Most of the ones that pop into my head first are from MAC, like the Fabulous Felines collection from fall 2010? With the kitties! That has to be one of my favorite makeup marketing campaigns of all time.
And then there’s MAC Chenman, which is on counters now. I just think the imagery and the references to water are very pretty, and oh! — the MAC Originals collection from back in 2007, with the older woman with the cane.
She was pimpin’. 🙂
Now that I think about it, a bunch of other campaigns are coming to mind, like the print ads for the Bobbi Brown Ivy League collection. That had some pretty cool imagery in it with the preppy tweed styling.
And Chanel has had a bunch of visually interesting marketing campaigns over the years, but one that’s occurring to me now — and I’m not sure if it was the official campaign or just a beautiful backstage photo — was for Les Trompe-L’oeil de Chanel, the Chanel temporary tattoos release, with the model wearing the tats on her neck and shoulders? I thought that was very neat.
I also think Benefit has done some interesting campaigns over the years, like recently with their B.Right! line. I love the image of the girl wearing the lamp shade as a hat.
When you think of beautiful makeup marketing campaigns, what are the first ones that come to mind?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. El Hub and I are already back from our St. Patrick’s Day feast. We just went to a brewery/restaurant here in town called Moylans. I got my fish and chip on, haaay!
Now, I’m gonna sit on the couch with my copy of Catching Fire (I’m just about to start Part 2: The Quell!).
Hope you had a nice St. Patrick’s Day. 🙂
Kelly says
benefit!
Karen says
Happy St. Paddy’s, Kelly. Do you have a favorite Benefit campaign? They’ve had so many good ones over the years.
Wendy says
Cover Girl campaigns with Queen Latifah! I think she’s just gorgeous.
Dominique says
Not makeup but fragrance, Gucci Guilty since I’m a sucker for Chris Evans mmmmmmmm
… Although I wish I could claw out Evan Rachel Wood’s face and put mine in it instead!!
Also I’m a longtime lurker, finally making a comment 😀 Love reading your blog and seeing photos of Tabs!
TKS says
Anything by Illamasqua, really! 😀 How amazing was the promo pic Throb collection for Valentine’s Day last year? Loved it.
Summer says
Ohhh great post!
When I typed in “Chanel makeup campaign” in Google (I’m trying to figure out which years my favorites came out), I stumbled upon this adorable, quick little video! I want a Chanel robot. ;D I love how at the end, the skirt is made of blush brushes and the “cigarette” blows little candy pink CC logos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQBw7jWlf0M
Anyway, Chanel has made some of my favorite ad campaigns ever. When Lagerfeld teamed with Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman to make a Chanel No. 5 movie, I was over the moon! There used to be a long, HD version of the commercial on YouTube; you could really appreciate the exquisite costumes much better, but here’s a grainer version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_ysEsjJVsI&feature=related
Ricky Blue says
I’ve been living for Illamasqua’s ad campaigns lately, especially for their current collection, Human Fundamentalism. Some of their videos come across as a little pretentious but I love it all. I stopped at the Kryolan store today and tried on the teal lip gloss and it really looks as amazing as it does in the ads, I think. It’s funny because I usually don’t care for the color teal, but I felt almost like it gave me magical powers 🙂
meimei says
“The most beautiful women in the world wear Revlon.” No matter what you thought about the actual makeup, you can’t deny the power of the campaign itself. Supermodels + diversity = unforgettable.
(Not that the current Revlon ad campaigns are nothing to sneeze at, either. The ones they have right now with Emma Stone are really pretty.)
meimei says
Oops, the campaign’s name *is* “The Most Unforgettable Women in The World Wear Revlon.” Here’s a collection of them: http://bit.ly/A17wF1
Margaret says
I do love Mac campaigns, there are always people who find the campaign makeup OTT, but I absolutely love it. They’re like editorial shoots, and it’s so arty. Love ’em 🙂
mill says
omg, the Chanel summer 2010 Les Popups Des Chanel! my favourite makeup series/ and campaign of all time! totally gorgeous makeup that’s very wearable, beautiful photography… give it a google image search if you dont remember, its amazing!
