Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser

Brush Off was developed in 1992 so that makeup artists, in specialty department stores, could conveniently clean their makeup brushes at the makeup counters.

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

Regarding recent requests to follow ...

For some reason I made this private, which was a mistake on my part.

I just accepted all the requests I had in my cue.

We are a small company and are very grateful for your interest.

I am not really an active poster mainly because I am not a makeup artist. Everything I learned was by going from counter to counter.

Our story is being laid out in our time-line. It has been an adventure and it takes some time to think it out. Sometimes there are time breaks, but that is the nature of being a small business.

Anyway, I just sought out from advice from X's Grok AI to determine the best way to anyone who had requested to follow and did not get a response. This is the way.

My apologies. We are definitely not trying to screen anyone who might be interested. We appreciate ya!

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

#BrushOffCore

The concepts "In Retail Packaging" vs "Not in Retail Packaging"

We realized that even though we had one product, it had two purposes, as a supply or "tool of the trade" by the makeup artist or for sale at retail.

We learned that the purpose dictated how it should be packaged.

The makeup artists didn't seem to care if Brush Off came in a box, or not in a box. They just wanted the product.

The retailers preferred it be in a box so it would merchandize better.

We settled on the term "In Retail Packaging" or "IR for those who wished to sell Brush Off to their customers.

We settled on "Not in Retail Packaging" or "NIR" for those who wished to just use Brush Off for makeovers.

The wholesale portion of our website allows the mix and matching of products, so a retailer might purchase most of their units in retail packaging or "IR" and one or a few bottle in "NIR" for their backbar.

#MakeupBrushCleaners,
#MakeupTools,
#BeautyTools

https://t.co/oYqQeksCPf

Note that this was a repost and cleanup of an earlier post so that I could include it with the core hashtag at the top.

We deleted the two earlier posts covering this subject and hope that it is clearer.

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

#BrushOffCore How we chose to distribute Brush Off.

After a year and a half or so, we decided to sell directly to our customers and not use the traditional large national distributor.

It gave us an opportunity to hear directly from our customer and continue to learn how our products were performing and about their needs.

Our customer in the beginning were the makeup artists representing color lines and who might work independently on the side.

It could be specialty department stores where MUA worked or the beauty stores or boutiques where the MUA would purchase their "tools of the trade."

Brush Off grew by word of mouth, and at the time, quite quickly.

Color lines would buy corporately and distribute nationally to their makeup counters.

Makeup artists would travel to other countries and introduce our product to their associates and all of a sudden we would receive a request for a quote from a new country.

The makeup artists would spread the word and it was greatly appreciated. They were definitely charter members of "Team Brush Off!"

We never knew from day to day where an order might come from and by choosing to distribute ourselves, we learned who else was using our products and for what purposes. In addition to those mentioned above ...

- Account execs
- Aestheticians
- Backbars
- Costumes
- Dermatologists
- Direct sales
- Individuals receiving a makeover
- Proms & graduations
- Online sales organizations
- Salons and spas preforming makeovers
- Beauty boutiques
- Theater
- TV
- Weddings

- Etc.

Brush Off grew organically. We had found our place in the industry and were thankful that we did.

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

As covered in our timeline, it took approximately three years to go from learning about a whole new industry to developing a core approach to how we wanted to build our business.

Look for the #BushOffCore to find our posts which go into more depth. Hopefully, you will find them to be more common sense than anything.

#BrushOffMakeupBrushCleanser
#EyesOffEyeMakeupRemover

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

We are the first to recognize that Brush Off is not a household name.

An analogy for our growth might be like the headwaters of a mountain stream, appearing out of nowhere, to find its' place in the beauty industry.

If you are not familiar with us, we hope you will join us and follow along to learn more.

#BrushOff
#BeautyTools
#MakeupBrushCleaners

Retail Pricing:
https://t.co/jS9obaXUEZ

Wholesale Pricing:
https://t.co/CDuSHUAY5O

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

How an early learning curve, while embarrassing and painful at the time, caused us to upgrade a key component.

In our first year, and based on our experience with sampling prior to launching Brush Off, we thought it might be a good idea to send out 4 oz samples to a bunch of cosmetic boutiques.

To be honest, our sales took a lot longer than expected to take off, so why not sample this group and let the product speak for itself?

We certainly didn't expect the effort to backfire, but it did. All of a sudden we started receiving complaints that the sprayers were leaking.

We learned after consulting with our component supplier that a plastic part on the sprayer was dissolving while sitting on the shelf.

We had also learned from makeup artists, that Brush Off could pull out oil based colors from a makeup brush when soap and water couldn't.

