bareMinerals Packaging Skew Gift Set
The project brief was to create a sub-brand for the existing cosmetic & beauty enterprise bareMinerals. Paying homage to a dermatologist-recommended brand that welcomes skin types of all complexities and varieties was a pleasure of mine which inspired the design process and products that would umbrella under the company’s sub-brand. With so many products already manufactured by bareMinerals, the direction for the project shifted towards gift & holiday sets which are a popular method bareMinerals uses to bundle & sell products. Since bareMinerals is no stranger to gift & packaging sets, I skewed the project even more to target new patrons & those who struggle with complicated skin and want an easy, simply-stated solution that does not detract from their skincare journey or confidence when exploring makeup. This is a celebration of a makeup brand that is skincare centric and one that makes its clients feel weightless & beautiful both by experience and through their array of products.
The sub-brand Weightless Skin focuses on vitality, variety, beauty and playfulness as it relates to feeling good & looking good while wearing makeup using existing bareMinerals merchandise with the opportunity to expand the sub-brand further. The curated gift set focuses on effortless application with a finish that is lightweight but uncompromised in coverage. The set would include a waterproof, portable makeup bag along with a mineral makeup powdered foundation, original formula primer and a full coverage makeup brush all with customized, specialty looks & wraps using illustrations with several options to choose from. Using an illustrative display, each visual design captures a picturesque time of day with iconography symbolic of the values of Weightless Skin and its customer base, drawing you into the sub-brand that is still mineral makeup and sophisticated solutions brought on by the larger brand. This project was made using Procreate, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. My only regret is not having all elements of the gift set pictured together. This research was conducted in 2021, prior to the PFA forever chemical class-action lawsuit deeming bareMinerals misrepresented their liquid mineral foundation as nontoxic, which was not redesigned for this project.
Weightless Skin Visual Mood board & Intention
The visual solution I wanted to accomplish was highly sophisticated yet playful and chic. Luxury as it relates to an international decadence that is vastly full yet breathable and European. This is accomplished through setting and scene, with L'occitane’s gift set emanating most prominently the landscape that was desired as well as the tone the brand wanted to achieve. L'occitane is very celebratory towards illustrative packaging, using the medium to create gift sets and limited-release designs that become collectible while incorporating their original formula and flavor variants that are later added. Using this as inspiration, I decided to apply this to a brand that conceptually had the same worldly charm and cultivability without any illustration methodology or usage in prior designs.
Weightless Skin Gift Set Sketch & Concept
bareMineral’s Weightless Skin sub-brand focused on gift sets and inspiring a collection of sets that would encompass complicated skin types and initial buyers or makeup users looking for simplified, compact solutions that would compliment a variety of complexions without compromising culture, confidence or coverage. Where beauty is for everyone and the weight is lifted off your shoulders & your skin. These sets are a starting point in the brand’s journey while allowing other products to emerge or be included later. The sketches depict the items that were made but also a secondary bag towards the bottom left of the image that contained more products that would act as a methodology to reapply or touch up makeup on the go.
Makeup kits inspired the iconography of the package’s design. Scales, leaves, trees, swirls, butterflies, balloons, clouds and kites in skies of blue over bushes of green are included overall in the design. A scale to represent the balancing act that is exploring makeup juxtaposed by the weightlessness that is Weightless Skin. The leaves are carried by wind to showcase levity, transition and change. Trees that span and sit in perfect place radiating foundation, growth and dependability. Swirls depict the cycle of life, development and identity while butterflies are drawn to represent beauty in transformation. Balloons and clouds are used to forward a sense of floating on air, portraying the heights you’ll soar to rise above amid change & challenges. The time of day ushers in a sense of ease paired with a naturalistic setting, highlighting bareMinerals and its sub-brand Weightless Skin to be organic. This is to showcase the bare-skinned understated look the brand accentuates to its customer base.
BareMinerals Target Audience
bareMinerals’ target audience is valuable to examine when creating a sub-brand because the larger brand’s audience will be the first group exposed to the sub-brand. When examining Similarweb’s data regarding bareMinerals market research it is clear that younger users are most drawn to the company, ranging from 18-44 years old although adults in the 25-35 year-old range engage with the brand most often. This influenced the playfulness I could push in the design and focus I can put on visual elements that would entice this specific group of patrons to further evaluate prominent moments of the brand that are understated and not flashily shown off. Although women are far more likely to purchase from bareMinerals, catering 75 percent of web traffic, men are also seen to frequent the brand totaling 25 percent. Whether for themselves or women in their life, it was important to consider imagery & subsequent packaging design that would also interest this gender group.
BareMinerals Traffic Output
bareMinerals is most popular through a search engine, direct sales and display. This made it more objective to include graphics that stood out on a shelf or through a photograph. bareMinerals tends to be minimal in packaging design where their collection of products garners their sales more than advertising or something overtly outward. For this reason, the design process cascaded into something visual since the sub-brand would pop from the larger brand and other competitors who are bolder on the shelf. Referrals, social media and mailing advertisements are less popular, so written words and proclamations would be less fruitful in the packaging design process for the sub-brand.
