 Hey guys, what is up? Welcome to my channel for today's video. We're just gonna sit down and talk about something that's been on my mind and that I've been thinking about a lot and it's basically what brands I think are next on the chopping block and are going to follow suit of Becca. So let's just talk about it. Hi guys, if you're new here, my name is Morgan. I'm a product knowledge enthusiast. I just love knowing anything and everything about all of the new makeup on the market and sharing my thoughts with you guys. And of course, in the last couple of years I've definitely been reviewing Becca less and less. Now I've talked about this before but Becca has decided to close in September. Now for whether or not that will actually happen or if maybe there could be a comeback story or they could go to completely, you know, e-commerce, something like that, things like that could change because September I feel like is a really early time to announce that and not only that, there hasn't really been brands to announce a closure like this. I feel like the weirdest thing about this Becca closing situation is like, normally when brands kind of go under they slowly kind of phase their way out. You know, you'll notice their stuff starting to go on sale more, showing up at TD Max and it's just like a natural progression to where you can really see it coming where, okay, they're removed from the shelves at Ulta. They're removed from the shelves at Sephora and then the things on sale are getting cheaper and cheaper and you can just kind of see the evolution of the brand closing where eventually there'll be like, we're closing down. Thank you for all of the support over all of these years but it normally happens, I feel like, with the natural progression that you can see happen. With Becca, what was weird was they've announced it. They're still in stores at Sephora at Ulta and they have their own displays, no less. You know, it's not even like they got a little gondola. Becca has its own giant display. There was no phasing it out. And I also find it odd that they announced it pretty early on. So that's why I'm wondering if they're hoping something will happen to where they can come back. Now, of course I'm not in the marketing world. I'm not in the business world. I have a degree in education. So I am not the most well equipped to speak about this. I don't have the most knowledge. So just keep that in mind. I definitely would love to hear your opinions and your thoughts, of course. But I will say I am somebody who has had a close eye on the makeup industry for many, many years now. I've paid close attention to products that brands releases. I've seen phases come and go. I've seen new brands come in. I've seen old brands phase out. So that's why I thought the Becca was weird. To me, it was no secret that Becca was not doing well. We could tell. There wasn't new releases. When there was releases, I was quite uninterested. And you could kind of see their stuff going on sale. And you could see the very beginning stages, I believe, of a brand that isn't doing so well. But I thought they could be saved if they just did some new marketing techniques, started collaborating more with influencers, using the influencers more. Because I've heard a lot of other people talk about this. They have best sellers. Their best sellers are the Under Eye Concealer, and of course they're most known for their highlighter. But those are products that maybe you don't replace quite as often, which is why other brands like Benefit do well because we all go through our brow pencils in like a month. So the Becca Key Staple products, people just weren't repurchasing them. But that being said, their products were still on the best sellers list, which is why I was a little bit surprised at the announcement of the closing. Now at first I was like, oh, that makes sense. Like they weren't coming out with anything new and exciting. But the closer I looked into it, the more I was like, no, honestly, I didn't really see this coming. Am I surprised? No. I knew they were not making money, but who was? Now in the grand scheme of things, of course a makeup brand closing isn't the end of the world. There will be new products. There will be new brands coming in, and there are other products to replace. Your favorite Becca makeup products. Mostly I feel sad for those who work for the company, but at the same time, they're under the Estee Lauder umbrella. There are opportunities hopefully for them under the same company. Whereas, you know, small businesses, there isn't that opportunity. So at the very least, you know, it's very sad that Becca is closing. You know, when a brand owner is losing their dream, though she did end up selling it to Estee Lauder, which I suppose makes it less emotional on that front. People are losing their jobs. So things people have worked for is closing. So of course that makes it very sad, but it makes me worried for the industry more so because Estee Lauder is a big company, and from what I'm assuming, they have lots of money. They are buying these brands for millions and millions of dollars. Just something that I cannot fathom. So it's just very odd, you know. I also saw Estee Lauder recently, what brand did they buy? That skincare brand, The Ordinary, they just bought that. And there's just so much money with these big umbrella companies that are in the industry. That is very weird, that little old