NAIL POLISH TRAILBLAZER DEAR LAURA RELAUNCHES BESTSELLER, EXPLORES MEDICAL COSMETICS FIELD
Uncovering the niche and blue-ocean nail polish market 21 years ago with his pioneering strategy of combining the nail polish and accessories categories into one segment, Dear Laura president and director Yasutomo Hulk Ishii is a man in a hurry.
Constantly on the lookout for upcoming trends and opportunities in the vast cosmetics sector, Ishii meticulously treads common and new grounds to uphold visible beauty and vigour within.
“When the nail art accessories business such as nail stickers and fake nails became popular in Japan 21 years ago, I discovered the potential of mixing cosmetics and accessories as a new nail category, so I was the first to market this as a brand,” Ishii says.
Dear Laura is the company behind renowned nail polish and goods brand pa and the popular double eyelid liquid make-up Automatic Beauty (AB). Dear Laura also developed a new nail polish collection in 2020 under the Ohana Mahaalo licence. Ohana Mahaalo is a beloved fragrance brand featuring a sophisticated Hawaiian character.
Last year, Dear Laura relaunched an old make-up favourite in Asian markets. The AB Mezical Fiber is making a comeback after almost a decade, adorning customers with natural-looking and long-lasting eyelid creases once again. “The Chinese and Asian markets are looking for high-quality Japanese cosmetics, and that’s an advantage for us,” Ishii says.
“In China, the biggest drugstore chain Watsons carries our products in more than 4,200 stores, and we get a reorder every month.”
Dear Laura seeks more partners in China to penetrate the e-commerce space. Through research and development collaborations with venture capitalists associated with Osaka University, it develops Covid-19 testing kits and natural sanitisers made of yuzu.
“I want to help people specially in this time of pandemic,” Ishii says. “My time is running short, so I want to do this while I am still active.”