Image: Courtesy GCI Magazine
Read MoreBeauty Responds To COVID-19: Podcast - 3/2020
/In this time when we are called to pivot in terms of our daily lives, our relationships and our businesses, I want to share this timely podcast panel I was graciously invited to join called Beauty Responds To COVID-19 with Global Cosmetics News.
Recorded just two days ago, our discussions cover the response to COVID-19 from the perspective of panelists based in the US, the UK, and Malaysia. You’ll find interesting points of how these markets in three different continents are responding, and how we see opportunities and challenges in the near future.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
Hosted by Georgina Caldwell, Global Cosmetics News Editor, who was joined in this episode by the following guests:
Cherie Buziak – CEO/Founder BeautyEdge via the phone from New York
Joanne Bell – Brand Insight and Content Director at Free The Birds via the phone from London
and Nicole Fall – Head of Trends Asian Consumer Intelligence Pte Ltd via the phone from Malaysia.
Let’s stay connected…Reach out with any thoughts you’d like to share about yourself, your business, or send us topics you’d like to hear about.
Your business - right now! How to stay ahead in crisis 3/2020
/A personal note from Cherie: Just weeks ago, we were at the C.E.W. product demo exploring the newness and excitement of new beauty products and brands.
And then - just like that, life changed.
What I’ve learned through the years, especially through hard times, is to stay focused and keep putting one foot in front of the other. It may not feel comfortable, and it may feel surreal at times. But what is happening is that you’re being stretched, and you’re growing. You will come out of this stronger and wiser.
Stay safe, stay well.
All my best,
Cherie
What can you do for your business right now?
Now, more than ever, it’s important to stay connected with each other and your audience. Whether texting, skyping, phone calls, or video conferences - stay connected. There’s power in numbers.
These moments can be a time for concern - but not worry. Concern means we need to take all possible measures to stay safe and healthy while moving forward. Worry means getting caught up in fear, and suffering from self-paralysis.
In a time of uncertainty, we can all share our inner beauty, our support and our tips. Here at BeautyEdge, we’re open for business, and our main concern right now is to support you and your business.
We’re in this together and we’ll walk it out, together.
Below are links that we’ve found helpful during this transition. Please explore them, there is a lot of good information.
Beauty Industry Updates:
COVID-19: Current Key Takeaways for The Beauty Industry
Follow BeautyEdge on Instagram, we’re posting daily inspirations to help you rise!
BeautyEdge New Product Development Tips
BeautyEdge News & Resources
BeautyEdge BeautyEdge Services
Financial Relief Resources:
Emergency Funds - All Art Forms from Women Arts
Alliance of Artist Communities Emergency Relief Fund
Reach out to your mortgage companies, credit card companies, platform servers, and see how/if they have special emergency programs to help you through this time.
Tips For Working From Home:
How to Be Good at Video Meetings
15 Tips for Having Your Kids Home All Day
How to Prepare Your Business for Coronavirus
How to Stay Ahead in a Changing Workplace
Inspiration:
Google Art & Culture
Nightly Met Opera Streams
Education:
On-line Courses (free)
Let’s stay connected… we need a little love here too at BeautyEdge. Reach out with any thoughts you’d like to share about yourself, your business, or send us topics you’d like to hear about.
“Don't look back, you're not going that way.” —Anonymous
"We're moving forward, join us." -Cherie Buziak
Tips on Launching a Brand 3/2020
/Launching Your Own Brand?
2020 is underway and maybe you’re thinking: I want to launch my own beauty brand or product. If creating a new brand is in your future, let's consider a few crucial points and take a look at the competition. With the world more or less on pause, now is the perfect time to plan, strategize, and make sure that your brand is set up for success.
Below is a quick snippet video from CEW's Product Demo. CEW stands for Cosmetic Executive Women.
For those of you who don’t know, CEW’s Product Demo is a night where 1,000+ of the year’s most innovative beauty brands showcase their new products in the hope of winning a coveted CEW award within their category. Yes! 1,000+ products. The products are voted on by 3,000 CEW members.
The video above captures only a few aisles of competing entrants. 1,000+ is a lot of brands to compete against. What will make your brand different? If you want to launch a new brand in this competitive landscape, keep these tips in mind.
Three Tips To Launching A Brand
1. Business Plan.
Start out with a business plan supported by a marketing plan. Your plan is adjustable and you can change it along the way. Consider it almost like a living document. The plan must include your mission statement, your goals, the financial commitment needed for your brand for development and sell-through, your target market, pricing strategy, and competitors. It doesn’t take a long time to create a plan, but you need to know where you’re going and how much it will cost. And consider the extra help or expertise that you may need to hire on, even if temporarily, to get your brand launched.
THE TAKEAWAY: Create a business plan, or else you’ll be on a long, expensive road with no map leading the way.
2. Marketing Plan.
Alongside your business plan should be a comprehensive marketing plan. Sometimes marketing plans are included at the end of the business plan as an addendum. However you treat it, it’s best to have a marketing plan in place. Once you’ve thought about your products and created your business plan, how are you going to sell the product through? What PR support or other media will you use to promote your collection? How will you plan new product launches or introductions? This, like the business plan, can have room for adjustments along the way.
THE TAKEAWAY: A business plan without a comprehensive marketing plan is like owning a luxury car that never leaves the driveway.