Becca, they decided to drop. So of course, I've been thinking about if this is the wave of the industry out with the old and with the newer, maybe just the makeup industry is going down. Though I don't believe it is, I just think there's so much change in the industry now. I do believe we are definitely starting a new era of the makeup industry. It all was stemmed from social media and I think quite frankly, as a brand, if you are not utilizing social media and the influencers in the right way, that you're not gonna be successful. And sometimes it's very easy to get a little bit egocentric about, I know sometimes in my videos, I can be where, for example, I did the, I'm trying to push this last show and hold on. For example, I did the, people are still buying these where I talked about best sellers and why I think they shouldn't be on the best sellers and what should be in place of them. But I mean, I know this, I didn't say this in my video, but of course it's not only people that watch YouTube that are buying makeup. So marketing is important, but I do think the vast majority are watching YouTube. They are following people on Instagram. They are learning from these influencers. So Becca did an okay job. They started off very early with Jaclyn Hill and that completely changed the trajectory of their brand, which I do think is very odd that after that, they really only continued with celebrities. I just, that, like I said, I don't know what goes on behind the brand. I don't know any details, but as somebody who was just watching the industry change, they were one of the first people to come out with an influencer collaboration and it was a huge, huge success, but then they didn't continue on with that, with their idea that they pretty much started and they really fell behind. So like I said, I don't know, you don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but very sad for the brand, very sad for the employees who worked for Becca and it really got me thinking about what other brands I think are going under. If I couldn't predict Becca, what can I predict? What are the early signs that are happening? So on my Instagram story, I asked what you thought and a lot of you guys are on the same page as me and like I said, I don't have any access to their finances. I don't know anything. They could be booming for all I know, but just based on what I see going on in the industry and my knowledge of when a brand is kind of almost out the door, this is what I think. So my main ones, I personally was thinking of with Stila and Smashbox, those two, there's no way they're doing well. So I'm gonna talk about those first. So Smashbox, the only thing they have going for them is our primers. Smashbox primer is the only thing that I own from the brand and they have really great primers, but every brand has primers now and I don't think Smashbox is the only go-to face primer nowadays. We're all getting into face primers and trying different ones and at the end of the day, do you even really need a face primer? Does everybody use a face primer? I think Smashbox needs to repackage, which they tried to do a few years ago and it worked for a short time and they sent out a lot of PR packages and I think it revived the brand a little bit, but again, I feel like they kind of have fallen under at this point. Their staple products are still favorites, but the industry has come out with new products that beat out or are better than the existing Smashbox products. So there's really nothing to make them stand out and the only way for them to really revive themselves, I think would be to come out with more new staple products, something that's not a primer, something that's not their primer water that is going to get their name back out there. I find their packaging to be, it's just a brand that I really feel bored of and I really do think that if they don't do something, I don't know, I don't have a degree in marketing, but they gotta do something to freshen up the brand because I've lost interest, I know most of you guys have lost interest and I'm a big packaging person, so I'm gonna say, ooh, they need to repackage, but they really do need to do a lot more with that and they also need to reformulate and just really bring their quality to top notch levels that makeup has reached nowadays because Smashbox doesn't have it, except for their primers. They don't have a phenomenal formula really in anything else. They are gonna need to reformulate, repackage, rebrand, pretty much everything I think is what they're gonna have to do in order to bring themselves up. Stila, oh my goodness, I honestly am not sure how Stila is still going. They, oh my God, I remember when Stila, I don't know that they were new, but I remember being very, very young and the whole aesthetic of Stila was different. They had these girls, I'll look for photos online, it's hard to describe, but it was like Parisian themed, just the illustrations of the makeup was beautiful. The whole aesthetic, my mom said it was very boutique, a very niche brand, and once Estee Lauder bought them, they lost that special touch that the brand used to have. Oh my goodness, editing Morgan here, I'm sorry, I had to interrupt and share the nostalgia for you. As I was looking up some vintage Stila products, I came across some products that I remember owning. Like this, I remember my mom giving it to me when I was like six. And then this palette, I