Sephoras. This is kind of hard to predict since certain areas of the country/world have different brands.
I would love to see more Illamasqua products available at Sephora stores!
I definitely would rather see Lime Crime go away completely than get more popular, though. Just google lime crime controversy if you haven’t heard about all the drama.
I have read it. I still like their lip products tho. I own quite a bit of it and actually like it. (I know, bad.)
I don’t get the whole drama about Lime Crime, I’ve read it all but the ‘repackaging’ idea is absurd. It would be much costlier if they did it. Also just bcs a few ppl were angry with the brand, now everyone is ‘disgusted’ without even anything being proven. This collective ‘everybody this way’ mentality is simply weird.
I like their lipsticks too.
Hi Alara,
Lime Crime gave out my personal email address and asked their newsletter subscribers to email me because I gave Lime Crime a poor review on their lipsticks. They’ve also repeatedly taken our images and used them for promotional purposes without permission or credit. I personally do not support Lime Crime because of what they have specifically done to Temptalia. Everybody has to make their own decisions about who they want to (or not want to) buy from, and I don’t ask anyone to boycott – but it’s also not fair for you make light of why others refrain from doing so.
Lime Crime has a poor reputation because it HAS actually been proven that they repackaged cosmetics and sold them for many times over what they got them for. The owner is a scam artist. I will never purchase anything from that brand.
Oh I own Sugarpill stuff too and they aren’t alike at all. I haven’t had an issue with the lipsticks at all. I’ve actually love every Lime Crime product I have. (zero of the pixie dusts)
I had absolutely no idea about any of the things Lime Crime has done. Seriously, I’m disgusted with what they’ve done. I’ve removed them from my fb and twitter. Thank you for saving me money for a better brand!
Fascinating reading about the controversy. Thanks for posting.
The Balm Cosmetics! Quality make up for a bit less, and really adorable names/packaging.
I love theBalm, but feel it is overpriced except when it is on HauteLook for 50% off. Or like their big sale that was supposed to start April 1, except their server promptly crashed and stayed that way.
Sonia Kashuk is a great line, but sadly limited by exclusive contract to Target.
I really think Inglot. I live in California where the are starting to sell in Macy’s. The price point is right and there products are high quality and popular amoung many demographics.
I agree that Urban Decay will continue to grow and dominate. People will always love MAC, but many have grown weary from the constant, often lackluster collections. That disenchantment will work in UD’s favor as L’Oreal continues to expand the brand and advertise on a broader level. UD has already proven that they can have both a cult following and mainstream appeal with the success of the Naked palettes. I’m sure in the next few years we will see more foundations, blushes, and lip products that will start to compete with MAC’s many offerings. Personally, if they could offer matte eyeshadows in as many colors as their shimmer and glitter formulas, they would probably crush the competition.
I think if Rouge Bunny Rouge enters a major US deptarment store (like Nordstrom or Barney’s) or a spot at Sephora, they will become the next big must-have luxury brand. RBR is already a big favorite amongst MU addicts and bloggers online. If the brand gets the right kind of celebrity attention, or even an endorsement by a MU artist like Lisa Edldridge, it could easily reach the next level.
I also feel like Guerlain is going to expand in popularity and recognizability. I think the most recent collections and products are a little more youthful/cutting edge, such as the Maxi Lash mascara and the high gloss nail polishes and glosses. Everything has been sleekly and enticingly repackaged, and their current ads for the spring collection and super feminine and over the top, and they’ve garnered a lot of attention.
In my dreams…it would be the Japanese brands for makeup and brushes such as Suqqu, Jill Stuart and all the stuff Muse has…but this is in my dream…
I’m really impressed with the growth of Urban Decay. I think they will just keep getting better. I think the one to watch is Illamasqua. They are very edgy and unique! I foresee great products from them.
in india sleek and nyx have becum quite popular in last few years,i like nars too but availability n price is a issue when some other hi end brands r accessible
NYX is a good one. I believe they are going to start selling it at Target.
I have to echo Xamyx’s comments regarding Inglot – they really would take off big time if they were more readily available. In Canada, their only stores are in Montreal, which is great for Montrealers but a bit of a hike for the rest of us. They’re not exactly well set up for online ordering and even if they were, the poor quality of swatches on their site would discourage people like me from ordering. But if their product were available in stores (even a limited number of them) or if there were more Inglot stores, you can bet I’d be purchasing regularly. Perhaps because I can readily get them, I think of Nars and especially UD as already having arrived, rather than up and coming but I wonder if TheBalm’s new site relaunch and recent big sale might move them into a better known/more up and coming category.
