Confession #4: Lorac

Carol....Lorac.

Yes, you guessed it. The genius behind this company made up the name by spelling her name backwards. Talk about hidden meaning. Anyway...Carol Shaw created a company based off of the fact that women sometimes have extremely sensitive skin, and that their makeup should not also irritate the skin.
 
An interesting thing about Lorac Cosmetics is that some of the products are sold exclusively at certain locations. Yes, you can purchase online via their website, but they only sell certain products at Ulta and Kohls. A special edition Mega Pro Palette was sold only via Amazon.com. Lorac used to be sold at Sephora stores as well, but discontinued in late 2013-early 2014.

 
The way that these companies interact via social media is interesting in my opinion.  I looked at Kohls' and Ulta's Twitter accounts and they do mention Lorac's products once or twice in the past 3 months. Granted, both Kohls' and Ulta sell many many brands and have to be fair about not promoting one company more than the other. With Amazon.com's Twitter account, they never mentioned the Lorac MegaPro Palette being on sale exclusively. I find this interesting because I would have thought that Amazon.com would want to capitalize on the fact that they exclusively are selling the product.

Instead, I see that Lorac has taken it upon themselves to market which places sell each product. Many times, #KohlsBeauty, #Amazon, or @Ulta_Beauty shows up in their Instagram and Twitter posts to ensure that their customers know where each product can be found. I think Lorac does a good job of using their social media outlets to let their customers know where the products can be found and how to use them.
 

Products I own by Lorac Cosmetics:
Lorac Pro 2 Palette, $42 (sold at Ulta, Kohl's, and Amazon.com)
SummerGLO Eyeshadow Palette, $24 (Kohl's exclusively)
AfterGLO Eyeshadow Palette, $24 (Ulta exclusively)
Behind the Scenes Eye Primer, Sample (Full size, $21)
 

Website: http://www.loraccosmetics.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LORACcosmetics
Instagram: http://instagram.com/loraccosmetics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LORAC_Cosmetics
YouTube channel:  
https://www.youtube.com/user/LORACCosmetics
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/loraccosmetics/
Google+:  
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Loraccosmeticsinc/posts
Tumblr: http://carolshaw.la/

Confession 3: Maybelline

"Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."

Maybelline has a little, interesting reel running across the bottom of it's website titled, "What #MAYBELLINE is in your makeup bag?" A series of seriously amazing Instagram photos of their products streams by. If you click on the photos you can see their origin on Instagram. I think this is kind of neat to see a company incorporate their interactions with consumers right on the front of their website.

One thing that Maybelline does right in my opinion is that they showcase their products in a way that you see which occasions certain products can be used. They use their products to advertise with the current events, such as this photo encouraging people to vote back in November and highlighting all of their red and blue products to tie in the patriotism.

I also really like that they utilize their Twitter account to not only showcase their products, but to also retweet others who are in the makeup and fashion industry. They also tweet sometimes about the weather, current events, and topics that they believe the typical Maybelline customer is interested in. I think it creates a more personal level with their customers rather than an advertising only view they get of Maybelline.

One large social media effort I saw Maybelline utilize was using 13 well-known makeup artists and enthusiasts with their own large followings on YouTube to promote The Nudes Palette. This palette is the first of it's kind from any "drugstore" brand. No other company has put out as well-thought-out of a palette for such an affordable price.
Maybelline also has brought out The Smokes and The Brights palettes, but I have yet to see them in stores. 

I think that using makeup artists with thousands of subscribers was a great idea because they already will be watching their videos and Maybelline gets some great exposure this way. I definitely bought this palette after watching all of the reviews for it on YouTube and I just wanted to see for myself. The reviews were mixed, and I do not think that it will ever compete with some of my high end palettes, I still think Maybelline did a great job marketing it through social media.