3. Start Small.
There is no need to rush into launching a 10 to 20 sku collection. Start with just a few key pieces to give you the opportunity to introduce the products and its special features to your clients. Launching a small number of pieces allows room to spare for new product launches in the future. Starting small will also make it easier for you to learn and grow from mistakes in a less costly way.
THE TAKEAWAY: In the beginning stages, less is more.
Bonus point: Hire an expert to help you. If you want to launch your product in a timely, cost-effective fashion, don’t hesitate to bring on the extra help you’ll need to bring your vision to life. An expert can help you with creating a business plan, marketing, product development, a go to market strategy, new technologies, and advise as a second eye for design, copy, and creative options.
If launching your own brand is in your plans for 2020 or if you’d like to learn more, contact Cherie@beautyedgeinc.com.
Product Development Tips 1/2020
/Building Your Beauty Product Development Skillset
in-cosmetics 2019 N.A. is behind us, and we continue to relish the memories and learning moments from the conference!
Below is a fun, video highlight, from the Sensory Bar featuring science and beauty YouTuber, and new friend, Trina Espinoza. (Trina hosts a YouTube channel called Ms. Beautyphile. Read more about her at the end of this article.)
Re-watching this video featuring formulas that sparkle, bounce-back, and transform, emphasizes the importance of innovative technology and how to create a sensorial experience that connects with the consumer.
Click the image to view the video.
The Importance of Beauty Product Aesthetics
Products are designed to delight, enhance, and beautify the body while creating an enjoyable product engagement experience for the consumer. Aside from product performance, product experience motivates the consumer to return and repurchase products time and again.
Research backs this up. Facebook IQ hired Accenture to study the shopping habits and preferences of American adults that purchase beauty products. When asked how they research and evaluate beauty products, 61% of make-up and 55% of facial skincare shoppers reported relying on physical locations for in-person evaluations. Although consumers are active with online purchasing, real time product and textural engagement is key. And in the digital age, we have yet to offer a real life textural and sensorial experience through a screen that goes beyond the visual.
The Art of Aesthetic Product Development
Evaluating beauty products tactilely is an art. It’s a talent that is developed through years and years of working with hundreds of product textures, and from learning from cross functional team members.
Cross Functional Teams:
Chemists: Understanding how raw materials work within a formula requires developing products alongside seasoned chemists. Chemists offer education on how ingredients will affect the product’s aesthetics and performance.
Consumer Science: Developing desired claims with consumer science teams brings an understanding about how aesthetic texture and product performance will translate into claims based on the appearance and sensorial engagement of the product.
Raw Material Suppliers: Reviewing new raw material product launches and new textures with suppliers will keep you current to industry trends.
Learning from these teams, tracking and evaluating hundreds of products, and understanding aesthetic product development language will create a visual aesthetic library in your mind.
Develop the Aesthetic for The Final User
When developing a product from an aesthetic perspective, the final consumer is who the product developer has to keep in mind. It doesn’t really matter much if you, the developer, personally “love” the aesthetic of the product you’re developing. Put yourself in the mindset of the final consumer and make decisions based on that perspective.
For example, if the final user that you're developing a product for has very oily skin, and the product is developed with a thick, aesthetic texture, that leaves behind a rich, dewy after feel, that person is most likely going to be turned off by the product aesthetic. The formula will need to be adjusted if it doesn’t rub in to their liking, transition quickly, and dry down in accordance to their desired after-feel.
The Love Language of Aesthetic Product Development
Aesthetic product development is also attained through very technical guidelines and language in the laboratories. When speaking with chemists, we use specific terminology to communicate about the texture and performance that needs to be achieved for the final consumer experience. Dedicated chemists will go the extra mile and apply the product on their own skin to experience the product and determine if it is in alignment with the aesthetic requirements set forth from the marketing brief and product benchmark.
Below is a short list of aesthetic terms. You may want to practice using these terms in order to enhance your aesthetic development skill set. As a quick lesson for yourself, line up 15 different cream textures. Then label the aesthetic descriptors to each product using the below terminology.
Image copyright: BeautyEdge LLC
A Technical View of Aesthetic Qualities
Did you know that Gattefossé, a designer and provider of innovative technologies, has an expert sensory panel of evaluators? Yes, it’s true!
Their 15-person panel, established in 1996 and headquartered in France, continually touches, feels and evaluates finished skincare formulations. What an awesome job! If evaluating only 100 products per year, someone on the panel since the founding would have evaluated approximately 2,400 products to date! Now that is how you build a mindful aesthetic library: by constantly sampling and experiencing hundreds and hundreds of products.
The graph below is just 7 out of the 18 or so criteria that the Gattefossé expert panel evaluates against.
Image Copyright: Gattefosse’
My friends at Gattefossé sometimes offer a half-day evaluation session at their Paramus, NJ location. You can contact Lauren DelDotto to inquire about any upcoming evaluation dates for 2020.
It’s OK to be a Beginner
I recently had a moment of deep empathy for a young makeup artist. From a distance, I was watching her apply makeup on a customer in a department store. Both she and the customer appeared to be enjoying this time of makeup application. However, when 30 minutes of application turned into 45 minutes, a second makeup artist came in to apply makeup to the customer. Out of curiosity, I stepped over to where they were to see why the switch in artists.
The young artist was beside herself and immediately blurted out, “I did a horrible job. I know my own facial structure and how to apply cosmetics, but I don’t always know how to apply cosmetics to other people’s facial structure.” She was obviously being overly critical of herself and her talents. To ease her stress, I put my hand on her shoulder, did an imaginary motion of brushing something off her shoulder and advised her to shake it off.
