THE MORE SHADES THE MERRIER🪞
THE MORE SHADES THE MERRIER🪞
THE TRIFECTA: ILIA, KOSAS, AND ABOUT FACE
Earlier this week, ILIA unveiled their newest product: the “Skin Rewind Complexion Stick.” According to their website, this product is highly buildable and includes skincare benefits, instantly blurring pores, textures, and redness. The true wow factor, however, isn’t its formula or ingredients - it’s the product’s incredibly vast array of shades. The Complexion Stick is available in, brace yourself, 42 shades. 42! Yes, you read that right:
Leading up to the launch, ILIA strategically teased the product for two weeks, posting imagery that fell into two categories: showcasing the extensive shade range and evoking a sense of nostalgia. You might be wondering, why nostalgia? We had the same question and spoke with ILIA's Social Director, Tyra Booker, who shed light on the relevance of this theme.
According to Tyra, discussions around skincare-enhancing ingredients and anti-aging narratives necessitate recognizing that your "best skin" can manifest at different life stages. In her own words, “When I was younger I had acneic skin but now that I'm older, I have much cleaner skin. Sasha our founder would say this the best skin era she's ever been in her life.” Tyra elaborates, “I think we just wanted to kind of play up on the word ‘era’ thinking about skin rewind, like, what is that your best skin era right now and sharing the fact that your best era can actually come at any point in your life.”
The visual references draw parallels between items that have transcended different ‘eras,’ and incorporate the concept of "Rewind," a word in the product's name. Think disposable cameras, Polaroids, and flip phones:
This approach was highly successful, amassing over 55,000 sign-ups on their waitlist. However, we wouldn’t be doing our job right if we didn’t mention another focal point of their campaign: the emphasis on the 42 diverse shade options. Before the product hit the shelves, ILIA strategically posted visuals that showcased a vibrant spectrum of colors:
When asked about the decision to offer such an extensive range of shades, Tyla proudly revealed that this launch sets a record for the most extensive shade range among Complexion Sticks at Sephora. She mentioned the importance of inclusion as a driving force behind this decision, saying, “I think this is very important for representation right now, for tones right now, and for diversity within brands, even within the clean space, which is even more important. It’s something ILIA prides itself on, and I don’t think there’s a better time than now to do this.”
This laser focus on showcasing an extensive shade range is not unique to ILIA. This year, brands are strategically channeling their product development endeavors - whether through the creation of entirely new formulas, or expanding existing lines - to embrace a widely broad spectrum of shades:
Right after the New Year, Kosas expanded the number of products in their beloved Revealer Concealer line to include shades with more cool and neutral undertones. The same month, About Face introduced their skin-first hybrid foundation line, "The Performer," available in 55 shades. For both of these brands, the spotlight of their respective campaigns wasn't on unpacking their formulas or ingredients; rather, it was on amplifying the diversity of shades available.
We connected with Zoe Cohen, Creative Director for “The Performer” campaign, who spoke to the importance of inclusivity in their creative approach. “It’s so important for brands to show and not tell – the brain processes and remembers visuals for much longer than they do text,” she said. “Creatively, it was very important to us to cast a super diverse network and show how the product interacts with real skin. We ended up shooting over 55 people over the course of a week to ensure that all tones could see themselves in our campaign.”