Confession: Colour Pop

Okay...so it has been a while. I have definitely still been trying out a lot of different types of makeup and I am especially looking into lighter things since this summer heat is kicking it up a notch. I am continuing this blog, not because of class any longer, but just out enjoyment.

Since starting my blog, I have tried a few items from one of the "newer" brands of makeup that's causing a lot of buzz in the makeup world, Colour Pop.

 

Colour Pop is a company that just celebrated their 1 year anniversary, and is made in Los Angeles, California so for those of you who like buying from company who produce in the USA, Colour Pop fits that criteria. Colour Pop also says that they never test on animals, so good on you Colour Pop!

One reason why Colour Pop has been causing a huge buzz is its infamous "texture" of their eyeshadows...and now blushes, bronzers, and highlighters.  Originally, Colour Pop decided to not hit every part of makeup, and perfect only two aspects -- eyeshadow and lippies. Then, they decided to venture out into the cheeks with blushes first, highlighters second, and lastly bronzers.  All cheek products don the same strange texture as their eyeshadows, which have been described as a "gel mousse-like" consistency. I don't know if that's exactly it, but it definitely is different than any other product I have ever tried.  

I had watched video upon video of reviews on their products and finally broke down and bought some products...and boy am I glad I did!! I purchased before the bronzers officially launched on their website, so when I decided to buy at least one product from each category, that is why bronzers are left out.  Colour Pop has no retail stores, only their website, so for everyone outside of California, congratulations because you don't have to pay tax when purchasing! The products are also very affordable, with the eyeshadows and lippies priced at $5 each and the cheek products at $8 each. And, if you purchase at least $30 worth of products, shipping is also FREE! So it's definitely worth picking a few things from each category and sampling their whole gamit of products. 

I fell in love with their metallic eyeshadows, and I love to incorporate them into everyday wear since I chose cooler, more neutral shades, and I also love adding them as a nice pop for going out at night. The cheek products are wonderful and last all day as well, although I would definitely say I wish they were slightly more pigmented, but it could have just been that the shades I bought are very everyday friendly and subtle. They are still gorgeous though! The best part about the eyeshadows and the cheekies is that you can layer them on top of other cream products or on top of powder products and they do not clump or lessen the wear time. They look flawless as they mesh into the skin and wear forever. As I write this, I'm currently wearing my eyeshadows on their 16th hour, and they still look great. The pigmentation has not lessened, even though there is a little fallout under my eyes (hey I may or may not have taken a nap on the couch). The lippies I have are both matte lipsticks, and I love them! They do not dry out your lips like many matte products, and their pigmentation is to die for!!

Like I said, Colour Pop just celebrated their 1 year anniversary, and to celebrate they created a limited edition eyeshadow shade, Birthday Girl, and gave it to every customer for a certain amount of time. I had just bought my first order, but I could NOT miss out on this opportunity, so I purchased one more lippie so that I could have the gorgeous Birthday Girl!

So all in all, I definitely recommend purchasing from this brand if you're looking for some really nice, light products to add to your collection. They have some wild colors of eyeshadow and lippies, so you can definitely experiment, but I think trying some of their more neutral options are going to give you the most wear. 

One final note on Colour Pop, a very cool social aspect that has probably led to much of their success -- they have a lot of collaborations with popular YouTube makeup personalities.  On Colour Pop's website you will find a tab called "Collabs" with "quads" of eyeshadows that have been created by the YouTube stars.  "Where the Light Is" was created by Kathleenlights, "Shaaanxo x Colour Pop" was created by Shaaanxo, and their latest collab is "Metamorphosis" by CoffeeBreakWithDani. These YouTubers have praised Colour Pop on their own, and created their own custom shades in California at the Colour Pop labs -- colors that are not sold individually or will ever be sold again. Truly one-of-a-kind shades in a one-of-a-kind formula. 

So what are your thoughts on Colour Pop? I'd love to hear what shades you love or are excited to try!

