Why So Many Barbie Beauty Collabs Are Falling Flat

My inbox is brimming with Barbie-related magnificence pitches. There’s the manicure and pedicure comprised of three pink Himalayan Sea salt-based therapies topped by a pink polish and nail artwork; loads of Barbie-inspired pink lipsticks and blush; blonde hair extensions, wigs and ponytails; an illuminating face cream to get glowy pores and skin (identical to Barbie) and fuchsia hand cleaning soap.

My private favorite: a brand new aesthetic pattern and the “newest to come back out of the Higher East Aspect,” Barbie Butt. In keeping with the plastic surgeon who coined the time period, the top result’s a “easy and excessive lifted pure” derriere that could possibly be achieved by physique contouring.

I understand how necessary it’s for sure manufacturers to leap on cultural moments and traits. Relevancy is vital to survival, and sometimes, the best way manufacturers present they’re half of a bigger dialog, from viral TikTok traits to Hailey Bieber’s newest manicure. However there’s only one drawback with all of those companies, therapies and merchandise – none of them actually have something to do with Barbie.

It’s as if each magnificence publicist or PR company was instructed to search out something that’s pink (or pink-adjacent) and advertise with necessary utilization of “Barbie” or “Barbiecore” in all electronic mail topic traces. It’s not touchdown.

Why?

For probably the most half, Barbie’s make-up is fairly basic with a impartial lip (typically there could also be some pink), daring brows and many lashes; it’s not a white claw clip emblazoned with “Barbie” in pink crystals, a pink polka dot manicure or pink glitter hair tinsel.

Quite a lot of traces partnered with Barbie in an official capability, from OPI’s polish assortment with shades “Hello Barbie!” and “Hello Ken!” to NYX Skilled Make-up, which created credit score card-sized eye shadow palettes, faux lashes with pink wisps and a pink flip telephone formed mirror. These Barbie-branded partnerships make a bit extra sense, however typically, the sweetness business is “capitalising on pink,” Kirbie Johnson, a magnificence journalist and the co-creator of the podcast Gloss Angeles, instructed me.

“Even within the film, it’s not that these girls are at all times carrying a pink lip or this actually shiny eyeshadow. Extra of the Barbie-esque moments come from the style, the place you consider these very glamorous, shiny technicolour sparkly tulle targeted outfits,” Johnson mentioned.

Barbie’s affect on vogue is plain. Curiosity in pink attire and equipment have soared this previous 12 months. Within the spring, BoF reported that searches for pink vogue have been up by 80 p.c in buying app Lyst. So far as viral fashion trends go — i.e. quiet luxurious, mermaidcore and coastal grandmother — Barbiecore’s momentum has held regular for over a 12 months. In keeping with Brandwatch, mentions of Barbiecore on social media initially noticed an uptick in June 2022 and proceed to rise, whereas buzz round coastal grandmother died down after a excessive final summer season.

However with magnificence, most don’t affiliate Barbie with a particular look apart from blonde hair and a tan, attributes which are hardly distinctive to the virtually 65-year-old doll.

It simply so occurs that tanning (of the solar and tanning bed-free selection) is within the midst of a renaissance. The self-tanning class grew by 70 p.c within the US between 2017 and 2022, in accordance with Euromonitor, however the reason being hardly Barbie-related. Consultants level to product innovation, a tie to skincare, movie star endorsements and broader shade assortments as the explanation.

Isle of Paradise, a self-tanning line that shares a guardian firm with Tan-Luxe, has benefitted from some Barbie product placement. Ryan Gosling acquired his Ken glow by way of self-tan primers and waters from Isle of Paradise, courtesy of Kimberley Nkosi, a sprig tan and pores and skin ending specialist in accordance with her Instagram bio. A latest Vogue piece mentioned Patti Dubroff, Margot Robbie’s make-up artist, used Isle of Paradise self-tanning drops to reinforce each Robbie and Gosling’s pores and skin. The label has change into the unofficial self-tanner of the film.

In contrast to most manufacturers, Isle of Paradise is in luck. To win at Barbiecore magnificence is to play in a fast-growing class that additionally occurs to be central to the film.