Good question. With the market already crowded and so many niche brands existing, I do not think brand loyalty exists as much as it did in the past and therefore the ability to grab serious market share through individuals does not exist. I do not see any particular brand setting the world on fire and imagine there will be even more small guys popping up here and there to catch our interest. There are far too many choices, too many price points and many many people to enjoy the diversity all the way from department store brands to premium. I think the ability to build up a beauty empire will be done through accumulation of small/niche brands by the big houses versus any one brand seriously catching fire.
I overwhelmingly disagree. I think if there is one place where brand loyalty not only exists but thrives, it’s beauty products. There are certain brands that people buy and use religiously. If a brand puts out products that consistently work well for someone (color, formula, etc.), they will be significantly more likely to purchase another one of their products, and visa versa if their formulas do not work. People want to use brands and products they trust. There is a reason why people snatch up UD eyeliners as soon as they are released- people trust the formula, color, wear time, etc. Sure, people might not purchase every single one of their beauty regime products from one specific brand; however, the brand loyalty is still overwhelmingly present.
Hi Joy: Absolutely. I have a handful of brands which I am quite ‘loyal’ to as well. To put it in context of my intent with my post: I just do not think people tend to wear ‘head to toe’ one brand like they might have twenty years ago. MAC comes to mind with many people eschewing any other. I think that mentality has largely disappeared and representative of why the so many brands can coexist and hold market shared.
Joy and Wwendalynne – I think you’re both right. It’s a hybrid: older and established customers are very loyal, other customers are more likely to experiment and branch out. When I started wearing makeup in the 80s (I’m 49), there were fewer, yet well established makeup companies. Brand loyalty was de rigeur. Now, the options are endless. I think that is why companies like MAC/Estee Lauder introduce new collections around the clock – to encourage repeat customers and to instill brand loyalty with younger customers.
That sums it up nicely, Erica!
I am hoping Edward Bess. It looks like an amazing line.
I agree with Hourglass, and also Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics! I know people are coming around to their lip tars, but I’ve also fallen in love with their nail polishes.
I think that Urban Decay can gain traction now that they are owned by a parent within the industry, rather than just a numbered corporation. They have a solid base with their shadows and liners and, of course, their palettes, but now they have to focus on becoming more rounded.
The sleeping giant in my mind, though, is Inglot. Their products are extremely high quality for the price, their selection puts others to shame and their palette system is great for either casual makeup lovers or professionals. They aren’t as innovative in terms of new products as other companies, but as their distribution increases and they have more money coming in, I suspect that’s going to change.
Smaller brands like Hourglass and Rouge Bunny Rouge are likely to grow their base/ cult following, but I think that their pricing will prevent them from having tremendously broad appeal. I do think that we’re likely to see more brands like these- high end boutique-type brands with smaller but well-edited product ranges.
I think Tarte is really up and coming. And although they are already quite popular, I think more and more people are going to gravitate towards the brand.
A second brand is theBalm (even after their recent sale fiasco). They have by far the cutest packaging out of any brand. And their products are also amazing quality.
I feel like Inglot could do alot more by expanded their online store sales range *cough* Canada *cough*.
I’m not sure why their snubbing Toronto for a physical store either because I would make a trip to a Toronto store every time I visit the same way I hit up MAC PRO.
Can’t say I understand this either because surely I would be there too.
I agree that sleek is going to get a lot bigger. Maybe branch into the US! Inglot has been making some big waves. They just launched at Beautylish.com and provide swatches on light or dark skin as you build!
I think that “green” brands like RMS Beauty, W3ll People, Vapour Organic Beauty, Ilia Beauty, etc. are going to become extremely popular. Celebrities like Gisele, Miranda Kerr, Gwyneth Paltrow are already wearing them, even on the Red Carpet. These brands make products that can already compete in terms of quality with the biggest conventional makeup brands, but these products also add ingredients that are beneficial to the skin, and do not contain those ingredients that have been raising health concerns.