owned that too. Listen, I'm pretty young, especially for how long Stila's been around, but it's so fun to look through this stuff because I remember some of these releases because my mom bought them and I remember being enamored as a child by the Stila products. And over the years, they haven't really come out with anything that was exciting. They have their liquid liner, which is really great and is still a best seller. And I think the one product that kind of put them back out on the mat, really revived the brand, was the glitter and glows. People went nuts over them, myself included. I still have them in my collection. The problem is they have milked it to the point no return. Like they have to stop with it. They've come out with the shimmer version, the matte version, the highlight version, this color, that color, this finish. And they just keep trying to come out with the only product that they can sell in different forms. And it's gotten to the point in the last two years that people are bored of it. And they've come out with other products. You know, I'm constantly seeing new products come out from them on Ulta, but nobody's ever heard of them. Nobody ever buys them. They came out with some eyeshadow palettes. I got a little bit of attention because they were really pretty, but then I heard the formulas were bad and they haven't had the best. Remember, kitten eye shadow? Everybody had kitten eye shadow. So we know they have the capability to come out with great quality products. But I think where the main problem lies with that brand is the marketing. You don't see them enough on social media. I don't think they utilize influencers enough. They aren't pushing their product out enough because if we don't see it, we have constant stimulation of new product, brands throwing this in our face, brands giving these products to influencers. So we see them on Instagram. We don't really see that from Stila. So I feel like Stila has a great base. They have great packaging. They have the opportunity to really create some fun themed makeup and collections and make it really girly and pretty and pearls. And I think that's the aesthetic that they should do. They should go back to their old aesthetic. If they do that, if they almost kind of take a step back with the old kind of Stila aesthetic, I think that they could really save themselves. And who knows, maybe they are doing well, but I'm under the impression that they're not because I haven't heard a good review from Stila in a very long time. And going back to those glittering glows, now you can get glitter products that are just as good, if not better for a fraction of the price because once the drugstore markets hit it on your formula that you started, like you gotta move on. You can't keep pushing that $30 glitter eyeshadow when a drugstore brand can do it for $5 and do it better. So yeah, I think Stila just needs to take a step back and kind of go back to their old roots. And I really feel like we could bring the brand back in that way. Another one that was very popular was Buxom. Absolutely, I agree with that. All I can think of with Buxom has to be their lip glosses, but Fenty has stolen that from them. And their white rush in collection, which that's another thing that I believe has been milked and they need to move on from. And nobody's really interested in Buxom anymore, more glosses that come out. If you ask me, it's a brand where it's just kind of out with the old and all the new has come. It's almost time for Buxom to phase out. And I'm not saying they don't have good products. I actually haven't really tried that many other products. And like I said, I've been interested in the makeup market for a really long time. And that to me has been a brand that I've never really been that interested in in the first place. So of course to me, I'm like, oh yeah, that makes sense. But yeah, I just feel like their voice is getting quieter and quieter in this world of social media. I don't think that bare minerals is going under. I think many years ago they were at their peak then they started opening stores because they were doing so well. And I think for a while they dropped, but they really did rebrand themselves. And I think it was successful. I don't think bare minerals will ever be a top runner ever again, but I think they're probably doing okay. I hear influencers talking about their products and I see people buying their products. They're even still using the mineral foundation that was one of their OG products. And I think in terms of the makeup market that is on QVC and those kind of brands, that is where bare minerals really hit heavy. And I think they're doing well on that side of the makeup industry. So maybe while on YouTube we aren't as interested, there definitely is a market for bare minerals in my opinion. So I think they're doing okay. A lot of people mentioned KVD beauty at this point today. KVD beauty is again going through another re-phase. So obviously started off with Kat Von D and I remember Kat Von D beauty was popping back in the day and I feel like such an old person when I say that. But it did, it used to pop a lot in and now it's not obviously when that whole shebang happened and then she got bought by somebody else. They changed it to KVD beauty and that clearly wasn't working because they deleted everything off their Instagram and they're saying KVD stands for somebody else. I didn't look too far