NEW YORK — Australian company ModelCo has tripled its U.S. retail distribution only a year after making its American debut, as it prepares to launch its ColourBox cosmetics line.
The ColourBox collection features over 40 stockkeeping units, including blush, bronzer, foundation, eye shadow and gloss as well as lip and eye pencils. The assortment launched at Colette in Paris this month and will be available in the U.S. next month at high-end retailers such as Henri Bendel, Sephora and Space NK. Products will retail from $16 for lip liners and eyeliners to $42 for foundations.
After researching what women wanted in their daily beauty regime, ModelCo began creating a “well-edited line” that would save time and solve problems, yet still give consumers the classic color hues they wanted.
“Every other color house has so many different sku’s of color. At the end of the day, women only wear a certain palette of color,” said Shelley Barrett, founder and chief executive officer of the three-year-old Sydney-based beauty company. “I wanted to take the guesswork out of color selection.”
In addition, Barrett wanted to provide customers with added-value products and “give women what they want before they know they want it.” She found that the ModelCo customer wanted products to have all the application tools needed to apply makeup on the run. Each compact comes with custom-made application tools, including a concealer and eye base located in the lid of ColourBox Fluid Splash Foundation; a lip pencil and brush to apply ColourBox Gloss and full-length pencils with built-in sharpeners in the lid.
“I thought about the application process and wanted to provide women with what they wanted and needed to have to apply makeup,” said Barrett. “These are dual-purpose products that provide women with not only added value, but all the tools required for application.”
Standout products include the boxed gloss and lipstick composed of highly pigmented color, along with a three-in-one foundation. According to Barrett, the foundation has a 50 percent water-based formula that keeps the skin hydrated, reducing the effects of aging.
ModelCo is sold in 120 doors in the U.S., including Bliss, Victoria’s Secret and Sephora. The company is also entering markets in the Middle East, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, Germany, China and Ireland later this year. With the upcoming expansion, the brand’s international presence will increase from 500 to 650 doors outside the U.S. In Australia, ModelCo is launching about 34 concept installations offering various treatments, such as manicures and makeovers, which will be redeemable upon purchasing ModelCo products.
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ModelCo did more than $15 million in retail sales worldwide last year. Barrett expects first-year U.S. retail sales of the ColourBox collection to bring in $5 million.