All was not lost. The second artist was able to remedy the issue. This young artist was in the beginning stages of developing her make up artistry skills and was experiencing growing pains. Should that makeup artist step away from her skill set of artistry? No. Does she need to practice more on applying makeup on other people? Yes! Would it have been a better experience for her, and the customer had she asked for supervision and assistance from a senior artist before it became an emergency? Definitely.
Seeing her experience was a reminder for me that we all continue to evolve with our talents. This applies to all careers and it’s the same with cosmetic/beauty product development. It’s not something that anyone can just jump into and expect to instantly succeed with no prior experience. To evaluate a product well without experience is impossible. Just as it’s impossible to become an Olympic gold medalist on your second day ever playing tennis.
If you’re looking for more information on product development, or need the guidance of a seasoned expert to help you with your process, contact me at cherie@beautyedgeinc.com. We can work through your development needs together.
Until then, keep mastering your craft!
About Trina Espinoza: Trina shares the science behind beauty and personal care products that appeals to a consumer-based audience. Her accomplishments include being featured on Mashable as one of “six YouTube channels that make learning about science fun”. She has been nominated for a Regional Emmy and has made guest appearances on the American Chemical Society’s Reactions series.
If you want to know more about Trina, you can find her on FB, YT, Instagram, and Twitter @msbeautyphile.
The Makeup Show NYC - Making Your Mark: Bobbi Brown
/Who is the beauty leader that has shaped the makeup artistry industry with the makeup no-makeup look? Bobbi Brown. She’s inspired countless women and makeup wearers all over the world and has changed the way the world sees beauty. Living a multi-dynamic lifestyle as wife, mother, and business woman then becoming a creator, author, and activist, she’s empowered women by making makeup easy to understand.
At The Makeup Show held this week in NYC, Brown spoke to both seasoned and up-and-coming beauty specialists about life, business, and making your mark on beauty.
In a one-hour open mic discussion, Bobbi intimately shared her life story of self-reflection, success, business, and beauty, and included current and future projects.
Here’s her condensed #hacks and philosophies on making it in the world of beauty.
Tips to build your makeup artistry connections.
Networking. The word may have a negative connotation, but it’s all about relationships; they take time.
Be curious about people, ask questions—you never know what will happen.
Get some mentoring.
Learn by watching!
See agents, but leave the expectations behind.
How to gain exposure in the makeup artistry business.
Use Instagram or Pinterest like it’s your own magazine.
Let people see who you are on these social media platforms (IG, Pinterest).
Don’t be afraid to show what you like visually.
What your best makeup kit should look like.
It must be clean. Makeup palettes, supplies, and brushes need to be clean.
No clutter! You don't need as much as you think you do. Mix, blend, improvise, and figure it out.
Browns are essentials. You don't need 15 shades of brown, you need one good one.
Key products to keep in your kit.
The basics.
Foundation pallet.
Perfect brown pencil/shadow; you can mix it.
Shine, shimmer, sparkle.
What about trends?
Trends come and go ... it's great to not do the same thing every day.
It’s not trends that matter but how you incorporate them.
What is your version of the trend? Communicate that.
When seeking inspiration.
Stay curious.
Look at other areas.
Watch movies for ideas.
Read. Learn about makeup artists in the 80s and 90s.
How to get un-stuck.
It will get hard. Look at what you can do, not what you can’t do.
If it’s a financial issue, there are things you can do. Be resourceful and look for something else to do. (Bobbi worked in a salon during downtime.)
Exercise and eat foods that are good for you.
When having a bad moment, you’re probably exhausted—take a break. Take an emotional break.
Wellness suggestions.
Water! Drink lots of it, and no coffee consumption in the afternoon.
Get oxygen in your body. Exercise every day, even if it’s for only 20 minutes.
Consider the foods you put in your body: Fuel your body properly.
How to do business and still be present as a mom.
It’s not easy, but it is doable.
Remember, the power you have as mom is amazing.
Don't stress if you don't get enough sleep on a particular night, because you'll sleep well the next night!
You can’t do everything. Prioritize. Decide what you can keep and what you can let go of.
Whatever goes through your mind at night, write it down and look at it in the morning.
Bobbi’s approach to writing books.
Collect photos first then write the book.
Have an idea.
Have an outline.
Have photos.
You can have a publisher or not.
What Bobbi looks for when hiring.
Good energy.
Easy person.
People that are nice.
Bobbi’s secret path to success?
She didn’t have one! But don't overthink it, keep doing it (what you like), with one foot in front of the other.
Believe! Bobbi’s approach: "Never think something is not going to work out."
Bobbi’s Words of Wisdom.
"Be yourself" first; give yourself permission to be who you are.
Insecurity is normal. You may get insulted; just go on. You can’t absorb negative energy from other people.
Be nice to everyone.
Be open to the world—you never know what comes out of anything.
