If you are speculating on how to start a makeup brush line, you have come to the right place. If you love makeup brushes or makeup in general and have a passion for this industry, starting your own makeup brush line is perfect for you. The global makeup brushes market was valued at 1.330 billion USD in 2018 and will reach 2.520 billion USD by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 8.3% during 2019-2025. Therefore, it is the best time to start your own makeup brush line from scratch. In this extensive guide, I will address all the queries you will have while starting a product line of makeup brushes. By the end of this article, you should have a clear answer to these questions.
- Why would someone buy your makeup brushes instead of other leading brands?
- How will you manufacture or source your makeup brushes?
- How will you maintain the quality of your makeup brushes?
- What will be your marketing strategy?
Since we have a lot to cover, therefore, without further ado, let’s get started on how to start a makeup brush line.
How much does it cost to start a makeup brush line?
In order to start a makeup brush line, you will need anywhere from $500 to $5000. This figure massively will depend on the scale of your operation. The more startup capital you will have, the better marketing strategies you can implement. Therefore, having more investment can elevate the growth faster, but it’s not a necessity. The basic cost breakdown of starting a makeup brush line is detailed below:
- Inventory -> $200 – $3000
- Domain name -> $11/yr
- Shopify -> $29/mo
- Marketing -> $500 – $2000
Pros and Cons of starting a makeup brush line
One of the biggest advantages of starting a makeup brush line is that it requires little to no investment to start. Furthermore, the barrier to entry is pretty low and you do not need a business degree nor any experience to start a makeup brush line.
On the contrary, the makeup industry, in general, is really competitive. Due to all the pros, I mentioned above, individuals flock into this niche. Therefore, in order to stand out among your competitors, make sure your product line offers a USP(Unique Selling Proposition) to your customers.
Is it easy to sell makeup brushes?
Yes, it is easy to sell makeup brushes online but you need to follow a strategy. Selling products online needs an actionable marketing strategy. Without a strategy, you will be running around like a headless chicken. Therefore, make sure you do your research and have a plan before attempting to sell your makeup brushes online.
5 steps to start a makeup brush line
With the basic overview to start a makeup brush line out of the way, let’s get started on the exact steps you need to follow in order to start a successful product line for makeup brush.
1. Choose a Name and a Logo for your Makeup Brush Line
The very first step to start a makeup brush line is choosing a brand name and logo for your business. The name and the logo of your makeup brush line will define the branding of your company. A few years back, the name and the logo were considered obsolete things. After all, it’s the quality of your makeup brushes and the customer service experience that elevates the growth of your business. However, the times have completely changed. Nowadays the brand name and the logo is the most valuable asset for the company.
Make sure to choose a name that answers YES to the following four questions :
- Does the name sound nice?
- Is the name easy to remember?
- Does the name fit with your brand?
- Is the name relevant to your industry?
If you are having a problem choosing a name for your makeup brush line, I would highly recommend using Shopify’s Business Name Generator tool. It is a free online tool that helps you brainstorm a brandable name for your business.
After you’ve decided on the name for your makeup brush line, it’s a good idea to check if the name has already been trademarked. You can check this by visiting US Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO) website.
Next, you’ll be checking if the domain is available for this name. You can use the tool below to check if the domain name for your makeup brush line is still available. And if it is, make sure to snatch it and make it yours today.
Find a domain starting at $0.88
powered by Namecheap
Next, let’s talk about designing your logo. One of the tools I use when designing logos for my businesses is Looka. This tool gives you everything you’ll need in order to start your makeup brush line and look great from day one. The best part? Their artificial intelligence(AI) technology does the heavy graphic design lifting while giving you all the creative control.
Let me tell you about one more free tool. Canva is an awesome graphic designing tool, where you can design anywhere from an Instagram post to an infographic or a branded logo using a drag and drop system. Canva provides thousands of elements, images, and fonts for absolutely free of cost.
