Category: Illamasqua

Illamasqua now at Sephora.com!

Cold Cream 'n' Roses


Illamasqua brand image

Last September, I reported on the pending launch of Illamasqua in the UK, initially at Selfridges. Since that time, Illamasqua has expanded through the UK.

I wrote to Illamasqua, and asked when it would come to the U.S. A representative flatly wrote back to me that Illamasqua had no immediate plans to expand in the U.S.

Now, according to an authoritative source, namely The Official Blog of Illamasqua, Illamasqua will arrive in the U.S.:

Yes you’ve heard right, the rumours are true. We’re thrilled to announce that Illamasqua will be launching in the brand new Sephora store, 5 Times Square on 31st July.

Although we weren’t planning to retail in the US quite this soon, the demand from our American fans has been phenomenal so we just didn’t think it was fair to keep people waiting any longer. …

… We knew what we were doing was groundbreaking, but we honestly didn’t anticipate such an incredible global reaction.

Our US rollout will begin on 31st July with a coveted spot in New York’s newest beauty mecca, Sephora 5 Times Square. We will then be bringing our artistry to a further 26 Sephora stores across America by the end of October.

Now those of us in the U.S. don’t have to wait any longer: today, The Official Blog of Illamasqua announces that Sephora.com Goes Live! As for me, I’m springing for the nail polish in Unnatural (blood red) to go with Ellis Faas liquid lipcolor in its signature blood red Ellis Red.

I predict that Illamasqua will have a cult following on the order of MAC or NARS Cosmetics.

Illamasqua

Cold Cream 'n' Roses1 Comment

The U.S. is not the only country anticipating debuts of new cosmetics lines: the UK is anticipating the launch of Illamasqua at the tony Selfridges department store.


Illamasqua brand image
from Beauty Counter interview with Artistic Director Alex Box

Illamasqua was developed in association with Kryolan, the leading company for theatrical makeup. Illamasqua founder Julian Kynaston from Propaganda said, “We were shocked that the make-up market appeared to have no real emotional brands … there was a lot of loyalty, but that loyalty was not at a brand level it was at a hero product level. You would see girls who were loyal to a particular lipstick from say Chanel, certainly Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Eclat had incredible product loyalty.”


Illamasqua

The article from The Drum further notes,

During their research Propaganda emptied over 1,200 make-up bags and they found little evidence of dominance of any one brand. Typically there were 14 different brands in the average make-up bag. From here on, Kynaston’s goal became to ensure that the make-up bag of the future consisted of 50% of their brand, in their target market, with the other brands sharing the remaining half.

It will be interesting to see how creating brand loyalty will work out. Only MAC seems to command that sort of brand loyalty nowadays.