Rimmel has really stepped up their game, especially in UK. The Scandaleyes line finally came here and some colors are sold out everywhere. I’m also really excited about the new lip creams and hope they come to the states soon!
I have been so brand loyal to MAC over the years, but I am moving on. They over saturate the market and have been making sub par items just to keep launching new collections. I am also unhappy with their once stellar customer service. That has dwindled as well.
I agree on your prediction of UD’s growth. Their packaging has become more sleek and polished, and they’re positioned well as a mid-range brand. Plus they have room to further expand into cheek and lip products.
Illamasqua also has a lot of potential to be an up-and-comer. Personally I was turned off by their blackface Christmas advertisement and their response to customer concerns, but they do seem like a thoughtful, imaginative company otherwise. I think they can draw off some of the MAC customers who are frustrated by supply issues or feel the company’s creativity has stagnated.
I agree with Xamyx, I’m not sure NARS will grow beyond its current position. Francois Nars is a wonderful artist and I love how he follow his own vision rather than the trends, but the line seems a little lost about how it wants to position itself. Putting glitter in so many products may turn off older customers – for example, I believe the Undress Me multiple would’ve been much more popular without it. But the prices and their image doesn’t seem to quite fit the younger crowd. The eyeshadows are also in need of reformulation. Customers now are accustomed, even for budget and midrange brands, to smooth buttery textures. The quality for NARS shadows can vary so widely. Some are lovely but others seem outdated, they’re so choppy and dry. I love NARS but the line is due for a bit of a revamp imo.
I used to use a great deal of Nars cosmetics and I was drawn to the brand in my late 30’s, early 40’s and it really was an amazingly innovative brand at that time. Francois Nars was insightful and recognized that women heading into their prime were no longer content to follow in their mother’s footsteps and go the conservative route. He carved out a great niche in the market as a result. I still have a great deal of fondness for the brand, but find their inconsistent quality at their price point frustrating. I would love to see a brand revamp on sentiment alone 😀 Hey, if Estee Lauder is doing it.
p.s. I wanted to be all over that Undress Me multiple. So thankful Kafka gave me a heads up on that glitter bomb and then Christine reviewed in all it’s horror..
The Korean brands will be the next hot thing: Étude House, Tony Moly, etc.
I do hope so! I’m dreaming of being able to walk into Boots and pick up more than a Dr. Jart BB Cream.
I hope you are right! I love the Korean beauty products. The only downside is that the makeup will only work for some skin tones (BB Creams). They have the cutest packaging.
I can see only one problem with that. Many asian brands put skin helping ingredients into their products, which is great! However, in the US it is often illegal for certain ingredients to be found in the same product (these laws have had major effects on bb creams). Apparently, several of the skin helping ingredients used in the cheaper asian brands cannot be used with many ingredients in high pigment drugstore foundations because it is banned by the FDA (skin helping ingredients in makeup are technically drugs in many cases so the products fall under current FDA regulations.
I have the read the comments with interest. Urban Decay is sold in Sephora here, and we don’t have too many Sephora stores and those are in just three cities. Nars is sold by Sephora and another department store but only in the stores that are in areas where upper class people buy. That said, I believe that the “It” brands will be completely different between countries depending on accessibility. Mac is not huge here but has a loyal base of followers and has accessible prices compared to HE brands like Chanel, Dior, Guerlain, etc.
Is interesting, the brands that have made the effort of have more presence in department stores that have more selling points around the country are Benefit and Too Faced. Still, Drugstore/High Street brands are market dominant here so the next up and coming brand may very well be a HS one.
Burberry is/will be the new big thing for a high end brand. Gorgeous packaging, understated aesthetic, and a well edited collection of products are all qualities in a good high end brand and I think Burberry has what it takes to be the next big thing.
UD I definitely see growing in the next few years, especially with L’Oreal’s powerhouse behind it. The bright and bold has been in for awhile, and UD has the quality shadows to appeal to the younger crowd with a more grounded set of neutrals. (Though I gripe about the variety, I do think it’s wise for them to continue expanding the Naked line. Just…maybe remember that not everyone is warm and medium toned?)
Despite it’s stumbles, I think Estee Lauder is also starting to regain some momentum with the younger crowd. If it can avoid the duds of this last season and keep pushing quality items out, I could see it losing the “older crowd” association.
josie maran!