About The Makeup Show NYC
The Makeup Show is owned and produced by Metropolitan Event & Production and travels from LA, NYC, Chicago, Dallas, and Orlando. Bringing each destination over 60 beauty brands, and unique convergence of artists and community, where beauty professionals are sure to find an artistic energy that will inspire any beauty buff, from the passionate beginner to the seasoned professional. The show provides a unique experience for the makeup professional to network directly from the best in the business. You can also stay up to date on the hottest show news on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Cherie Buziak is the owner of product development firm BeautyEdge LLC, a beauty product development and advisory consultancy that helps companies bring products to market with speed, creativity, and impact. Expert services range from start to finish product development, brand strategy, marketing, leveraging best in class technology, trends, and advisement. Contact cherie@beautyedgeinc.com
IECSC: Escaping A Wrinkle In Time, MARCH, 2018
/BE attended the International Esthetics, Cosmetics and Spa Conference (IECSC) held at the Javits Center in New York City on March 5, 2018. One of four held nationally, IECSC conferences reveal the latest treatment products and provide a first-hand education on spa, wellness and medi-spa techniques.
Sifting through hundreds of booths, educational seminars and presentations, BE found hidden themes and trends that were essential takeaways. The three major themes we saw are listed below.
We hope you enjoy these discoveries as much as we did! Feel free to let us know your thoughts at info@beautyedgeinc.com
Top Treatment Craze
Microblading: Sparse eyebrows need some flair? Similar but less invasive than cosmetic tattooing, microblading is semi-permanent tattooing specific to the eyebrows. The pigment is applied manually, in strokes, instead of with a machine. Hair-like strokes are deposited within the natural existing brow to enhance and fill in. Why not toss the brow powder, pencil, and gel for a while and make the move to microblading?
Derma Planning: Jonesing for skin as smooth as a baby’s bottom? This physical exfoliation procedure uses a sterile surgical scalpel to gently shave the skin's surface, removing dead cells along with fine vellus hair (aka peach fuzz). If done properly, expect to see instant improvement in skin smoothness, tone and texture. Why go for derma planning? Procedures like this not only smooth everything over but also claim to help skin care ingredients and technologies perform better.
TheWrinklesEdge: Healthy looking skin
Want to smooth the happy lines and crinkles from a crazy late night? Or, maybe natural aging, sun damage, gravity and side sleeping have added some undesirable creases to your delicate facial silhouette? Brands like SILC SKIN and SioBeauty are growing in popularity with quick, easy and safe ways to reduce lines and wrinkles on the face, neck and décolleté -- with no downtime. The magic is in the high-grade medical silicone pads used to treat areas overnight. These high-tech pads create an occlusive environment and a collagen producing action that plumps and irons over rippled skin, both immediately and over time.
SioBeauty left image. SILC SKIN right image.
Bonus claims from SioBeauty: Clinical and consumer testing showed measurable results in smoothing and revitalizing treated areas.
SioBeauty Claims:
· Clinically proven to smooth wrinkles overnight and over time.
· Overnight - Nearly 90% of women tested felt their skin was smoother and softer the next morning.
· Overnight - 84% of women tested said their skin felt renewed and refreshed in the morning.
Looking for advanced skin treatments? Explore LED light therapy.
Another approach to skin enhancement and overall increased well-being that has been gaining traction is LED light therapy or color light therapy. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. The light waves emitted aren’t exactly ‘magical,’ but they do have the potential to heal the body and produce healthy skin.
The good news is that these treatments are pain-free, non-invasive and can be completed in as little as 30 minutes, depending on your skincare needs. We recommended that you always consult with your physician before beginning any LED treatment.
Color and wavelength information below referenced directly from LIGHTWAVE LED Therapy website:
Red light (wavelength 625nm-660nm) penetrates human tissue superficially, with approximately 80% of the energy being absorbed in the first 2cm. Red light energy has a significant effect on mitochondrial stimulation, which increases the production of ATP and in turn boosts fibroblast activity. This leads to an increase in cellular turnover, superficial circulation, and an anti-inflammatory emission.
Blue light (wavelength 405nm-450nm) provides a very superficial penetration even with a high- intensity narrowband light source. It is primarily absorbed by the epidermis of the skin. Once it is absorbed, blue light targets P. acnes by stimulating porphyrins which then produce intracellular singlet oxygen and thus inducing bacterial death.
Infrared (IR) light (wavelength 800nm – 900nm) energy penetrates tissue at a greater depth than the blue and red light. Approximately 50% penetrates to 8cm and decreases to less than 1% at 20cm (NASA study). Infrared energy is known to heat tissue and its effects are well documented for therapeutic pain management. For cosmetic applications, IR stimulates the NaK+ pump which increases cell membrane permeability; facilitating equilibrium of cellular pH, while increasing nutritional absorption and elimination of waste byproducts.
LED Treatment options:
> Lines and wrinkles
> Pigmentation
> Scars
> Inflammation/Rosacea
> Loose skin on specific areas of the body like abdomen, neck or upper chest.
> Acne, mild to moderate.
> Psoriasis/Eczema
> Therapeutic pain management
Another treatment new to the category is TLI (Topical Light Infusion) from the company LIGHTWAVE LED Therapy. TLI differs from LED because it safely allows topicals to be applied to the skin during treatment. TLI’s active facial infusion systems are designed to combine colors of light and photo energy with topicals to directly improve the skin.
That’s it for now! Keep a lookout for our next EdgeNotes review and feel free to share this post.
If you’re looking for more inspiration on creating products influenced from the spa arena, contact Cherie@beautyedgeinc.com Feel free to explore further product development ideas on our website www.beautyedginc.com
NY NOW: The Artisan Age
/BeautyEdge visited the NY NOW show in New York City's Javits Center. This annual convention features U.S. and global-based manufacturers, exhibitors, and distributors who preview the latest trends in the Home, Lifestyle and Handmade categories. At this year’s show over 2,300 suppliers revealed a “first look” at the products consumers will be craving in 2018, from personal care to baby fashions, stationery to home goods.
