1. Introductions
There are many products that claim to have “urban decay beauty balm” as a main ingredient, but this does not seem to be true. Sometimes it is a combination of ingredients, such as witch hazel, sweet almond oil and jojoba oil, but the main ingredient is either honey or sugar, often with a little of the following:
• Honey
• Sugar
• Powdered sugar
• Snow peas (or other sweet peas)
The ingredients may be listed on the label in the order in which they appear on the bottle (from top to bottom), but note that these are not all exact matches. For example, honey might be first before sugar and then later before snow peas and powdered sugar. The bottom line? We can’t put an exact match on any given product and I wouldn’t recommend that you try anyway.
Our advice would be to try out products from multiple competitors — see which ones you like best — and do your best to match them exactly. As we mentioned above, there is no way to know for sure which products have urban decay beauty balm as their main ingredient unless you buy them yourself (which would be a pretty silly thing to do). Instead of obsessing over whether something has urban decay beauty balm or not, focus on the product itself. If it seems like your product will benefit from an urban decay addition, then go ahead and include one at no additional cost; if it doesn’t seem necessary, then skip it. It may surprise you how much value can be added by choosing from a variety of “best practices” rather than using one single winner (or whatever word you want to use).
2. History
Since the early 1960s, urban decay makeup has been used by the rich and famous, from Marilyn Monroe to the Queen of England. The beauty balm was developed in Paris and is still made there today. Now, Urban Decay is trying to get it into the hands of everyone, everywhere.
Every day, millions of people are using a beauty balm called Urban Decay’s Beauty Balm. The product is a serum and foam that delivers an array of benefits ranging from glowing skin to protected hair. Urban Decay’s Beauty Balm comes in six colors (black, bronze, nude, pink, red and silver) and can be used as a foundation or as a cream. It can be applied on its own or mixed with other moisturizing products for extra benefits.
“The name “Urban Decay” was an idea we had to come up with quickly when we were looking for something new for our line,” says Deborah Lippmann Creative Director Deborah Lippmann says about the name she came up with for her face powder line, which launched more than 40 years ago. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted it to be called at first — I just thought ‘Paris’ was too historical.” But after some trial-and-error she settled on “Urban Decay,” which she found had plenty of zing as well.”
3. Philosophy
The thing about beauty balms is that they are not the same thing as an actual beauty balm. Many people aren’t aware that these are two different things, and there is an important distinction to make. Unlike a real balm, which possesses both hydration and soothing properties in equal measure, a beauty balm provides mostly hydration with added soothing properties. The real reason to use a beauty balm is because it feels good on your face (the original version of the product was called “Bubble Balm”).
The beauty balm philosophy has been around since way back in the 1970s when it was originally formulated by the Professor of Product Design at MIT, Harold Camping. He felt it was important to create a product that would have a calming effect without being too heavy or too oily (which can easily be mistaken for greasy). He did this by adding soothing properties to waxes and oils and claiming that it could be used to treat acne as well as sunburns. Unfortunately for him and for later generations of manufacturers (which had much less willpower than Camping), his marketing failed miserably, so he had to come up with another marketing strategy.
The original design of Urban Decay Beauty Balm was set out below:
Along with the soothing oils and waxes, you will also find salicylic acid (which has anti-inflammatory properties) and hyaluronic acid (which acts on capillaries thereby moisturizing). This is where it all starts getting really interesting:
One of the most useful aspects of any skin care product is its ability to deeply hydrate your skin. We do this using our proprietary blend of deeply hydrating ingredients including Shea Butter, Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil and Emu Oil as well as our unique blend of castor oil extractions which nourish your skin while increasing its ability to retain moisture without feeling oily or greasy. This helps minimize any shininess that can occur when using formulas containing essential oils..
This last point made me think: if you think oiliness isn’t important then why do “beauty balms” often contain essential oils? Isn’t hyaluronic acid more important than salicylic acid? Doesn’t all this logic lead me to conclude that there are only two types of products: those which contain all kinds of different ingredients like soap or micellar water and those which only contain one ingredient
4. Product Development
It is well known that urban decay beauty balm works to make your skin smoother, softer, and more even toned. But what about the final products? Well, the ingredients in urban decay beauty balm are some of the richest anti-aging ingredients available – collagen and vitamin C. These are the kinds of ingredients that have been shown to fight wrinkles, age spots, and fine lines.
The ingredients in urban decay beauty balm are also natural anti-inflammatory agents that can help you minimize breakouts as well. These skin fortifiers also work as antioxidants to help protect your skin from environmental damage.
