Building a Cosmetics Brand from Scratch

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Good brands also have a temperament. They are level-headed, like your favorite financial institution, or hot-blooded like your favorite rock band. Great brands make a strong emotional connection with their customers, and a temper makes a brand more human, and easier to relate to. I chose to make Bésame feminine, romantic, elegant, and unique. Bésame has old-fashion values, is trustworthy and ethical. The brand is anchored in history and it has a heritage by association.

Consistency Is Key

To define how I wanted to communicate the uniqueness of our brand, I first looked at the landscape of consumer brands. I saw a sea of black plastic containers with different logos stamped on their surfaces. I decided to make Bésame unique by molding our own cases, and using more metals in our pieces. Our own molds and designs make our products very distinctive and instantly recognizable.

In the use of graphics, consistency is key. Colors, textures, and lettering all work together to create an image for the consumer to remember, and are the first point of entry into the image of the brand. Color is one of the most powerful features in the packaging. It can be instrumental in finding the brand on a crowded store shelf. I chose brick red and cool cream because red represents passion and a regal elegance, while cream balances the power of the red with a cool counterpart. Our flower motif is used in every product and communication we produce. It is our calling card, and it clearly identifies our brand in any retail environment.

My experience as a photographer, stylist, art director, and designer helped me maneuver the tough terrain of building a cohesive packaging system as well as a retail and Web presence. A new brand is as demanding of your time and energy as a newborn child. Just like your social decisions change when you have children, your decisions also change to serve the needs of the brand when you create it. My choices of advertising venues, brand alliances, and even product offerings had to be filtered through our vision for moving the brand forward.

Vendors as Partners

This is a very hard thing to do, especially when there are so many choices to make that are tied to financial repercussions. We decided early on to mold our components. This required longer lead times and resources, but it made sense for our brand, since the look and materials we use are an integral part of it. We do not follow trends, choosing to produce products that are seasonless, and useful to most women year-round. We do not want to follow the cycle of seasonal goods that are discontinued every three months.

Following our vision also entailed finding suppliers who could see why the brand was different and embrace the challenges of producing its products. These vendor-partners needed to respect our work, our designs and vision, and take the journey with us.

Many formulas that have been presented to us did not fit our vision for the brand. While some of these products were innovative, and would sell well in the right environment, we had to decline. Our customers feel they know the brand so well that the wrong product would seem deceitful or an obvious mistake to them. Just as they would not expect Ferrari to make an economy car, they do not expect Bésame to make the latest wrinkle cream.

Loving It 24/7

At the same time, it was difficult to turn away stores that wanted the brand but did not share our vision for it. The job of brand custodian is one of the most challenging hats I wear in the company. Also, by being a new brand in the luxury market, and occupying a space that was once reserved for beauty's giants, it has been challenging to communicate our position to retailers, who are used to independents that service the junior market or larger brands that have their own boutiques.

People ask me if I take vacations or stop thinking about work, and I have to say no on both counts. But I truly enjoy my work, and it has become part of who I am—I can't just turn it off, nor do I want to. It is the curse of being an entrepreneur, always reaching for the next accomplishment and never satisfied with the norm. Running a company and building a brand is not easy, but for me, it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

Previous editions of the ongoing Entrepreneur's Journals series are available here.

As told to Stacy Perman