Lady Gaga's Beauty Brand Set to Debut in the UK
- Chaileedo Press
- May 26, 2023
- 4 min read
The brand will be exclusively launched on June 6, at Sephora Westfield White City and on Sephora's UK site.
(Source: Haus Labs)
Lady Gaga's Haus Labs has received widespread attention for its bold use of colors. It is reported that the brand will exclusively launch at Sephora Westfield White City and on Sephora's UK site on June 6, 2023.
The brand's makeup line contains long-wearing pigments, and the formula features clean ingredients, with each ingredient chosen based on its skincare benefit. The star product, TRICLONE SKIN TECH MEDIUM COVERAGE FOUNDATION, is priced at $45 on the official website.
According to Statista's data, in the ranking of leading celebrity beauty brands worldwide in 2022 (by sustainability score), Haus Labs ranks fifth due to its unique environmental concept and design.
Failed on Amazon
Although Haus Labs (formerly named: Haus Laboratories) is Lady Gaga's first independent brand, she had previously ventured into the beauty industry, such as collaborating with Coty to launch the Lady Gaga Fame perfume in 2012.
Haus Labs is a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand launched by Lady Gaga on September 17, 2019. It was the first major beauty line launched exclusively as a retail partner on Amazon and was available in nine countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Japan, and Germany. The first batch of products included lip liner, lip gloss, and liquid-to-powder shimmer.
During Amazon's 2019 Prime Day event, Haus Laboratories successfully became the best-selling cosmetics brand. However, after that, Haus Laboratories' sales plummeted and never achieved higher sales.
Some industry insiders believe that this may be due to a positioning error. The high-profile launch of Haus Labs in 2019 had positioned the brand as an affordable cosmetics brand, focusing on traditional e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. "However, at that time, Amazon did not have a strong beauty attribute, which made the overly distinctive Haus Labs unable to attract platform users and eventually led to the failure of Haus Labs," commented an industry insider.
Switch to Sephora
In May 2022, the official Instagram account of Haus Laboratories suddenly cleared its content, indicating a sign of the brand's transformation. On May 8th, Lady Gaga officially announced a new photoshoot for her own beauty brand, Haus Labs, showcasing a series of new developments for this celebrity makeup brand.
Firstly, the brand has changed its name from "Haus Laboratories" to the simplified "Haus Labs". The main color of the brand has also changed from black and white to mint green. However, as a pure, natural, and controversy-free makeup brand that focuses on the beauty of diversity in skin color, race, age, and other aspects, the core concept has not changed.
Starting from June 9th, the brand has partnered with Sephora and selected North American Sephora stores as the first stop. With the start of the partnership with Sephora, Haus Labs will launch more makeup products, including eye, lip, and cheek makeup, with nearly 100 new products featuring new packaging. Additionally, the brand will also expand into other product categories such as bath and fragrance products.
On June 6th of this year, the brand will enter the UK market.
As Gaga herself explains it: “My vision for Haus Labs centers around the future of clean makeup, supercharged products with innovative formulations and novel ingredients.”
The growth of Haus Labs' share of voice
In recent years, the number of beauty brands owned by celebrities has significantly increased. The younger generation is more inclined to purchase beauty products created or endorsed by celebrities, and they are usually more aware of their presence. Many celebrity beauty brands are also popular on social media.
According to Statista's data as of 2022, the leading celebrity makeup brand in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France is Rihanna's Fenty Beauty, which accounts for 25.7% of the share of voice. Lady Gaga's Haus Labs ranked fifth with a share of 8.9%.
(Leading celebrity makeup brands in selected countries in 2022, by share of voice)
In the past, it might have taken 10 years or longer for a brand to reach $1 billion in sales, but now it can be achieved in 3-5 years. And if a celebrity is involved, the time frame can be even shorter.
According to Forbes, Fenty Beauty, founded by Rihanna, generated sales of $558 million in its first year, which suggests that the celebrity effect can be as powerful as the brand effect.
In reality, most celebrity makeup brands that rely solely on the personal appeal of the celebrity tend to be short-lived. They have not established a clear brand culture or built up a good reputation among consumers, and they rush to market without considering these factors.
As the market becomes increasingly crowded with products, both established and new brands are competing for the same consumers, who are demanding higher-quality cosmetics. Therefore, relying solely on the celebrity effect is far from enough. A brand that stands the test of time and continues to sell well is often built on excellent quality control and strong consumer loyalty.
Whether Haus Labs can continue to maintain its upward momentum remains to be seen and will depend on consumer feedback. However, Lady Gaga has confidence in the brand's development.
Talking to British Vogue about why she started Haus Labs, she said, “The world doesn’t necessarily need another beauty brand, but if we can create something that is pushing the boundaries of what it means to make makeup, then it’s worth it.”
Comments