DALLAS — Susan Posnick, a makeup artist who spent 18 years as Mary Kay’s personal cosmetician, is expanding her eponymous line of color cosmetics, an assortment she calls “the anti-makeup-artist thing.”
“The idea is to do a line that is simple and multipurpose, and to give you the best possible products I can,” said Posnick, who is getting ready to complete the face this spring with mascara, eye and lip colors — all of which are double-ended to perform two functions. She launched Susan Posnick Cosmetics in 2002 with ColorFlo mineral powder foundation, which featured a built-in brush, and followed that with a creamy two-tone concealer and a blush with built-in puff.
Her new eye pencils, for instance, unite slanted eyeliner with an applicator and eye shadow; the powder is in the cap. Called ColorEyeDefine, the pencils will be available in six color combinations, such as a bronze liner with copper shadow, black with silver and navy with dark purple. They are $26 and begin shipping in March.
Posnick’s ColorForever lip color offers both a stain and a coordinated tinted conditioning balm. Posnick has five options, each named for a rock star, from a neutral beige-brown named Jimi to a bright pink dubbed Rod. They will retail for $24 and are also slated for March delivery.
Ironically, the simplicity of the line was partially inspired by Mary Kay, who abhorred the natural look.
“She gave me a sense of doing things with integrity and helping women,” Posnick said. “She helped women find out they could be financially supportive of their spouses or financially independent. For me, it’s about taking care of women with makeup that has sunscreen for the skin and by making the makeup routine simple.”
Posnick sells primarily through spas, medical spas and apothecaries plus a handful of specialty stores, including Fred Segal and Forty Five Ten. The line had revenues of about $1 million this year, and Posnick believes the new products combined with some extra marketing muscle could double her business in 2007.
Posnick hired Diane Laner, who helped launch Laura Mercier cosmetics, as a marketing consultant.
“The potential is endless here,” Laner said.
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Posnick’s products are carried in several European countries and in Australia and Japan, and she is working on establishing her brand internationally as much as domestically.
Her strongest market? “We do best in the northwestern U.S. because they don’t like makeup,” Posnick said.