Come along with us as we bring you a high-level snapshot of the exciting creations we discovered at the show.
KEY TRENDS:
>> Customization: A big emphasis on making things “special” with custom designs and artful accents. As seen on beautifully finished handbags, delicately crafted jewelry, and carefully paper-wrapped gift soaps, to name just a few.
>> Artisan: Handcrafted and globally curated items sourced from the world’s most indigenous areas. Featured were exotic materials, such as animal horns, fashioned into exquisite jewelry, and intertwining precious silk and gold overlays that nestled gems, giving haute couture baubles a bold new look.
>> Wellness: Centered on the newest antidotes for stress. Therapeutic remedies like essential oils infused within stress-relief modalities, decorative balancing crystals, and collections of stress-releasing rag dolls spanned the exhibition aisles.
>> Rainbows: Growing up and moving on from unicorns and glitter. Watch for a more sophisticated palette of rainbow hues in home goods, furnishings, and accents.
>> Feathers: Elegant, soft, sexy. Feathers were aflutter on all kinds of apparel from bow ties to fun handbags, and on artistic home furnishings like decorative wall pieces.
The CustomEdge: Being unique!
Moonglow® - Every moment has a moon!
Have you ever experienced a moment so beautiful, heart stopping, jaw dropping, or incredible that you wanted to bottle it, to relive over and over again? Moonglow® jewelry features a picture of the moon phase on the date of your special moment to eternalize that time forever.
A memory of love, joy, strength or even sadness can be captured in moon phase personalized jewelry.
Visit moonglow.com and see how to create your Moonglow® moment in three simple steps:
1. Choose your design.
2. Customize your moon phase by adding the month, day and year of the event.
3. Enjoy the memory with your customized jewelry!
TheArtisanEdge: Beyond Homemade
Who better to introduce Artisan business to a vast audience of consumers than Amazon?
Amazon Handmade is a separate store on the site where your products appear alongside other hand-crafted items for customers to browse, discover, and shop.
With a booth right outside of the Artisan showroom hall, Amazon Handmade welcomed artisans to register their business to see if their goods qualified to be sold on the site.
Curious about the qualification process? BeautyEdge LLC registered on-site in a five-minute interview. An email arrived two days later from Amazon Handmade. The outcome? We’re continuing conversations. 😊
Interested to see if your business qualifies for Amazon Handmade? Be prepared to answer questions like these during the application process:
> What is your business name, address, email, phone number?
> What is your primary product category?
> What item/s will you sell?
> What is the process for making the product/s?
> How many people work for you? Companies with employees over 20 people will not qualify.
> Do you sell in additional product categories?
> How many different products do you offer in your primary category?
> Where do you typically sell your product/s?
> Do you have clear images of your product/s?
> What is your product development process?
More Inspirations....Striking collectibles from artisan jewelers, clockwise from left: Necklaces made of animal horns, oystershell earrings, golden threaded silk over tumbled stones create a fashionable wearable.
The WellnessEdge: Facing Stress
Pinch Me Therapy Dough – Who doesn’t remember the days of playing with dough -- whether a homemade flour and water mixture made with mom in the kitchen, or rolling out wiggly worms in Pre-K, or ‘cooking’ plates of fake spaghetti with the famous Play-Doh?
Now for the stressed-out adults we’ve become, there’s Pinch Me Therapy Dough. Designed to expose our senses to different smells, colors and textures and ultimately, help us relax. This unique product capitalizes on the idea that touch is a well-known holistic stress reduction tool that can be used anytime, anywhere.
With its essential oils and calming colors, Pinch Me Therapy Dough has turned a childhood memory into a ‘celebrity status’ stress treatment that even landed in the gift bags at the recent American Music Awards.
Providing a purifying release of muscle tension, the dough naturally creates a redirection of focus from the mind to the hand where any tension can be squished and released. Extra bonus: The soft aromas were individually selected based on their calming effects.
More Inspirations....….Crystals for balance and Dammit! Dolls to beat stress…literally!
The FeatherEdge: Plumy and delicate!
Feathers showed off their sensual allure in a variety of colors. From home design to stylish accessories, like bows and evening bags, feathers create new and playful textures and tones.
The RainbowEdge: Catching colors
What’s at the end of your rainbow? No longer referencing unicorns, rainbows in muted and sophisticated pairings were sprinkled throughout all the home furnishings, lifestyle, personal care and artisan showroom floors.
Craving more? Learn how to optimize current lifestyle trends and visionary inspirations in your next product or brand launch. Contact Cherie@beautyedgeinc.com
Cosmetic Chemistry: What's Food Got To Do With It?
/
Beauty: What's Food Got to Do With It?
Read MoreThe Edge On: Living Joyfully
/Which lifestyle has elevated into a higher quest of being? Joy.
Joy...living, sharing, being, and loving joyfully within our homes, and living well there.
BeautyEdge stumbled upon a newly launched East Coast lifestyle store named PIRCH. We won’t share everything that we saw there here in this post - we’ll let that experience be a mystery to be discovered by you. We will share that this model/presentation of a lifestyle store offers an inspirational think-tank for product development, retail, branding, marketing and living joyfully.
What are the expressions of joy that we seek?
