On one uneventful day, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, a sponsored skincare ad caught my attention. That was how I came to know about Glossier, a new player in the beauty-products market. I checked the website and quickly realized that this brand is setting trends in the industry and is worth following.

There are 3 ways Glossier is changing the landscape of the skincare industry:

• By simplyfying a skincare routine
• By creating and developing a community
• By challenging beauty stereotypes

Simplifying a skincare routine

For years, the beauty industry has been coming up with more and more products to push to consumers, putting pressure on beauty-evangelists to buy new trendy skincare and make up so-called “must-haves”. Glossier, on the contrary, is lifting the layers from one’s skincare routine. It’s Phase 1 Skincare Set contains only a cleanser, a moisturizer, a tint, and a lip balm. Nothing fancy, just the basics – which is perfect for busy young professionals.

Creating a community

Glossier is doing a good job at creating a culture of sharing amongst its consumers, forming a community around its products. The customers give testimonials as if they are confiding to their best friend. The company goes beyond just facilitating conversations, though: they also excel at listening. Using consumer feedback, Glossier then implements the changes to its products based on the reviews, making better products and creating more consumer satisfaction.

Challenging beauty stereotypes

Glossier features natural-looking models and promotes authenticity. They go for a “girl next door” type, instead of glamorous supermodels. Instead of posing with a product, a Glossier girl is shown having fun, applying a mask at home, washing her face. She’s real,she’s confident, she’s approachable.

Above and Beyond

To see the differences in comparison, check out Glossier’s page for its Milky Jelly Cleanser and Kiehl’s page for its Ultra Facial Cleanser. These 2 products are within the same price range, but the companies’ approaches to branding are totally different.

We can see Kiehl’s going with a more traditional approach and features just the product, like most skincare brands do.

Glossier, however, goes beyond that: their product page shows the cleanser in motion, organically squeezed out of the tube and used by real people. It presents the process of skincare as a fun daily ritual, which is more appealing.

Glossier’s Background

Glossier was started by Emily Weiss, a beauty-blogger of Into The Gloss, a website with millions of views every months. She curated her blog for 4 years before starting with consumer-products in 2014. In her interview with FASTCOMPANY, an online publication, Emily said that she wanted to create a brand that “really had a conversation with the consumer as opposed to speaking at the consumer.” She mentioned the use of good story telling being in the heart of her business, saying that she and her team are trying to “create the Glossier world around the products”. And it seems that they have succeed.