Gwyneth Paltrow Dives Deeper Into Makeup With the Launch of a Product She Can’t Live Without
With Goop’s beauty sales up 40 percent in 2023, Gwyneth Paltrow is looking to fan the flames of growth with its first-ever mascara.
FeatherLash Lifting Serum Mascara, $28, will launch Sunday and become the fourth pillar in Goop’s color cosmetics business, joining Colorblur Glow Balm, Clean Nourishing Lip Balm and Bronzing Gel.
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As with the other products, it’s a highly personal launch, one borne out of her own routine. “Mascara is the one thing I’m doing if I’m going out, unless a makeup artist is doing my makeup,” said Paltrow during a recent Zoom interview, simultaneously preparing a one-pot roast chicken for that evening’s dinner. “I’m very minimal, and mascara makes a huge difference. It defines the eye, makes you look like you’ve had a good nap. I love mascara — and I couldn’t find one that was clean that didn’t drop down after a couple of hours.”
As with all of Goop Makeup, the mascara fuses skin-care benefits with color cosmetics, with ingredients that are said to improve lash health, including a proprietary compex called Widelash consisting of peptides, panthenol and biotin to fortify lash roots. Tahitian microalgae is said to enhance lash density, while the proprietary tapered brush was designed to reach even the tiniest lashes.
“We tried a million iterations until we got to one that I was super happy with,” said Paltrow, who called herself a “megaperfectionist,” noting that that attention to detail is crucial to winning in beauty today.
“Beauty is super important to us — it’s our biggest vertical, although fashion is rapidly catching up to it,” said Paltrow. At the same time, though, the proliferation of clean, founder-led brands has created a different dynamic in the industry since Goop Beauty first launched in 2016.
“It’s wonderful that there are passionate founders all over, but it makes you stay on your toes and talk about what gives you a competitive advantage,” said Paltrow. “You’ve got to stay interesting to the consumer and reformulate when you need to, even on hero products, to make sure that you’re constantly offering something interesting and there’s a good story.”
That doesn’t mean that Paltrow is planning on building out a huge makeup offering anytime soon. “We’ll probably stay pretty minimal and true to me — I’m not a big makeup person,” she said, “like if you’re sort of a tomboy or girl in Maine — what are you wearing, and we’ll stay in that realm.
“It’s important to focus on hero products and the existing assortment,” she continued. “As businesses we get addicted to newness, which is also fine, but it’s important to have a strong hero strategy and know why people love you and why people come to you.”
Goop’s core line of beauty products are sold in its own boutiques, Nordstrom and Detox Market in the U.S., select Mecca doors in Australia and New Zealand and Oh My Cream in France. Earlier this year, Paltrow broadened her audience with the launch of Good.Clean.Goop in Target and on Amazon, two completely new channels for the entrepreneur. “It’s been a steep learning curve. It’s a totally different business, but it’s been really fun,” she said of the venture. “There’s always work to do. We still have a lot of brand awareness to build, but it’s going well.”
Paltrow cited Amazon overall and the wholesale business as key strengths for Goop Beauty, but noted that direct-to-consumer has become more difficult recently. “There’s a lot of competition and customer acquisition costs are real,” she said. “At Goop, we’re offering something that is clinical, clean, premium and highly differentiated, and our business keeps growing. But yes, I absolutely acknowledge that it’s a competitive time in the market.”
Another successful venture for the company has been Goop Kitchen, the home delivery healthy meal service that Paltrow launched in Los Angeles. As to whether she might add beauty products to its roster of products available for delivery? “Oh! That’s an interesting idea,” she laughed, basting her chicken and sliding it back into the oven.
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