Stimulating the senses … touching … feeling … dreaming … connecting…experiencing … hoping … engaging …. off-lining. In escaping our lack of joy and break free from anxieties, we seek to relax in our own space, to entertain in our homes, the hub of our lives, with neighbors, family, and friends.
We delight in story telling about our lives, creating memories and events within our own “at home supper club” or "spa-connection," and being comforted in the joy of it all with an element of surprise.
What is Living Joyfully?
· loving
· connecting - sharing intimately
· balancing self-comfort with community building
· self-expressing/creating
· experiencing life visually and texturally
Would you like to bring an experience of joy to your product development concepts or learn more about product development for your brand? Contact me to schedule a 20 minute complimentary consultation to talk through your goals at Cherie@beautyedgeinc.com Check out our site www.beautyedgeinc.com
The Edge on Tropical Trends
/
It’s mid-summer – that means adventure and travel!
At BeautyEdge, we mixed in a little inspirational exploration to our travels of the shimmery white sands, and electric blue waters of the Caribbean!
Where did we land? A Perfume Factory! Check out our tropical journey in the video below.
We were welcomed by a cozy porch upon arrival to this quaint, pink seashell colored building. Greeting us were familiar names of raw materials, like English lavender, jasmine, coconut, amber and roses.
Once inside the inner workings of this island gem, beachy décor accented the retail displays as the guide explained what made their fragrance blends unique. A quick tour took us through laboratory spaces where oils are compounded and stainless steel mixing vats blended choice perfumery materials.
The finished juice is presented in decorative bottles with whimsical names drawn from the fragrant Bahamian life: Bahama Blue, Goomba, Island Promises and Pink Pearl to name a few. Base notes of vanilla, light cream and amber in some of the creations offer a comforting Caribbean twist seasoned with peach, plum and coconut.
We couldn’t walk away without purchasing a little something for ourselves, and, of course, a little treat for our newest canine addition, Checkers. What was her treat? Bahama Mama pet fragrance, fitting for a female Boston terrier! A little spray on her sleeping pod lulls her into a dreamy wonderland and softens her fur at the same time.
How does a trip to a perfume factory in the Caribbean offer inspiration? By offering insight into current trends. According to Janice Hart, Sr. Manager, Bell Flavors & Fragrances, “We see a trend with our customers wanting to use more essential oils in their fragrances. - Customers are demanding purity and simplicity of pure essential oils.”
Cynthia Keeting, Global Account Executive at CosmoInternational Fragrances contends that “ fragrance trends in personal care are exploding with scents centered around coconut - widely used in products positioned for moisturization, damage repair for hair, adding luster, promoting scalp/skin health and stimulating hair growth. Other hot trends: tropical/sunny island concept fragrances based on seaweed, hibiscus, passion fruit, guava and Brazilian citrus.”
When thinking about your next product launch, what type of experience can you offer your customer? - Need inspirational help creating that memorable product for your brand? Contact Cherie@beautyedgeinc.com and check out our site at www.beautyedgeinc.com view the “InnerEdge” tab to see what we’re up to!
NY NOW, Let's Get Happy!
/BeautyEdge visited the NY NOW show in New York City's Jacob Javits Center.
Some of you may be asking, “What is NY NOW?” From our point of view, it is a tremendous collection of U.S. and global-based manufacturers, exhibitors, and distributors with commercialized products that range from personal care to baby clothes, stationary to home goods. The exhibitors provide “first look” exposure to new launches along with their full brand line-ups that are available for retail sales in various selling channels.
Key Trends:
>>Though living green and sustainability are becoming more of a lifestyle than a trend, we continue discovering new ways to use our resources wisely and safely.
>>Strong evidence in men’s luxury personal care was apparent, along with the need and clear message to love others and ourselves, to celebrate, to indulge in the little things and enjoy happiness.
While many trends themed throughout the show, we chose happiness as a grounding point. We won’t claim to know the answer to everlasting happiness at BeautyEdge, but we do know that as humans we seek an experience, whether inside or outside of ourselves, to which we can say, ”That makes me happy!”
Take a look at what we saw at NY NOW!
TheHappyEdge: fun products
eco-kids® launched 2008
Although they have been around since 2008, Kip and Cammie Weeks continue to bring fun, creativity, and a breath of fresh air to a lineup of 13 eco-kid products, including molding dough, crayons, finger paints, and egg-coloring kits. The company began with a recipe for molding dough that Cammie Weeks’ mom made for her as a child. After incorporating natural ingredients into the recipe, the dough was named eco-dough. With the slogan “creative play the natural way,” eco-kids’ products are developed with non-toxic natural ingredients and packaged with environmentally friendly supplies from around the United States.
Bead Bottle™ launching Spring 2014
Beach
Sentiment
Bead Bottle is a distinctive and creative product that was designed to honor important memories and milestones in life. From family vacations to special friendships to personal mantras, Peyote Bird has developed numerous stores that appeal to a wide range of customers. Each bead bottle contains various semi-precious stones, as well as metal charms, glass beads, and leather cording, accompanied by two lobster closures to make one necklace and one bracelet. A story card with simple instructions is provided with each purchase and includes a QR-code to YouTube videos for additional information.
