Q&A: Lique aims to offer more than lip service
Lique Cosmetics is looking to bring something new to the lip care market. The brand, which offers natural ingredient-based formulas and high-pigment, long-lasting color formulas in unique packaging, also aims to sell them at an affordable price. Drug Store News spoke with Kristin Bibb, director of cosmetic brands, and Ashley O’Rourke, co-founder and creative director, of Lique Cosmetics about the lip care category, as well as Lique and what it brings to the space.
Drug Store News: What makes Lique Cosmetics stand out in the industry?
Ashley O’Rourke and Kristin Bibb: Lique is the only lip brand on the market that offers prestige lip care and color products that give a high-quality lip total solution at a “masstige” price. We made certain that each natural ingredient was vetted and each component was molded to offer the best possible formula and product delivery to the consumer at under $14. Lique offers a lip routine that provides an equivalent solution for your lips that you can find for your face and body.
DSN: With the trend in natural skin solutions at an all-time high, how is Lique Cosmetics maximizing the potential both at retail and with the consumer?
AO and KB: Having natural and/or organic ingredients in beauty products is a cost of entry into the market today. The consumer is extremely savvy and ultimately wants to avoid any products with harmful additives. Lique fills a void in the natural care aisle by offering a start-to-finish lip care and color routine that won’t break the bank.
We’ve created several different in-store merchandising solutions that offer care and color products that can easily be displayed on any shelf or adapted to a specific fixture. Both merchandisers and the individual product packaging offer education to the consumer on product benefits and help to seamlessly build a custom lip routine that will give the consumer continued results that will build loyalty and show the retailer increased units per transition.
DSN: What do retailers need to do to maximize POS sales from the natural lip category and Lique Cosmetics?
AO and KB: The retail landscape in natural lip care is very redundant and the consumer is tired of seeing the same brands with the same story in continuous locations across retail stores. They are fleeing the traditional stick lip balms for innovation in formula and delivery. Sales are up double digits in any lip solution that offers a variation from traditional lip balm, such as oils and masks. Same goes for product delivery, with sales up double digits for natural lip products that apply through a tube, egg or wand. Retailers need to expand beyond the basics and capitalize on the consumer looking for a natural lip solution that goes beyond the basic stick.
By offering the consumer Lique, a natural ingredient-based solution with formulas that are on trend and nontraditional, with delivery systems that are modern and interesting, and packaging that defines the routine and benefits in a matter of seconds, retailers and consumers will win.
DSN: What does the future hold for Lique? What is on the horizon for future product launches and building the Lique community?
AO and KB: The social platforms surrounding the Lique brand are the core of our community. It allows us to connect with our consumer, gather insight into what she loves and what she hates, and engage with as many followers and consumers, as possible. It’s imperative to us that we educate and share what makes us tick and drives us to be better in the world of beauty, always giving back, taking care of our furry friends, and investing in ingredients and packaging that is focused on taking care of Mother Nature.
Lique will continue to push for innovative formulas that offer the consumer a true prestige solution in the world of beauty at a price everyone can afford. We are beginning with lips, the fastest-aging area on a woman’s face, but are always focused on the future and providing solutions that make aging gracefully easy and attainable for every beauty enthusiast.
Drug Store News: What makes Lique Cosmetics stand out in the industry?
Ashley O’Rourke and Kristin Bibb: Lique is the only lip brand on the market that offers prestige lip care and color products that give a high-quality lip total solution at a “masstige” price. We made certain that each natural ingredient was vetted and each component was molded to offer the best possible formula and product delivery to the consumer at under $14. Lique offers a lip routine that provides an equivalent solution for your lips that you can find for your face and body.
DSN: With the trend in natural skin solutions at an all-time high, how is Lique Cosmetics maximizing the potential both at retail and with the consumer?
AO and KB: Having natural and/or organic ingredients in beauty products is a cost of entry into the market today. The consumer is extremely savvy and ultimately wants to avoid any products with harmful additives. Lique fills a void in the natural care aisle by offering a start-to-finish lip care and color routine that won’t break the bank.
We’ve created several different in-store merchandising solutions that offer care and color products that can easily be displayed on any shelf or adapted to a specific fixture. Both merchandisers and the individual product packaging offer education to the consumer on product benefits and help to seamlessly build a custom lip routine that will give the consumer continued results that will build loyalty and show the retailer increased units per transition.DSN: What do retailers need to do to maximize POS sales from the natural lip category and Lique Cosmetics?
AO and KB: The retail landscape in natural lip care is very redundant and the consumer is tired of seeing the same brands with the same story in continuous locations across retail stores. They are fleeing the traditional stick lip balms for innovation in formula and delivery. Sales are up double digits in any lip solution that offers a variation from traditional lip balm, such as oils and masks. Same goes for product delivery, with sales up double digits for natural lip products that apply through a tube, egg or wand. Retailers need to expand beyond the basics and capitalize on the consumer looking for a natural lip solution that goes beyond the basic stick.
By offering the consumer Lique, a natural ingredient-based solution with formulas that are on trend and nontraditional, with delivery systems that are modern and interesting, and packaging that defines the routine and benefits in a matter of seconds, retailers and consumers will win.
DSN: What does the future hold for Lique? What is on the horizon for future product launches and building the Lique community?
AO and KB: The social platforms surrounding the Lique brand are the core of our community. It allows us to connect with our consumer, gather insight into what she loves and what she hates, and engage with as many followers and consumers, as possible. It’s imperative to us that we educate and share what makes us tick and drives us to be better in the world of beauty, always giving back, taking care of our furry friends, and investing in ingredients and packaging that is focused on taking care of Mother Nature.
Lique will continue to push for innovative formulas that offer the consumer a true prestige solution in the world of beauty at a price everyone can afford. We are beginning with lips, the fastest-aging area on a woman’s face, but are always focused on the future and providing solutions that make aging gracefully easy and attainable for every beauty enthusiast.