Milani Cosmetics chief executive officer Mary van Praag joined the beauty brand during a challenging time for color cosmetics. It was 2020 amid COVID-19.
“The category took a rapid 20 percent decline,” she said. “For a small company, that’s a pretty big hit. Your inventory is in question, your strategy, your whole innovation strategy is in question.”
Fast forward three years and it’s clear that van Praag has all of the answers. The executive has turned the business around, rebuilding the fundamentals of the brand in collaboration with her team and partners.
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“We’re the only independent brand in the top 10, meaning that’s not a multinational public company or a conglomerate of brands,” she said of Milani Cosmetics — headquartered in Culver City, California. Founded in 2001 by siblings Ralph Bijou and Laurie Minc, the brand was acquired by private equity firm Gryphon Investors in 2018.
“I can share with you we aggregate all of our POS,” she went on. “We’re roughly a $200 million business, and our business is up over 30 percent on a 52-week year-over-year basis.”
Sales are more than 20 percent since pre-pandemic times, she added. “We’re having explosive hyper growth right now.”
Praag “reassembled the team” (now just under 100, globally), and a year into her role, she brought Jeremy Lowenstein on as chief marketing officer. The two had worked together at Coty Inc.
“I started much like everybody else behind the Zoom screen, actually trying to orient, build trust and collaboration with a team,” she said.
What Milani Cosmetics already had was a strong DNA and footprint, known as a quality yet affordable brand serving diverse consumers.
But it needed a shake-up. And there were big pivots early on, van Praag said, including changing the focus “from skin care and doubling down on our core competency [in color]. And then, really investing in core franchises. Our top 50 [stock keeping units] make up the bulk of our business even though we have 390 skus.”
“What encouraged me to join the brand, similar to Mary, was there was a lot there that just needed to be relooked at and brought back to life,” Lowenstein chimed in. “For me, I look at brands as, ‘Why did they start?’ And ‘How do you go back and honor those core tenants and pillars?’”
Milani Cosmetics was launched for two reasons, Lowenstein said: “One was to democratize prestige makeup, so giving access to high-quality formulas to everybody as opposed to relegating it to a specific channel. And then secondarily, 22 years ago, having the insight of — Black women were, at that point, the most underserved consumer in the mass market from shade development. Fast forward, and we’re the leading multicultural brand now in mass color.”
Van Praag added: “I recognized that it probably just didn’t have the right execution on all of the key elements to drive what I call a vibrant growing mass color brand. And it required partnerships with key partners both on the supply chain side, the supplier where we co-collaborate on formulations, really thinking about the role of innovation. And then thinking about how to rebuild our core product architecture and merchandising principles, because we do most of our business through brick-and-mortar partners…Those partnerships that we have with brick-and-mortar and omnichannel have been a really important part of our growth story.”
With 98 percent of products coming from Europe, mostly Italy, as well as North America, Milani Cosmetics is found at a variety of retailers both online and in stores — Ulta Beauty, Amazon, Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS. Sixty-five percent of Milani Cosmetics consumers are under 44, with 54 percent ages 25 to 45. The brand has attracted that consumer by focusing on key products and innovations in face, lip and eye, while tapping into cultural moments and internet conversations. TikTok has been an appealing platform, thanks to content creators like Mikayla Nogueira providing organic impressions and helping products go viral.
Campaigns have included the #GetReadyWithMilani, a play on the popular “Get Ready With Me” trend, which had more than 46 million video views. There’s also #NoFilterJustMilani, noticing the backlash AI and AR was getting in the digitalization of faces. It supported a message of “embrace who you are” while highlighting its “Conceal + Perfect 2-In-1 Foundation and Concealer,” which comes in 45 shades.
It’s asking, “What are the messages you’re bringing at the right time or wherever that consumer is on their path of purchase?” said Lowenstein.
Product successes include the $10.99 “Keep It Full Nourishing Lip Plumper,” $11.99 “Fruit Fetish Lip Oils,” $11.99 “Anti-Gravity Mascara” and $13.99 “Lash Extensions Mascara.” But topping the list is the $12.99 “Make It Last Setting Spray,” which saw 70 percent growth.
“It’s one of the top 10 in the category at Walmart,” said van Praag.
“It’s about supporting core categories that we need to play in but also thinking about innovation that we’re seeing and bringing that to market in a timely manner that’s meaningful to the consumer,” added Lowenstein.
The in-store experience is a priory at the moment; the brand is strategizing how to best present Milani Cosmetics to consumers for ultimate value, including providing a larger range of existing skus that are currently sold online.
“It’s a combination of core architecture, innovation and compelling communication,” said van Praag.