into it so I don't know the intimate details of it right now. Obviously they're doing this shift because when they bought it, it wasn't working. I think they just need to change the name altogether, get rid of KVD and just start as a fresh entity because it's always gonna hold the shadow of Kat Von D and I really don't think they can climb out of that hole. I think they've come out with really cute products. Like I'm not gonna lie, I think they should hold on to the formulas but change the packaging, change the name, change everything because the quality of KVD beauty is very, very good. I love the liquid lipsticks and they have a great grasp on color concepts and eye shadow quality just from what I've seen. So I think they could do really cool things but I do think they need to just completely change the name, get rid of that and change up the image just a little bit. I do think they should keep those more gothic kind of vibes just dark and deep because that is the heart of the brand but they need to just get rid of that image if they're going to really succeed in the industry. I think so far they've done well with what they've done though with the situation that they were given but I think they just need to scrap all of that and start fresh. So this is probably their last stitch effort I would say before slamming those doors. Oh, I saw one that said La Rock and that made me very sad but people just aren't interested in La Rock anymore and fortunately they had their time with those pro palettes. I was a big fan of those. If you look at my very, very first video, a La Rock palette was actually the must have eyeshadow palette that I recommended and the quality was great and I still eye La Rock every now and then and they really have revamped their products and they've definitely been a lot more attractive to me but I just don't think people are biting. I don't see people ever buying it. I see La Rock always on sale and yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with that. I don't even know how I would fix La Rock. They have to change, obviously. It's not working. They can't have a square eyeshadow palette in my opinion. They have to completely drop that image and I think they gotta go a little bit more extravagant. Do something that's just different than the basic that they started with just to draw the attention of other people. Urban Decay was one that I saw a lot and I'm surprised by that. Now, I look very fondly on Urban Decay because I just remember being enamored by their products when I was like 13, 14 years old. The old school Urban Decay vibes, you guys. If you weren't into Urban Decay back in the day, you were missing out because they had the most beautiful palettes. They were so fun, so unique. The packaging was so different and the quality was so good. I just, at least for the time, I remember thinking that and they've got really stuck in this naked palette whole. That being said, naked palettes are still selling well. As somebody who's bored of them, I would feel as though they wouldn't be selling well but they are because it's just a palette that the mass market knows about so they're gonna buy one when it comes out. Normal people, not makeup owners like us, normal people don't buy palette after palette after palette. They stick with what they know. They stick with those Urban Decay naked palettes and when they see a new one come out, they'll pick up a naked palette because they know they like them but little do they know they're not the best quality. But anyways, I digress. As much as I would like for them to drop the whole naked palette thing because honestly, the palettes aren't even neutral naked. They're supposed to be anymore and they're still selling. That's why they're still creating them. But you do see that Urban Decay is having a little bit of trouble because they are starting to change things up. They're repackaging things. They just repackaged the single eye shadows which they desperately needed to do. And I don't think Urban Decay's going under but I do think their sales have a downward trend and this is their effort to try and correct that. And quite honestly, I think it's gonna work. I feel positive about it just because I feel like they're doing the right things or taking the right steps. Even the packaging of the eye shadows, they did it in such a way that it was attractive to the consumer, at least to me. I'm attracted to it and it was different enough and it made you kinda wanna purchase them, at least me. I'm talking about me. So I do think Urban Decay is having trouble but I think they'll be okay and I personally think they're taking the right steps. Someone said, I heard people worrying, Nix would. I think Nix is coming out as well. They're on an upward trend right now thanks to TikTok, honestly, because Nix at their prime was a few years ago. I wanna say like, you know, then the milk, I stick days. And they went down because I think they were oversaturating and they were just coming out with so many products and then discontinuing so many products that it was hard to keep track of Nix. You would get disappointed because you would find a product that you do like and then they would discontinue it and the displays were so overwhelming and quite honestly, the quality was bad. I liked Nix at the beginning and then I feel like the more popular it got, the more the quality was compensated and it just wasn't as good. And I think