Apparently, We're Doing Makeup Differently Now
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So... Where Did All the Foundation Go?
If you've been around Lilac Earth for a while, you may have noticed that things look a little different around here.
The foundations are basically gone.
The colour correctors are completely gone.
A bunch of the matte complexion products are also gone.
And I've also been quietly moving away from the whole “sensitive skin” identity that used to be such a big part of Lilac Earth.
So... what happened?
Well.
I've changed my mind.
And after running this business for years, I've learned a few things about what I actually want Lilac Earth to be.
Let's Start With Foundation
Foundation is A LOT of work.
There's the formulation, testing, colour matching, different depths and undertones, coverage, finishes, samples, shade questions...
And then there's making the actual stuff.
Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
It's a completely different kind of product from making an eyeshadow shade.
With eyeshadow, I can get excited about a colour.
I can look at something and think, Oh my god, that's gorgeous.
With foundation, I'm thinking about whether the undertone is exactly right, whether the coverage is behaving properly, whether the finish is what I intended, whether it blends the way it should...
And then I'm thinking about it again tomorrow.
And honestly?
I realized that's just not where I want to put my energy anymore.
I Also Hate Makeup Blenders 😂
There. That's the brutally honest bit.
Some products are simply more enjoyable for me to make than others.
And complexion products come with a whole lot of fiddly details that just don't excite me.
I've spent enough time thinking about application, blending, coverage and finishes that I can officially say:
I hate makeup blenders.
😂
This is not a scientific position.
It's a personal one.
I'd much rather be making a ridiculous purple eyeshadow.
The Products Weren't Bad
This part is important.
The foundations weren't bad.
The colour correctors weren't bad.
The matte products weren't bad.
In fact, I designed them and was proud of a lot of them! But, being good at making something and actually wanting to spend your time making it are two completely different things.
Lilac Earth is a small business.
There isn't a giant production department where one person develops the formula, another handles batching, another does quality control, another photographs everything, and another deals with the website.
It's me. (And my husband helping behind the scenes.) That's it.
So eventually I had to start asking myself a very simple question:
What do I actually want to make?
Apparently, The Answer Is Colour
Turns out, I want to make the fun stuff.
The ridiculous purples. The greens. The shimmers. The colour-shifting pigments. The shades that look completely different when you move them into different light. The colours that make you stop scrolling for a second.
The ones where I get to think:
Okay, this might be completely unnecessary... but LOOK AT IT.
That's the stuff that makes me want to sit down and make another batch.
And that's where I think Lilac Earth has the most personality.
So I'm narrowing things down.
More colour. More interesting shades. More products that I actually enjoy making.
Less time wrestling with complexion formulas and trying to make everything fit into a particular idea of what a makeup brand is supposed to offer.
And Then There's the “Sensitive Skin” Thing
This is probably the biggest change in how I'm positioning Lilac Earth.
For a long time, the brand was heavily focused on mineral makeup, sensitive skin, and gentle, simple formulations.
And I understand why that sounds appealing.
But over time, I realized that calling something “sensitive-skin friendly” creates an expectation I simply cannot guarantee.
Cosmetic ingredients can be perfectly fine for one person and cause a reaction in another.
That's just how skin works.
Even when I formulate carefully and use ingredients appropriately, I cannot promise that your individual skin will never react to a product.
And I never promised that in the first place.
But once “sensitive skin” becomes part of your brand identity, it's very easy for that distinction to get lost.
Someone sees “sensitive skin” and reasonably thinks:
This should be safe for me.
And if it isn't?
Suddenly I'm potentially in the position of working for free, refunding products, and absorbing the entire cost of something that was never actually within my control to guarantee.
I can't know every allergy or sensitivity someone has. I can't know how an individual's skin will react. And, I can't responsibly promise that a cosmetic product will work perfectly for every person.
So I'm stepping away from that positioning.
Not because people with sensitive skin don't matter, and not because I stopped caring about making good products.
I'm doing it because I want to be honest about what I can actually promise.
And Honestly? “Natural” Was Getting in the Way Too
There's another part of the old Lilac Earth identity that I've been thinking about.
“Pure.”
“Natural.”
“Clean.”
They sound lovely.
But they're also words that get used in beauty marketing to mean approximately seventeen different things.
And “natural” doesn't automatically mean safer.
“Synthetic” doesn't automatically mean dangerous.
“Pure” doesn't automatically mean better.
What matters to me is whether an ingredient is appropriate for cosmetic use, safe when used as intended, and does what I need it to do in the formula.
And my old positioning was starting to put unnecessary limits on that.
Because I want to make really fucking cool makeup.
Think multichromes. Duochromes. Pigments that shift dramatically as the light moves. Colours that look one way straight on and completely different from the side.
Those are the kinds of products that make me excited about makeup!!!!
But when you've built your brand around “pure,” “natural,” and “sensitive-skin-friendly,” you can end up avoiding perfectly legitimate cosmetic ingredients simply because they don't fit neatly into that marketing story.
And I don't want marketing language deciding what makeup I'm allowed to make.
I want to be able to look at an ingredient and ask:
Is it appropriate for cosmetic use?
Is it safe when used properly?
Does it perform beautifully?
If the answer is yes, then I don't need to reject it just because it doesn't sound sufficiently “natural.”
That doesn't mean I'm throwing caution out the window.
It means I'm done confusing “natural” with “good” and “synthetic” with “bad.”
And that opens up a whole lot more possibilities.
Including some seriously gorgeous colour-shifting pigments.
There's Also the Small-Business Reality
Here's the less glamorous part.
Some products simply take a lot of time, materials, testing, packaging and general fiddling around to produce.
When you're a tiny independent business, you have to pay attention to that.
I can't spend hours making something simply because I feel like I should offer it.
My time matters.
My energy matters.
And I need to put both into the parts of Lilac Earth that make the most sense for the business and for me.
That doesn't mean the foundation didn't sell.
It doesn't mean the products were failures.
It means I've learned that not everything that can be part of a makeup line needs to be part of mine.
And that's okay.
So What Is Lilac Earth Now?
Honestly?
A lot more me.
I'm moving toward the products I actually love making.
Eyeshadows.
Blushes.
Pigments.
Colour.
Interesting finishes.
Unexpected shades.
And whatever other colourful ideas I decide are worth making.
I'm not trying to be a giant makeup catalogue anymore.
I'm not trying to cover every possible category.
I'm not trying to promise that every product will be perfect for every person.
I'm making things I believe in, describing them honestly, and letting you decide what works for you.
And I think that's a much better place for Lilac Earth to be.
Apparently, We Like Colour
So yes.
The colour correctors are totally gone. The foundation is on clearance, almost gone. A bunch of the matte products are gone.
And, the whole “sensitive skin mineral makeup” identity is going with them.
Not because any of those things were inherently bad.
They just aren't where I want Lilac Earth to go anymore.
I want more colour.
More personality.
More experimentation.
More products that make me think, Oh, I really want to make that.
And considerably less time doing things that make me stare at the ceiling wondering why I own a small cosmetics business. 😂
Apparently, we like colour.
And honestly?
I'm pretty damn happy about that. 💜
Kathy
Lilac Earth