CosmoBiz Magazine September 2018 | Page 81

Calvin Klein unveils new fragrance for women starring Lupita Nyong’o and Saoirse Ronan. Calvin Klein has named actors Lupita Nyong’o and Saoirse Ronan as the faces of its new fragrance campaign. The Academy Awa rd-winning stars will front the Coty-licensed brand’s latest perfume launch, Calvin Klein Women. The concept was developed by Cal- vin Klein CCO Raf Simons, who also designed the fragrance bottle, which features an oversized disc- shaped cap with an eye. “With this fragrance, we wanted to put the concept of plurality centre stage,” said Simons. “The campaign is an exploration of fem- ininity - a group of women bonded by a common thread; the desire to have the power to create their own identity, and to support and lead the way for those that come after them.” He added: “Calvin Klein Women is inspired by the transmission of strength and inspiration from one woman to the next; by plu- rality combined with individuality; freedom of expres- sion; and the notion that the collective is as vital as the individual.” To kick-off the campaign, Calvin Klein is encouraging consumers to use #IAmWomen to share images of the inspirational females in their live s. er-led brands shaking up the traditional cosmetic landscape. Faye Brookman reports It was a great year for beauty in the US, for specialty, online and direct-to-consumer brands. Department stores also started to see growth as they added a push to combat competitors. The mass market, how- ever, got stuck in a rut. US prestige sales expanded 6% on 2017 to US$17.7bn, according to data from NPD Group. The mass market, comprised of drug- stores, discount stores, club stores and supermar- kets, was flat. Hitting hard at brick and mortar was Amazon where, according to Larissa Jensen, Execu- tive Director, Beauty Industry Analyst at NPD, beauty volume soared 43% last year. Amazon is slowly building a beauty background and the public seems willing to buy there. Coresight Re- search US reported that beauty and personal care products are the second most shopped category on the e-commerce site; 48% of US women have pur- chased beauty or personal care on Amazon in the past 12 months. But Amazon wasn’t the only one racking up big beau- ty sales. Beauty brands no longer need stores or even third-party websites to move the sales needle. Kylie Cosmetics, which started with Kylie Jenner going on social media to show her products, took her to make nearly a billion dollars in sales since she began her brand. Fresh thinking: Natural deodorants gain popularity Traditional deodorants with synthetic ingredients are under threat from a new wave of products that put efficacy at the top of the list, relevance and natural ingredients, Non-conformist deodorant - it might seem like an oxymoron, but a recent uprising of progressive for- mulations has resulted in a new wave of products that are anything but ordinary. From packaging to texture and purpose, beauty brands are challenging the ways that consumers per- ceive deodorant in an effort to meet new demands and bring back relevancy. America the beautiful: Influencer brands shake up the US cosmetics market The past 12 months proved a bumper year for the beauty sector in the US, with demand for influenc- 81