07.01.13
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Cristina Bartolucci |
A veteran of the beauty industry and co-founder of the cult brand, DuWop Cosmetics, Bartolucci will work alongside NYX’s founder and chief creative officer, Toni K. She began her career as a makeup artist for A-list celebrities, and later served as vice president of innovation for Roberts Cosmetics. While chief creative officer of DuWop, the cult brand launched innovative products such as Lip Venom—the first ever lip plumper.
Beauty Packaging recently had the opportunity to ask Bartolucci about her priorities at NYX Cosmetics. Among other things, we learned about a dream breakthrough package we may see down the line. (For the complete interview, please go to www.beautypackaging.com)
Beauty Packaging: What makes NYX Cosmetics stand out from other brands?
Cristina Bartolucci: NYX was born of one woman’s vision to bring the best of beauty to the market at an amazing price point. Our founder, Toni K., has held to this philosophy for almost fourteen years. All of us share this passion and it shows in everything we do. While other companies deal with traders or second source, NYX has created meaningful relationships directly with our suppliers, and works with them to bring innovation and quality to our customers. When I first discovered NYX as a makeup artist, it blew me away, the color range, the pigment load, everything that you expect from first class formulas. There is also no way to overstate the role that the global online beauty community has played in the brand’s rise. When fans discovered NYX, it went both viral and global. What in the nineties would have been ‘good word of mouth’ has become a major force. To date, NYX has generated over 1.6 billion impressions on YouTube.
BP: What is your first priority upon joining NYX Cosmetics as chief creative director?
CB: I have a huge passion for beauty innovation and NYX is a very inspiring place to be in that regard. More and more, the brand is being recognized for creating fun and fascinating product. I want to continue this trend and help bring it to the next level. I love to create based on a gap in the market, discovering what is really needed and bringing it to life. Toni K. has been doing this brilliantly for years as the ultimate makeup consumer and connoisseur. I will be concentrating on formula innovation and deeper ingredient stories as we continue to evolve. My style is very collaborative but rather daring. If I see something that I believe in, I will fight for it, and the beauty of being at NYX is that we can be really responsive to the market, while the larger brands cannot. Toni K and our CEO Scott Friedman are incredibly supportive creatively, to me and to the entire team. Their attitude is, if you see it and believe in it, go for it.
BP: Where do you envision the brand in one year? Three years?
CB: Just as NYX has evolved with social media over the last ten years, it has also evolved with the concept of masstige. What used to be just a marketing term has burgeoned into a full-on category. Because NYX offers such quality for the money, I see it breaking out and becoming the leading masstige beauty company worldwide. I know that this is a lofty goal, but our growth to date bears it out. It may be more of a five-year goal, but we are well on our way.
BP: How much attention is placed on packaging?
CB: When developing new packaging, we ask ourselves ‘Would I be proud to pull this out of my purse?’ Lately we have been adding a bit more color to our packaging palette, components that are color matched to the product inside. Not only does this add interest at point of purchase, it also helps the consumer know what they are buying, no more searching for a tiny color dot on a row of identical boxes to find your shade. As the brand evolves, we are also using unit cartons more and more. I love this because there is more room to tell the story of the product and why it is special. That said, out of concern for the environment, we never use more packaging than we need to.
BP: Where is the packaging sourced? Can you please name a few of your suppliers?
CB: We develop turnkey so all our components are sourced by our fillers. This is not only cost effective, it also means less issues with compatibility. Our factories use packaging materials that they know work with their formulas. All of our pencils come from the leading manufacturer in Germany. Pencils were the very first thing that NYX produced so those relationships are very strong and productive. We just won a Self Healthy Beauty Award—and an IPDA—for The Curve eyeliner that was developed with one of them. We also work a lot with Asia.
BP: What colors/materials/decorative techniques are used to tie the line together?
CB: Besides our recent trend toward color matching our components to formula shades, our packaging is largely black and white, invoking a clean, modern aesthetic. We do, however, always incorporate at least one fun element such as a bow-shaped clasp or a playful font.
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NYX’s award-winning, bestselling eye liner |
CB: We have a gorgeous white Jumbo Eyeliner called Milk. It is one of the products that began the YouTube fervor for NYX. Someone discovered it and posted a video about using it as a shadow base as well as a liner. It went viral and this is now our number one selling SKU. Our ‘tricks of the trade’ products like Shine Killer and Pore Filler as well as our Super Skinny and Super Fat liquid liners also do very well for us.
BP: What is your dream breakthrough product/package?
CB: I have had an idea kicking around in my head for years now that involves an eyelash curler and false lashes. I cannot say more …
