Indonesian Beauty: Crazy for Matte Lip Creams

Indonesian Beauty series feature Indonesian guest bloggers and interviews with Indonesian artists and professionals to get to know what’s hot in the region.

Indonesian Matte Lip Creams are currently on trend in the beauty landscape. Our first post is from a good friend of mine and a fellow makeup addict, Dyah Rinni. This post is a translation from the original version in Indonesian here.

(Untuk versi bahasa Indonesia, klik di sini)

By Dyah Rinni

I’ve always felt that Indonesia is not a fertile ground for the development of cosmetics industry. Indonesian beauty world, for me, was rather stagnant and filled by only incumbents: Martha Tilaar cosmetics group, Mustika Ratu, Mandom, Wardah, Viva and others.

Could it be because for Indonesians, cosmetics aren’t a primary need? We say (sometimes jokingly, sometimes in earnest), “We couldn’t afford food, how could we buy cosmetics?”. And even if they did, it would be what we considered as basic: lipstick, face powder, and face cleanser.

As far as I remember, only Sariayu (Martha Tilaar Group) and Mustika Ratu have a new product trend release every year. And that’s usually the standards: new lipsticks and eyeshadows. Other international trends did not really affect Indonesia, like the mineral makeup craze and BB Cream. Although, with BB cream, there was still some new products launched by these established companies.

Surprisingly enough, in 2016, I’ve been proven wrong.

Like mushrooms after the rain, there were sudden appearances of many new players in the local cosmetic world. Even in 2017, there are even more new names: from the celebrity owned brands, to makeup artists doing their own lines. Miraculously (not), almost all of them have a lip cream matte as their first product.

Out of so many new player name in the world of cosmetics, there are at least four names of new players that stand out.

Mineral Botanica

Mineral Botanica (Mica) appeared around 2015 with mineral cosmetics product launches. It was something (in my opinion) that would not be taken too seriously by Indonesian cosmetics companies. In the early days of its development, Mineral Botanica sold their products only online. But now, Mineral Botanica works with a network of Indonesian drugstores.

I’ve tried their lip creams and BB Cream. I quite liked both products. Their lip creams have 20 colors, ranging from nude to bold. Unlike the other Indie cosmetic products whose price is above the average price, Mica is quite affordable for Indonesians. Their latest breakthrough is the Mineral Botanica studio line, which has a better quality and can be used for more professional purposes such as photography.

Rollover Reaction

Rollover Reaction established in 2016 by four beauty lovers-friends: Dinar Ramanda, Sarah, Naya, and Nov. At the beginning of their launch, the product Rollover Reaction has more shades of nude, which is not fully compatible with the most Indonesian skintones. However, in the second collection, Rollover issued a more diverse collection.

The difference between Rollover Reaction lip creams with other products is their products are multifunctional: in addition to lipstick, their products can be used as blush and eyeshadow. Although the product is not transferproof, this is one of my favorites because it’s comfortable to wear. I have a shade Livv which is a brown camel  that’s suitable for daily use. Interested in having Rollover Reaction? Get their products on their website directly: http://rollover-reaction.com.

BLP

Just like Rollover Reaction, BLP was one of the early players in the Indonesian Indie cosmetic companies. The brain behind BLP is Lizzie Parra, a makeup artist with a lot of followers on social media. Although their lipcoat can’t be used for a variety of functions like the Rollover Reaction, I admired BLP’s color. A wide selection of colors ranging from nude to bold indicates that Lizzie Parra understand the colors that look good for most Indonesian skintones.

I have a Caramel Champagne shade, a metallic rose color that is great for daily use. On that note, BLP also sold really well. On product launches, BLP sold out within a matter of hours or even minutes. Several times I was eyeing a BLP lip coat and couldn’t get it because I wasn’t quick enough. Similar to a Rollover Reaction, BLP lip coats aren’t transferproof. BLP can be obtained from http://sociolla.com.

Dissy Cosmetics

Dissy Cosmetics is owned by the celebrity partners Ussy Sulistiawaty and Andhika Pratama. After having Muslim fashion brand Ussy House Of Muslim, both launched a cosmetic brand named Dissy. Dissy is the abbreviation of the name of both Andhika and Ussy. Despite being celebrities, both knew the contents of their products and are willing to go in personally on the market in order to expand the network. Dissy’s products are very diverse, ranging from soap, body lotion, lipstick, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush on, and even face cleanser. Still, the main selling items are the lipcream matte.

Although the year has changed, it seems that there are no signs that this will stop the lip cream craze. Some of the new brands are already previewing a new lip cream line, which sometimes got me confused of differentiating the products from one another. So are the old players who add new colors in their line.

What’s behind all of these new products? Is it possible that lip cream – making and its raw goods are easier to obtain and do? Or maybe the establishment of the company is also getting easier? Whatever the answer, I hope, will bring benefits to consumers in Indonesia. And hopefully this trend will go on and evolve, not the kind that broke up shortly.

Dyah Rinni is an Indonesian author of ten books, writing coach, and a former editor at a large publishing company. She loves sharing insight about creativity, life, and of course, make-up in her IG @deetopia and her blog, https://dyahrinni.com Her latest domestic drama fiction, Asa Ayuni, is available now.