If your makeup’s been wrecked by the blazing sun one too many times, you’re not alone. This relentless humidity has a reputation for melting off our meticulously painted faces, which is why we generally gravitate towards beauty products that’ll help put an end to that.
On our hunt for more weather-appropriate makeup, we came across a fresh Australian brand, Klara Cosmetics, which recently nestled itself into Sasa stores, serving up plenty of pigmented, longwear, and heatproof options. Needless to say, we immediately enlisted a number of their products to beef up our arsenal of warm weather warriors.
We had a quick chat with the brand’s passionate founder and CEO, Klara Sabotkoski, to get acquainted with the brand as well as our new makeup essentials.
What makes Klara Cosmetics stand out in a sea of beauty brands?
What makes our products stand out is the 100% pigmentation. One swipe will give you a strong colour, so our customers will feel like they’re getting everything. It has to look good visually and it has to feel beautiful on the skin, so that is our point of difference, our unique position. The other thing is the innovation of colour and colour palettes that we put together. We concentrate a lot on makeup artists and follow what’s trending, so our consumers can use our amazing products to take on with the hottest trends.
What are some of the bestsellers in Australia right now?
We’re really known for our Kiss Proof Lips but we’re starting to be known for our Eyeshadow Palettes. At the moment, we’re creating something a little bit different with our eyeshadows. The themes behind it, the colours that we’re choosing… So we’re probably leaning towards eyeshadow palettes now.
Klara Cosmetics Kiss Proof Matte Lips, $29.90 each
In your presentation earlier, you mentioned the KissProof Lips can be used on the lids as well.
Yeah! We’ve got so many colours, but with the KissProof, you can actually put it on your eyelids, you can mix it into your foundation, because what we’re trying to do is allow you to become an artist. So you can use pigments and become creative yourself. If you just wanna use a bit of the product on your cheeks, or a little on your eyes to create an ombré effect – it’s absolutely safe to do that. All of a sudden, your product becomes many different products.
I know there are hundreds of items to choose from, but if you had to pick a favourite, which product would it be and why?
It’s like picking a favourite child – it’s hard! If you heard me in the presentation, I was just going, “I love this. I love that.” Which kid do you love most? They’re all so different. At the moment, I’m loving my limited edition Desert Rose Eyeshadow Palette and my Pro Palette… You see, I can’t. It just doesn’t work, I can’t do it.
Klara Cosmetics Pro Palette No. 1, $28.90 each
Which products do you think will perform really well in the Singaporean market?
In Singapore, obviously it’s hot, but in Australia, we could get four seasons in one day. So when I was designing, working, and going into production, we took all those elements into consideration so it would work for all markets. What I’m thinking for Singapore and what I can see from the [Sasa team’s] reactions, because they weren’t even concentrating after they’ve been introduced to the makeup [laughs], I think eyeshadow is a big thing and lipstick is easy – it’s a good way to introduce the brand. I have a sneaking suspicion that our foundations and BB creams will do really well here. I think if our Reset 3D creams get discovered in store, it could be a phenomenon.
Klara Cosmetics Reset 3D Cream, $37.90 each (L-R): Daily Skin-Corrector, Daily Anti-Aging, Daily Brightening
What’s the one makeup product every girl needs?
Oh my God, what can you walk out without? You can’t, you need everything. It’s very hard to walk out with just eyebrows, or eyelashes, or base. You can’t, you need the whole lot!
Okay, is there a set of products you find yourself reaching out for on a daily basis?
For me, I always wanna have beautiful skin, so while we wanna transform ourselves with makeup, we still want to be ourselves. We don’t wanna look over-caked, we don’t wanna look like we tried, so glowing, natural, beautiful skin is the first step, and then you need an eyebrow, you need a mascara, and you need a lippie.
What is the brand working on currently?
We’re working on so many things. I have a lot of passion for innovation, and I’m always looking to introduce new technology when we’re formulating our products. What we’re working on at the moment are our big palettes – each is gonna have like over 24 amazing colours. The ones that are coming out are called “Marrakech”and “Bondi”, and with the different colours we’ve put in there, we’re creating different themes, and because we’ve had a lot of makeup artists and a lot of input from influencers on what’s trending, I think it’s gonna do extremely well.
Are you also looking to expand the skincare range?
I’m always expanding, so we have roughly over 20 products in our skin range, and I think our most innovative area is in that range. Like the Reset 3D, it sits between skincare and makeup, so it’s skincare but it gives you a little bit of coverage. It’s creating a new demographic for the woman who doesn’t wanna wear a lot of makeup but she needs something for herself, for her own confidence and attitude, and that’s where Reset sits. But yeah, absolutely, I’m always expanding.
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