Products I own by Colour Pop (prices based on Colourpop.com):

Super Shock Shadow in "3," $5.00
Super Shock Shadow in "I <3 This," $5.00
Super Shock Shadow in "Birthday Girl," $5.00

Super Shock Cheek in "Birthday Suit," $8.00 (blush)

Super Shock Cheek in "Teasecake," $8.00 (highlighter)

Lippie Stix in "I <3 This," $5.00

Lippie Stix in "Lumiere," $5.00 (also collab with Kathleenlights)

 

Website: https://colourpop.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColourPopCosmetics
Instagram: https://instagram.com/colourpopcosmetics/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColourPopCo
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/colourpopcosmetics
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ColourPopCo/

The Future

Hello everyone! So, for the past 10-12 weeks I have been posting on different brands and their social media efforts. I started this blog for my social media marketing class, and I really enjoyed posting to this blog.  I never intended to continue with it, but I think I will. Posts might not be as frequent as they have been, but I definitely want to keep it going. 

Makeup is very interesting to me, and social media marketing, well, it's what I'm interested in as well and I want to make a career of it.  So, since I no longer have assignments, I will probably add in a few product reviews here and there. However, I still want to focus on brands and products and the social media campaigns associated with them.

So, please continue to check back and see what I have. Or let me know what you'd like to see. I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks lovelies.

--Paige

Confession #12: Flower Beauty

Drew Barrymore was originally a CoverGirl spokeswoman.  Then she decided to launch her own line, called Flower Beauty.  This line is sold excusively at Walmart and Walmart.com. This line of cosmetics will conclude my brand analysis of their respective social media accounts...for now.

So, one thing I initially noticed about Flower Beauty when researching their website is that they have their "philosophy" plain and simple before they even show you the products.  Talk about wanting to set a tone right from the start.  Drew's line claims that you can now have "quality cosmetics" without the hefty pricetag...and then explains how she does it.  Here's the kicker...she does not pay for advertising. Wait....what?! Not paying for advertising would usually be seen as a killer, but in the day and age of social media, is it entirely necessary? And Drew, if you don't pay for advertisements, then how do you make sure that your content is seen? This cosmetics line might be the company that needs to be most dependent upon social media than any of the others we have looked at so far. So does Flower Beauty really hold up on social media, a more "free" way of advertising?

At a first glance, I noticed that only Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram were listed in the top right corner of their website.  Videos are integrated into the Tutoritals tab of the website, but they are not integrated from YouTube, even though there is a channel for the brand.  There have been no videos posted to the YouTube channel in at least a year, so as far as using it to socially engage customers, that is no longer an ongoing thing. It's a shame, because I really think "Drew's Tip Tuesday" could have been a wonderful series.  
The Facebook is mostly a repost of their Instagram photos, but I do enjoy when there are posts other than those seen on their Instagram.  Like other cosmetic companies, their Instagram is a strong presence. Another strong outlet for Flower is their Twitter.  I really like that their Twitter account is not a copy/paste of their Instagram or Facebook feeds. Almost nothing is directly duplicated, but still let's Flower be cohesive with their other accounts.  Since Drew relies on her stardom to carry her promotions, I really like that for the Twitter account, many, many other beauty gurus and bloggers, and regular customers are RT and mentioned in order to show that other people are talking about their brand. 

Flower Beauty boasts relatively high numbers for Facebook and Twitter, at 137,000+ and 19,000+ respectively, but their Pinterest account has only just over 4,000 followers.Despite these large followings on Facebook and Twitter, it seems as if they are not carrying on much of a conversation with customers.  Facebook and Twitter have made it incredibly difficult for companies or other organizations with "Like" pages to reach all, or even half, of their followers organically.  And since Flower does not pay, their followers are not seeing their content.  Many of their posts on Facebook don under 100 likes, almost no comments or shares...all because they do not spend money to promote their items.  

So I think that this should be a lesson learned for other makeup brands, and even other brands in general. Money spent on advertisements, whether via social media or more traditional avenues, is usually worth the price.  Flower Beauty seems to be doing okay so far because the products are sold exclusively at Walmart, one of the largest retailers in the United States, but once the shiny newness wears off from the brand, what will keep it going if they cannot reach their audience via the "free" social media outlets. 

