1. Intro
You know what, I think you and I are on the same page here.
The key to the urban decay afterglow blush is H2O2: Hydrogen Peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula H2O2.
It’s used in medicine and in cleaning products, and it’s also a common ingredient in cosmetics, nail polish and beauty products.
It’s also a great color for your topper.
2. Ingredients
I’m no stranger to the chemical world, but as a former beauty editor I’ve always been hard-pressed to find a formula for a show-stopping make-up look that does not have at least one ingredient I don’t like. Because I don’t like chemicals and the amount of research that shows how they do more harm than good, I was hesitant to try anything with retinol (a vitamin A derivative). My trusty old friend Twitter helped me over this hurdle when @AmberBruns sent me an email pointing me toward Urban Decay’s Afterglow Blush.
It’s worth noting that my skin is very oily (as it is with most people), so I was looking for something with less shimmer than a lot of other blushes on the market. The immediate reaction was: “What if it didn’t work? Would it be too glittery? How long did it last in my cheeks? Will I need to reapply every day because the color is too heavy for my skin tone? Is this overpriced garbage or not even worth the $40 price tag? Should I just go buy some colorless eyeshadow instead…”
After about five minutes of scrolling through Urban Decay social media feeds, and reading their FAQ section, I made up my mind and ordered the Afterglow Blush from Amazon. Here are some of the highlights from their product page:
• It has been formulated without any retinol, benzophenone-3, hydroquinone or talc.
• The blend contains no bleaching agents such as rose petals or titanium dioxide which can damage your skin and cause premature aging.
• The mixture contains nothing that could irritate your skin including: coal tar, petroleum jelly, paraffin wax and mineral oil.
• Afterglow Blush will not discolor your skin or change its texture or appearance in any way. It will stay put on your face for up to 7 hours (depending on your adult age) without having to be re-applied throughout the day. This makes it perfect for those who want a more natural glow while also looking great during nighttime hours because you don’t want your makeup applied while you are sleeping!
• Urban Decay Afterglow Blush comes in 10 shades ranging from pale pink to deep reds providing you with enough options to create every look imaginable
3. Packaging
I’ve seen a lot of product packaging lately. I have no idea what the heck we’re doing, but I have already drawn a few conclusions:
– The aesthetics of product design are in a state of flux and their current state is not all that attractive.
– We need to focus less on the technology and more on the experience.
– Our packaging can be very exciting, if we back it up with proper marketing.
And it turns out that this is also something that designers are realizing, too: “We need to focus less on the technology and more on the experience.” So let’s talk about how packaging can be used to do just that (and don’t forget about branding!).
4. Product Description
Many of you will have heard the term “urban decay.” It refers to the process of a city’s infrastructure decaying as people move out and away, leaving behind their physical traces — graffiti, abandoned buildings, and so forth.
Now imagine that same urban decay applied to your product — what happens when all those people who are meant to use it leave? What do you need to do when the product stops being useful?
The first thing is to understand that the people who will use your product are not going to be staying in the same place forever. They may move in and out of your city over time, but they are not going to stay there forever; or at least they cannot. I think it obvious that this is true of software products — some companies just do not have a strong enough install base for long-term growth (including myself), but some organizations have both a strong enough install base and persistent funding sources which can help them repurpose their existing infrastructure (as with a campus network).
The second thing is about planning for this eventuality: you need to find ways for users to get back into your product after they leave it; you need to make sure that if they use it on an extended basis, there is always something new for them to explore; you need new features which reflect their changed needs; and most importantly, you need to make sure that if it gets too difficult for them (e.g., because other users want similar features) there are mechanisms for getting back into the product so that users can continue using it.
Long story short: don’t expect your customers/users/users-of-your-product-to-be-forever! You should plan accordingly. The only way forward is up: start thinking about how you can keep users coming back even though they may be leaving before long!
5. Pros and Cons
As a side product of the urban decay post, I thought I’d share with you some links to some of the more interesting stuff I found. The first links are to two lists of horror movies:
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (better known as “The Day the Earth Stood Still”)
• Night of the Living Dead (better known as “Dawn of the Dead”)
• both are on IMDB.com
The second links to blogs that write about urban decay:
• The Hierarchy of Horror (a good general overview)
• The Last Night (a particularly interesting take on how this kind of film works)
Also, you should definitely check out Zachary Fruchter’s blog on urban decay: wtfurbanization.com/category/urban-decay/ . He has an excellent series called “The City” where he takes a look at what happens when there is no city left. In particular, he goes back to one of his favorite spots for urban decay: Detroit in 1978 during riots & bankruptcy… and finds something entirely different than what we normally associate with it; he also includes some commentary from people who live there now! You can find his blog here . His videos are also worth a watch! His TEDx talk is also noteworthy… if you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest watching this video before going any further! His next video is titled “Why Do People Want Cities?”. There’s also a great book by him called “Detroit After Dark” which explores why Detroit had such a profound influence over music, design and other things in America – it’s an amazing read which should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand all that Detroit has done over the years…
6. Final Review
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “urban decay afterglow blush.” It describes a phenomenon that happens when you look at a photo of a city just before it gets demolished and then wait for the same thing to happen there. While I don’t think this will be the case in your case (and maybe it won’t), I think it’s an example of what we have talked about all along:
This is not a time to let up on marketing. You aren’t going to get three days of cold, hard sales in this market. But this is also not a time to focus on churning out one-off revenue streams or hit-or-miss marketing campaigns. These things won’t work, and you will lose money. But there is more than enough runway left for you to test and iterate and grow the product, build new channels with different monetization strategies, etc., in order to get closer towards product-market fit.
The good news is that there are plenty of secrets that have been kept under wraps during these past few years since most people see a story like this as “this will never work, so we needn’t even attempt it!” but I think we can figure out how to do it successfully without resorting to stealth or desperation.