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Beauty brands that started by thriving on skincare are now dabbling in make-up. We attempt to find out what has propelled this.

Why are skincare brands foraying into make-up and vice-versa?

Beauty brands that started by thriving on skincare are now also dabbling in make-up. We attempt to find out what has propelled this

It’s no longer novel for a beauty brand to operate on an all-encompassing approach. Drugstore brands like Lakmé and L’Oréal and luxury brands like Lancôme, Estée Lauder and Sisley Paris have been expanding both their skincare and make-up verticals ever since their early days. While offering start-to-end beauty (skincare plus make-up) routine solutions equips brands with the ability to be a customer’s one-stop shop, for consumers, picking up a face cream from a brand whose foundation or lipstick they’ve been satisfied with becomes a no-brainer.

Today, however, consumers have become increasingly explorative and brands, on the other hand, have started to carve a niche for themselves. Several brands commence their journey with either a single product, like homegrown skincare brand d’you, for instance, that launched with just one product, Hustle, or play on a particular métier which also then becomes the brand’s USP (unique selling point). Case in point: asa beauty was founded with the idea of offering luxury, clean and sustainable beauty; Priyanka Chopra’s Anomaly creates gender-neutral hair care essentials catering across demographics; homegrown personal care label Suhi & Sego customises every product based on your skin type and its unique needs; and Supergoop made it big by sticking to all things sun-care. 

Some beauty brands have begun to blur the lines between the verticals that they aim to offer; while they started by catering to a specific segment, they are now considering the many other potential-containing avenues that they could tap. We speak to some players from this space to decipher what propels the proliferation and how they navigate through it.

Embracing comprehensiveness

There is no paucity of one-dimensional beauty brands that have converted themselves into being two- or three-dimensional today. Huda Kattan, popularly known as Huda Beauty, founded the eponymous brand in 2013, which started selling colour cosmetics in 2016. The brand’s falsies and liquid lipsticks had taken over the Internet in a short span of time. Global expansion and love from beauty enthusiasts quickly made Huda Beauty one of the most coveted brands, which only meant prosperity for its business. And yet, in 2020, Kattan announced the launch of her skincare line Wishful; the brand started out with an enzyme-based face scrub that also went viral on social media. Today, it has grown to create a line-up of products including a serum, moisturiser, facial oil, cleansing balm, eye cream and more.

In 2020, Huda Kattan announced the launch of her skincare line Wishful; the brand started out with an enzyme-based face scrub that also went viral on social media. Image: Instagram.com/wishful

In 2020, Huda Kattan announced the launch of her skincare line Wishful; the brand started out with an enzyme-based face scrub that also went viral on social media. Image: Instagram.com/wishful

Similarly, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty took the world by storm when it was launched in September 2017. With diversity and high-quality formulations at its core, Fenty Beauty’s pigmented liquid lipsticks, blinding highlighters and base make-up products made their way into every beauty enthusiast’s vanity. And even then, RiRi was keen on expanding her beauty empire by launching Fenty Skin in July 2020. Today, Fenty Skin has a fan base of its own. Kylie Jenner had taken a similar route with her beauty startups—she launched Kylie Cosmetics in 2015 and Kylie Skin in 2019. 

While these were some of the rather globally-renowned brands, a slew of other beauty houses, both internationally and locally, have followed suit. Take US-based Kosas for example — founder Sheena Yaitanes launched the brand in 2015 with just four lipsticks; today, it has an extensive range of make-up products as well as a growing skincare line, which was first launched in September 2022. Even Drunk Elephant is betting on skincare-infused make-up products. They have a liquid blush called  O-Bloos™ Rosi Drops at present and are all set to release liquid glow drops next which will apparently be called B-Goldi Bright Drops.

