As men become more comfortable with the idea of using skin care, an increasing number of marketers are introducing them to makeup. Only, they don’t call it “makeup,” and many believe cyberspace is the best place to clinch a sale.
Executives at L’Oréal-owned Biotherm, for one, prefer to call its new Power Bronze line (which includes a tinted gel bronzer and a concealer stick), due out in April worldwide, “enhanced” skin care, rather than makeup.
“This is not about coverage, but treatment,” said Roberta Weiss, Biotherm’s senior vice president of marketing, who ticked off a list of the products’ ingredients meant to revitalize and protect skin, including the brand’s proprietary Vitreoscilla Ferment complex, palm oil, glycerin and vitamins E, B5 and C.
Industry sources estimate the Power Bronze line—whose 40-ml. tinted gel will be priced at $18 (?13.70/£9.20) and whose 10- ml. concealer is to retail for $16.50—will ring up $250,000 in fi rst-year retail sales.
Executives at the Estée Lauder Cos.-owned Clinique are also pitching their upcoming under- eye concealer for men, called M Cover, from its Skin Supplies men’s treatment brand, as skin care chockablock with moisturizers, such as coconut oil, and anti-irritants, such as soybean sterols and hydrogenated lecithin.
The 2-g. stick, which will bow worldwide in April, is to be priced at ?15 and comes in two shades. Industry sources estimate it will generate $100,000 in fi rst-year retail sales.
For the twentieth anniversary of Terracotta Men makeup, Guerlain reformulated its bronzer with a more matte powder. The company also reworked its original compact so it looks like a black shaving bowl and brush.
“It’s even more masculine and designoriented,” said Véronique Courtois, Guerlain’s makeup marketing director, who added the product is marketed as giving a sporty glow. Terracotta Men was launched worldwide in March in Guerlain’s 500 doors for ?46 per 11-g. compact. Courtois expects Terracotta Men’s offer, which will be expanded, to ultimately rival Guerlain’s women’s Terracotta, which makes half of France’s bronzer sales.
Among the pioneers of makeup for men was Beauté Prestige International, a branch of Shiseido that holds the Jean Paul Gaultier beauty license. In 2003, Gaultier introduced a color-cosmetics line for men, Tout Beau Tout Propre. The collection now comprises the brand’s bestselling line on its e-tail site, jeanpaulgaultier. com, where Tout Beau makes more than 40% of sales.
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The new Biotherm and Clinique color products for men will be sold in traditional stores and also online, through biothermhomme- usa.com and cliniqueformen.com.
“The Internet is a less stressful alternative for the male clientele,” said Precepta, a Parisbased strategic analysis fi rm, in its recent study, called “Fragrance and Beauty Product Retailing” about the French market in 2006.
Often, sites take a no-frills approach to beauty advising, including a straightforward question-and-answer section, which is comfortable for men. Moreover, “men don’t run the risk of bumping into a colleague” online, said Sebastien Lebeau, co-founder of the site Le Comptoir de L’Homme (comptoirdelhomme. com), which the Precepta study highlights as a successful men’s beauty seller.
The site, which went live last March, retails around 20 men’s skin-care brands. It also has a section called “bonne mine” (or healthy glow, in English), which includes bronzers and tinted moisturizers for guys from brands such as Tom Robinn and California North.
“[Makeup is] a very feminine term,” exclaimed Lebeau, in explaining the choice of wording.
Le Comptoir de L’Homme boasts 50,000 visitors per month and received some 3,000 orders within its fi rst year.
Mankind.com also sells men’s makeup, such as concealers, through its “Advanced Skin Care” section. Foundations and bronzers for males on sephora.com are found under the header “Complexion Enhancers.”
Some men’s cosmetics brands make most of their business online. Las Vegas-based Male Species, for instance, rang up 80% of its $1.2 million retail sales in cyberspace in 2006.
“We fi nd most of our clients are professionals— either in business or entertainment,” said Pete Ciccarone, co-founder of the brand. “They like to purchase with discretion.”
Ciccarone believes most major beauty companies will ultimately have men’s makeup in their lineups, but others are less confi dent. “I can’t see it moving mainstream,” said Oxford, U.K.-based beauty industry consultant Imogen Matthews, of the men’s makeup trend. “We still have a problem with getting men to use skin care.”