Describing the sub-brand and adding further dimension was influenced by search engine pings weighing half of all overall channels bareMinerals distributes revenue & products. For this reason, Weightless Skin incorporated keywords promoting full coverage, long-lasting, organic, mineral made & dermatologist recommended makeup. Other phrases were also included that highlighted diversity & fresh natural skin no matter the variety or complexity with makeup that felt seamless, timeless and weightless.
BareMinerals Competitors
bareMinerals is a beauty & makeup company so it is easy to factor in Similarweb’s data that the company’s competitors are other cosmetic brands that focus on makeup. Sephora is a company that carries a collection of products from a variety of vendors and brands, including bareMinerals. Clinique is not known to be a standalone storefront either, choosing larger malls and retail spaces to sell merchandise. Bobbie Brown Cosmetics is bareMinerals third ranked competitor, a natural, sustainably sourced line with values similar to bareMinerals, empowering realistic women wearing makeup for real scenarios while complimenting their beauty. These competitors are important to note because they focused the sub-brand. This reinforced the sub-brand’s natural solutions, user confidence and promoting formula that compared with the sophistication of competing merchandise. Enticing buyers through the line’s shelf appeal & visual graphics was another way to separate bareMinerals Weightless Skin from its competitors whose direction was understated & minimal, similar to the larger brand.
BareMinerals Brand Specialty
bareMinerals Weightless Skin promotes a way of life & a thought process that carries into wellness, beauty and lifestyle habits. Weightless Skin encourages young users to feel confident in their skin’s color and complexity while engaging in mineral-made cosmetic products with health benefits that improve skin and the way it wears makeup. Similarweb’s data represents bareMinerals specialty as a business, encompassing the lifestyle industry. Weightless Skin carries a mindset that resonates & imprints amongst its clientele. Skin is realistic and complicated. By complementing this idea with positive efforts & product-reinforcement buyers adopt a newfound life & freedom from their skin that allows playfulness and options to emerge while still maintaining long-lasting wear & full coverage.
BareMinerals Keywords
Words convey meaning and the words that surround a brand follow & mark its values, mission and place in the industry. bareMinerals is no exception, with Similarweb’s data highlighting several factors that were prevalent in users’ search habits that define bareMinerals to their customer base. bareMinerals spelled separately and together are most often typed, with the brand name not only growing a namesake but inferring directly what the product is, mineral makeup with a bare & flawless-looking application as if the wearer did not apply makeup to their skin. The brand’s website is searched frequently as well as complexion rescue, and essentials. This reinforced the sub-brand’s direction into skin-centric, clean makeup that focused on the way skin looks & feels using essential products that can welcome bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer into the Weightless Skin sub-brand later on. The priority for the makeup travel bag kit was to encompass a range of indispensable products from the larger brand’s line to reinforce habits that would be enhanced & carried out by the sub-brand in a way that the larger brand has not. This includes skincare & other products that have the potential to create an everyday lifestyle using primarily Weightless Skin merchandise. The sub-brand can also pair with bareMinerals merchandise and other products that are off-brand & already a part of a user’s daily routine.
Diverse Skincare, bareMinerals Foundation &
Weightless Skin Makeup Kits
Diversity
The first step towards actualizing BareMinerals sub-brand Weightless Skin was including a foundation product, a staple in an everyday makeup routine. When factoring in bareMinerals, it is a guarantee that you will receive a quality mineral-made makeup product that meets the standard of other reputable brands. This would cascade into the sub-brand. But, something many brands do not fully include is a variety of foundation shades that meet realistic skin tones, especially those with darker complexions. This was another part of bareMinerals Weightless Skin reiterated with the capacity to develop skews exclusive to the sub-brand. For the purpose of promoting the essence of Weightless Skin, highlighting bareMinerals’ initiative to be diverse using existing products would drive rapport & reliability that would trickle into the sub-brand’s expansion.
BareMinerals & The Value In Makeup Kits
Makeup kits are a savvy buy for cosmetic lovers, beauty gurus and frugal shoppers alike, making them a desirable first addition to the sub-brand. A makeup kit can carry on the go and act as a travel bag so products are accessible to use while out. An everyday makeup staple must include convenience, essentialism and quality, making a collection of foundational products to have handy and compact for optimal portability. A makeup kit with an indispensable selection of products is not only accommodating to less frequent purchasers or those intimidated by a grueling makeup routine but approachable to buyers who use other brands or want a routine to start with & build off of. Bundling products to this grandeur allows for further practicality & discount pricing while customers spend more while saving & spending less, buying in bulk with a higher value while the products individually would cost more. A makeup kit can also be customizable & decorative, allowing for more cost options while offering pack selections that spark demand & add value all their own.