with TikTok and people diving into products, they found a little bit more success. So I'm happy to see that. Now I don't actually know if Nix is doing well or not but I feel like it's being revived a little bit and that it's going better. So I don't think they're closing their doors. Ooh. I saw somebody touch makeup geek. Yeah. I don't think makeup geek is doing well. I thought poor Marlena. I mean, do you remember when makeup geek was all, anybody was using those makeup geek shadows? She, it has not been scared to share that her brand wasn't doing as well and she recently in the last two years, she's rebranded, she's gone to Target, she's taken all the steps. I don't think it's stock. I don't hear people talking about her products. I don't think the brand's doing well at my target. I just don't think she went about the right way in her rebrand. I don't know that it was kind of very busy art-esque style palettes and they just weren't interesting enough. I think she prepared us for a really big rebrand. Everything was going to be so great. And I remember when she did officially announce the products that came out, I personally was underwhelmed. No, I don't know. That one, I don't think the rebrand was successful and I mean, Marlena has a kid now and she has other projects. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to close her doors. She did that one last effort. It makes me very sad to say that but I wouldn't be surprised if she just decided to close that chapter. Two more brands that I'm gonna talk about. The first one is Too Faced I don't think Too Faced is closing its doors anytime soon. I think that's gonna be a brand that sticks around for quite some time. Now are there sales where they used to be? Absolutely not. You guys know how I feel. They started coming out with junk and people have caught onto that. They know. But YouTube is not the only outlet for Too Faced. They do heavily on the QVC and they have other platforms that they utilize and other markets that they utilize. So I think Too Faced is doing just fine and not only that, they still do have core products in their line that are worth buying. Like they're born this way. Complexion products are very, very good. Like I said, Too Faced isn't at their prime but if you ask me, I still think that they're doing well and even with those stupid holiday palettes that are so cheap, people are still buying them. Teenagers still want them. They cost about a dollar to make. I'm convinced. So they're still making money off of that. Don't be fooled even on their sale price. They're still making money off of that. But I will say Too Faced, it's hard to tell what their market is now. It really is. I don't know if it's teenagers, if it's adults and things are like sexy themes. Some things are cutesy. I feel like Too Faced is having an identity crisis and they've been having it for a while. And I do think they need to figure that out in order for them to climb back up or it could be detrimental in the long run. But I think it's a brand that they have such a strong base. Even me, even though I'm not into Too Faced right now, if they started shifting their brand coming out with quality products, then they'd be all good. Seriously, they just need to put more effort into the quality of their products and they'd be good. That's all it would take for me. They have great ideas. They have the ability to create such cute packaging and I think they should stick with that. The packaging, the concepts, they're great. They need to stop releasing crap quality because it's gonna kick them in the butt. If they just change all of their quality back to the good stuff, it's an easy fix, okay? Oh, I know what I'm talking about, but it's an easy fix. And then also similar counterpart to that is Tarte. Tarte and Too Faced remind me a lot of each other in that they have such a strong core audience. You kind of want to forgive them. Even me, if Tarte comes out with something good, kind of want it, but they also oversaturate. They come out with too much and it's not good quality. And just knowing that when you spend your money on Tarte, you could risk the quality. You don't necessarily want to buy it. So just like Too Faced, if Tarte stops with that, I think people would, they'd be fine. Again, now Tarte interests me even less than Too Faced. I will say that, but both brands, their cash grabs are just so transparent. It's so easy. What is to see a cash grab and what is not and they need to stop playing around with their consumers because their consumers are going to begin to not be able to trust them and it really, really is going to hurt the brand. They're at a sensitive point right now and they could really fix the situation by just coming out with good products, by just being a little bit more thoughtful and they would be fine. We would all buy their products. But if they keep going down the road that they're going, they're gonna lose all trust that their customers have in them and eventually they could be following back on. Anyway, so that's just my two cents on brands, their current situation. Like I said, I have no idea. This is just from what I can see. Let me know your thoughts below. I think it's very interesting and this was such a fun conversation to have. If you haven't subscribed to my channel already, I would love it if you would consider taking the time to do so and I will see you all in the next one. Bye guys, have a good one.