Last fall, the New York Times reported that big make-up companies were optimising new products for selfies. Within a few months, we’ve seen Kendall Jenner create a line of eye shadows that are back-light activated and Eva Mendes model a line of sculpting, ‘selfie-friendly’ skincare. Clearly, we’re more camera ready then we thought.
No one knows this better than Richard Parrott, the founder of the NYC cosmetics chain Ricky’s. In August 2015, he opened a specialty outpost of the chain called “#” (read as “Hashtag”) in Soho, to showcase products specially formulated to look good in digital photos and discovered a number of the brands themselves through Instagram.
We caught up with Parrott on-site at his Soho boutique to pick his brain about the one key product for photographing well, Internet culture, and whom he follows…
What prompted you to create a whole boutique to social media make-up?I was just brainstorming one day, walking around the streets of Soho, and I came up with this idea to put a store together of all these brands that we’ve found on the Internet. These are social media brands that typically didn’t have any other brick-and-mortar retail exposure, and they actually account for a significant fraction of our sales. So I decided to put together this boutique where people could engage a little bit more with brands that they may have never heard of, but which are some of the most popular, and certainly some of the best quality, brands out there.
Where do you find these brands?It’s kind of a wormhole! Sometimes if I’m on Instagram, there’ll be a link to someone’s blog or a link to their website and I just go from there, kind of organically. I first look at all the people whom I follow—mostly make-up artists and a few brands, and when I see a post that’s interesting or a new product I haven’t heard of, I start exploring.
Whom do you recommend we follow?Well, there are a lot of really, really talented make-up artists out there; Brian Champagne (@brian_champagne) is amazing, and Mario Dedivonic (@makeupbymario), well, he does the Kardashians, so need I say more? I think the spirit out there is very collaborative so make-up artists will even promote other make-up artists, so I think it’s a great environment, where people are in good spirits share a lot of knowledge.
Do you think that taking photos has totally taken precedence over how your make-up looks in real life?In a word—yeah. I think that photos are the easiest way to share your look. A vehicle like Snapchat, even if it’s grainier quality, is instantly consumable. This fact is captured also by the popularity of the ‘15-second’ make-up tutorials on Instagram. I don’t think digital pictures are going anywhere soon.
What’s the one product that you would recommend to people who want to look better in photos?I think it has to start with the proper foundation. And the cover-up, if needed—something like LA Girl, which has an incredible line of concealers and foundation. It’s inexpensive, but it works, and without the right base, everything is just an uphill climb.
What’s the biggest difference between selling traditional make-up brands and this new generation of cosmetics?For the latter, it’s more common that our consumers will ask for products that are out of stock. This really is a mobile environment because it evolves constantly: brands come in and out. These aren’t companies with big infrastructure, and they aren’t stocking their product as regularly as a big cosmetics label. They’re startups. And sometimes they have difficulty scaling because popularity happens in the blink of an eye. They don’t have as much market research—and maybe can’t have that much market research, because their market is so volatile.
What are some products that celebrities have moved from your shelves?Well, anything that a Kardashian touches tends to do well! Like “Hairfinity vitamins”—they’re pills for your hair. Sounds crazy but Kim swears by them. And Banana Powder by Ben Nye has proven to be one of the most successful products that we have ever stocked. It’s a translucent finishing powder that makes you look great on camera.
