From retail to innovation, RMS Beauty is firing off on all cylinders. Now, the clean makeup brand founded by Rose-Marie Swift is readying for its online launch with Ulta Beauty Sunday, simultaneous with the debut of its Legendary Lip Oils, priced at $25.
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The moves are meant to broaden the brand’s demographic appeal — while also making the products more accessible.
“We are growing in all channels — [direct-to-consumer] continues to grow and our retailer partnerships continue to grow,” said David Olsen, RMS Beauty’s chief executive officer and managing director of RMS’ majority owner Highlander Partners. “We’ve been working really hard to create this foundation, and this has led to our partnership with Ulta.”
Olsen, a “strong believer in visual manifestation,” said that the day Highlander Partners invested in RMS Beauty , when the brand was said to be doing about $30 million in sales, “I put a piece of paper on my mirror that said we will go into launch into Ulta in 2024.” It also had goals for revenue and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization, which Olsen declined to quantify but said had been exceeded.
“Our sales in Bluemercury are up 1,000 percent in the last three years, we’re in the top three brands in Credo, and now we’re heading into Ulta,” Olsen continued. “The power of visualization is real.”
To that end, industry sources estimate RMS Beauty to reach between $60 million and $80 million in net sales in 2024.
Swift always wanted to partner with Ulta, she said. “It has a really good audience for mature women, and the people I talk to always asked when I would be in Ulta,” she said. “That was my choice, right from the beginning, of where I wanted to be.”
Indeed, Gen X is one of beauty’s largest untapped opportunities, as reported. But Swift’s appeal also spans to TikTok.
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“So many comments in our community overwhelmingly ask when we are going to go to Ulta or say they wish they could shop there,” said Elaine Sack, chief strategic officer, RMS Beauty. “We want to make a big splash with Ulta, and drawing in a younger customer with our lip oils is a great way to do it.”
Added Kaitlin Rinehart, vice president of merchandising at Ulta Beauty via email, “With deep roots in professional artistry and one of the leaders in the clean beauty movement, we are looking forward to welcoming guests across all generations to experience the bold, efficacious and multitasking products that are thoughtfully formulated to last [from RMS Beauty]. This is just the beginning of our authentic partnership, as we know more and more consumers are prioritizing conscious ingredients and sustainability. We are thrilled to be a part of the brand’s next phase of growth.”
Much of the brand’s content strategy will be around showcasing its founder. “The thing about Rose-Marie is we have customers who like to see her on camera on TikTok and Instagram applying it by herself. We have her applying on models that are also more mature, showing that lip oil isn’t just for the younger generation,” Sack said.
The lip oil, Swift said, is formulated with plant cellulose in lieu of silicone. “It just has this really smooth, silk finish,” she said. “We’ve got a tighter neck on the product to wipe off excess product and you don’t get lip oil all over the place. It’s very pigmented, and it allows you to control the amount you put on.”
The formula also includes the brand’s kakadu plum, as well as an adaptogenic herbal blend. “The ingredients are a double whammy. And an older woman isn’t going to be walking around with lip gloss or oil all over her face. Younger people put it on very thick, and you just have to pop the applicator in and out a few times to get that.”
Those differentiators, Olsen posited, reflect RMS’ broad consumer base.
“I don’t think of brands anymore as pigeonholed to certain ages because of social media,” Olsen added. “Especially with Rose-Marie’s success on TikTok, three to four years ago, we were 35-55. That has shrunken dramatically and been taken over by a lot of younger consumers. We’ve got something for every age.”
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