Millennial beauty brands: From ColuorPop to Glossier

<p>By 2022, <a href="/tags/0/kylie-jenner"><strong>Kylie Jenner</strong></a> is on pace to become the first billionaire in her famous family. The reality star’s big payday is all thanks to Kylie Cosmetics, launched just two years ago. According to some estimates, one of her products (from Lip Kits to KyShadows, KyLiners and KyLighters) sells every five seconds. While eight-figure milestones used to take luxury designers like <a href='/tags/0/tom-ford'><strong>Tom Ford</strong></a> a decade or more to achieve in the beauty business, she has managed to tackle it less than two years.</p><p>Kylie’s also leading the charge of booming online beauty businesses that are catering in large part to millennials. They’re known as digitally native – that is they were born on the Internet, cultivated huge followings one swatch at a time, and sell direct to consumer. “In the beauty world right now, every individual wants to create their own personal brand. No one wants to be like anyone else,” says Amy Chung, beauty analyst at NPD Group. “Everyone is on the hunt for that next cool niche brand that not everyone knows about right away.” It’s a similar shift that happened in the fashion world with fast fashion brands like <a href="/tags/0/zara"><strong>Zara</strong></a> and <a href="/tags/0/hm"><strong>H&amp;M</strong></a>, notes Amy. “Turnover time was so quick, there was a disruption and now [it’s] moved into beauty. These newer niche brands are more nimble and turnaround time is faster so they can get products to market faster to meet this insatiable demand.”</p><p>Read on. Here are a few of the big players you need to know. <em>-- By Jill Dunn</em></p>
<h4>Milk Makeup</h4><p>Milk Studios in New York City and L.A. are where the most creative minds meet to dream up edgy editorials, fashion ad campaigns and music videos. Inspired by those famous digs, this makeup line (co-founded by Zanna Roberts Rassi, Georgie Greville, Mazdack Rassi, and Dianna Ruth) is designed for no-fuss makeup application: most of them are in stick formats so you can swipe on and blend with your fingers – no makeup brushes required. Think Push Pops, but for your beauty routine.</p>
<p><strong>Milk Makeup Flex Concealer</strong>, $34, <em>sephora.com</em></p>
<p><strong>Milk Makeup Blur Liquid Matte Foundation</strong>, $48, <em>sephora.com</em></p>
<p><strong>Milk Makeup Blur Stick</strong>, $43, <em>sephora.com</em></p> <p><strong>Milk Makeup Cooling Water</strong>, $29, <em>sephora.com</em></p>
<p><strong>Milk Makeup Holographic Stick</strong>, $34, <em>sephora.com</em></p> <p><strong>Milk Makeup Matcha Toner</strong>, $31, <em>sephora.com</em></p>
<h4>Frank Body</h4><p>This Australian skin-care brand started in 2013 with one product: an all-natural, coffee-based body scrub that left skin silky smooth. Created by Jess Hatzis and Bree Johnson, it was inspired by Bree’s then-boyfriend who owned cafés in Melbourne and noticed that customers were asking to buy coffee grinds to exfoliate. That sparked the idea for coffee-based products to perk up skin. It gained traction on social media, mainly thanks to photos from users who weren’t afraid to share cheeky photos covered in the coffee scrub. Since then, the brand has expanded to include face and lip care, as well as body balms.</p>
<p><strong>Frank Body Lip Scrub and Lip Balm Duo</strong>, $16.95</p>
<p><strong>Frank Body Glow Mask</strong>, $21.95, <em>frankbody.com</em></p>
<p><strong>Frank Body Original Coffee Scrub</strong>, $16.95</p>
<h4>ColourPop Cosmetics</h4><p>On Instagram, they’re five million strong and one of the most coveted makeup brands around, thanks to super-pigmented products and wallet-friendly price points. Created in Los Angeles in 2014 by a brother and sister team, Laura and John Nelson, the plan was to be the fast fashion of the beauty world. They “bring brands and products to consumers faster than anyone else in the world,” and rumour has it that their parent company, Seed Beauty, is the same one behind Kylie Cosmetics. They partner with YouTubers and celebs alike (Rumer Willis and Jaime King have created and launched their own colours) and they rely on their followers for what shades to launch next. In other words, community feedback helps shape every move they make.</p>
<p><strong>ColourPop Cosmetics Ultra Matte Lip in Creeper, Viper and Beeper</strong>, $7.50, <em>colourpop.com</em></p>
<p><strong>ColourPop Cosmetics No Filter Concealer</strong>, $7.50</p>
<p><strong>ColourPop Cosmetics Super Shock Highlighter in Flexitarian</strong>, $10</p>
<h4>The Ordinary</h4><p>Perhaps no skin-care brand has ever created this much online buzz. Dreamed up by Canadian beauty entrepreneur Brandon Truaxe, its premise is simple: use proven, effective skin-care ingredients in no-frills packaging to provide back-to-basics skin care that everyone can afford. In fact, nothing costs more than $18. The Ordinary also forayed into makeup this year, launching Colours foundation with 21 shades. It had a 25,000-person wait-list when it made its U.K. debut – and it’s flying off shelves here, too.</p>
<p><strong>The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% &amp; Zinc 1%</strong>, $5.90, <em>theordinary.com</em></p>
<p><strong>The Ordinary 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil</strong>, $9.90</p>
<p><strong>The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% &amp; Hyaluronic Acid 2%</strong>, $6.70</p>
<p><strong>The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation</strong>, $6.70</p>
<h4>Glossier</h4><p>Pronounced Glossy-eh, it’s the crown jewel of millennial beauty brands. Founded by New York-based Emily Weiss in 2014, it is a spin-off from her wildly popular beauty website, Into the Gloss, which details women’s beauty routines from ground zero – right in their own bathrooms. Weiss chronicled the “Top Shelf” products of some of the coolest models, editors and actresses, from Kim Kardashian to Karlie Kloss, complete with slick photography and intimate stories about how they used the products in their life. Having built an engaged community around content, she pivoted to creating a brand that’s all about “beauty products for real life” with universal lip balms, flattering concealers and gentle skin care. Its content-meets-commerce approach focuses on crowd-sourcing for upcoming innovations. Case in point: for a candle that’s currently in the works, they turned to their fans, asking: “When you fire up this baby, what mood are you looking to set?”</p>
<p><strong>Glossier Boy Brow</strong>, $20, <em>glossier.com</em></p>
<p><strong>Glossier Stretch Concealer</strong>, $22</p>
<h4>Ouai Haircare</h4><p>Created by the Kardashians’ go-to hair stylist Jen Atkin, Ouai (pronounced “way”) is made up of shampoos, conditioners and styling products that cater to those effort- less, off-duty hairstyles that Jen is famous for, whether it’s for the red carpet or a photo shoot. Its instantly recognizable pack- aging is reminiscent of the luxury candles that she loves.</p>
<p><strong>Ouai Haircare Memory Mist</strong>, $35, <em>sephora.com</em></p>
<p><strong>Ouai Haircare Smooth Spray</strong>, $33</p>
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