Do The Dew: Minimalist Makeup Brand Undone Expands At Ulta Beauty, Launches Makecare Skincare-Makeup Hybrid Products

In prestige beauty distribution at the likes of Sephora, minimalist clean makeup brands such as Westman Atelier, Kosas and Saie are expanding. In masstige distribution, Undone is doing the same.

The brand from Tru Fragrance, an incubator of owned brands, emerging brand investor and creator of exclusive brands for retailers, has roughly doubled its store count at Ulta Beauty to 600. In half of its stores at Ulta, Undone is housed in a clean makeup endcap, and it’s housed in the masstige planogram in the other half. Buoyed by social media, the brand’s orders and, according to data from consumer intelligence firm Spate, Google searches have doubled over the past year.

“We are really focused on simplicity, multitasking and truly bringing first-to-market innovation at an affordable price point. From a brand ethos standpoint, we’ve always been about real people, not retouching and undoing beauty norms. We show a guy in our planogram at Ulta wearing concealer,” says Ann Somma, chief creative officer of Tru Fragrance. “We are using the brand to redefine who beauty is for. That’s only gotten more important as we’ve grown and are evolving out of COVID, and offering products that make dewy makeup simple and easy for everybody continues to be super important.”

To support its retail expansion, Undone will soon launch its first significant brand-level campaign with out-of-home and YouTube advertising. “The focus is on the brand as a way to bring out the best in yourself,” explains Somma. “Our brand obviously begins with the letter ‘U,’ so it’s about putting the emphasis on you.”

On top of its retail expansion and ad campaign, Undone is expanding its assortment with a new Makecare line of products bridging makeup and skincare. The heart of the Makecare line is Glowed Up Facial Tanning Foam, a buildable facial self-tanner that works for contouring and with Undone’s Seamless Brush; Unphased 1-Step Makeup Remover Mist, a makeup-removing spray; and SynergiStick Solid Serum Stick, a multipurpose skincare stick to hydrate the skin and prep it for makeup. Another release is Lash Love Prime + Treat, a primer designed to improve the appearance of lashes and boost the performance of mascara. In total, Undone has 120-plus stockkeeping units priced from $8 to $20.

“We really wanted to create something that worked alongside the makeup. We are always doing our makeup routines internally with Undone, and it became obvious that there are a couple of things makeup-adjacent that we wished we had,” says Somma. “With that, we set out to do a makeup-adjacent line that was a little bit more focused on skincare, but is focused on prepping your skin for makeup or removing your makeup.”

Of the SynergiStick Solid Serum Stick specifically, she says, “Our stick format products have been so successful for us. So, when we thought about doing a primer, we loved the idea to have a giant version of our sticks to prime your whole face or just to prime certain areas.”

Prior to the introduction of Makecare, Undone erected three main merchandise franchises centered on texture and formula: the Water Bronzer franchise with stick items stars a water-based formula enabling the products to melt into the skin; the Lip To Cheek 3-In-1 Cream Palette franchise has a cream formula in three shades from sheer to opaque; and the powder eyeshadow palette franchise features Curator Quad and Curator Wet to Dry Eye Palette. The plan is to extend the franchises.

“We are really focused on simplicity, multitasking and truly bringing first-to-market innovation at an affordable price point.”

“One of the things that differentiates us is that we only develop concepts that we have come up with internally versus shopping for innovation,” says Somma. “We have lab partners, but we will come to them with ‘This is what we want to achieve, can we work on this together?’ versus having our contract manufacturers come to us with ideas.”

Available on Amazon, where Undone started in 2018 as part of the emerging brands program, Somma hints at retail growth this year for the brand and highlights international distribution as a big opportunity for it. “We are very open to partnerships,” she says. “The lines have blurred in terms of the black and white lines there used to exist between mass, masstige and prestige.”

No matter their position on the mass to prestige spectrum, retailers are drawn to beauty brands with buzz. The YouTuber Tati Westbrook included Undone’s Warm Up 4-in-1 Bronzer in a video last year spotlighting her beauty favorites. The brand has been gaining momentum on TikTok. Undone’s TikTok account has 165,500 likes and around 3,360 followers. As it tries to stoke social media content, Undone concentrates on product like its Water Bronzer at a time during the course of a month or longer. Somma says,“The idea is that one concept resonating will lift all boats because people will come to the rest of the brand.”

Somma describes Undone’s core customer from a psychographic perspective rather than demographic perspective. “They are someone who is looking for value who appreciates a good beauty product, but isn’t necessarily an advanced makeup user,” she says. “The secret of our success is that so many people know how great a good blush or a good lip gloss can be in your life, and I think we offer a great value in terms of being clean and having beautiful formulas at a really good price.”

As inflationary pressures diminish consumers’ spending power, Undone could be well-positioned to capture them if they trade down from pricier clean makeup brands. However, Somma underscores price isn’t the only factor that Undone has going for it. In the makeup category, she argues it’s a worthwhile investment for shoppers watching their money carefully.

“I’m not sure it’s always about spending less, I think it’s about spending on something that is right for you,” says Somma. “Ultimately, if you pick one or two great things, and you really love them and use them, that’s better than picking up 10 things that don’t really work for you.”