Juvia's Place 2019: The Good, The Bad.. What's Next?

Known for their super pigmented eyeshadow palettes that equally compliments darker and lighter complexions, Juvia’s Place has expanded and grown into a huge brand. In the words of us younger folks, Juvia’s Place has glowed up.

Afro-centric, inclusivity, “black girl magic”, and pigmentation are the major selling points for this brand. Before inclusivity became a huge topic in the beauty community, Juvia’s Place had already won over the hearts of the black beauty community. Finally, a brand that showcases black beauty in their marketing and represents black art and culture.

Recently Juvia’s place has received a lot of attention with the release of their I Am Magic Foundation. Beauty enthusiasts from all colors praised the foundation for being full coverage and its inclusive shade range. What seemed to be going very well for the brand quickly went sour after Jeffree Star reviewed the Foundation and Juvia’s Place thanked him on their social media accounts.

Whats the big deal? -Jeffree Star has previously made racist marks towards black women.

The question is: why would you promote a person who has publicly disrespected the foundation your brand is built from?

Outrage from black women arose from all social media platforms which ultimately caused Juvia’s place to delete the post and apologize for the post. Juvia’s Place is now being considered the new Shea Moisture in the eyes of it’s OG community and is on the verge of potentially being shunned by it’s original fan base.

While scouring the internet for more info on Juvia’s Place I came across this article Meet The Woman Behind The Fastest Growing Black-Owned Cosmetics Brand On The Market on lisaalamode.com. In 2017 Lisa had the opportunity to interview Juvia’s Place owner, ChiChi Eburu. Here are some points Eburu made that I find relevant to today’s topic:

How do you avoid succumbing to makeup trends in the beauty industry?

Eburu: Society forces you to be compelled to copy, but you have to hold yourself back and do your own thing. We want to be innovative, but still appeal to the masses. It’s hard, but you must always stay true to yourself.

As a black-owned brand, have you encountered any racism or challenges specific to being black-owned?

Eburu: Everyday. I think black-owned brands get the most heat for minor issues. We have to realize as people of color we don’t have the same resources as most commercial brands. So when we start a business, we technically start from very humble beginnings. I believe black owned businesses get criticized for the most minor issue, which shouldn’t be. Every business should be judged equally and given the exact same opportunity. I strongly believe resources are limited in the black community, however, togetherness is the strongest quality any group of people can have. If we come together as a black community any challenge can be conquered. It’s that simple. Togetherness is key.

There are probably quite a few women reading this would have aspirations of starting their own company, and maybe even a cosmetics line. Do you have advice for them?

Eburu: Don’t stop. Don’t give up. I started this company with only $2000. Anything is possible. Just do it.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your brand?

Eburu: We always knew social media was powerful, but we didn’t know how powerful. Instagram has really grown our business, so we’ve had to learn to be really protective of our brand and always put our customers first.

What’s next for Juvia’s Place?

Well, we have two more palettes coming out before 2018, and we are currently working on our liquid lipsticks. We’ll be launching those in the new year. We also want to work with more black creators. We are so thankful for the number of black content creators who  have helped put our brand on the map, so we really want to give back.

SOME INTERESTING TAKEAWAYS:

• We want to be innovative, but still appeal to the masses

• I believe black owned businesses get criticized for the most minor issue, which shouldn’t be. Every business should be judged equally and given the exact same opportunity.

• Don’t stop. Don’t give up. I started this company with only $2000. Anything is possible.

• We’ve had to learn to be really protective of our brand and always put our customers first.

The hard part about the internet is that everything you say and do is written in pen (but sometimes feels like a sharpie) and everything is literally being spot checked and fact checked for mistakes. People truly forget that brands are ran by people and people are human. There are no perfect brands because there are no perfect people. As a company brands should take full responsibility for their actions. Which I believe Juvia’s Place has done, but also needs to go the extra step to fix it. I think

Juvia’s Place needs TO DO two things:

(1) Hire a PR person to handle and put out fires when they arise

(2) Win back their original clientele.

How? Run a campaign with the discount code of “WERESORRY” or “REPRESENT”. I know brands aren’t supposed to apologize but it could go a long way.

The thing about this whole “sCaNdAl” is that scandals bring sales.

“Scandals brings sales”.

So technically, Juvia’s Place is not suffering from their original clientele being upset. One of the points Eburu mentioned is that they want to appeal to the masses. By having Jeffree Star review their foundation they just got put on to sooo many new people. There are so many comments online of people saying they’ve never heard of Juvia’s Place until he reviewed it. THAT IS HUGE FOR A BRAND. The publicity is everything. But at who’s expense do you capitalize off this new milestone.

What we have here folks is a case of don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

If Juvia’s Place can learn from this, which I think they will, GREAT! If not, us as consumers ultimately have the choice of whether or not to continue and support. Going back to how people see brands, I think people put brands on a pedestal and are constantly looking for the all perfect brand that never makes a mistake. It’s unrealistic and brands, like people, can not grow without making mistakes. So to completely write off and cancel a brand for a mistake is your prerogative but put yourself in Eburu’s shoes for a moment and just try to have a slight bit of compassion.