Haute Face launches complete ethnic make-up range
being launched in the US and Europe in a bid to muscle in on the
burgeoning market for ethnic personal care products. Simon
Pitman reports.
Music industry veteran Cassandra Mills, who is president and CEO of the company, says that she was spurred on to establish the complete make-up line by the fact that she had found there was no foundations available that matched her own African American skin tone perfectly.
"African American women in particular do a lot of mixing with their colours to get one colour," said Mills. "I couldn't find a high quality foundation, I was mixing my own. I looked up and I just realised that this is the 21st century, and it shouldn't be this way. Our goal when we created this brand was to eliminate that process."
Mills says that the product line has been created by a multi-racial team of cosmetic and beauty experts, who also happen to match the target consumers. This makes the company the first of its kind to be owned and run by a largely ethnic team.
"The company reflects the ethnic diversity that represents today's American population," she added.
Haute Face is tapping into a market that definitely has plenty of potential for further development. Industry experts estimate that of the total $6.1 billion spent on health and beauty products by ethnic consumers in the US last year, only $1.5 billion went on ethnic-specific health and beauty products.
As M.A.C currently attracts a 50 per cent ethnic customer base, Mills cites the cosmetics giant as Haute Face's biggest competitor. She also says that ranges from M.A.C, Bobbi Brown and Chanel acted as a base comparisons for its prototype range.
"We used those as the standard to make sure we were making something that exceeded those brands," she said.
As well as a wider choice, one of the main considerations for the range, which includes lipsticks, lip gloss, foundation, and finishing powders, has also been price. The products are marketed in the $15 - $30 range, which is part of the company's policy to make the products amenable to a wide range of budgets.
Initially the products will be launched in department stores across the US, with a further launch in Liberty's department store in London, England mooted for the beginning of the next year.