Fresh & Healthy Skin Management Using BareMinerals
bareMinerals has a reputation within mineral makeup that makes the brand sought after & more desirable. The sub-brand benefits from this because it can utilize similar values to the larger brand while redirecting it into someplace new. Weightless Skin makes cosmetics & makeup a priority with solutions for customers with sensitive skin, acne-prone skin or pigmentation and tone not tackled frequently enough in the industry. Weightless Skin similar to bareMinerals invites clean solutions to beauty and wear while engaging with makeup that is all-natural & organic. Weightless Skin similar to bareMinerals brings out only the most minimal solutions so that unhindered, individual beauty can shine. This can manifest into a larger array of products under the umbrella of the sub-brand, including makeup pre-prep, aftercare or application maintenance.
Products For All Skin Types, Mineral Makeup Benefits
More than a brand, bareMinerals is an experience that inspires the sub-brand’s stance on diverse beauty & the complexity of feeling beautiful while providing a solution for a variety of conditions. When packaging allure or namesake alone does not do the trick, connectivity, service and experience come in. bareMinerals offers beauticians and professionals in storefront locations that enhance the shopping experience. Where most locations shun, belittle and stare at patrons with skin less than perfect BareMinerals welcomes them with open arms. Professionals working for bareMinerals do not comment on the physicality of any skin condition, breakout or ailment. They provide product education, formula awareness and ways to aid different skin types through product application. M.A.’s help customers engage with makeup without over-applying or feeling the need to while making makeup a celebration & choice rather than a necessity to hide ‘bad skin’ or a crime to wear it in the first place. The sub-brand emerged conceptually from this idea, taking the weight off bad experiences from competitors who detract user confidence from a key market audience who would benefit & enjoy experimenting with cosmetics the most. Ergo a bad experience, bareMinerals creates an overtly good one which the sub-brand Weightless Skin can manifest into deliverables & brochures to educate patrons if they do not buy in person in order to mimic this experience & apply it to merchandise.
Mineral Makeup & How It Can Versify Sub-brand
Mineral-made makeup is not exclusive to bareMinerals but is most popular and noticed under this brand’s reputation and namesake, being most popular in the United States & U.K. Minerals make makeup healthier and allow more versatility than products made without them. Since BareMinerals has a stake in mineral-made products, the sub-brand would complement and accentuate their use of minerals in a scope of related merchandise while enhancing the brand’s reputation and formula standard. Weightless Skin is a bareMinerals sub-brand that epitomizes skincare at a higher standard, incorporating an iron zinc oxide-centric formula. This can be applied sunscreen, topical lotions, or even more playful shimmers & highlights. The sub-brand can open into a line of makeup pre-prep skincare or products that help maintain makeup while on the go or if a retouch is needed. Weightless Skin can also develop a range of performance makeup for water or warm conditions, all while incorporating minerals. The project introduced the sub-brand and its qualities while developing a presence. This presence can appropriately cascade onto a future succession of cohesive products later.
Brand Awareness Ushered Into Sub-brand
Using the bareMinerals sub-brand allowed for a greater message to speak regarding the larger brand, that there is much that can be expanded upon and brought into the sub-brand’s identity. This includes a greater initiative for transparency, communication, confidence & experience, redefining the scope of clean, versified beauty. bareMinerals more than a product is a service provider which would be accentuated in the sub-brand through graphic material. Weightless Skin provokes the quality found in the larger brand reaffirming consumer doubts while advocating for all users to enjoy their makeup experience. There is beauty in the effortless ways a person is authentically themselves which most naturally comes when the weight has been lifted, synonymous with the preconceptions & challenges consumers face engaging with a product, brand or even the cosmetic industry in general. Another reason choosing makeup kits as the first install to the sub-brand made so much sense, they remove the choices and intimidation that comes from looking down a sea of products the general consumer would get lost in or not know what to do with, even if they are not a stranger to cosmetics. Through their services, Weightless Skin offers an individualized sense of makeup wear & application that a travel kit is most suitable for, allowing customization and an individualized sense of beauty to take shape.
Makeup Kit Solutions Expand BareMinerals Into Sub-brand
The fruition of Weightless Skin began with an idea to repackage existing bareMinerals merchandise that most accurately defined the sub-brand using visual graphics to entice collectability & brand appeal while allowing flexibility to develop products exclusive to the sub-brand in the future. Introducing an essential line of products to act as a new getting started makeup kit to promote the introduction of the sub-brand acted as a foundation to build upon other iron zinc oxide-based merchandise correlating to a belief system brought upon by the sub-brand. Diverse skincare solutions, user confidence, lightweight application and the customer’s experience engaging & experimenting with makeup was central to the sub-brand. This inspired the creative direction of the project. Visual graphics symbolic of the sub-brand’s values are used significantly to reiterate the playfulness that should be brought on by buying & using makeup. Illustrations used in these packaging designs are meant to inspire collectability and exclusivity with the potential to be sold at a greater value while adding prominence, allure & desirability to the sub-brand. Including a makeup kit allowed for the possibility to bundle, save & customize while experiencing a brand that will take the weight off your shoulders, bareMinerals Weightless Skin.