Be Beautiful: Make Me Up

A few weeks ago I wenr into Morleys to purchase some products drom MAC. The brand recently opened a concession in Brixton's department store. Buoyed by the fact that there was no queue at the counter I went rushing in. I was stopped by an elegant lady in black who asked if I was here to look at some Fashion Fair products. I muttered "erm no sorry I am here for MAC," and hastily rushed past but not before noticing the look of disappointment and resignment on her face. While I was being served at the MAC counter more people arrived and waited patiently to be served whlile the Fashion Fair counter remained empty and I began to feel a bit sorry for Fashion Fair. They have been struggling for years even at Morleys where a huge majority of customers are Black and the introduction of MAC must have blown them out of the water. This got me thinking about the posioning of Fashion Fair on the market place. A lot of people rate them and they do produce amazing colours for Black skins but ask a large number of black women which make up brand they would prefer and I bet they would say MAC. It seems to me that Fashion Fair have got their branding all wrong; the packing seems rather dated and stale and with a bland website Fashion Fair is very uninspiring. When I think of the funky ezines that Mac send out I really feel that Fashion Fair are missing a trick. People express themselves with the clothes they wear and the same really does apply to make up. 

Even Sleek have woken up to this and totally reinvented themselves as a hip and modern brand that any fashion forward lady would be proud to be seen in. Their website is vibrant and their packaging is very - well sleek. Sleek's revamp reminds me very much of the one that Rimmel (check out a previous post that I wrote about Rimmel London) undertook a few years ago when they positioned themselves from a dreary cheap make up brand that chavs bought to one that draws on the characteristics of London which is stylish, edgy and trendy. Well with models, Kate Moss, Lily Cole and pop star, Sophie Ellis-Bexter onboard they could hardly be anything else. The strategy of Rimmel London is the same as many successful make up brands - about promoting an image to their consumers. Take Flirt Cosmetics which was featured in cult reality show, The Fashionista Diaries, they describe themselves to be edgy, trendy and driven by pop culture. So it looks like Fashion Fair has a lot to learn in order to gain more customers. Still at least Fashion Fair have moved away from the terrifying ladies in the bright pink jackets.