Glossier, a makeup brand founded in 2014 by new age entrepreneur Emily Weiss, is the first in a line of new products to take advantage of available technology. Weiss is the founder of the popular beauty website "Into The Gloss," which tends towards creating a more natural, care-before-coverage-focused beauty site. When searching Into the Gloss, one is immediately assaulted by gorgeously minimalist images of girls in ultra hip garb, giving their all at beauty advice. In a word, the site may be described as “addictive.”
The popularity behind Glossier is of course bolstered by the reputation that Weiss has built at Into the Gloss, as its popularity has skyrocketed amongst millennials. In the first place, the marketing behind Glossier is endless in its appeals; the millennial pink color coordination, stark but noticeable, highlights most of its packaging. The boxes the products arrive in are attentively designed, with sweet images and messages decorating them. The advertisement features minimalist models of all ethnicities, each showcasing the colors and abilities of the makeup Glossier sells. The models represent both conventional beauty and avant-garde, and manage to appeal to both the average jane the high fashionista.
The approach to makeup that Glossier advertises is also rather unique. The brand markets a system that is “Skin first, Makeup second.” When one visits the site and looks at its sales platform, the first product package that is given sells “Phase One” products-- a cleanser, a moisturizer, a toner, and a skin tint. The skin tint is an incredibly airy, light product, offering natural coverage that is absolutely worth the $26 price point. When walking into any high-end makeup retailer, it's difficult to discover a product that doesn’t identify as a BB or CC cream with this kind of coverage. The second phase product includes the famous Boy Brow Eyebrow wand, a concealer, and a lip tint whose color deepens as it is applied. Among other makeup products is the perpetually sold out highlighter, the product that I’ve coveted since I discovered it.
Perhaps the most interesting facet of this company is its availability. Glossier is currently available only online; though there are job opportunities in larger cities for floor representatives, the location of such jobs are yet unknown. Since the brand’s launch in 2014, Glossier has capitalized on the reputation it has built with its customers via Into the Gloss-- the website itself is now referred to as an editorial platform, and due to Glossier’s success, no longer has to run third party advertising. For a company with such humble beginnings, it’s amazing to think about the possibilities that this type of product can mean for startup businesses. Small but similar website-only platforms such as Kayla Phillips’ organic/vegan retailer Foxie Bombs and Good4You’s Plant Makeup are similar companies founded in humble roots, sold via internet only. Both are showing incredible success. It seems the future is bound to embrace this type of retail, one able to offer the same grassroots product that is currently in the spotlight.
Emily Weiss has brought the small shop to mainstream, and has opened up a new type of shop-- Sephora and Macy’s better watch out, because it seems that the makeup counter is only expanding.
