Do natural beauty products give women today the same things high-end luxury brands had offered them yesterday? Is the typical prestige beauty consumer quietly moving to green ? It's time for existing beauty retailers to give more space to natural beauty, or they might loose the race.

The usual playground for ALL TIGERS makeup is our online shop. Natural, vegan, and ferociously stylish makeup : this is our motto, and our e-shop is the ideal platform to express our vision. However, we’ve met great partners that have made us want to offer our products in their shelves. And we're roaring with pride! - it’s a giant leap for us: this autumn, ALL TIGERS will be joining forces with Switzerland’s department-store chain, Manor as well as a few Nocibé perfumeries between Lyon et Autun. Our ALL TIGERS natural and vegan lipsticks and nail lacquers will be sold alongside leading luxury brands that have made their great mark on cosmetics’ history... Scared, us? Of course not. ;-)

Retail spaces that have traditionally been dedicated to major luxury brands will now make way for green beauty… But is it going fast enough ?

Green beauty rocks!

Luxury and Beauty: A Long and Happy Marriage

The term “luxury” could be confusing. We're not talking about the elitist kind of super-luxury goods, inaccessible to the common mortal... When it comes to high-end, cosmetics belong to a completely different sphere, even if they share the same logo with their other-worldly merchandise: the offer you’ll find in your local cosmetics store is quite affordable, with a variety of choices and various prices that range from low range to big-ticket. And with lipstick priced at 22,80€ and nail lacquers at 12,80€, ALL TIGERS is no "luxury" strictly speaking ! But still, in the wild wide west of cosmetics, we belong to the affordable premium segment.

Perfumeries lovers like to find in their local beauty supply store or cosmetics chain leading brands at a reasonable price combined with expert advice. They're looking for products that are synonymous with quality, beauty, dependability, and performance. They’re looking for products that are fun, easy, and enjoyable to use, every single time, no matter whether it's a face cream, perfume, or lipstick... 

Problem: traditional cosmetics stores aren’t doing so hot in Europe. Due to a dwindling number of visits and an aging customer population, cosmetics stores have seen a major decline in the past ten years and have only been kept afloat through heavy promotional activity. Quality beauty products are now bought everywhere, from online shops, to a large variety of concept stores, to boutiques and pharmacies, to major e-commerce platforms...

This said, the offer found in cosmetics stores has not only remained the same for the past 30 years (same brands, same formulas), but prices for anything from perfume, skincare and makeup have dramatically increased. Some brands in only 20 years have doubled in price and are, as a result, unattainable now. No surprise, then, that your mom had found her bliss and stayed true to her preferred brand of perfume or cream, while you remain aghast as you search through the aisles! Prestige beauty products have revealed to be less and less democratic. So, we shouldn’t be shocked to learn that, from this, new brands with mid-range prices tried to make their place on the market... and while they were new, they still were not green.

Green Beauty Products: The New Thing

But the prestige beauty retailers shall pay attention.

• Because the desire for clean, natural, and more-ethical beauty products has never been stronger. The ALL TIGERS community that co-created the range with us, shows us the way : they want it all, quality, transparency, naturality, vegan commitments, and they have many options to purchase green beauty, beyond traditional beauty players. The response today can usually be found only in alternative retail venues such as organic shops, health stores, co-ops, and portions of pharmacies reserved for green products...

Cosmetic stores remain on the outskirts of this phenomenon simply because luxury brands are stuck in their old ways and stuck to their conventional formulas (and still loaded with those terribly synthetic flowery scents…). Despite all the evidence for, they’ve not yet taken the leap towards green and seem not to get ready for it.

At the same time, natural brands are becoming more and more desirable. As a result of their long-lasting high-quality formulas, gorgeous packaging, and sustainability aims, clean beauty has become the new cool—even Vogue US says so! Yet all of this is far from traditional cosmetics stores, given that natural beauty products don’t belong to any specific distribution channel. So, we find it everywhere else, from organic shops to supermarkets, and from high-end concept stores to your local pharmacy. 

And in France, we still wait for the one and only retailer that will encompass the green trend, like Follain, Credo or The Detox Market in the US. How is it possible that we still don't see a major shift?

There are two ways to look at it. Retail venues offering luxury products could seem dated compared to the needs and wants of today’s women. On the other hand, women who could have been their customers—with similar ages, means, and beauty interests as the typical prestige beauty consumer—may have changed their aims.

67% of the Tigers agree with this statement: "My mom was a loyal customer, but I honestly don't ever step foot in a cosmetics store" 

“My mom was a loyal customer, but I honestly don't ever step foot in a cosmetics store.” Our last Instagram poll revealed that 67% of you recognize yourself in this statement.

And with these arguments, there is, of course, the arrival of green. What luxury beauty products once provided women in terms of safety, quality, status, and attitudes of trendiness is now clearly associated with natural cosmetics.

Of course, some major cosmetics chains and stores are making an effort. But offering just a few brands on a couple shelves at the back of the store (yeah, really) isn’t a game changer: so yeah, it’s time to shift into high gear and give women what they are truly looking for. 

And more women are convinced that paying top dollar for a controversial formula is a rip-off. Test it out: take a look around a cosmetics store with your Yuka or Comsposcan app and you’ll most certainly leave with your hands empty. The advantage of green? This new “luxury” isn’t at all about cost, as natural beauty products are available in a range of prices, from cheap to steep. It’s smart to be green.

Heading Towards More Green-Friendly Prestige Retailers?

We are full of hope! It’s just how things go. Women with the profile and means to be loyal customers of cosmetic stores 10 or 15 years will now turn towards more natural cosmetics. Beauty supply stores will therefore have to revamp themselves and offer a greater number of natural products (like ALL TIGERS!).

It’s our deciding factor, approved by our Instagram community time and time again: because natural beauty products don’t belong to any specific distribution channel, because there’s a need to see it have a legitimate place in makeup cases, it must be more accessible to women. So we’d like to go beyond our online shop and make ALL TIGERS present and visible where women already do their shopping. ALL TIGERS has for the past month been available online and through various select distribution channels like green concept stores, dedicated pharmacies, subscription sample services such as Birchbox and Monoprix, and anywhere else that leaves a bit more room for natural beauty products. So, alongside the newcomers of the cosmetics scene, ALL TIGERS encompasses these new consumer needs based on transparency, ethics, and all-natural.

But, beyond that, we’re guided by the want to encourage women to embrace natural beauty products. 

We’ve had the opportunity to meet the heads of both small and large online and physical retail venues that agree with this aim and look to put small green initiatives in place. And so ALL TIGERS is seen to be a promising alternative that deserves to be displayed alongside historically leading brands in a number of stores. Distributors that have never before focused on green beauty have placed their confidence in us. We are proud to be some of the first green products to be sold in large department stores and cosmetics shops.

Women have evolved according to their tastes and their convictions. With the help of our community, ALL TIGERS aims to respond to the same desires, the same wants, the same needs, as long-standing brands and will do so by staying true to our commitments and by encouraging women to dare green cosmetics. 

And perhaps (we can dream, can’t we?) we can push leading brands to take a step towards something more natural, more transparent, and more ethical. Roaaaar!

Whether you’re #TeamLuxury or #TeamGreen, the queen of the jungle is YOU. You want to take the reins of ALL TIGERS? Just follow us on Instagram and let your voice be heard.  ALL TIGERS creates its brand by consulting the Instagram community every major step of the way. Ready to roar? ROAARRR!