BRAND EVALUATION

Max Factor is a brand that has influenced the make-up industry in many ways ever since the brand was created. It was founded over one hundred years ago by Mr Max Factor, who at the time was a popular make-up artist with a creative and innovate mind, which inspired him to come up with his own brand and products. In his lifetime he managed to dominate Hollywood’s golden era and develop radical techniques, which in the end influenced the film industry enough for him to win an Oscar.

At the moment, the brand itself is being portrayed as very elegant and classy. They have created this image by working with people such as Gwyneth Paltrow and using people who have been styled to look like Marilyn Monroe. This brand is very much about making women look and feel confident. This makes it very empowering and sends a message, which women appreciate and support by purchasing Max Factor products. There is a lot of evidence, which suggests that the brand truly believes in the fact that glamour is not something you are born with, it is something you create. This belief has always been at the heart of Max Factor, and is clearly emphasised on their website that it should be within every woman’s reach. This has been done by them putting up tutorials on YouTube and their official website with a step by step guide on how to achieve certain looks. This makes the people that are not interested in make-up, become involved as it shows them how to properly apply it and what effects they could achieve.

It is also a brand that works with the world’s leading make-up artists, which means they really do live up to their expectations, as their slogan is ‘the make-up of make-up artists’. This creates a sense of trust between the brand and the consumer because it proves that they do not say things just to please their clients and truly are a professional brand, which sells their products in High Street stores, for average prices, which makes them very accessible.

My work has been based on the brand’s idea of beauty and the word ‘Glamorous’. I have tried to keep my images as classy, elegant and minimal as possible because that is exactly what Max Factor is. I tried my best to emphasise my models’ natural features instead of covering them with heavy make-up.  Their beliefs have also influenced my photo shoot concepts and ideas because I knew I was limited as their editorial photographs, are rarely abstract. This meant I had to be very careful when thinking of locations, outfits and make-up looks in order for my work to be in style of the official Max Factor images. I wanted to make every look related to the brand in one way or another so one of my catwalk looks was based on the colour gold, which is a part of Max Factor’s logo and product packaging.

Conclusively, Max Factor is a very inspiring brand, which has impacted the make-up industry in many positive ways. It has also changed people’s perception of make-up, by making it seem like it can make them become more self-assured as people, therefore potentially improving other parts of their lives also.