Products I own by Flower Beauty 

(prices based on Walmart.com):

Kiss Me Twice Lip & Cheek Chubby, $9.98
Lip Service Lip Butter, $6.98
Win Some, Rouge Some Creme Blush, $7.98
Shadow Play Eyeshadow Quad, $9.98
Eyes on the Prize Eyeshadow Chubby, $7.98

Website: http://flowerbeauty.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealFlowerBeauty?_rdr
Instagram: https://instagram.com/flowerbeauty/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flowerbeauty
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/FLOWERBeautyVideo
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/flowerbydrew/

Confessions #10 & #11: Tarte and Too Faced

Today is going to be slightly different. If you have read my original post in the series, as I said, I am a college student that is still definitely on a tight budget.  For this reason, I have pretty much exhausted my list of high end companies that I purchase (somewhat) frequently from and frequently research.  Two companies that I have some interest in, but have little experience with are Tarte and Too Faced. I have only purchased two items from Too Faced organically, and none from Tarte.  The items I have received from Tarte have been from a beauty subscription service called Boxycharm, which gives you 4-5 full sized items each month for $21 each, making it a huge steal in hopes that you will purchase from these companies in the future.  

So for today Tarte vs. Too Faced

Tarte has a created a community of followers by calling them "Tartelettes."  By tying this into their products they released a new Tartelette palette, which helps aid in the sense of community if you purchase one or more of these palettes.  For Spring 2015, they tied the new Tartelette palette into social media by creating a video of the photo shoot that they had with some famous beauty YouTuber's and vloggers.  By using socially influential women while still carrying the same messages that the Tartelette palettes have had in the past, Tarte has built an even stronger connection between themselves and those who like to include themselves as Tartelettes.

Too Faced has recently come out with a product based upon the culture of sharing pictures via social media.  This product is called "Selfie Powders" and is a palette contaning 3 colored powders: a golden-yellow called "Sunrise," a bronze labeled as "Totally Toasted," and a light lilac called "Moon River." Too Faced now has an easy way to tie this product in to social media, encouraging engagement by their followers to post selfies using their powders and encouraging #nofilter because the powders are "real life filters." Personally I think the product is kind of gimmicky and I would not purchase it since I have to be careful of overdoing color correcting on my fair skin, but I think it is a neat concept.  Too Faced has bridged the gap between social media and branding/products in a way that I have not seen any other cosmetics company do. 

Products I own by Tarte Cosmetics
 (prices based on Ulta.com):
Maracuja Bronzing Serum, $47.00
LipSurgence Lip Tint, $24.00 

Products I own by Too Faced Cosmetics 

(prices based on Ulta.com):

Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick, $21.00
Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush, $30.00

Tarte
Website: http://tartecosmetics.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tartecosmetics
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tartecosmetics/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tartecosmetics
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/tartecosmetics
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tartecosmetics/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/103695503093959855799/post

Too Faced
Website: https://www.toofaced.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toofaced
Instagram: https://instagram.com/toofaced/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/toofaced
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/toofacedcosmetics
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/TooFaced/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+toofaced/posts
Snapchat username: toofacedsnaps

Confession #9: CoverGirl

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful...

CoverGirl Cosmetics was the very first brand that I tried when I asked my mom in seventh grade if I could start wearing makeup. She led me to the aisle in Walmart to find CoverGirl. It essentially the only brand I bought from for about the next 3-4 years.  I then ventured out when an Ulta Store showed up in Macon. Walking in there was makeup heaven and I could not ignore that there was in fact more in the world than CoverGirl.  Even though I do not buy as many products from this brand as I used to, CoverGirl will always be on my radar for good quality makeup and it will always hold a place in my heart as my first makeup experience.

I always remember reading my Seventeen Magazine and seeing CoverGirl's great print advertisements, but now as we have moved into the digital realm, how has CoverGirl held up with their social media marketing? The grade I would give them...A-. Sure, they're not perfect, of course, but I think they do a great job of keeping up with events going on in the world (or the US at least) and using their products to show customers how they can be used seasonally. For instance, this picture posted on their Instagram account uses their nail polishes in a bracket, like brackets for March Madness basketball.

