DALLAS — Colores Para Ti means colors for you in Spanish.
The IVAX Corp., based in Miami, is hoping that it also translates to big business.
IVAX’s Colores Para Ti color and treatment line, launched mid-May, is targeted for Hispanic women 18 to 45.
IVAX is no stranger to niche cosmetics; it also produces Flori Roberts color and treatment products geared for black women and Derma Blend Corrective Cosmetics.
“Today’s culturally diverse consumers have very different needs than the mainstream consumers of 20, 10 — even five — years ago,” noted Lynda Farrington Wilson, vice president of marketing for Colores Para Ti and Dermablend. “Women of color, and Hispanic women in particular, have significant buying power and a strong sense of cultural pride. They will no longer stand for being an afterthought at the cosmetic counter.”
Wilson claimed IVAX is a prestige pioneer in singling out Hispanic women’s cosmetics needs with a specialized line.
“Beauty is a serious business to Hispanic women — probably even more so than Anglo-Americans,” said Wilson. “Hispanic women have never bought into the the Anglo-American misconception that to be taken seriously, a woman has to compromise her feminine flair.”
The Colores Para Ti line — with 21 products — is sparked by a wide and vibrant color spectrum to complement various Hispanic skin colors — from fair Cuban tones to olive Puerto Rican and golden Mexican shades.
Color products retail from $7 for nail lacquer to $22.50 for moisturizing foundation.
Treatment items for normal, dry or oily skin types, retail from $13 for cleansing cream to $20 for a moisturizer.
IVAX plans to promote Colores Para Ti with ads in magazines such as Vanidades, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan (Spanish) and Harper’s Bazaar (Spanish), as well as 30-second commercials on Spanish radio and television.
In addition to Puerto Rico, target markets include U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations. About 180 stores, including J.C. Penney Co. Inc., here, are the first retail venues for Colores Para Ti.
Some of the radio ads will feature a Penney’s tag since the chain plans a major push for the line.
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Sara Swanson, Penney’s color and treatment buyer, said early response has been hot, especially in units in Houston and Southern California, and called it an overnight success.
At Houston’s North West mall, Penney’s racked up Colores Para Ti sales of $1,300 in one day shortly after launch. At Penney’s Sharpstown Mall, Houston, unit, the line recently rang up $800 in one day.
Penney’s carries the line in about 125 units.