LONDON — Molton Brown’s makeup line is getting a whole new look.
The high-end British brand has overhauled its color cosmetics offer, scrapping its 28-year-old collection and creating Skincolour, a line set to bow in April.
The new Molton Brown color palette, which comprises a capsule collection of 48 references, is treatment-based, with a focus on highlighting the user’s looks rather than attempting to transform them.
“The very core of Molton Brown is about helping you be the you you want to be,” said Susan Arndt, chief operating officer of the London firm. “We’re trying to deliver daily skin care benefits rather than major change.”
The line includes a range of such beauty basics as lip color, tinted moisturizers and blush, in a variety of complexion-flattering hues. The products also offer a plethora of treatment benefits. Some lip products contain wild mango butter to moisturize, for example, while the line’s tinted moisturizer features gingko biloba to revitalize, stimulate and firm the skin.
“Most products are very sheer and very light,” said Arndt. “We’re focusing more on highlighting and emphasizing customers’ existing features and personalities.”
There’s also a strong focus on perfecting complexions, highlighted by the collection’s face category.
It includes Natural Skin Tint, an antiaging tinted moisturizer; Natural Skin Radiance, a light-diffusing serum; Natural Skin Highlights, a radiance-boosting highlighter said to have antiaging benefits and to strengthen skin; Natural Skin Finish, a translucent powder; Bareface Bronze, a moisturizing, nourishing and firming gel bronzer; Bareface Glow, a matte bronzing powder; Take Cover Eyes, an antiaging concealer for the eye area, and Take Cover Face, a healing concealer for the face.
For lips, the collection includes Wonderlips Whisper, a sheer satin-finish lipstick said to moisturize and protect while plumping pouts; Wonderlips Shine, a volumizing and moisturizing gloss; Wonderlips Glace, a conditioning treatment that offers high shine with volume-boosting properties, and Vitamin Lip Sheer, a nourishing balm that protects against environmental damage.
For the eyes, there’s Soft Eye Shade, a conditioning eye shadow, and Gentle Lash Mascara, said to strengthen, condition and define lashes.
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A blush dubbed Cheek Bloom and an applicator brush called The Little One complete the line.
Prices range in the U.K. from 11 pounds, or $19 at current exchange, for a 12-ml. Vitamin Lip Sheer lip balm, to 25 pounds, or $44, for a 20-ml. Natural Skin Tint moisturizer. The Little One brush goes for 27 pounds, or $47.
The collection’s packaging was rethought to ensure it is in fitting with the Molton Brown consumer’s lifestyle.
“We were quite keen to create a collection that was more portable and more flexible to use either from a handbag or at home,” said Arndt, explaining many of the products come with metallic closures, so lipsticks don’t lose their caps and stain the insides of handbags, for example.
The Molton Brown makeup line will bow in the U.K. in April and the U.S. in May. Its international rollout will put products in stores by early summer.
Molton Brown executives declined to discuss sales estimates, but industry sources estimate Skincolour could make $20 million in retail sales its first year.
The brand plans to grab consumers’ attention through in-store promotional campaigns rather than advertising. Merchandising units, inspired by Thirties and Forties dressing tables, will be used to display products in boutiques.
“It gives us a very attractive and intriguing appearance in stores,” said Arndt.