What does it take for a make-up artist to build a successful beauty brand renowned as much for its luxury and high performance as its celebrity-approved formulations? Make-up artist Gucci Westman — who has worked with Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltow, among others — and her entrepreneur husband, David Neville, are blazing a trail with Westman Atelier, the company they created together in 2018. On receiving the WWD Honour for Best-Performing Beauty Company, Small Cap, the co-founders unpack some of the secrets of their success — retail sales are reported to be $100 million in 2023 — in a new interview with WWD. “You have to be nimble,” Westman says of her highly active online engagement via Instagram, YouTube and the Westman Atelier website (the make-up tutorials, posts about her rosacea and fashion are the most popular, she reports). “It has never been more important to be founder-led and to have somebody that speaks passionately about why they do what they do, and how to use the products,” adds Neville, who also co-founded Rag & Bone. “We sit with luxury brands in different environments, whether it’s luxury department stores or specialty retailers like Sephora. There’s a competitive advantage that we have that European luxury brands don’t have: a working founder that is engaging directly with the customer”.
Speaking of beauty and social media, Beyoncé chose to splash the name of her new perfume’s name, Cé Noir, for the first time yesterday via Instagram. The black and white video also unveiled the bottle of the sweet-floral fragrance, which is exclusively available to pre-order at the dedicated website.
As we head into the last week of October, here at CEW, beauty editor and writer Paige Herman-Axel offers a powerful, personal perspective of Breast Cancer Awareness Month as a beauty industry insider and breast cancer survivor. ‘For me, pink ribbons feel less like a rallying cry and more like a reminder of my ongoing “journey” that took a sudden, sharp turn from annual screenings to appointments with oncologists and surgeons,’ writes Herman-Axel. ‘Fortunately, breast cancer is one of the highest-funded types of cancer. According to The Lancet, breast cancer awareness initiatives have raised $2.7 billion between 2016 and 2020—and the power of the pink ribbon cannot be underestimated. Yet when you take a closer look at where the contributions are going and how much money is actually making it to various organizations, some BCA products are better investments than others.” In our feature, she spotlights some members of the 2023 “100% Club,” who are donating all proceeds from product sales to a range of non-profit charities, and not only through the month of October.
Read on for more on these and other breaking news stories.
Beyoncé’s unveils Cé Noir. The new perfume is available to pre-order exclusively online, where its key notes are also revealed. (BYRDIE)
A ban is proposed by the FDA on certain chemicals used in hair relaxers that have been linked with cancer. (Cosmetics Design USA)