Buff-Her House of Exfoliation launched May 2013
The time spent with these three sisters and founders—Regina, Cheryl, and Stephanie—was delightful. They are all experts in natural skin remedies, and two of the sisters are aestheticians. We’re happy to hear that, because it is particularly important to understand how a product works on skin and what to look for performance-wise during and after use. Buff Her House of Exfoliation is a collection of exfoliating facial scrubs made from organic and naturally grown fruits and vegetables. According to the company, these gentle exfoliants will restore your skin’s natural and radiant beauty with nature’s help! Their goal is to provide women with a natural way to exfoliate by using all-natural and organic foods. Each shaker is claimed to provide two hundred exfoliating applications, and can be used mixed with water, or added to your favorite cleanser!
Final thoughts: As colleagues in marketing, product development, and trend seekers, explore with us these new ideas! Let's use these infusions of inspiration as stepping stones creating happiness for our consumers while designing a better world of products.
Need help creating a Happy or Experiential beauty care product or brand with an edge? Connect with BeautyEdge LLC at Info@beautyedgeinc.com We’re also available for category analysis to identify the white space for your new product or brand.
MAKE UP IN NEW YORK - What's New?
/What's New? That's the million-dollar question in a multi-billion dollar industry! The answer? It's out there, if you look for it (wink, wink!). Here's a start. BE attended MakeUp in New York, a first time U.S. event held in the wake of the success of MakeUp in Paris. Answers to "what's new?" were found at this two day trade show.
Beauty industry leaders had the opportunity to engage in firsthand conversations with suppliers, manufacturers, designers and trend forecasters. Innovative makeup ingredients, formulas, packaging, full-service development and design ideas were shared. Visionaries could walk away with fresh concepts to enhance and complete the coming year's product development and marketing calendars.
Here's a quick look at what's new.
THE ARTIST'S EDGE: Cosmetic Innovations
EveFoundation
WHAT'S NEW?
EVE PEARL®, International Luxury Brand of Makeup presented their full line up of "good for your skin" color cosmetics enhanced with advanced nutrient technology.
The latest launch from EVE PEARL® is High Definition Liquid Foundation. Developed in 9 shades from fair to deep, this lightweight, layerable foundation builds from sheer to full coverage. For light coverage, apply with a damp facial sponge. For full coverage apply with a foundation make up brush or finger tips. Works for face and body.
The technology across all of Eve's formulations is CosmeNutrients®, a unique blend of vitamins, minerals, proteins, peptides and anti-oxidants. The powerful anti-oxidant, Astaxanthin derived from sea algae is formulated into all of the cream formulas. Packed with Omega-3, it provides anti-inflammatory properties and has been found to be more powerful than Vitamin E for protection against lipid peroxidation within the skin.
HD Liquid Foundation Claims:
paraben free oil free water free petrolatum free mineral oil free fragrance free cruelty to animals free
EVE PEARL® is Makeup with Skincare for Every Complexion…at Every Age.
Mascara Plus, a contract manufacturer based near Milan, Italy introduced an innovative lash formulation to their specialized line up of mascara formulas and brushes.
WaterProof Glaze! is a semi-transparent, extra water proof, lash gel. Apply it to bare lashes as a top-coat for a natural glossy-lash look or apply it over a favorite mascara to make it waterproof. WP Glaze solves the problem of developing a volumizing mascara formulation with waterproof benefits. The secret; apply a favorite volumizing mascara to lashes then coat with WP Glaze for water-resistant, full, long, lush looking lashes.
THE SAMPLING EDGE: Try it!
WHAT'S NEW?
Arcade Marketing, a preeminent provider of sampling solutions to the world’s leading beauty, fragrance and skin-care brands introduced a number of new sampling methods. Their creative designs and manufacturing options help to promote specific product needs for sampling or retail sell through.
BeautiPod™, available in two designs with a 1.5 gram fill weight. 1.) A round shaped sampling pouch or 2.) A streamlined, rectangular shaped pouch - Both hold viscosities that range from thinner serums to creamy foundations and are ideal for sample hand outs at counter, direct selling pieces, magazine inserts or sold as travel sized products.
ShowerPods are planned to launch this Fall. These water-resistant sampling units were designed with a convenient hook feature to hang-in-the-shower for ease of use. A 5 or 10 ml. fill weight provides 2-3 applications of product. Great for business, overnight or weekend travel.
ColorFixations are single trial samples that get customers fixated on your cosmetic color line up. Not only are they great for color sampling, they are fun to use. The peel off backing of the sample allows interchangeable colors to be applied to an in-store swatch sheet at the beauty counters so that customers can take the recommended shades home to use on eyes, cheeks and lips.
A favorite of Marine Ravera's, marketing assistant at Arcade, is deluxe PowdaSilk™. Thesample system features a deluxe puff and powder foundation.. Fused together as one sample, the sponge applicator is on one side and the powder foundation or bronzer is on the other side of the sample. Different textures of powder puff applicators are available.
Livcer - First time exhibiting in the U.S., this French company is the leader on Thermoformed sampling technology. Brand awareness is increased with this style of component sampling and studies reveal that 30% more customers will use and test samples that provide multiple use application versus a simple peel back, one time use packette.
livcer U.S. Agent - SGB packaging group. Contact: Shoshana GIBLI phone 201 488 3030
LipsKit ® launched this year and is a cost effective, direct fill sample system in an ultra thin resealable case. Since there is no need to create a mold with Thermoform technology, the lip formulas are hot poured directly into the sampling component molds. There is plenty of room on the package for branding and marketing copy. It's convenient, modern and easy for the customer to use and understand.
ColorKit® launched just 3 months ago. The sample system provides ample amounts of color foundation or concealer and is accompanied by a sponge applicator.
