Can Colourpop continue their success?
How did Colourpop start?
The brand was launched in 2014. However the story starts long before that.
In 1955, Spatz Laboratories was founded by Walter Spatz. He was chief engineer and co-founder of the propel/repel version of the ballpoint pen.
In 1980, Spatz Laboratories owned several patents some of them being the mechanical pencil, cosmetic applicators like lipstick tubes, mascaras and cosmetic pencil. Spatz Labs have a saying, “Cosmetics at the Speed of Light”.
By 1989, the Nelson family, John and Laura’s dad purchased the business from Walter Spatz. Prior to this the family had no involvement with the cosmetics industry. They continued business as normal, making cosmetics for other brands in the Spatz Labs.
In 2014 Laura and John founded Seed Beauty, an umbrella company designed to create new beauty brands, the first one being Colourpop. The wanted to change from Business to Business to Business direct to consumer.
What is unique about Colourpop?
It is said they created the brand in 12 weeks and broke even in the first nine months! How did they do this? ColourPop understood social media. Instead of following the traditional marketing model they went to Instagram and YouTube influencers to promote the brand. Also they did not want their faces to be the center focal point of the brand.
Another thing that makes them unique is ColourPop’s parent company, Seed Beauty, has everything under one roof. This allows them to cut out the middleman, and make changes based on trends and customer feedback very quick. Instead of other brands taking up to 2 years from concept to consumer they can in 5 days!
What changes have been made over the years?
The rate at which they launch products. The first year in business they only launched- the super shock shadows on May 1st 2014 and the lippie sticks.
2nd year the Ultra Matte Lip.
However we now know their vision is to be the fast fashion of makeup. They want products out quick and often. Yet this doesn’t add to their assortment overall because a lot of products are in and out and don’t become a permanent staple in the assortment. This is why if you go to instagram you can see new launches, sometimes more than one in the same week. There has been some criticism that they release too many products too fast and that the quality can be inconsistent.
In the last couple of years, more brands have released refillable packaging and made an effort to be more aware of waste. The brands response was basically they are already at a lower carbon footprint because they do not need to ship and package unfinished goods along the manufacturing process. But they do have mostly plastic packaging and I could not find anywhere that they used recycled plastics.
Rapid fire question and answer:
- Is CP Cruelty free – yes
- IS CP vegan – not all, they will have the vegan symbol if the product is
- Where are their products made? in LA in the USA
- Where can you purchase CP products? Colourpop.com, Ulta in store and and online. Target online and select stores.
- Is their Mica Ethically sourced? ColourPop claims their mica is sourced from the US, Japan, and Europe. But they did not specifically address whether it was ethically sourced
Some Fun Facts:
A stat from 3 years ago said that they can makeup up to 200 eyeliner pencils in a single hour. And this is with a process that is mainly done by hand!
In 2021 CP annual revenue was $59 Million.
To learn more and see some products in action, check out my full deep dive video https://youtu.be/8b0_GCjoplc