“AS WE LISTENED TO THEIR FEEDBACK AND REQUESTS, IT BECAME EVIDENT THAT THERE WAS A DEMAND FOR TINTED VERSIONS OF LIP BALMS AND THAT’S HOW WE STARTED THINKING ABOUT COLOUR COSMETICS WITH A SKINCARE MAKEUP HYBRID APPROACH”

Suramya Jain

Closer home, Vasundhara Patni launched Kiro Beauty in 2020 with lipsticks and eventually ventured into active-based face serums in 2022. On the other hand, Ilana Organics launched in 2018 with skincare products and made a move into make-up over the course of their business. Forest Essentials, RAS Luxury Oils, Color Chemistry (Juicy Chemistry’s make-up extension), Colorbar and Just Herbs are just a few more examples of brands that have swayed into a new vertical. 

The green flags that brands saw 

While Kattan toldCosmopolitan that she created Wishful to address the things that she wanted to improve about her own skin, Megha Asher, co-founder and COO of Juicy Chemistry launched Color Chemistry to make organic, clean make-up that is also high on performance available to consumers. “Color Chemistry is the result of the hard work to launch products across 15 categories with inputs from two award-winning make-up artists to create one product range that is high on quality, organic, sustainably packaged, ethically sourced and free from synthetic fragrances and talc,” says the founder. “Our skin’s health is determined by the health of its microbiome which is directly impacted by its pH. So we created a line of colour cosmetics that is fortified by nourishing ingredients and is also pH balanced keeping in mind that these are leave-on products.”

e.l.f. SKIN (the brand’s newly-launched skincare-only adjacency) delivers next-level formulas with skin-loving ingredients for every skin concern. Image: Instagram.com/elfcosmetics

e.l.f. SKIN (the brand’s newly-launched skincare-only adjacency) delivers next-level formulas with skin-loving ingredients for every skin concern. Image: Instagram.com/elfcosmetics

Founder of Kosas, Sheena Yaitanes launched the brand in 2015 with just four lipsticks; today, it has an extensive range of make-up products as well as a growing skincare line. Image: Instagram.com/kosas

Founder of Kosas, Sheena Yaitanes launched the brand in 2015 with just four lipsticks; today, it has an extensive range of make-up products as well as a growing skincare line. Image: Instagram.com/kosas

Too Faced’s skincare line was born as a result of the founder’s passion for skincare combined with consumers’ inclination towards the primer. Elyse Reneau, Too Faced’s Global Pro artist, toldTheZoe Report, “We were finding our girls and guys were usingthe Hangover Primer as skin care because it’s so hydrating. So we decided to formulate skincare products based on skin-replenishing ingredients such as coconut water, probiotics and skin revivers.”

Suramya Jain, co-founder of RAS Luxury Oils, talks about the biggest inspiration behind launching the tinted lip balms—consumer feedback. “It is widely known that over a lifetime, women inadvertently consume a significant amount of lipstick. This raised concerns about their safety and potentially harmful effects. We initially launched our clear Liquid Lip Balm, which received an overwhelmingly positive response from our customers. As we listened to their feedback and requests, it became evident that there was a demand for tinted versions of lip balms and that’s how we started thinking about colour cosmetics with a skincare makeup hybrid approach.” Remy Klein, Associate Vice President, e.l.f. Cosmetics told The Industry Beauty, “Through our research, we found that skincare can be intimidating, complicated and unattainable for consumers. e.l.f. SKIN (the brand’s newly-launched skincare-only adjacency) delivers next-level formulas with skin-loving ingredients for every skin concern.” The takeaway? Most brands take the leap of faith to seize a latent opportunity, whether it’s the emergence of an ongoing trend that is forecasted to become a mainstay or in response to consumer feedback.

How does it benefit the consumer?

Staying true to its luxury Ayurveda method, Forest Essentials’ make-up line also features recipes comprising natural, skin-enriching ingredients which allows consumers to enjoy the same promise of purity with make-up. The brand’s marketing and public relations manager, Sanya Dawar, shares that Forest Essentials’ venture into make-up products in 2020 came as a thoughtful evolution, carefully crafted to align with the brand’s legacy in skincare. “After two decades of pioneering Ayurveda in skincare, we forayed into make-up, condensing lotions and potions into readily available cosmetics. This beauty collection, crafted with traditional Ayurvedic processes, is pure, cruelty-free and made from fresh and sustainably sourced organic seasonal ingredients. We have gone back in time and stayed true to rituals described in ancient Vedic literature, with cosmetics that blur the line between skincare and make-up,” says Dawar.