3 advantages of the Color Kit®:
Innovative: Safety and ecological concerns were the main criteria for development. The built-in compartment case is filled directly with the product and fitted with a protective cap,thereby presenting shades attractively while ensuring product safety. Color Kit is entirely recyclable in keeping with their sustainable development policy. Practical: Color Kit is ultra-slim, resealable, contains one or more compartments (foundation and concealer, for example) and comes with a sponge. Color Kit is a smaller, bona fide makeup palette which offers a wide number of customization and decoration possibilities. It’s perfect for carrying in your purse, on the weekend or for short trips and respects customs and airline regulations and norms. Economical: Color Kit is cost-effective while guaranteeing a high-quality brand image. It can be positioned as a loss leader in your product catalogue thanks to its affordable price and as an introduction to your product range in the launch or relaunch phase.
A favorite is the multi-color lip pallete sampling pack. Three lip color textures are sampled and there is plenty of room on the package to add branding, market copy and the line extension colors.
THE DEVELOPMENT EDGE: Speed To Market
Topline Products is a leading manufacturer of innovative beauty packaging and turnkey solutions. With locations in North America, Europe and Asia, Topline provides a truly global service offering packaging engineering, injection/blow molding, metal fabrication, product formulation, filling and assembly, supply chain management and R&D. Renowned for award winning design, Topline has been granted over 50 utility patents.
WHAT'S NEW IN PACKAGING?
In-Mold Labeled, Injection Molded Tube. Topline has created a strategic alliance with Viva Healthcare, an international manufacturing force, to bring this revolutionary tube to the market place providing the ultimate in decorated tubes. In-Mold label tubes provide a full color image from a tubed component's shoulder to crimp. The result, an immediate on-shelf product impact to the customer. The tube and label are molded at the same time creating an encapsulated label that reduces component scuffing and eliminates label peeling.
The advantages of In-Mold labeled tubes:
It's Green: Materials have a recycling code of 5.
It's Cost effective: The component manufacturing run is faster and less expensive because it is a single processes.
It's Vibrant: Photographic imaging can provide up to 8 colors with or without metallic effects.
WHAT'S NEW FOR FUN?
MiniTreats! Need a mid-day mini treat? Try a flavored lip balm dispensed from a propel-repel miniature ice cream pint component. Double Tubing! Two tubes are better than one! The technology fill and component are breakthrough features for this lip gloss. Swirled gloss fills the inner tube and gloss boost fills the outer tube. High color intensity is applied to lips from the inner tube glosses and booster gloss formula in the outer tube offers a 3-d volume effect. Triple Swirled Lip Gloss! Triple the swirl means triple the fun! Triple technology provides a 3-dimensional visual and a tri-color application of gloss to lips. Two colored glosses are intertwined with a clear gloss booster that provides a tri-color application of high shine and volume to lips.
Genealogy, LLC a full service Product Design House, located in Hackensack, New Jersey, opened its doors three years ago to provide full service product development from concept to finished product. The unique advantages of Genealogy is their boutique-like approach for cosmetic product development by providing branding, marketing and business planning support along with manufacturing capabilities of volumes up to 100k.
The beauty of Genealogy is its relationships with multiple manufacturers, which enables them to match the formula to the manufacturer who is best suited. Genealogy also has close relationships with unique raw material vendors who provide them with a 'first-look' at cutting edge technologies and materials. With speed to market at the forefront of every business, starting out with a fresh concept supported by innovative technology saves internal costs and time in the important creative phase of product development.
Three times a year Genealogy presents seasonal skincare and color collections in groupings of up to 30 product ideas. Their latest collection "Highly Evolved Beauty" captures textures, technologies and scents from earth and sea materials creating products with a natural and experiential element
THE FINAL THOUGHT: Look!
How fast can we get it?...How is this product different from what's out there already?...How do we make the story simple yet impactful?...How do we stay competitive?... The answers aren't always easy, but they are available. Suppliers, contractors and forecasters are more than happy to help seize the opportunity for innovation in this speed to market environment. We just have to look for it!
Additional Vendors
Alkos Group, Ancorotti Cosmetics, Geka, Faber-Castell Cosmetics, Axilone Bioplan Flexpaq, B.Kolormakeup & Skincare Srl, Schwan Cosmetics, Weckerle Cosmetics, ArrowPak Baralan Int., Anisa Int. Inc., Strand Cosmetics Europe, Oekabeauty, Inca Cosmetici, Sleever Int., Bullier Sas Leonard Brushes, Bright Vision Industrial Co., Eisen GmbH, Bellwyck Packaging Solutions, DuPont Cosmetics Solutions
MORE NEWSLETTERS FROM BEAUTYEDGE ARCHIVES
- BLUSH STOP New York City, NY May 17-18, 2009
- FOOD, SCIENCE AND BEAUTY New York City, NY February 24, 2009
- GLAMOURGALS - BEAUTY FAVORITES & INSPIRATION NYC November 22, 2008
- A "PEEK" AT THE MAKEUP SHOW - New York City, May 18, 2008
- GLAMMY AWARDS - New York City, May 5, 2008
- TREND EXPEDITION - ABC HOME - New York City, April 2008
- QVC BEAUTY BASH - West Chester, PA, April 6, 2008
- THE INTERNATIONAL ESTHETICS, COSMETICS & SPA CONFERENCE - New York March, 2011