These are just a few reasons why I love these products and highly recommend them for anyone looking for an easy way to get into this skin care category with a product that will improve your overall health!
5. Global Reach and Expansion
We’ve launched the urban decay beauty balm on Kickstarter.com and it’s gone wildly well. It has been a long process, but we started simply by testing out different ideas, working through the challenges, and learning from mistakes.
I’m using this post to talk about how we got there and a few things I would do differently if I were in your shoes. Many of these lessons have been honed over the course of three years of testing and refining the product.
From our experience, most people have not come to know about urban decay beauty balm (UDB) because they are looking for something that takes them to a particular place (like “a ritual cleansing ritual” or “an exotic location”). Instead, they may be searching for something less obvious: “a daily cleanser that helps to minimize my paraben-based skin care routine” or “a natural deodorant that doesn’t require any chemicals or fragrances to work.”
Fortunately, our sales are much higher than what you might expect: we have sold over 15,000 units since launch — far more than any other product on Kickstarter. And this is not just because 1) we have an amazing product (which is why we did all this research), 2) it resonates with a large market segment (because it is for everyone), 3) Amazon’s funding was tax-deductible (because $2 million of your profits go toward charity), 4) some people just love our brand name (because most people do). It is because we are doing a better job than anyone else at explaining what UDB does and why it works for people like them — which is why it will become their new go-to cleanser from now on!
6. Company Structure and Ownership / Management Team
One of the most common questions is about how many shareholders / employees should be involved in a company. This is a very relevant question to ask because it affects the structure of the company and its ownership structure.
The typical board structure for a company is 2-3 people, each with a board seat, usually an executive director and usually a C-level employee. In some companies, they may have an independent director (with no board seat) or sometimes, one of the directors on the board has several non-board positions as well. The reason for this structure is to have one strong voice on the board and to avoid conflicts of interest.
For startups, this means that there are probably 4-5 shareholders who are responsible for their actions and decisions making them. There will also be 1-2 employees who are directly responsible for decisions that affect startup performance and those at least indirectly responsible by virtue of being involved in decisions that affect other parts of the business (such as sales or marketing).
In addition to being shareholders, some investors also want to own at least some equity in a startup. This is because if you want to make your investment count, you want it to be as valuable as possible and ideally should be able to control all aspects that matter from hiring managers down through the delivery process (this includes how long your product takes to ship). If you only own equity in your company, it can make sense for you to develop an ownership strategy based on whether or not your shares will make any money at all or whether you’ll need additional capital afterwards (which can mean paying down debt), which makes sense if your plan isn’t quite clear yet but likely will be in 5 years (or maybe even 10 years when you have gazillions of dollars under management).
But what if you don’t have any plans? What if this business isn’t going anywhere? Is there anything wrong with just taking out loans against the equity?
The answer depends on what “owning” means in this context: does it mean legally acquiring shares? Is it just purchasing shares? Or perhaps further limiting ownership by selling stock options? And what happens if someone else comes along offering similar terms and conditions for cash or product/service rights instead — does this make them ineligible as owners?
All of these things would need to be taken into account when thinking about ownership structures; how much control do you want given what others may think about your business plans;
7. Marketing Strategies and Campaigns Used
For some it’s all about the packaging, for others it’s about the content. But in either case, people generally want to understand what this thing does and how it works, and more importantly why they should use it for any given situation.
So I’d like to focus on one of these two things: how do you understand your product? What are the product’s features? What are its benefits? Where does the marketing fit in?
The beauty balm is an awesome personal care product that is both a moisturizer and anti-wrinkle. It is also one of our most popular products (the other being our Nu-Oil) and we know that it has a strong following among women in their 20s through their 40s who have found value in its anti-aging properties and its ability to be used as a makeup remover or moisturizer before or after sunscreen (which is why this month our own Emma Roberts wrote an article called “10 Things Women Love About Nu-Oil”). On top of that, we have customers who not only enjoy using Nu-Oil but also keep coming back because they love the way it leaves their skin soft and smooth.
In other words, we love this product so much that a lot of people buy it every time we run another promotion (given away free at retail locations). However, there are two major problems with this campaign:
1) We don’t talk about the benefits enough;
2) We don’t talk about why people should buy this product.
