Josie Maran: More than Just a Pretty Face

Barney’s San Francisco opened up in November 2007, and with it came a new cosmetic line for green curious girls everywhere. Josie Maran is a model, actress, and former spokesperson for Maybelline who has launched her own greener line (Josie Maran). The line is still small (three shades of blush, three shades of concealer, three shades of tinted moisturizers) but she’s got several pretty eye shadows, lip colors, and glosses.

What’s brilliant about the line is the little labeling system that helps folks identify the ingredients list which can so often read like a foreign language. She’s got symbols for everything, and the counter will give you a Rosetta stone deciphering card so you can see which products are free of which ingredients. Several of her products contain organic ingredients, are paraben free, biodegradable, fragrance free, and petrochemical free, too.

I was thrilled to finally boogie my way down to Barney’s to try the new Josie Maran line, and was surprised that there was no one else playing in the makeup there. The line is conveniently positioned across from the new Nude skincare line by Bryan Meehan (of UK’s Fresh & Wild) and known for it’s famous supporters-Bono and Christy Turlington– which is smart– as Josie Maran offers no skincare, and Nude offers no makeup, and the two lines are the cleanest in the store. Still, I saw no one approach either line in the entire half hour I was there. Maybe it was a quiet day for everyone, or maybe the idea of green makeup is still incubating in the minds of department store shoppers….is there still a sense that green makeup is somehow less luxurious? Ironic, if that is the case, as petrochemicals were introduced into the industry as a way of making cosmetics CHEAPER to make, and therefore earning a higher return for the major brand holders!

Could this be the reason the Josie Maran line has started out so small? Did her investors advise her that it was too early in the game for a full line of gorgeous concealers, color, and skincare? And why are there no shades for women of fair OR deep tones? If I had wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to wear the concealer or even the tinted moisturizer (I’m not porcelain, but I don’t live in L.A., either, and they looked strange on me). And I was bothered that the line didn’t include deeper colors for women on the other end of the pigment spectrum. This is far too common in the cosmetics industry in general, and as a makeup artist and a woman I have come to expect more. But it’s very possible that the line was designed to do well for a younger (18-25 market) in L.A. (where the majority of Barney’s shoppers certainly sport their fair share of tans, and wear nothing more than a tinted moisturizer and a little gloss). If that’s the case, they nailed it….but we’re going to need a little more research up here!

I’m glad I got a chance to try the Josie Maran line, and I’m soooooo glad that a major department store is carrying a greener makeup AND a greener skincare line!!! I only hope that more Barney’s shoppers will gather the nerve to try them out…..