A long time in the making, Westman Atelier is unveiling its latest complexion offering.
The color cosmetics brand, cofounded by highly sought-after makeup artist Gucci Westman, is debuting Suprême Bio-Complex Liquid Foundation, $69, available in 30 shades.
Encapsulated in exosome technology for precise delivery, the foundation also contains peptides, biocompatible pigments and amino acid powders.
“The process did begin with wanting to create the most exquisite foundation formula ever to be experienced by anyone. First and foremost, the performance, the experience, the wear, the finish, the blurring, the texture, the slip, that lush kind of skin,” said Westman.
“But at the same time, I am obsessed with skin care, and I’m obsessed with ingredients. We found a biotech lab in Spain that we partnered with because they are extraordinary and very well known for their delivery systems and their active ingredients that you can microencapsulate, that become very effective when you do it in this way. So we separately worked on this exosome technology, which is this delivery system that is very effective in skin care that you see everywhere in skin care, but not in makeup,” she continued.
She described the silicone-free formula as “super innovative,” calling amino acid filling powders the magic ingredient for blurring and diminishing texture on the skin. “They glide over and just diminish, which is something that is a big deal for me. I’m always like looking at what happens with the pores when you try a formula, and oftentimes the formula settles into the pores, or it grabs onto those dry patches, and when you’re not using silicones, it’s difficult to to kind of like get away from that. So being able to identify which alternative ingredients would be able to replace something like silicones was really a feat.”
The brand declined to comment on sales forecasts, but industry sources estimate retail sales to come in around $20 million.
Westman Atelier cofounder David Neville said: “It’s obviously the biggest category in prestige makeup, and we don’t really have an anchor liquid foundation like this, so it’s definitely projected to be our biggest collection.”
He added that while some companies have a true hero collection that may do north of 50 percent of their business, Westman Atelier has five or six collections that contribute double-digit percentage penetration to the total business.
Westman Atelier launched in 2018 DTC and exclusively at Barneys with five product stock keeping units. The brand entered Sephora in 2021 and is also stocked in Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman, and Cos Bar, among others.
In 2019, Westman Atelier received a minority investment from Prelude Growth Partners.
