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NATURAL BEAUTY

Pure mineral cosmetics make Bare Escentuals unique in the makeup market

By Molly Knight

On Manhattan’s affluent Upper East Side, only the yellow cabs that stream down Third Avenue appear to separate upstart beauty boutique Bare Escentuals from cosmetics giant Sephora’s store across the street. But a closer look reveals differences between the two vendors as glaring as fire-engine-red lipstick.

The first Bare Escentuals boutique opened in Los Gatos, Calif., in 1976. A half dozen more stores sprung up in the Bay Area over the next 15 years, and Bare Escentuals established itself as a small but capable area cosmetics store. But it wasn’t until Leslie Blodgett was named president and CEO in 1994 that the company set its sights on major expansion. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s cosmetics program, Blodgett has a long resume: She worked for Bloomingdale’s, Estée Lauder, The Fragrance Foundation, Halston, Macy’s, Max Factor, Neutrogena, Orlane and Revlon before being hired as senior vice president at Bare Escentuals. She advanced to the head of the company just five months later.

Shortly thereafter, Blodgett got the idea to reach customers nationwide through their television sets. In 1997, the raven-haired beauty made her first appearance on QVC. Customers praised her knowledge and her charisma. Bare Escentuals products sold out almost immediately, and by 2002 the company was named QVC’s Brand of the Year. That same year Blodgett created Bare Escentuals’ first infomercial, which she says elicited a “tremendous, immediate response” that has helped her determine where to open new boutiques.

Although the market is certainly filled with cosmetics vendors and department stores that offer aisles of makeup counters, Bare Escentuals has been able to carve its own niche. Unlike competitors’ products, which are often composed of preservatives and oils, Bare Escentuals products are made using pure crushed minerals. Infused with sunscreen, they are marketed as being ideal for sensitive skin and come with expiration dates.

Despite what Hollywood would like consumers to believe, Blodgett insists that “organic” and “beauty” are not mutually exclusive terms. “We like to think we have a very engaging environment with a lot of variety,” said Blodgett.

“We believe in head-to-toe beauty, and that comes in lotions and potions as well as traditional makeup, and skin care. We offer a natural essence of mineral makeup, a clinical essence of skin care, and a luxury essence of bath and body products. Our products range from practical to whimsical.”

And in contrast to the emporium approach of Sephora, Blodgett says her company strives to give its customers an easily navigable environment that nevertheless offers as many options as possible. Blodgett says the older boutiques were well over 1,500 square feet, but now the company prefers spaces ranging from 600-1,000 square feet that she likens to boudoirs. The average Sephora, on the other hand, takes up in excess of 10,000 square feet.

“We like to make sure our spaces have maximum window-front exposure,” said Blodgett. “We seek the right trafficked areas that present our stores in the most aesthetically pleasing light.”

The interior of the Bare Escentuals Upper East Side boutique feels like a cross between Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. White armoires and dressers line the walls, offering facial and body products organized and coordinated by scents with such names as “Perfect Black Dress,” “Clear Skies” and “Seven-Layer Cake.” A young woman spritzes Perfect Black Dress body spray in the air while her mother squeezes Clear Skies body moisturizer on her hands and lowers her nose to the inside of her right palm. A woman in her 20s approaches the beauty bar in the middle of the store, where dozens of eyeshadows are laid out like an artist’s palette and asks the appliqué to recommend a foundation that doesn’t make her “look like a clown.”

“Our customers comprise a variety of generations,” said Blodgett. “From young to very, very mature. We have something to offer everyone, and our audience is very diversified because, in addition to our stores, we offer our products on QVC, in Sephora, in Ulta, and on Infomercials. And depending on whether our infomercials are being shown on MTV or on Lifetime for Women, we get a wide range of customers. We have mothers shopping with their daughters and their mothers.”

Blodgett declines to comment on Bare Escentuals’ annual sales, but according to a report last December by Women’s Wear Daily, the company’s 2005 sales surpassed the $100 million mark — a 20 percent increase from 2004. Blodgett was similarly reticent about Sephora, except to say it’s now Sephora’s top-selling brand. As a testament to the brand’s popularity, Glamour and Child magazines voted the company’s I.d. bareMinerals the best foundation of 2005.

Five stores opened last year to bring the total number of Bare Escentuals boutiques to 30 in 14 states. And with seven more slated to open this year, the company isn’t showing signs of slowing down any time soon.

“We have a pretty good expansion blueprint,” said Blodgett. “We prefer to be anchored by a Nordstrom, because we feel that’s our customer. We have a crazy cult following of customers who have been buying our stuff through infomercials and QVC and beg us to open stores in their area. We do broad research and isolate the locations where we have the greatest amount of customers, and then we look for the right spaces.”

Shopping center executives are impressed. “Another great example of a retailer creating its own niche — this time in the beauty and health category, which has grown dramatically,” is how Katy Dickey, executive vice president of communications at Westfield Corp. described Bare Escentuals in an e-mail to SCT. Dickey says Westfield has five Bare Escentuals in its U.S. portfolio and is working with the company to increase this number.

And as for international expansion, Blodgett says that might happen eventually, but for now the company is content with its products being offered in high-end spas, resorts and department stores in nine countries. including Canada, France, Greece, Italy and the U.K.

Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, four Bare Escentuals workers giggle as if in a salon. The customer who did not want to look like a clown goes to the register with two little jars of beige I.d. bareMinerals eyeshadow, one called “Good Fortune,” the other, “Hottie.” The salesgirl tells her she has made a good choice.