J says
I used to love getting the MAC postcards in the mail with their latest print ads on them–this was back around 2004, 2005. I can’t remember a lot of the collections but I think it would have been around the time of D’Bohemia and Up the Amp!. I’d save the postcards, they were so pretty. I wish I’d kept them now–I think I got rid of them when I moved.
Erin says
My favorite makeup campaigns are probably from Becca. I love Lost Weekend, Prairie Moon, and Halcyon Days. There’s just something so romantic and sophisticated about their promos.
Chris25 says
I love the DIor ads (and commercials) with Charlize Theron. Both Dior and Charlize are so elegant and classy!
This is mostly based on nostalgia, but I still like the Revlon ads with Cindy Crawford. It takes me back to my 90s childhood. 🙂
Also, I like the NARS ads with the single model, used for the seasonal collections.
Chelsea says
oooh, Catching Fire is so good!
I’m working on my MBA in Marketing right now, so I love this post! I loved the campaigns for YSL’s Parisienne fragrance. It embodied the idea that any woman can obtain the ideal of the chic, Parisian woman, hence the use of a non-French model (Kate Moss) in the print ads.
I also like the “Be a Force of Beauty” ads by Bare Minerals, and the Pretty Powerful campaign by Bobbi Brown – They embody the idea of being a strong, beautiful woman, and the idea of combining inner beauty and outer beauty.
Visually, I have the Sephora + Pantone ad in front of me right now, and it is beautiful.
I drive my fiance insane because I pull pages out of magazines with ads I like, and keep them :p
Dominique says
” Miss Dior Chérie ” by Sofia Coppola. Now the perfume is called ” Miss Dior “, I don’t like the name at all for ” Miss Dior ” is totally different. But the film by S. Coppola was really good !
Marisa Payne says
I loved the mermaid-esque MAC campaign for the Lure collection. Probably one of my fave collections and campaigns to date. Some of my other favorite campaigns have been Madame B and To The Beach.
I think the worst ever though was MAC’s Balloonacy campaign…..that image was scary. And i dont know how they ever sold any Fibre Rich Lash with the spider lash photo. Oh and the new Lancôme one on the back of this months issue of In Style…yuck!
Blaine says
I know nothing of makeup, but I adore the Hunger Games nail polish marketing.(And all the Hunger Games marketing in general.) It’s amazing how they paint us, the audience, as the Capitol. We absolutely are, in a way. Yes, we loved the books for the message, but we also loved them for the sheer action and excitement.
P.S. I am also a longtime lurker, so nice to meet you.
P.P.S. Ahaha, paint. I love accidental puns!
Sunny @ Mostly Sunny says
Belated Happy Saint Patrick’s, Karen!
Being the cat lady that I am, anything with felines grabs my attention fast. I remember Urban Decay did one in their fall 2010 campaign, with the model featuring a blue and brown eye look and a Siamese cat. Love it!
Tekoa says
For beautiful campaigns I have to say MAC Fabulous Felines, for the obvious reason that cats are the perfect muse.
The worst was MAC Dame Edna. The images scared the heck out of me and was a perfect example of how I did NOT want my makeup to look. I wasn’t the only one unsettled by the full sized posters. As told to me by a MAC artist, people would walk toward the store, hesitate upon seeing Dame Edna and quickly walk inthe opposite direction.
corallista says
Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia! Also Lancome’s Kate Winslet Golden Hat collection and Midnight Rose! I happen to really like Lancome’s campaigns, they are usually very beautiful!
Nina says
Chanel FTW – their campaigns evoke luxury and beauty!
Ana says
revlon lipbutters with emma stone in the picture I love her so much!
kalcedon says
I guess I was too obsessed with America’s Next Top Model (weird as I am not American :D), because what immediately comes to my mind are the Covergirl campaign photos from the finals :). (especially the Wetslicks Fruit Spritzer ones).
JM Expressions says
MAC campaigns are a favorite of mine. They always come up with the most unique ways to advertise their products.
@tryeverydrop says
Ditto what MeiMei said above. Revlon has had so many different women and ‘looks’ in their campaigns. It’s definitely inspiring.
Belinda says
Well when I was studying one of the professors was obessed with the Charlie purfume campaign from the 80s/90s where it was “She’s so Charlie”. What was “Charlie” About her… etc etc.
I really like the Dior photos with Natalie Portman. Every time I see those I want to buy alllll the make up!