So let me explain: I don’t know if you can see this picture here but I made one for my friend Kevin to show his support for my work. This isn’t something he does often — he just bought me a cupcake as an early birthday present — but he really likes them! And just like me, he thinks there’s something cool about them too! Plus Kevin is an avid reader so he loves reading blog posts or articles like these ones because they’re comprehensive enough to provide him with information on pretty much any topic (and/or make him laugh), so having him actually read my blog posts can be kind of weird… Except then again maybe not! 🙂 Anyway, please enjoy! 🙂 And please share with your friends if you think there might be something cool about it too… 😉
8. Competitor Analysis
Urban Decay isn’t just a skin care brand — it’s more like a lifestyle brand. It is the purveyor of all things dark, glam and smoky, with a wide range of offerings including cosmetics, skincare, fragrances and skin care products. The company sells approximately $700 million in products per year. They have in fact expanded their portfolio over the last five years to include makeup, accessories and fragrances.
They do this by doing three things:
1) Identifying a target audience that is interested in everything from high end luxury to hipster go-getters (and this target audience knows all about urban decay beauty balm, which is why they buy it).
2) Developing new and better ways to reach out to them (through social media and other methods).
3) Building a brand that is more aspirational than creepy or gothic (which makes you want to keep shopping for their products).
This strategy has been working well for them for over two decades now — as long as you don’t get too personal with your competitors. For example, Urban Decay co-founder & CEO Susanne Craig says she once got into an argument with Urban Decay competitor Too Cool To Sweat because she was using the terms “too cool to sweat” in reference to her own product line. That didn’t last long though; before that point too cool to sweat was just another name for urban decay beauty balm. But even then, Too Cool To Sweat had a lot of ground to make up when it came to selling the same product line at a higher price point (and on many different levels). Many people who are attracted to urban decay beauty balm may be buying it because they think it is the best thing since sliced bread — but only if you factor in their budget constraints (which means you can use our analysis instead of theirs!). In other words: cost effectively reach your target market!
9. Future Plans and Forecasting/Trends
This is something I do quite a bit, and probably should have done a few years ago. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start:
Future plans: growth of product-market fit, market opportunity in relation to the competition (i.e., “no one else can address this market better than us!”)
Trends: decline in major competitors (but not necessarily decline in competitors themselves)
Forecasting: future performance of products/services (then use that data to guide product development)
This would seem to be quite a lot for just a couple paragraphs, but for those who are still with me here are two additional points worth mentioning. First, let’s play devil’s advocate and assume that all trends listed above actually exist and will continue indefinitely (which seems highly unlikely). In reality though, it is more likely that some trends will persist for more than others; for example, the decline in the number of competitors may be temporary. Second, it is important to note that many of these trends will involve some action on your part. For example, future growth may require you to look at your current user base and decide whether they are worth maintaining (e.g., by automating tasks or adding value). You can also do this through real world experience with customers — or through live customer feedback loops — as well as by acquiring new customers via acquisition or acquisition marketing programs.
10. Sales and Financial Performance (
Larry Ellison has said that the way to sell is to make the world’s best coffee, so we can’t help but be interested in the urban decay beauty balm. This is a company with a story and a product that is both innovative and powerful, but also has decent distribution. We have some ideas around it, but it’s still very early in its life cycle (the first quarterly results will not come out until next month).
This brief discussion of one aspect of urban decay beauty balm should be enough to give you an idea on how to make your own product:
• A team has spent several years making this product optimal for a specific user group, in terms of skin type, hair type and lifestyle.
• The company was able to identify this group of people and create a strong value proposition around their needs. Once they found their sweet spot, they built an extensive distribution network (e.g., targeted emails) for them.
• The company has done everything possible to make sure that when people do buy the product (and by extension, get paid), they are satisfied with it — not just the bare minimum of what was expected when they signed up (e.g., only use the products if you like them).
If any of these sounds familiar at all — if you are doing anything similar — congratulations! It sounds like you have made it into the first phase of your startup journey! Here are some more tips:
1) Make sure your feedback loop is working well before you launch anything: The moment when your feedback loop works at full power should not be too surprising or unexpected; keep it running smoothly until then. If something goes wrong immediately afterwards or shortly afterwards and your product doesn’t work as expected, you need to look at how much time you could have saved by doing things much better than necessary through your feedback loop before launching anyway or not doing anything at all in that case. If something went wrong immediately after launch but no later than 2 days later — go back to step 4). If something went wrong 2-3 weeks after launch then go back to step 6). If something went wrong after about 6 weeks and there was no solution for it within 3 months then go back to step 5). If something did go wrong after 6 months from now than don’t bother going forward because there isn’t enough time left in that period anyway (unless there is just one thing worth fixing