Starting from carved lipstick, discussing “where to go” in makeup innovation

Some people say that product innovation is to create surprises for consumers.

Source | Jumeili

Author | Simin

Consumer: It’s already 2020, why do some people still think carved lipstick is a new thing?

After all, it has been more than a year since the "Hua Xizi Hua Yin Xing Dome Micro Sculpting Lipstick" became popular on major social platforms and beauty bloggers' live video broadcasts as soon as it was launched.

This carved lipstick, which was launched in April 2019, sold tens of millions of dollars a month as soon as it was launched. It has been on the TOP list of makeup sales all year round. It can be said that this lipstick has made the entire brand popular and even a classic of the carved craftsmanship of makeup. case.

As the first case of domestic three-dimensional texture lipstick, this product replicates the ancient Chinese carving technology and carves flowers on the lipstick. At a time when most Chinese-style cosmetics are focusing on packaging and names, It incorporates Chinese elements into the paste and opens up a new method of national customization.

Huaxizi then launched the "Huaxizi Birds and Phoenixes Relief Cosmetic Palette" at the beginning of this year, once again consolidating its "Oriental Cosmetics" brand positioning with exquisite carving craftsmanship.

So, in the next half year, we saw various carved lipsticks, carved blushes, carved eye shadows that were either exactly the same or had their own styles...

Even in the middle of 2020, there are still brands that are "heavy on the core selling points" of new products, even though this is no longer a surprise to consumers.

Among the above, can you tell who is who without looking at the packaging?

In this regard, the person in charge of the "victim" Huaxizi brand said in an interview with Jumeili: "The carvings must be in Chinese style, and the carvings must be fine enough. Our name is Huaxizi, so everything follows Huaxizi Relevant craftsmanship and technology, these are things that exist in the soul of our brand.”

The person in charge of Su Xisu, who is also a cutting-edge cosmetics brand, also said in an interview with Jumei, “Carving a dragon and painting a phoenix. There are genetic attributes of the brand that not everyone can copy, and consumers have already passed the point of novelty.

This kind of behavior that ignores its own brand positioning and style and blindly follows the trend of "copying homework" will indeed only make the brand's image in the minds of consumers more confusing. , unable to form deep and clear cognitions and associations.

Of course, I believe that these experienced brand builders must understand these simple truths better than anyone else, but why do they still "know that they cannot do it"?

< p> Although there is no lack of enthusiasm and pursuit of short-term interests, the fundamental reason may be that these brands themselves do not yet have the ability to innovate independently.

Just as the founder of Jiubian Beauty said in an interview with Jumei: "There is a lack of domestic makeup talents and basic aesthetic education. They can only follow the gourd. The fundamental point is to dominate product design and positioning." People, vision and structure are still at the second- or third-rate level. Traders or leaders are still stuck in the path of imitating mature and successful products. They are not confident or self-sufficient in innovation and creation. They need to be proactive in R&D and design. Domestically, they may have the courage to do so. The brands they produce, Marie-Delga, Hua Xizi, and Perfect Diary are among the top three. They are at least consciously and subjectively proactive. ”

In addition, the person in charge of an old domestic cosmetics brand also believes that domestically produced cosmetics are very popular. Cosmetics do not dare to go high-end or innovate easily because they "don't dare to try, don't dare to invest, are afraid of failure, and are afraid of losing more than they gain." A quick review shows that both Perfect Diary and domestic makeup brands such as Marie Dalgar invest huge amounts in R&D and marketing. Brands are eager to expand rapidly and occupy the market, and most of them choose multi-channel marketing, from Xiaohongshu to Weibo to WeChat public accounts. Behind the waves of "planting grass" is the burning of RMB. The consequence of this kind of operation is that the huge sales volume makes people jealous, and the weak gross profit makes people feel disappointed. Without profit, there is no money to invest in research and development, forming a vicious circle.

Indeed, innovation has always been a difficult and important ability in the process of brand development. When an idea is sold out and recognized by consumers, relevant followers flock to it. "What we have to fight for at this time is Persistence for users and persistence on the road of innovation,” the person in charge of Huaxizi said frankly.

Regarding the question of how domestic cosmetics can achieve self-innovation, the person in charge of Su Xisu said that we can start from the aspects of packaging, content, and vision. For example, the packaging must be a private model to solve the functional and aesthetic problems, and the real needs of consumers need to be explored to achieve functional upgrades of cosmetic packaging materials. Content is planning ability, and cosmetics need stories to surround the products. Visuals directly reflect the brand's tone and differentiation, stimulating conversions and clicks.

Fortunately, with the rise of new domestic brands, we have begun to see more and more domestic cosmetics brands making various innovative attempts and explorations.

For example, the dark-style makeup brand CROXX recently announced the latest Yuzang Fusheng series, in which the eye shadow palette and blush products, which are the main products this time, are based on pure white porcelain and adopt three-dimensional relief technology. The cloud patterns and silk chrysanthemums, combined with the images of all living beings, the images of compassion and anger, are carefully engraved on the product packaging to create a unique work of art.

The products of NONO NOTES, an anthropomorphic cosmetics brand, are designed and created inspired by the elements of notebooks and stationery. Most of the products are paper packaging materials, and the eye shadows are travel notes and the blush is Dessert recipes, eyebrow pencils are exam answer sheets, and lip gloss is a cheese warm drink menu element.

The new series of cosmic romance launched by the makeup brand Girlcult is inspired by the Voyager I that launched in 1977. The packaging design of the blush ball looks like the blush is "sitting" in a space capsule. It looks like a paste but is actually a powder.

The product line of the new Chinese style cosmetics brand Paiji is inspired by the Thirteen Yao in Mahjong, and incorporates various elements such as chicken feet, dice, and Hu brand aliases.

Fomomy, a trendy cosmetics brand, has launched cigarette box lip glaze and cigarette tube lipstick. Among them, the disposable cotton swab design of the cigarette box lip glaze has obtained a utility model patent and was inspired by iodophor disinfectant cotton. Stick, open one end, and the lip dye will be injected into the other end.

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Perhaps, as the head of Shanghai Chuangyuan R&D Center, a cosmetics foundry, once said at the Jubei Conference, as young people become more aware of themselves, The realization and pursuit of value, the demand for cost-effectiveness and the efficiency improvement of life quality, their consumption is increasingly tending to self-worth realization and self-reward and gift-based consumption.

In addition, with the development of mobile Internet, consumers are becoming more and more dependent on it. Therefore, in the context of market fragmentation (new channels, new market segments) and time fragmentation, domestic products, Keywords such as cost-effectiveness, quick makeup application, experience upgrade, personalization, and environmental protection have also become new focuses for the younger generation of consumers.

Therefore, the future trend of cosmetics innovation and research and development is bound to return to consumers, carry out multi-dimensional experience design and comprehensive innovative quality management.