when riri turned beauty renegade
every now and then a brand comes along that makes us wonder what the heck we did before it existed. A brand that both perfectly captures the zeitgeist and, more importantly, makes our hectic lives that little bit easier. But who’d have thought that 2017 would belong to pop’s best-selling bad gal. Dubbed one of the best inventions of the year by Time – thanks, in part, to its 40 shades of foundation – Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty ushered in a new era of inclusivity and diversity and we couldn’t get enough of it.
Two years in development, the range sold out within minutes of its 6.30am Harvey Nichols launch when 8,000 shoppers descended on the store. And the queues continued to stretch round the block (one Gloss Bomb is sold every three minutes and more units of Trophy Wife have been sold than the entire population of Knightsbridge). Daniela Rinaldi, group commercial director of Harvey Nichols, says: ‘Once in a while a brand launches that changes everything. We said this with MAC which we launched exclusively in Europe over 20 years ago and Fenty is the modern day equivalent.’ She puts this down to the brand’s inclusive philosophy, uninhibited tone and diverse product range which caters to an unprecedented breadth of skin tones. But maybe it’s also partly because it feels authentic, with even beauty eds (a sceptical bunch, especially when it comes to ‘sleb’ launches) getting hot under the collar. Riri herself says: ‘I had and have 100% involvement in this process which made it so special and very fun. I had so much freedom in creating whatever products I wanted to make, and whatever colours or shades I wanted to make them.’ One thing Riri need not worry about is a social media marketing strategy. As well as the gorgeously diverse campaign imagery, the online frenzy has reportedly earned her $72m in media value in one month alone, according to Women’s Wear Daily. And other brands are taking note with a flurry of shade-extensions, leading to speculation that Fenty has done more for the beauty industry than anyone else has in years.
So, what can we expect in 2018? The brand is keeping tight-lipped, but whatever Ms Fenty puts her hand to is guaranteed to be a best-seller ella ella…..
It was the year of the indie beauty brand. Here’s our pick of the top five:
• Glossier: when beauty editors make a dedicated trip during their NYFW schedule to pore over products you know they’re good.
• Hair by Sam Mcknight: from the man who wrote the ‘cool girl’ rule book.
• Beauty Pie: dubbed the ‘buyers’ club for beauty addicts’.
• Pat Mcgrath LABS: finally, the permanent collection from the ‘mother’ of make-up.
• Lixir: oh-so-Instagrammable skincare collection with a no-frills approach to products that contain derm-worthy ingredients.