Launch of the year
Prestige: Prada beauty
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Miuccia Prada is one of fashion’s most innovative thinkers, so it’s no surprise that when it came time to launch a beauty line with licensee L’Oréal, her goal was to shake things up. “What does beauty mean today?” was Prada’s starting point, the designer said at the launch alongside the brand’s co-creative director Raf Simons, noting that the duo believes that beauty is the “representation of personality, freedom and self-expression,” and that the idea of care was also crucial. Licensee L’Oréal translated that ethos into a collection of skincare and color cosmetics, employing Lynsey Alexander as global creative makeup artist and Inès Alpha as e-makeup artist. They delved into Prada’s extensive archives and translated textures, prints and shades into striking products. Likewise, skin care is not about correcting mistakes, but about helping the skin adapt to its environment in real time. After the highly successful introduction of the women’s fragrance Prada Paradoxe in 2022, L’Oréal’s ambitions for the line were equally daring. Cyril Chapuy, president of L’Oréal Luxe, said: “This launch opens a new chapter that will propel the brand to new heights.”
Mass: Fine
In a great year for perfumes, Maesa took a different approach to the category and took a big win. Fine’ry, consisting of nine body sprays and eaux de perfume, launched at Target in February with the aim of democratizing fragrance. “We saw this tremendous hunger and desire for people to have access to the true, untouchable world of niche, prestige and premium fragrances, and when we looked at the mass consumer offering, there really was nothing,” said Dana Steinfeld, senior vice president of Maesa’s innovation business, at the launch. The strategy worked. Circana reported that its mass market fragrance business grew at much the same pace as the prestige market as consumers found value in lower-priced products amid a slowdown in demand for high-quality luxury fragrances. For Fine’ry: mission accomplished.
Transformative deal of the year: The acquisition of Tom Ford by Estée Lauder Cos
Since launching Tom Ford Beauty in 2006, the brand has been a shining star for Estée Lauder Cos. The fragrance division goes from strength to strength, delivering global hits and fueling olfactory trends; Makeup, while hit harder during the pandemic, has also led the way, and combined, Tom Ford Beauty is on the brink of billion-dollar brand status. No wonder, then, that when the designer put his eponymous brand up for sale, The Estée Lauder Cos. outbid rival Kering to acquire it in a $2.3 billion deal that was Lauder’s largest ever and marked the beauty giant’s forays into fashion. “As our own brand, this strategic acquisition will unlock new opportunities and strengthen our growth plans for Tom Ford Beauty,” said Fabrizio Freda, CEO of Lauder, at the time of the deal. It also provided a beacon moving forward during a difficult year for the company, which was hit hard by the downturn in China. “This deal will help further strengthen our momentum in the promising long-term luxury beauty category,” said Freda, “as we reaffirm our commitment to being the leading pure player in prestige beauty.”
Breakthrough brand
Groundbreaking brand of the year: RMS beauty
Long before “clean” was a beauty buzzword, makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift was sounding the call to create cosmetics with better, safer ingredients. In 2009, when she launched her brand, RMS Beauty, her closest competitors were in the health food stores – rather than the beauty specialty channels. Fast forward more than a decade, Swift’s message is more relevant than ever, and it’s resonated under CEO David Olsen. On social media, RMS Beauty has refined its platform strategy, effectively leveraging Swift (one recent video reached a million views in less than a day) and a group of diverse content creators to create cross-generational viral moments on TikTok, while focusing on more polished content with judicious use of short video to increase engagement on Instagram. The strategy is working: RMS Beauty is cleaning up, with the brand’s website recording exponential sales increases: blush and foundation brushes up 3,473 percent, SuperNatural Serum up 573 percent, Eyelights Cream Shadows up 1,150 percent.
Newcomer of the year: Polite society
When Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson left Too Faced, the brand they founded in 1998 and sold to Estée Lauder Cos. for $1.45 billion in 2016. sold, it was only a matter of time before they entered the beauty world again. The boys (as a duo, who are both business and private partners) enjoy building brands too much to stay on the sidelines. No wonder their new venture is called Toy Box Brands, a cross-category incubator that launched Polite Society in August. The clean makeup brand, exclusive to Ulta Beauty, leverages the duo’s signature bold ethos and their prowess in product development, with products like lip plumper, mascara and foundation helping Blandino and Johnson create lasting mega-hits. But Polite Society is an evolution of their past rather than a reincarnation of it. The line meets Ulta’s Conscious Beauty criteria, but its ethos is very different from most comparable brands. “I never saw myself in any of those brands,” Blandino said. ‘Where’s the glitter? Where are the active ones? There is room for a truly fantastic clean line.”
Buzzy collaboration: Lancôme x Louvre
One French icon deserves another, and when it comes to partnerships, Lancôme doesn’t think small. This year, the L’Oréal brand collaborated with the famous Louvre in Paris for a limited-edition collection that celebrates self-confidence and beauty with the tagline: ‘Beauty Is a Living Art’. Highlights included the refillable lipsticks with architectural details from the museum embossed and the Richelieu Face and Eyeshadow Palette with the likeness of the Venus de Milo. The gala celebrating the collection was equally dazzling, with Lancôme ambassadors Isabella Rossellini, Penelope Cruz, He Cong and Emma Chamberlain among the guests lucky enough to wander the museum out of hours. “The Venus de Milo is the ultimate beauty, a symbol of perfection,” He Cong said, “and when you look at her, you can feel her magnetism, her confidence that just radiates.” Rossellini added: “The Greek aesthetic, the search for beauty – it fits very well with the history of Lancôme.”
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