A few minutes with Bluemercury co-founder and M-61 creator Marla Malcolm Beck

Marla Malcolm Beck

More than 13 years of advising clients on the selling floor helped Beck to realize exactly what consumers wanted as far as packaging for cosmetic products. Here, she tells Beauty Packaging why Bluemercury’s retail model is like no other, which beauty category shows the greatest potential for innovation—and why she felt the need to not only create her own brand—but design the packaging, too.

Beauty Packaging: What trends do you see in the cosmetics/skin care/fragrance marketplace?
 
Marla Malcolm Beck: Innovation rules. For our clients, there is frenzy for new, in all categories.
 
In skin care, brands that create new categories, which solve a genuine problem, are extremely popular. For instance, NeuLash, Clarisonic and the Alpha Beta Face and Body Pads by Dr. Dennis Gross, which combine exfoliation and self-tanning into one step. Also, serums now account for five out of our top 10 skus company wide.
 

Bluemercury’s M-61 line, developed and designed by Beck

In color, innovation on traditional formulas. When I first started Bluemercury with my husband, someone told me “You can’t change client behavior.” Clients will always be buying lipsticks, eyeliners, and mascaras, but if a brand can use new technology to really improve on a formula, it can cannibalize existing business. NARS eye pencils and Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Eye Pencils have taken back some business that went to using an eyeshadow with a brush as liner. Laura Mercier Lip Gels, a gel formula lipstick, Chanel Rouge Coco, and Bobbi Brown Rich Lipstick have brought clients back to adoring lipstick again. Also, any palette that harnesses what’s going on in the fashion world sells out right away, whether it is in the packaging or the product. Bobbi Brown’s Neons and Nudes palette, with its bright

Bluemercury, Union Square, NYC

neon pink interior, was picked up by every client who’s drawn to fashion trends.
 
As far as foundations and tinted moisturizer, every new product in the category gets trial, the question is: Can it get loyalty? I think the field for innovation is wide open here still. The frenzy for BB creams this spring really showcases that there is desire for a treatment product that covers imperfections.
 
In fragrance, we focus on niche brands. We recently launched Jo Malone, and our clients love the repackaging of the Acqua di Parma Blue Mediterraneo. Lev Glazman, from Fresh, continues to bring out highly adored, creative scents. Home fragrance—candles and diffusers—really tends to dominate the category for us. 
 
BP: What does Bluemercury offer consumers that they can’t find elsewhere?
 
MMB: Our model is like no other out there. We are the friendly, neighborhood store where you can get expert, honest advice and the highest quality, most effective products. We fall into what I call the “assisted open-sell” category. We have a team of over 300 makeup artists and estheticians who are absolute product junkies and adore helping clients with makeup and skin care. We have spas at almost every location and did over 100,000 spa treatments last year alone. Because we target a specific demographic, women age 25-50, we are able to offer a range of products to meet all of our clients’ needs—from luxury brands like La Mer, La Prairie, and Chanel, clinical brands, such as Revive and Skinceuticals to niche brands like Ren, Acqua di Parma, Sara Happ and more. Also, because we have spas, we tend to see our clients for all of their needs, such as brow stylings, facials, and bikini waxing. 

BP: What do you look for in products that you select for Bluemercury?
 
MMB: Great packaging, great formulas, and a point of view. We love entrepreneurial, creative companies with “people” behind them—for instance, Francois Nars, Dr. Brown of Revive, Mathilde Thomas of Caudalie, Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg of Fresh.   

BP: What was missing? Why did you decide to create your own line?

MMB: About five years ago, pre-recession, there was a fever pitch of clients looking for highly effective, beautiful and natural products. They felt like natural products weren’t that effective and didn’t smell great or weren’t packaged well. On the opposite end of the spectrum, our clients are also technical skin care die-hards, who love active, ingredient-driven products, but wished that our lines eliminated parabens and some other undesirable ingredients. So I embarked on a research project to figure out how to bridge these two worlds. The result is M-61, which marries dermatologist-loved, potent ingredients with vitamin-packed, highly researched naturals.

BP: Why did you choose to design the packaging yourself?
 
MMB: We developed our packaging in house with our own graphics team. I also wrote every single piece of copy for the products and all of our training materials myself. I think 13 years of helping clients on the store floor helped me to realize exactly what clients wanted in packaging. They want beautiful packaging that travels well. They want the ingredients, skin typing and benefits on the front of the products. They want a clinical feel. And, for clinical skin care, it really needs to be unisex and accessible to men. 

BP: Is the packaging recyclable, airless, etc.?
   
MMB: Our boxes are completely recyclable and were manufactured using wind power. All product containers are made with plastic, metal, glass and cardboard, and all elements are recyclable (with the exception of the Power Pro Peels, which are individually wrapped in plastic. These are “airless.”)

BP: Where did the name M-61 originate—and the name Bluemercury, for that matter?
 
MMB: M-61 is named after a blue galaxy. It is one of the few “resolved” galaxies, which means scientists understand how it works and all of the science behind it. Bluemercury is a name my husband and I created. I love the color blue and wanted something fast and strong to go with it.
 
BP: What’s next for Bluemercury?
 
MMB: We have grown aggressively every year since our founding in 1999. Last year was a record growth year and we expect the same this year. We will continue to open new stores, drive our ecommerce business and launch more skus into M-61. We have an additional nine skus in development, and a list of over 100 skus that we would like to create.