Table for Two: at IBE NY, indie brands take beauty inspired by food to the level

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Byroe skin care products on display at IBE NY 2019

At this year’s Indie Beauty Expo in New York City, 2 brands (one in color cosmetics, one in skin care) were showing creative new product collections premised on food. Cosmetics Design checked in with both Gorjue and Byroe at the event to learn about this next phase of food-driven beauty.

It’s common knowledge that food and beverage trends regularly influence cosmetics and personal care trends. Here on Cosmetics Design, recent articles have covered beverage trends influencing beauty product development, the rise of vegan ingredients and formulations, and the probiotic trend is of course also moving from food into beauty.

But, perhaps taking a cue from GlamLite Cosmetics and that brand’s popular pizza eyeshadow palette, brands like Gorjue and Byroe are getting creative with how color cosmetics and skin care can leverage the language food.

Meal recipes and Beauty routines

Amy Roe launched her new cuisine-based luxury skin care brand just last month and was showing the first Byroe product line to buyers, press, and influencers at last week’s IBE event here in New York City.

The first collection from this New York – based brand is premised on a salmon salad and the products are meant to be applied in the same sequence as the salad course would be assembled. There’s a (palate) cleansing sorbet, an essence tonner formulated with 33 greens, a bell pepper serum, a tomato serum, and a salmon cream.

Roe tells Cosmetics Design that this first routine is only the beginning; she has some 20 more salad inspired products in the pipeline, including a routine designed to mimic a vegan salad that would be comprised of only vegan skin care and include a cream formulated with tofu. 

Dining around the world, but make it beauty

The Brooklyn, New York - based brand Gorjue has been around for about 1 year now. Founded by Maesa Koeber and premised on a concept her daughter dreamed up, Gorjue makeup products that “mimic colors of foods from around the world,” Koeber tells Cosmetics Design.

For now, the collection is all about lipstick (both cream and matte). But Koeber says that a fuller range of color cosmetics is in the works and that the brand will grow to include highlighters, blushes, and even a brush line.

All the product shades are based on a particular food, regional favorites like Southern fried chicken, the New York hotdog, or the California burger. There’s a collection of lipsticks inspired by breakfast dishes, one featuring Asian foods, the possibilities’ are nearly endless.  Each lipstick comes with a tiny minature version of the food or dish that lends its color to the product—the miniature is in a clear portion at the bottom of the tube, keeping the brand’s theme close at hand when people display and apply the product.  

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.