History of Anna Sui cosmetic range

In 1997 Sui signed an agreement with Wella AG company of Germany, this was when she bagan producing her own Anna Sui fragrance. She was partially excited about the fragrance deal because she considers scents to be more inspiration to her designs and creations.

Albion, a Japanese major manufacturer within cosmetics and skin care products company  also went into the deal. The original cosmetic line of Anna Sui was release in 1999, the line included base makeup products, liner, eye shadows, lip colour and nail colours. ‘’I was able to explore while I was creating it, adding anything that struck my fancy. The result is a collection that has all the precise colours for today’s look.’’ – Anna Sui. Colours which were included in the range were silver, purple, gold and blue. In 2000 the line of skin care products were produced.

Sui has said that the makeup collections that she has released are very personal to her. All of her products have a tea rose scent; this is because this is her favourite scent. The packagings for this range were also embossed with the rose design. The packaging was decorated with the rose theme as well.

I read in Anna Suis book that she believed that she wanted to create products that can be used as an accessory – also with a novelty feel to them. In Asia the beauty products were in the top five best sellers, celebrities which used the range were Cher, Drew Barrymore and Christina Ricci.

From research I have found that there were seven key words for the makeup line which are the same for her clothing line – rose, butterfly, purple, red, black glitter and antique.

To the right is an image of how Anna Sui's cosmetic range is displayed in a shop. This is a recent image as it has the advertisements of the newest Anna Sui mascara from the Spring/Summer makeup collection of this year.

I love how it looks very clean and the products are all placed nicely out onto the surfaces clearly to be able to see the beautiful packaging of each product. The furniture and the decoration of the walls are very fitting to Anna Sui as it is a similar pattern the packaging of Anna Sui products. I found this image on the Anna Sui cosmetic Twitter page. 

I recently read an interview with Anna Sui where the interviewer asked if Anna Sui’s fashion design influences her makeup range. Sui replied saying that all her products are inspired by her fashion world. She said that when she was a teen she dragged a vanity bag from the Salvation Army which had been in a fire and then painted it black and kept it in her room.

Rococo shapes
similar to shapes on
packaging

When Sui opened her first store she brought all the vintage furniture from a flea market and painted it all black. Wella loved the idea of the rococo shapes and the roses of the furniture – this has carried through the makeup packaging. Other shapes that are included in the packaging is from Sui’s jewellery that she has designed.

Sui’s product packaging is considered as collectors’ items because they are all so elegant – something that you don’t want to throw away once you have finished with them. ‘’The other thing that I realized is that not everybody has the lifestyle or the budget to afford an Anna Sui dress, or maybe they don’t have anywhere to wear an Anna Sui dress, but they can have the same fantasy in that tube of lipstick or that nail polish. You get the same excitement when you see it, so I feel like that’s my job, to put that into every product.’’ – Anna Sui

Reference

2-3, E. (no date) Anna Sui, Google Books. Infobase Learning. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-r5bAgAAQBAJ (Accessed: 23 February 2015).

‘Anna Sui on Instagram Immediacy: And Fantasy In a Tube of Lipstick (Part II) — The New Potato’ (2015). The New Potato. Available at: http://www.thenewpotato.com/2015/01/29/anna-sui-instagram-immediacy-fantasy-tube-lipstick-part-ii/ (Accessed: 25 February 2015).

‘Photos and videos by ANNA SUI COSMETICS (@annasuicosme)’ (no date). Available at: https://twitter.com/annasuicosme/media (Accessed: 23 February 2015).