Glossier: Blog Turned Beauty Brand

US beauty blog Into The Gloss has launched Glossier, its own beauty range. The move marks a growing trend in beauty bloggers launching their own product lines.

The range – which includes a moisturiser, all-purpose balm and luminising skin tint – is built on the blog’s skincare expertise. This has been cultivated over the years from in-depth analysis of new beauty launches, as well as “Top Shelf” interviews with models, celebrities and beauty role models and their outlooks on beauty and the industry.

Emily Weiss, beauty editor and founder of Into the Gloss, says the range has been developed based on what consumers really want. “Our credo is to follow our gut and rethink products, creating exactly the items (and colours, soon!) that we want to see,” she says. “Who are we? We are you, listening to everyone, absorbing all of this information over the years, and trying to get at the core of what beauty is – and needs – in 2014. Glossier begins with you, which is why our first products are all about letting your personality shine through… glowy, dewy skin.”

We recently reported on the influence of millennial beauty bloggers in YouTube’s Beauty Advocates. The roaring success of British beauty blogger Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella) culminated in her own cutesy beauty range, Zoella Beauty. Launched on September 25 2014, the range sold out online by 7am that same day.

According to Simon Comins, director of British pharmacy brand Superdrug, which hosted the launch: “Beauty bloggers creating their own beauty ranges makes perfect sense, as shoppers trust their online idols to create products they would use themselves.” Fellow British blogger Tanya Burr has enjoyed similar success with her range for the chain.

While some brands are looking to engage with consumers on blogs, social media and content sites through editorial content, these beauty launches tap into the notion of editorialisation in reverse. From a retail perspective, this is ‘experts-turn-shopkeepers’. This mirrors the trend of ex-fashion editors and stylists launching their own fashion ranges, such as British stylist turned shoe designer Tabitha Simmons, or the Kingsman menswear line designed by American costume designer Arianne Philips for e-tailer Mr Porter.

Ultimately, beauty consumers will back the products created for them by their favourite experts and role models. It’s all about trust, which Weiss has taken care to acknowledge – she calls Glossier “a beauty brand you want to be friends with”. Smart brands take note.