Niche, Niche Baby!!
Why celebrity beauty brand overload isn't universal, new doll nirvana, a vision for the natural hair community, and the power of personalization
Baby Remember My Name
Celebrity beauty is in overdrive, and there’s no slow down in sight. Once upon a time, getting signed to a lucrative contract with a beauty brand was the Holy Grail, but celebrities learned that having their name on a product was even better. Did you know that JLo got on board early on and has 25 fragrances under her banner?. NPD notes that celebrity-backed brands were up 40% during the pandemic, pulling in a whopping $533M. While A-Frame, a company that creates celebrity beauty brands, just raised a seed round of 11.2M to assist with their efforts on brands for Naomi Osaka and John Legend.
Last week, I read this piece on In the Know that lamented the proliferation of A-listers (B-Z too, for that matter), who felt the need to put their name on lipstick, skincare, or hair products. Their efforts further contribute to the industry’s sustainability problem. One of the few exceptions in the piece was Pharrell Willams’ Humanrace, because of its inclusion efforts, including using Braille on its packaging. But we can’t blame the beauty explosion on celebrities alone. New channels, especially D.T.C., have opened up avenues for more brands to enter the space. And by the way, it should come as no surprise that Nielsen reports online sales rose to 29% filed by indie brands contributing to $88.7B in omnichannel beauty sales.
This is my long-winded way of saying that whether or not we need another celebrity brand depends largely on who the celebrity is, how authentic they are about their business and the relationship they establish with their consumer. With his Black Ambition platform, Pharrell gets points it extends beyond beauty to include Black and Latinx entrepreneurs across categories. Tracee Ellis Ross stands out because she’s always been outspoken about her hair, and Pattern provides the solutions she needs. She also advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion in a tangible way with her role as a Diversity and Inclusion Advisor to Ulta, her retail partner. And then there is Taraji P. Henson, whose T.P.H. by Taraji brand made more than $8.6M last year. Her partner in these efforts is Maesa, who had a +1196% dollar change since 2020, according to NielsenIQ (they back a lot of winners, including Drew Barrymore’s brand). Neither of these things comes as a surprise because Tracee and Taraji check all the boxes I mentioned earlier about a celebrity brand becoming successful.
The jury is still out whether Lala Anthony can garner that connection to her rice water brand Inala, but new lanes are created daily. She may find hers.
Tell Me Something Good!!
This week on the pod features my chat with natural hair pioneer Taliah Waajid. She’s a hairstylist turned brand builder and founder of what is probably the most prominent natural hair gathering in the United States, the World Natural Hair Show. We talk about creating and building the show and bringing it back to Atlanta after a two-year hiatus later this month (April 23-24). She shares her journey, why she kept going when the road seemed uncertain and why she believes in “coopertition.” Check out the full episode here.
Create the Throne
Last month, when The United States Congress passed The C.R.O.W.N. Act, so many people were thrilled. I, however, felt the need to reserve my excitement until the Senate follows suit. In the meantime, Black women and girls are still experiencing ridicule and penalities regarding their hairstyles. And images and instances like this one still show up too regularly on our timelines. (And even if she is receiving support from teammates, this is still traumatizing.)
It can be soul-crushing for Black children to be policed about their hair. So while we push for reforms associated with The C.R.O.W.N. Act, it is also essential to create images that reinforce the beauty of Black hair. Think of it as the throne that surrounds the crown.
I was encouraged to see a new doll line introduced later this year from a partnership between Just Play and Deedee Wright-Ward, founder of Purpose Toys. The Naturalista Collection features five 11” fashion-forward dolls, in a range of skin tones and hair textures, with dramatic curls, coils, and kinks that resemble hairstyles they see on the Black women around them. But I love even more that Wright-Ward created a Pixie Puff Collection to celebrate 4C textures and shorter styles. The dolls won’t be available until August but sign up on the website for updates.
Fire and Desire
One of the reasons I still have disdain for beauty A.R. is that it has never considered the nuances of how the color shows up on skin tones, particularly on lips (and sometimes eyelids). I applaud Poundcake, who gets it right, not through some fancy tech laying on an unrealistic depiction of a shade, but through a knowledgeable but straightforward quiz. Because when your lips are a different shade than your complexion, this extra step matters. They started by helping customers find the right red, but the sky is the limit. And NielsenIQ says niche approaches like this will only become more popular as personalization takes flight.
And may you find the freedom to be yourself!