Makeup artist Jo Baker’s new beauty launch model: NFT first, physical product second
Most of the beauty brands releasing NFTs these days already sell physical products. But for new make-up brand Bakeup by Jo Baker’s first ever product launch, it’s taking the opposite approach.
Today, the brand’s futuristic Disco Veiler Eye Adornment is being released virtually as a Snapchat and Instagram filter, as well as an NFT—the latter, as part of the Non-Fungible People (NFP) collection by software company Daz 3D. At the end of this month, the blindfold will be released for sale as a physical product. The NFT version will be free and sent to 500 select members of the NFP community who were chosen based on their previous engagement with the brand.
Celebrity makeup artist Jo Baker, the brand’s co-founder and head of beauty care, is best known for her creative IRL red carpet and editorial looks on a wide range of celebrities, including Lucy Boynton, Jennifer Lawrence, Sharon Stone, Maude Apatow and Salma Hayek, to name a few some. But, she said, over the past nine months she has become a metaverse enthusiast.
“After lockdown and everything that’s happened, there’s been so many different realms and forums and avenues to explore,” Baker said. When she first became aware of the metaverse hype, “it wasn’t a place I was naturally going into at all,” she said. But after her friends encouraged her to try out an Oculus headset, she was hooked. “It literally feels like just pushing a button and stepping into the future. That small taste made me look at the possibilities.”
Launched on June 21, the brand was co-founded by Baker and CEO Sarah Superfon with a “multiverse” concept of digital and physical beauty. Also involved in the founding are Philosophy founder Cristina Carlino and her daughter Grace Gaustad, a recording artist who serves as the face of the brand and was involved in the creative process. Baker scouted Gaustad for the cover of her album, “The Black Box,” and Gaustad models the eye ornament in her latest music video.
Non-Fungible People is “a collection of 8,888 female and non-binary hyperrealistic 3D avatars,” according to the description by Daz 3D. It has collaborated with several brands, including Clinique, Louis Moinet and Champion.
With NFT prices plunging, the brand has yet to release details on whether it will sell NFTs in the future or retain the free giveaway model. Superfon said the brand has been tracking NFT price fluctuations.
“We’ve incorporated that into our approach,” she said. “The way we will do NFTs will be very strategic.” On the question of whether the brand will sell NFTs, she said that “going forward we will have a strategy related to our makeup products,” but is not ready to discuss specifics.
With the brand aimed at the 18 to 28 age demographic, 20-year-old Gaustad has been active in the NFT community, particularly NFP. She released her first NFP NFT in December featuring her “Black Box” album cover makeup look. She has participated in several Discord talks, including one unveiling Black Box NFT, as well as a conversation last week with Jo to unveil Bakeup.
For its social promotion plan, the brand will tap into traditional beauty marketing strongholds like Instagram, as well as newer avenues including Twitter Spaces and Discord. It has a partnership with a gaming platform that will be unveiled in September.
With her artistry featured on the covers of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, Baker hopes to add a sophisticated aesthetic to the metaverse. She was blunt about her initial reaction to Metaverse’s style when she started at Oculus: “The clothes are crazy.” But for her, it meant “there’s a real opportunity and an opportunity to put this real fantasy and fantasy together, and create this absolutely futuristic playroom.”
Disco Veiler, a bedazzled mesh eye cover, was created to be the “foolproof way to play with sparkles on your face” in an age of intricate — and difficult to make — bedazzled eyes, Baker said. Her description of its aesthetic is a “galactic-inspired, lightning-fast beauty adornment for your futuristic cosmic alter ego who wants to dip in and out of fantasy in a flash.”
Future physical product launches this year will include eye color and “very important, simple, utilitarian skin care,” Baker said.
On the digital side, “there’s a big opportunity in digital wearables,” Superfon said. “People will always want physical products.” But the brand aims to “provide a new way to express yourself through your avatar, whether you’re in a game or PFP for your Zoom call.”