Forest Essentials' beauty collection, crafted with traditional Ayurvedic processes, is pure, cruelty-free and made from fresh and sustainably sourced organic seasonal ingredients, says Sanya Dawar. Image: Instagram.com/forestessentials

Forest Essentials' beauty collection, crafted with traditional Ayurvedic processes, is pure, cruelty-free and made from fresh and sustainably sourced organic seasonal ingredients, says Sanya Dawar. Image: Instagram.com/forestessentials

This year also marked the launch of global beauty giant M.A.C Cosmetics’ first-ever official entry into the skincare space. Called ‘Hyper Real,’ the range of products includes cleansing oil, moisturiser and serum hybrid dubbed ‘Serumizer’ as well as a thick face cream. All three products are compatible with pre- and post-make-up applications. Speaking on the new category launch, Karen Thompson, brand manager, M.A.C Cosmetics India said, “While the brand has dabbled in the skincare realm before, this is the first time it has launched products that aim to improve your skin. With skincare taking centre stage and consumers investing more and more in their [skincare] routines, it was almost natural for the brand to foray into serious skincare.” Additionally, Sonic Sarwate, the national make-up artist with the brand, says that the range is inspired by the brand’s make-up artists’ understanding of the power of skincare in relation to make-up and, as a result, has been formulated to perform with make-up, and make your base products look better and last longer. 

Does coalescence always guarantee success?

When a brand that is at the top of its game pertaining to one particular beauty vertical ventures into other spaces, it not only comes with the added pressure of living up to its name in terms of quality but also has a pre-acquired customer base. While loyal users of Forest Essentials and RAS Luxury Oils can indulge in high-quality yet toxin-free make-up products, make-up aficionados struggling to find the skincare right products to prep their skin before applying make-up now have an expert-approved solution in the form of Hyper Real. However, the plunge may not always pan out as expected. Deciem-owned The Ordinary is highly sought after for its science-backed, active-based skin, hair and body solutions. However, the base make-up products launched by the brand failed to garner the same amount of attention. 

With skincare taking centre stage and consumers investing more and more in their [skincare] routines, it was almost natural for M.A.C  to foray into serious skincare, says Karen Thompson. Image: Instgram.com/maccosmeticsindia

With skincare taking centre stage and consumers investing more and more in their [skincare] routines, it was almost natural for M.A.C to foray into serious skincare, says Karen Thompson. Image: Instgram.com/maccosmeticsindia

RiRi was keen on expanding her beauty empire by launching Fenty Skin in July 2020. Today, Fenty Skin has a fan base of its own. Image: Instagram.com/badgalriri

RiRi was keen on expanding her beauty empire by launching Fenty Skin in July 2020. Today, Fenty Skin has a fan base of its own. Image: Instagram.com/badgalriri

Within a year of its commencement, the brand announced the launch of its base make-up line, in 2017. However, the range was discontinued in January this year since “the products have not been profitable since their launch.” In an Instagram post, the brand wrote, “The production process for Colours is complex, and requires heavy input from many of our team. The accessible pricing that we felt was sensible to charge for the formulas would only cover our production costs if the volume that we sold was high. Despite many people loving the formulas, we didn’t manage to reach enough of you with our Colours range and the products have not been profitable since their launch. Although we strongly believe in both products, their popularity simply was not strong enough to make their production sustainable.” Thus, having a strong launch and marketing strategy alongside timely positioning becomes key when brands decide to monetise a new space. While brands have to factor in profitability and sustainability while expanding their business, it’s fair to say that the expansion is, more often than not, a win-win situation for both brands and consumers.

Also Read: Why are Indian skincare brands betting on Korean-inspired formulations?

Also Read: How can a skincare brand be beginner-friendly?

Also Read: Forest Essentials founder Mira Kulkarni lets us in on the secrets of developing a cult following for the brand

Ria Bhatia profile imageRia Bhatia
Ria Bhatia is the associate beauty editor at The Established. She explores beauty and wellness through industrial, cultural, and social lenses, with bylines in Femina, ELLE India, Harper’s Bazaar India, Masala UAE, and VOGUE India.

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