Il Makiage doesn’t do things by halves. The prestige, complexion-driven makeup brand proudly flaunts itself as a champion of maximalism.
The fastest-growing beauty brand in the US spruiks its wares with slogans such as – “Minimalism is dead”, “Sorry, I don’t speak low maintenance” and “I’ll tell you when you’ve had enough”.
It was originally launched in New York in 1972 by noted makeup artist, Ilana Harkavi. A new era dawned when brother-and-sister entrepreneurs, Oran Holtzman and Shiran Holtzman-Erel, purchased the brand.
Il Makiage was re-launched in 2018 as a tech-driven, digitally-native brand, following a US$29 million minority investment by L Catterton. The largest, diversified consumer-dedicated private equity firm in the world backed by LVMH, the luxury goods giant, L Catterton has increased its investment to US$44 million.
Building on its US success, Il Makiage launched in the UK in May 2020 and Germany in November 2020.
Last October, WWD, the prestigious US fashion authority, reported that Il Makiage was working with leading investment bank, Centerview Partners, to explore an IPO (initial public offering) or strategic sale because of the brand’s strong surge in popularity. Il Makiage weathered the Covid-19 pandemic well and revenues are estimated to have risen to US$150 million by the end of last year.
An early digital adopter, Il Makiage acquired Israeli startup NeoWize in 2019 to boost its chops in AI-enhanced e-commerce.
The buyout followed the launch of Il Makiage’s PowerMatch algorithm, which uses AI and machine learning to precisely match beauty complexion products with 90 per cent accuracy. The brand’s Woke Up Like This foundation is the single most reviewed makeup product in the world with more than 300,000 reviews.
Following our incredible success in the UK and Germany in 2020, we knew that Australia had to be next on our list, says Oran Holtzman, co-founder and CEO of Il Makiage.
“Australia is one of the largest prestige beauty markets in the world and has grown significantly over the last several years. With this in mind, as we are laser-focused on building better online shopping experiences, we’re now able to offer Australians our global beauty brand with ease of purchase and local, fast delivery times.”
Il Makiage’s products are available exclusively from www.ilmakiage.com from June 1
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Hello , can I buy your products from a store or only online??
My daughter purchased your foundation from a questionnaire. I’m also interested where can I get the form please?
Which stores sell this in Melbourne, Australia?