Robyn Rihanna Fenty has served major shade (40 shades to be exact) on the beauty industry and many of its prominent makeup brands with the release of her Fenty Beauty line.

Executing a successful brand launch
We always hear that the beauty market is crowded and launching new products that will gain any kind of attention and survive in the market is difficult at best. Don’t tell that to Rihanna. She took over 2 years to develop her makeup line. She no doubt studied what is wrong and who is underserved, neglected and unappreciated and proceeded to create products that beautifully serves that niche. Couple that with benefits that include some of the most sought after visual effects, trailblazing colors, tremendous value, quality and affordability, my friends, you have a winning product that is creating major buzz.

This is how you successfully launch a brand!

As if that was not enough, people are simply besotted with the packaging. Not only was the packaging simple, clean, fresh and as she states girly, it is functional as well. Many of the items have a built in magnet that helps the products stay together, a functional aspect that helps keep your products together and easy to find. In the development of products, packaging is a notorious area many tend to give only an after thought. They fail to realize that great, creative packaging adds to the overall experience of your brand.

What is unique about Fenty Beauty?
So what it the big deal about Rihanna’s products that it is demanding such great attention other than the fact that she is a major recording artist? Well, Riri did something few if any beauty brands has done, she launch a skin foundation line that includes 40 shades, from the palest white to the deepest chocolate, with several color choicest in the deepest color range. Not only are those color ranges virtually unheard of, what makes them unique is that their formulation address various undertones in the skin (ex. yellow, red, pink etc.) and is light wearing providing a natural and comfortable feel for the user. There is virtually no other product out there that does all this at once. One single application stoke of the product and users were immediately impressed. This product is something so many have been looking for and simply thought was not doable. Rihanna says “Fenty Beauty was created for everyone: for women of all shades, personalities, attitudes, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone to feel included. That’s the real reason I made this line.” 

Take note, brand lesson learned
Rihanna now has many major brands scrambling to let clients know they have colors for darker skin tones as well. To be clear, some brands did have some darker color foundations, however they failed to adequately market this. A lot of consumers did not even know they existed. Also, they may only have one or two colors in the darker range which is hardly enough to effectively serve the market which is ready and willing to purchase products that solve their problems and serve their needs. Yes, the market does exist and it is much bigger than they thought. I chalk this short coming up to either these brands did not take the time to adequately research the needs and desire for such a product or they simply ignored the needs feeling it may not be lucrative enough to pursue. Whatever the case, it is a grave misstep as whoever takes the early lead in the market for a product, and as long as they continue to offer varied choices and exceptional quality and value, will be the go to brand in that space. Moreover, Fenty Beauty is endeavoring to be firmly entrenched in the mind of consumers, that it is the go to brand to solve their makeup needs.

Finally, the price point of Fenty Beauty is widely agreed to be affordable and a good value for a product of this caliber. Tremendous quality, great value, affordable pricing, and easy availability, with all these attributes, it is the overwhelming reason why I say that Fenty Beauty has a fantastic opportunity to become a huge leader in the makeup market and the brand to watch.

Caroll Atkins
Brand Stylist / Creative Director
Insta: @CarollAtkinsCreatives

Photo credits: Fenty Beauty by Rihanna