I’m not sure about gaining ground, but Lorac has grown in popularity since the launch of its highly-successful Pro Palette, which has actually become a solid competitor for the Naked palettes. I think Lorac needs to improve its range and number of products to really make headway, though.
I agree with people’s comments about theBalm, though their kitschy branding is a bit off-putting (or at least to me, so I’m guessing it might be to other people as well). I agree with UD because of the acquisition and just their general consistency in quality, but not with NARS. As people have mentioned, the price point and also the issues with consistency in quality probably hinder the brand to an extent.
LORAC palette are what dreams are made of! I use the Croc palette and the Unzipped palette every day. The color pay off is incredible and the shadows are just so incredibly buttery and smooth. I completely agree about expanding their products. They really need to put out more palettes asap. And, honestly, if they’re going to be competing against UD, they should venture into bright and lighter colors a bit. Also, they seem to have more products on their website than Sephora carries– they should really rectify that. More LORAC! More LORAC!
Becca-tinted moisturizer and beach tints are already popular
Sugarpill and OCC, definitely! I consider Urban Decay a company that’s already “made it”…. I mean, L’oreal does own them now, after all.
I hope Sugarpill comes out with more palettes.
Why are we only discussing higher end stuff?
Both Nyx and Milani have been gaining a lot of ground in terms of distribution. And, while Nyx can be hit or miss for me, I’ve liked pretty much anything Milani’s put out in the past year or so.
I was thinking about those, as well, but a big issue is distribution-both in where they’re carried, and if retail outlets would maintain a decent stock. My local ULTA is always picked-over when it comes to NYX, and some of the other store that carry it jack up the prices 2-3X the MSRP. As for Milani, many of the products that have been out for a year or so are just now hitting the shelves in L.A.; Target (and only one location, at that) *finally* has a place marked for the Primary palette, and I’ve only found one CVS that carries the exclusive mono shadows. Unless both brands step up distribution & marketing, I think they’re going to fall by the wayside.
Nyx was added to my local Meijer with the Spring cosmetics reset, and I guess it’s been popping up in Targets, too. So I know they’ve been expanding, but it’s a matter of how much.
Milani drives me nuts, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily THEIR fault they tend to get shoved off to a two-foot endcap in stores. I’ve never even seen my favorite lipstick of theirs in a store. I have seen the newest set of lipsticks in both local stores that carry it, so that’s heartening, because they’re decent quality lipsticks.
I think Illamasqua and Inglot are really going to blow up, seeing as they’re both very unique and more affordable than the average brand.
ART DECO is becoming more popular here in Europe.
Great quality products at very reasonable prices !!!
And they also come out with new collections every spring,summer and winter.
I find it humorous that you apparently possess a doctoral degree and still can’t use grammar correctly.
Rouge Bunny Rouge
Urban Decay and Inglot! I am looking forward to Inglot appearing in more stores throughout the US.
My country doesn´t seem to have all that much room for new brands from what I have seen. We used to have two the balm counters but they didn´t really sell much so one of them is now defunct and the other one has become really small. We also have two Too Faced counters but I have never seen anyone buy from them. However I had to wait for quite some time at my Chanel counter because there was too much traffic, five people before me, they seriously need more than one SA it´s always so busy there. The high end brands that we have here are always busy, though we only have Chanel, Dior, Ysl, Guerlain and Givenchy and from what I have seen Chanel is the front runner followed closely by Dior and while Guerlain and Ysl do well they don´t seem to sell as much as the other two do, however don´t get me wrong they do sell alot anyway, particularly Ysl is playing it here as being very exclusive, chic and the most popular brand in Europe as they say and it´s becoming more popular and elite, as for Givenchy poor Givenchy no one likes them lol. Mac is not huge here but they do sell well, however the fact that we still have the Mac Archies Girls collection with quite a few products left speaks volumes lol. L´Oreal, Revlon and Maybelline are sold in supermarkets here so they are never sold all that much and they don´t have their own counter. So in my opinion I guess Chanel is doing great here? It seems so. However they just recently launched a Burberry counter with perfumes in my city I´m really so hopefull that they will bring makeup soon, I have wanted a Burberry blush and lipstick for ages, so crossing my fingers. Otherwise it seems like the makeup market here is traditional and conservative for all ages, so Mac is the wildest brand we have here, and it doesn´t seem to be much room for anymore makeup brands in the near future at least…