2. Source your Makeup Brushes
There are three ways you can source your makeup brushes. The first route is manufacturing. This is where you get a design for your makeup brush and order a factory to manufacture them for you. If you are new in this industry, I would highly recommend not going through this route, as the startup cost is going to be high and factories will not manufacture a small number of makeup brushes for you.
The second and more reliable way of sourcing the makeup brush for your makeup brush line is private labeling or white labeling. This is where you buy makeup brushes in bulk and brand them with your name and logo. The best place to source private label makeup brushes is Alibaba. They usually have a small MOQ(Minimum order quantity) in place and offer customization with your logo at around 500 MOQ. Furthermore, they also offer customized packaging at around 5000 MOQ. Make sure to order a free sample piece before ordering the MOQ.
And the last route is the simplest one, where you do not even hold any inventory. That is by following the dropshipping business model. When an order comes through your online store, you simply direct the order to an Aliexpress seller who takes care of it. For example, if the Aliexpress seller is listing a makeup brush set for $5, you can list it on your online store for $15. You will run your marketing campaign and when you make a sale, you pay $5 to the Aliexpress seller, who delivers the product to your customer. You get to keep $10 for just being the middle man.
This model is best for someone who does not have high startup capital. You can always reinvest the money back into the business and order in bulk at the scaling phase.
3. Create an Online Store
In order to start a successful makeup brush line, you will need an online platform to sell your products. The first step of setting up an online store is registering a domain name. As we already discussed above, a domain name is the name of your website. Namecheap offers one of the best services for registering domain names.
The other thing you’ll need is a Shopify subscription. Shopify is a complete e-commerce package that lets you start, operate, and scale your online business. This subscription-based software allows individuals to set up an online store and start selling within hours. The subscription plan starts at $29/mo, but they provide a 14-day free trial(no credit card required). This trial period is perfect for anyone who wants to test out the platform before committing themselves.
If you need professional help to design your Shopify store, please let us know through this contact form. We will be back to you with help and resources within an hour.
Once your Shopify online store is up and running, you need to connect the domain to your Shopify account. It is really simple to do. All you need to do is go to the Domains section of your Shopify Dashboard and follow the step-by-step guide. After the connection is done, your makeup brush line is ready for marketing and generating sales.
4. Create a Digital Presence
Whether you’re starting a swimwear line or a jewelry line, you will need a digital presence for your business. The same goes for the makeup brush line. Social media is one of the greatest tools in order to create a digital presence for your makeup brush line.
The first thing you should do is get an email for your makeup brush line and create an account on all major social media networks. Once your social media accounts are set up, all you need to do is post content regularly and engage with your audience. It is going to take some time before you get a large following, but the fact of the matter is growing your social media account is not as hard as you think. You need to have a strategy to lure in new followers and keep your current followers up to date. One of the best techniques to do this is running a promotional giveaway.
5. Create a Marketing Strategy
In order to start a makeup brush line and operate it successfully, you will need a marketing strategy in place. A winning strategy helps you acquire a customer with the least amount of money or time spent. Your marketing strategy for the makeup brush line should consist of a mixture of two channels: paid and organic. I am going to discuss a few of the key marketing routes you can go for while starting your makeup brush line.
Paid Ads
This marketing strategy works really well when you need instant results. You can run your paid ads through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc.
Influencer Marketing
This type of marketing works really well with the clothing business or skincare and makeup business. This is where you pay a social media influencer to post images and videos of them using your product and talk positive things about it. Since customers connect better to an individual rather than a brand or a company, this marketing approach works really well.
Affiliate Marketing
This is a type of marketing strategy where you give your customers an incentive to recommend you to their friends and family and reward each successful referral.
Newsletters
You can sign up for a free account at Mailchimp, and start collecting emails of potential customers starting today. The best strategy to collect emails is to offer your visitors a discount coupon if they sign up for your newsletter. Once you have a healthy list of emails, you can start your email marketing campaigns for your new collections or sale offers.