I think CoverGirl has always done a great job with, well, their cover girls.  The essence of the brand has always been that there are models or celebrities to represent the brand and different celebs are added periodically to enhance CoverGirl's image. In more recent years, women such as Pink, Katy Perry, Ellen Degeneres, Sofia Vergara, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Queen Latifah have represented the brand. Queen Latifah is the face of their Queen Collection, a line of their cosmetics more catered to women of color. By creating contracts with these women to become part of the CoverGirl brand, using their own fame to promote CoverGirl through CoverGirl's social media is a big plus for them. Througout the CoverGirl Twitter and Instagram accounts, their spokeswomen are mentioned, retweeted, pictured, and celebrated. This connection between brand and celebrity through social media reinforces their images in print and television advertising by stating that these women are cared about by CoverGirl, not just here because they have a pretty face and we have a contract. I also like that CoverGirl has many diverse, empowering women as their spokeswomen. These women are role models for many young women, and seeing their faces wearing CoverGirl makeup is definitely a reason girls will want to use CoverGirl's makeup when they want to start wearing any at all. 

One interesting thing I find about CoverGirl is that via their website, they link their Vine account as well as their Tumblr website. And not only that they have a Tumblr website, but that it is formatted differently than a standard blog, meaning they have put time and effort into it. Vine is not too commonly used by makeup companies, because the 6 second limit for a vine is almost too short to show tutorials using products, but I think CoverGirl does a good job of using it as a supplement to their Twitter and Instagram accounts. They do not produce many 6 second clips, but the ones that they do produce help chance up the pace when they are then shared via CoverGirl's Twitter account. Also, via their Instagram, they promoted their Snapchat account. I follow their Snapchat account, and while they do not use this platform that often, they might begin to soon and since Snapchat has started Snapcash, it is becoming more able to be used as a marketing tool where customers can purchase directly from the app.  (Although, Snapcash isn't really taking off, even sending snippets of new products from within corporate via Snapchat allows followers to think they're the best of the best because they're getting an inside view on CoverGirl) I think it's smart that they have advertised the account via other social media, but I think to really gain a user base on Snapchat they will need to utilize it's features and post more often.


Products I own by CoverGirl Cosmetics (prices based on Ulta.com):

Clump Crusher Mascara, $7.99
Eye Enhancers 3 Kit Shadows, $4.99
Ink It! Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner, $7.49
Bombshell Volume Mascara, $11.99
TruMagic Skin Perfector, $9.99
CG Smoothers SPF 15 Tinted Moisture, $7.99
Flamed Out Mascara, $6.99
Flamed Out Shadow Pots, $4.99
Glowing Nights Glosstinis Nail Polish, $1.89

Products I have previously owned by CoverGirl Cosmetics (prices based on Ulta.com):

LashBlast Volume Mascara, $8.99
Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner, $5.99
Outlast Lip Stain, $8.99
Simply Powder Foundation, $10.99
Eye Enhancers 4 Kit Shadows, $5.99
Professional All-In-One Curved Brush Mascara, $5.99
Professional Natural Lash Mascara, $5.99
CG Smoothers Concealer, $7.99
CG Smoothers Pressed Powder, $7.99
LashBlast 24 Hour Mascara, $8.99
Instant Cheekbones Contouring Blush, $6.99
Liquiline Blast Eyeliner, $7.99
Classic Color Blush, $6.49
Clean Makeup (Foundation), Oily Skin, $6.99
Clean Pressed Powder, Oily Skin, $6.99

 I have owned many, many more products from CoverGirl, but they are discontinued.

Website: http://www.covergirl.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/covergirl
Instagram: https://instagram.com/covergirl/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/covergirl
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CoverGirl
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/covergirlxo/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+covergirl/about
Tumblr: http://covergirl.tumblr.com/ 
Vine: https://vine.co/u/907771872836456448
Snapchat: username: covergirlxo