Products I currently own by Maybelline New York (prices based on Ulta.com):

The Nudes Palette, $9.99
Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle Treatment Concealer, $8.99
Eye Studio Color Tattoo Pure Pigments Loose Shadow Powder, $6.99 (not sold at Ulta)
Baby Lips Lip Balm, $4.49
Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer, $6.99
Volum' Express The Rocket Mascara, $6.99
Eye Studio Color Tatoo Metal Eyeshadow, $6.99
Eye Studio Color Tatoo Leather 24hr, $6.99
Dream Bouncy Blush, $7.99
Master Kajal Liner, $7.99
Color Show Nail Polish, $3.99 


Products I have owned in the past by Maybelline New York (prices based on Ulta.com):

Volum' Express The Falsies Mascara, $6.99
Great Last Washable Mascara, $5.99
Volum' Express Collossal Mascara, $6.99 
Eye Studio Color Tatoo Eyeshadow, $6.99
Lash Stiletto Ultimate Length Mascara, $8.99
Lash Discovery Mini Brush Very Black Washable Mascara, $7.99
Volum' Express The Mega Plush Mascara, $7.49

Website: http://www.maybelline.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maybelline
Instagram: http://instagram.com/maybelline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/maybelline
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/maybellinenewyork
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Maybelline/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/101700812867906199991/posts
Tumblr: http://maybelline.tumblr.com/

Confession #2: Urban Decay

Urban Decay seems to be a company that likes to push the envelope with it's colors, color names, and overall brand image. Their motto is "Beauty with an edge," and they surely bring an edge alright.

 Cheeky lipstick/lip liner shade names, such as "69" and "F-Bomb"

The two major facets of the brand are the Naked line, and their more colorful counterparts with no continuous name.  The Naked line is designed to...well, er, make you look naked, or well a better version of your skin naked. This concept seems ironic when it comes to cosmetics, but it has been very successful for UD.  Their bright color choices were epitomized with their Electric Pressed Pigments Palette. Colors such as Chaos and Freak also show up in their 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliners. 


 

The company lists several products in their lines as "vegan" and is actually backed by PETA as being animal cruelty free, despite being owned by L'oreal, who is known for not being cruelty free. 




Urban Decay's Naked3 Palette was one of my very first high end makeup purchases, which was about one year ago. 

I watched at least 20 different videos on YouTube of makeup artists and aficionados sharing their opinions and tutorials of how each shade should be worn. Quickly, this brand became one of my favorites and is probably the high end brand of which I gravitate towards most of the time. It seems like constantly I am looking at their social media sites, especially Instagram.  Most of their products are packaged in very sleek, shiny packaging that aids in the high end feel of the brand that accompanies the price tags.  


Their Instagram page focuses on showcasing their products rather than trying to directly interact with their target audience by sharing quotes and pictures that do not directly relate to their brand. Urban Decay likes to highlight known makeup artists in the social world that use their products by reposting pictures from those artists.
 
Their Twitter account tends to show the same patterns as their Instagram, but also more "testimonial shoutouts" to makeup artists and videos of them doing so since Twitter's platform allows for this better than Instagram. Their social media presence is good as it pertains to the spread they have, but their content can become monotonous to some of their consumers, especially since it repeats content from platform to platform. This is definitely something that Urban Decay might want to focus on and study to see if boredom arises from consumers who happen to follow them on all social media platforms.

Products I own from Urban Decay:  
Naked3 Palette, $54
Naked2 Basics Palette, $29
Electric Palette, $49
Naked On the Run Palette, $54
24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black Velvet, $20
Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin, $20
Naked Skin Weightless Definition Liquid Makeup in 0.5, $39
Perversion Travel Size Mascara, $12

-- xoxo, Paige

Website: http://www.urbandecay.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urbandecaycosmetics
Instagram: http://instagram.com/urbandecaycosmetics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/urbandecay
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/UrbanDecayYT
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/urbandecay/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+urbandecay/posts
Tumblr: http://urbandecay.tumblr.com/

Confession #1: Overview

About one year ago, I saw a friend post on Facebook about a business called Ipsy. I had no clue what Ipsy was, so I clicked on the link to find out that it was a makeup subscription service. It was during Snowmageddon 2014, so I literally had nothing better to do than to watch countless YouTube videos of people "unboxing" their hot pink bubble mailers revealing their goodies.

In the end, I decided Ipsy deserved my $10 each month in return for a few surprises of products that would hopefully make me look presentable when I wore makeup. At the time, I was mildly interested in makeup, but I felt like I really had no clue what to do or how to use half of it, even though I have been wearing makeup since 7th grade. After receiving my first Ipsy Glam Bag, I was hooked. Hours upon hours of YouTube videos have now been watched showing me products that have raving reviews, cult followings, and some that just didn't hit the target.

So with this blog, I would like to highlight 10 of my personal favorite makeup brands. I will focus on their presence in social media and how they interact with their customers, but I will probably also add in favorite products, product reviews, and tutorials with the specific brands' products. With each post, I will include the website and social media websites for the brand.

--xoxo, Paige