Happy New Year! I thought it would be fun to kick this year off with what I want to see some of my favorite brands do this year. I think it will be fun to look back at the end of the year and see if anything I am hoping for actually happens. For some context on my background, I have a long history in retail both as a cashier and as a store manager; I’ve operated my own small business selling makeup bags and brush rolls; and I’m an experienced government buyer (sometimes called a contract specialist or purchasing agent). So while I’ve never worked for a beauty brand, I do have a strong understanding of retail, logistics, and supply chain operations. My point in telling you this is that I’m considering not just the consumer perspective, but I’m also attempting to consider what may be happening behind the scenes of these brands.
1. I’d Like To See Smashbox Release Powder Blush and Bronzer in Single Compacts
Smashbox has no problem formulating blushes and bronzers, they just always typically appear in palettes. I personally like single products over palettes although I know that palettes give the brand a larger profit margin. They did come out with a liquid blush (Halo Cream Cheek + Lip Tint) in 2022 that is available as a single product, but they didn’t get much attention. The reviews for the Halo Cream Cheek Tint seem mixed, so the brand could still use a reliable blush in its lineup. They could maybe even resurrect the luminous blushes and sunlit bronzer from the now-defunct Becca. The Smashbox x Becca branded highlighter and corrector have remained bestsellers in their categories at Ulta and Sephora and have become bestsellers for Smashbox on their own website. Since that seems to be working out so far, why not take it further? The wish for the sunlit bronzer to make an appearance from another brand is partly selfish, it is one of my favorite products. However, I stand by my thought that it would be a good product for the brand to release.
Smashbox still relies heavily on its face primers and from what I can see, promoting those is where they spend most of the marketing budget. But I think if they took even a small slice of that budget and focused it on creating and promoting some single-color cosmetics, it could be a good move for them. I think that many consumers still like the idea of brand loyalty. I’m specifically thinking of the type of consumers who don’t read beauty blogs and hang out on beauty forums. Expanding the product line to have these types of basics could help foster that feeling in the less adventurous consumer who makes up a significant portion of beauty sales. Then even if people come to them for the primer, they may stay and buy more from the brand.
2. I’d Like To See MAC Revitalize The Sheertone Shimmer Blush Formula
Even with the huge emphasis on glowy skin, there are tons of makeup consumers that don’t want to use cream products (like me 😂). It is past time to capitalize on that market and give people an easy to use blush with a glow. MAC does still sell 3 Sheertone Shimmers, but that isn’t nearly enough. I do have a swatch of the shade Peachtwist. You can see below how it compares in finish to burnt pepper (matte finish) and breath of plum (sheertone finish). Ambering Rose and Sweet as Cocoa were cult classic sheertone shimmers (especially for women of color) that unfortunately, MAC has discontinued. If the brand has no plans to bring back some of those fan favorites, they could at least release some new more modern shades. MAC’s blush line used to be much more extensive and I’d love to see it return to its previous more vast range.
MAC does have the baked mineralize blush finish (see swatches here), with some of those shades being the closest they currently have to a powder blush with a glowy finish. But that formula is also limited in number and some of the shades have a matte finish. The shades that do have a sheen like love joy and love thing don’t provide as much glow as some may be looking for these days.
MAC does still formulate and release new blush shades, however, they are always grouped into a limited edition collection. The limited edition shades have also been typically either matte or the Glow Play formula. Consumers are loving the Glow Play formula, so they can play off that popularity and release a powder version of them. They could call it Glow Play Velvet and they could either tweak the existing formula into a baked version or use their existing baked formula (Mineralize Blush) as a jumping off point. Since those formulas are already available and the packaging already exists, they don’t have to start from scratch. I’d also love to see an expansion to the existing Glow Play formula, but I feel like I’ve talked about that a ton in the past year already lol. I have two posts featuring the shades Groovy, Heat Index, and Rosy Does It if you want to know more about them.
3. I’d Like To See More Mini Size Foundation and Concealers Being Offered
As someone who regularly falls between shades, it would be nice to see more mini sizes being offered so I could save some money when I need to buy two shades. This is something that is happening more often but I’d like to see it from even more brands. It’d also be nice if the mini came in all the same shades as the full size, which doesn’t always happen. There are some brands that only pick select shades to make in mini sizes, which leaves a lot of people that can’t take advantage of the minis. The two items I featured above, bareMinerals Tinted Moisturizer and NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, have both sizes available in every shade which I appreciate. And again, this is something that is becoming more common, but I’d like to see mini sizes of some of the top-selling foundations like MAC Studio Fix Fluid, Estee Lauder Double Wear, NARS Natural Radiant Longwear, Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation plus Concealer, and the Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24HR Foundations. It’d be nice to see mini sizes for the Too Faced Born This Way, Rare Beauty Liquid Touch, ABH Magic Touch, and MAC Pro Longwear concealers.
Continue reading “5 Things I’d Like To See From Brands in 2023”
Nikki From HR 