A Deep Dive Branding of Glossier
Founded in 2014 by Emily Weiss, Glossier is a direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand focused on embracing ones natural appearance with the slogan, “your skin, but better”. Not only am I an avid fan of their products, but as a marketer, I nerd out over their branding. Let’s take a look:
Glossier has 6 core values: inclusive, innovative, courageous, devoted to the customer, discerning, and curious. Glossier is dedicated to infusing the insights of its customers with its beauty products. How do they do this? They focus on hiring diverse teams and models. Glossier also practices sustainability through their iconic pink pouches (I use these for everything – makeup bag, pencil pouch, you name it) and only produces cruelty-free products.
Glossier has their ‘G’ monogram as well as its ‘Glossier’ logo. Their primary font is Apercu. The Glossier ‘G’ is custom made, with inspiration drawn from black letter fonts. You can clearly see where I got the inspiration for my own logo from…
The infamous ‘Glossier Pink’ is actually 705 C pale pink from the Pantone Pallet. They ‘compose it with white to create clean minimalistic (and Instagrammable) aesthetics.’
Glossier’s target market is millennial women who are social media active and ‘enjoy treating themselves’. I would dare to say that Glossier also has a strong following from the gen-z market (myself included).
As a brand, Glossier is very social media savvy and mostly shares user-generated content. You can also often see them in the comments of viral TikToks, engaging with content even not related to the beauty sphere! Their tone of voice is very casual, humorous, and engaging. They put an emphasis on brand communication sounding the same as talking to a friend.
Now I know the question you’re dying to ask… what are my favorite Glossier products? By far, I am in love with their toner, ‘Solution‘. As someone with super sensitive skin, this chemical exfoliant helps my face feel as clean as ever without making it sting. Would this even be a Glossier favorites list if I didn’t talk about the product that started it all? The Perfecting Skin Tint. Personally, I love a minimal coverage base for my skin, so this really is ‘perfect’! I have been repurchasing the Perfecting Skin tint for 4 years now – it’s the best! I also am a fan of their Haloscope highlighter in the shade ‘Quartz’. I have natural pink undertones in my skin tone, so this complements my complexion very well.
I had the joy of visiting Glossier’s flagship in Seattle in 2019, and look forward to the day I can visit their permanent shop downtown! By the way Glossier, I’m graduating in June 2022 if you’re looking to expand your marketing or creative teams… ;)