When being introduced to Brush Off, some makeup artists would tell me that they had cleaned their brushes with soap and water the night before.

In the spirit of learning about our own product, I would suggest they try Brush Off and let's learn together. The response quite often was "Wow, there still is a lot of color in there!"

As a result of this experience, we upgraded to a more expensive sprayer that would hold up. It was important that our components were as effective as our makeup brush cleaner.

When we received the new sprayers, we resent samples with the new sprayers to the same group we had initially sampled and apologized for the previous inconvenience.

#BrushOffOurStart, #MakeupBrushCleaners, #BeautyTips

https://t.co/uJvnqiBTRv

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

The purpose of this first image is to show you how we ship our Brush Off 16 oz Refills.

These caps have a fancy technical name, but we refer to them simply as solid caps with liners.

They make it possible to ship safely and without spillage.

The next image shows what we call a pour top hanging over the top of the bottle in a plastic baggie.

When it is first used by the makeup artists, they will take the bottle, remove the solid cap, throw it away and replace it with the pour top.

This has been going on for over 30 years and it has worked quite well.

#BrushOff16ozRefill, #MakeupTools, #BeautyTools, #BrsuhOffOurStart, #BrushOff

https://t.co/3zhVEbPx8T

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

This anecdote led us to realize that we needed to come up with retail packaging or a box to assist in merchandizing of Brush Off.

Brush Off's reputation grew fairly quickly as account execs or corporate execs would hear about Brush Off and began to order it for their lines or stores.

I called the buyer of another high end chain and asked them about selling Brush Off, our makeup brush cleaner, at retail to their customers. She responded that if I was willing to visit her area and several of their stores and meet with makeup artists and managers, that she would consider it.

So, I got on a flight and flew into their town and visited the stores. I couldn't have asked for a better reception as they knew about Brush Off and loved it and gave the buyer a great review and soon I received an order.

The punchline of this exercise was that the buyer called me and said something to the effect "Bill, we can't carry it at retail because the makeup artists are grabbing it off the shelves and using it during makeovers.

We kept the supply business for many years, but it taught us that we better package it for retail. It was a good effort and a great learning experience. We went on to develop some retail packaging.

#BrushOffOurStart, #BeautyTools, #MakeupTools

https://t.co/CDuSHUAY5O

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

The first year or year and a half, to be honest, we had no idea how to market our makeup brush cleanser.

I had worked with one specialty department chain, but knew very little about the others.

Also, my first inclination was to go with sales reps. My experience prior to working on Brush Off was as rep of raw material.

However, I hadn't quite understood that we were really selling for two different reasons. The 1st was to sell it at retail and the 2nd was to sell it as a supply or as a "tool of the trade" to be used during makeovers.

Reps, who knew the buyers of each store could secure first time orders to be sold at retail. My experience with raw materials assumed that repeat orders were automatic. Not having been on the retail side, I had never been introduced to what it took to generate repeat business at retail.

What I didn't understand was the concept of "sell-through." This meant that supplier had to provide support to each store. We started Brush Off with negative capitalization, so we soon realized that we had to let our retail sales grow organically.

As it turned out, our retail sales came from beauty supply stores and boutiques where the professional makeup artists frequented. Their customers, the MUA, would see it being used in the specialty department stores and go to their favorite retailer and ask for it.

It also turned out that the specialty department stores, viewed it as an "item" and didn't quite fit within their marketing plans for retail item. Plus, by design, our bottle had a humble look and it was very understandable.

What I didn't understand at first, was that the specialty department stores would become by far my major market, not as a retail item, but as a supply.

#BrushOffOurStart, #MakeupBrushCleaners

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

These two images have danced together on our bottle since Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser was introduced in 1992.

Although Brush Off is not a household name, it has been used by tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of makeup artists over the years.

We have a niche and we are very appreciative of those who have put their faith in us.

#BrushOffOurStart, #MakeupBrushCleaners

[Brush Off Makeup Brush Cleanser @Mua4brushoff]

Regarding the design of the bottle, I received some great advice from a friend who was an accomplished artist. She came up with the name, selected the colors for their warmth and created the artwork.

I admit my temptation was to focus on the selection of a fancy bottle. Her advice was simply ... "Bill, remember this is just a makeup up brush cleaner" and we ended up going with the same stock bottle we used for sampling.

It was great advice! Over 30 years later, actually just a few month ago, I received an order form an account exec employed by a high-end color line.

Besides letting me know that Brush Off was still holding its' own in the industry, he encouraged me to never change the look of the bottle!" I took it to mean that it was a recognized brand and I appreciated his feedback. It meant a lot.

#BrushOffOurStart
#MakeupBrushCleaners