I’m not the only one across the blogosphere to notice that the Material Girl collection from Madonna and Lourdes that launched in the US yesterday looks very, very like butterLondon. In fact, not only are the bottles virtually identical but some of the colours, too. Shabby, shabby. I’ve known Nonie Creme, Creative Director for butterLondon for years and years so know the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the range, so I really feel for her that creators behind Material Girl couldn’t have come up with something of their own. Anyone can copy, but few can create. butterLondon have issued a statement that reads:
Similar to this
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| butterLondon Hen Party |
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| Material Girl Line up. Image from www.bellasugar.com |
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| butterLondon |
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16 comments
This does nothing to end my hatred of Madonna. Not only does she need to put some clothes on her disgusting old body, she also needs to stop ripping off good companies.
xxx
Not. Cool.
In fact, positively galling.
Nina x
Haha this comment above ^ Amen!
I wonder if that bottle is a stock component? Packaging manufacturers offer the choice of create custom components or stock components to clients. A lot tend to choose from a stock line as they don’t have to pay for the tooling costs.
If it was custom made for them giving them exclusivity, then there is definitely a problem. I’d get them to get in touch with their suppliers & find out what’s happened.
It is really difficult to have exclusivity over a bottle. Especially as the butter london bottle is just angular with a black cap. Even the Deborah Lippmann bottles aren’t unique (which you might find surprising, I know I did). In terms of polish content…that’s a whole different story. Private relabelling is a massive unspoken issue in the varnish industry, if you delve into it…you set yourself up for litigation even just by making your opinions public. It’s entirely possible that Madonna hired whoever mixes butter london’s formula and selected the same colours or ones incredibly similar. It’s difficult to tell at this stage.
xo
Sara
I agree with the previous commenters – if butter london used a private label bottle then it’s hard to complain. but if the bottle is custom designed and madonna just ripped them off – then that’s very, very poor form.
I can’t believe how similar they are. I mean thats not even sly. You think for someone like Madonna they would try to make the product fool proof. Clearly not! Great informative post 🙂 xx
Isn’t the USP of butterLondon the 3free thing though? If Madonna is copying that along with the form factor then I’d say they have a case. Otherwise I’m not so sure. I mean ModelsOwn bottles are pretty much identical to NailsInc but I don’t remember anyone complaining about that.
Plus the first comment about Madonna’s age and physique is in exceptionally poor taste and completely irrelevant. Getting ad hominem adds nothing.
I’m sure whatever the circumstances may be, Her Madgeness got her legal options covered. That woman is a past master at both self-promotion and self-preservation.
But more importantly, that BL Hen Party shade is gorgeous! Why have I not seen this before? What planet have I been on?
completely agree with dailypolish. You’d be surprised how many different brands out source to the same colour cosmetic labs to formulate their polishes. It’s quite a specialist area of formulation, like kohls and liners, so there are certain labs and companies that create colours for brands to bottle. Some even have a “stock range” of colours to choose from as formulating costs more money…
Oh and forgot to mention…H&M now use the same bottle for their nail polishes too so it would appear that the bottle is a stock component, meaning it’s not exclusive to one particular brand.
Maybe Madonna was too busy to really supervise? Not meaning to sound like some fan girl, but sometimes the people you hire to do stuff for you could let you down….Look at Rupert Murdoch….:/
The butterLondon bottle is nothing special – I had some generic bottle 20 years ago that was exactly the same – and their colors, other than possibly No More Waity Katie (hate that name with its sexist tinge), don’t seem too unique either. I’d wait to hear more.
That is unbelievable!
Total look alikes.
I would expect some really different from Madonna.
Guess she has run out of “reinventing” and “creative” ideas.
Never mind the nail polish, how vile is Georgia. I’m not exactly a fan of Madonna myself, but that sort of ageism/body fascism is out of order. Perhaps she thought she was being funny. Unnecessary.