Chosen brand for my project : M.A.C

For this project, our lecturer has provided a list of cosmetic brands which we need to choose from for the developments of this unit. On below is the list of brands.

• Illamasqua
• Bobbi Brown
• YSL
• Laura Mercier
• Dior
• Revlon
• Ellis Faas
• Chanel
• Tom Ford
• Shiseido
• Charlotte Tilbury
• Nars 
• Max Factor
• Lancome
• MAC 
• Givenchy

I found it quite hard to choose from the list as different brands have their own characteristics and for example: Ellis Faas's style of works feature innovative ideas, surrealism and distortion. You can see from her works, she pushes the boundaries of beauty and expand her creativity within aesthetics. Bobbi Brown's brand style aims at "The Secret to beauty is simple be who you are.". Bobbi wants to show the ideas of natural beauty and how she wants her cosmetics to make women more confident and prettier and feel like themselves within her brand concept. Different brands share different thoughts on aesthetics and after I have looked at all the brands style of works, I have finally decided which brand I want to develop my ideas for in this project. I have chosen M.A.C at the end as I personally like this brand because they share innovative ideas and they consider the customers' needs such as they provide a variety shades of foundation. Last year, I went to Ateh Jewel's talk and she has discussed that not a lot of companies consider dark shades foundation for people who have dark skin tones. This is one of the reason why I choose M.A.C because it considers what customers requirements and view from consumers side. M.A.C also features creative designs on their works and I like the way how they present beauty in different ways.  M.A.C logo is very iconic and it shows the black and white color contrast with the unique fonts which makes people easily recognised straight away their brand. The fonts on the logo is unique which shows their creativity and for me the color and the fonts used in here shows their chic style as well.

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M.A.C Logo

About M.A.C -
M.A.C, also known as Make-up Art Cosmetics, is a well-known international cosmetic company. It was found by two Canadian whose names are Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo during 1984 at Toronto. Frank Toskan is a make-up artist and a photographer, while Frank Angelo is a salon owner. The reason why they set up M.A.C is because in the past, there were lack of colors which would shoot well with photography and they wanted to make improvements with this by developing a cosmetics line. At the beginning, they cooked up the cosmetics in their kitchen and sold them from the hair salon. Their customers are photographers, make-up artists, stylists, etc. After that, their companies has become more popular and during March 1984, they have officially launched their cosmetics line in a department store as a single counter in Toronto. 
M.A.C interacts with customers as it offers a wide range of products and they didn't do any sales, samplings and gifts promotions after purchasing their products as they share the idea of their integrity on their products. The store is staffed with professional make-up artist and it is the first cosmetic brand to provide education and training for the staff.

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M.A.C products packaging

Their products feature black color and chic style and I like how M.A.C have their own style which makes the customers memorable and easily recognised their brand. The brand features glamorous and stylish style and consider the movements of the trends. M.A.C establish itself as the ultimate color authority and this is one of the reason I like the brand as it offers the consumers a wide range of colors of eye shadows, lipsticks, blushes, etc and through their photoshoots, you can see how the company uses colors to express their creativity throughout their works. On M.A.C 's website, it has stated that M.A.C is "A MAKEUP BRAND DEFINED BY APPRECIATION OF INDIVIDUALITY, ARTISTRY AND SELF EXPRESSION". 

M.A.C supports animal-free testing and is owned by The Estee Lauder Companies. During 1995, The Estee Lauder Companies purchased a percentage of M.A.C which makes the brand become popular not only in Canada by also global as well. It also builds the pathway for M.A.C to start working at the backstage of international fashion collections. In 1998, The Estee Lauder purchased the rest of the percentages of the company and John Demsey has become the president of M.A.C. The company has expanded and become more successful under his leadership. He leads the company to become more successful by allowing M.A.C participate at global film festivals and also by supporting M.A.C AIDS Fund which bring sponsorship of pop music concert tours for M.A.C Viva Glam spokespeople for instance, Missy Elliott. M.A.C Viva Glam was one of the fundraising initiatives created by the M.A.C HIV/AIDS organizations for charity purpose in 1994 and the purpose why M.A.C created this organisation is to respond to the epidemic of the AIDS which was spread around the world and ask people to be aware of AIDS. 

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Miley Cyrus 

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Lady Gaga

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Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande is the latest spokesperson for the 2016 M.A.C Viva Glam

M.A.C Viva Glam lipstick is produced to help raising money, ask people to confront and let people to be aware of HIV/AIDS. During that time, fashion makeup communities were also affected by the pandemic and it was stigmatised as a gay disease. The lipstick features red colors and it was explained to show the audience around the world that " the bullet in passionate red that was the shot heard around the world" (M.A.C AIDS FUND, no date). Viva Glam refers to M.A.C's mantra, "all ages, all races and all sexes" and the idea of Viva Glam also shows how M.A.C is an outspoken company and is used to celebrate life. M.A.C chooses Viva Glam spokespeople who are "provocative, alternative and influential and reflect diverse communities. They are heroes we look up to for their personal triumphs; people who have invented themselves and people who created movements." (M.A.C AIDS FUND, no date). 

John Demsey also collaborates with many celebrities for example, Catherine Deneuve, Liza Minnelli, etc to show the audiences the idea of being a beauty icon in the make-up industry. Nowadays, the company is so popular around the world and has made a huge influence in the cosmetic industry. Social Media is one of the biggest influence which allows audiences from around the world know the brand and attract more consumers. My hometown is in Macau and where I live, there are at least one or two M.A.C stores and it shows the popularity of the brand and also how the company was recognised by the globe. 

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References:

• M.A.C. [2016]. OUR HISTORY.[Online]. Available at: http://www.maccosmetics.jobs/mac/our-history.html [Assessed 07/02/2016]
• M.A.C AIDS FUND. [no date]. CAMPAIGN HISTORY.[Online]. Available at: http://www.macaidsfund.org/theglam/campaignhistory [Assessed 07/02/2016]