[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] I’ve just come back from a few days in Milan – we did so much walking and looking at things that there really was very little time to go into many shops but I did notice this brand, Wycon, was everywhere.
Wycon is an Italian medium-low priced make up brand that was founded by entrepreneur Gianfranco Satto to offer some rivalry to more expensive brands. It’s got 200 stores worldwide, not including the UK, and maybe more interestingly, not in China. Founded in 2009, it really kicked into gear in about 2019 with 180 per cent growth between 2015 and 2019.
I literally ran into the store at the station before we jumped on our train to the airport and grabbed these three things – No Trace Liquid Lipstick (feather light on the lips), The Simpsons Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick (a bit drying if you are prone) and the Intense Eye Liner in Petrol Blue (thrilled with it).
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In the swatch is Petrol Blue, Hot Mauve and Oh My Red. I think in total I spent 20 euros. I say I only had time to dash into this store, but now I think about it, we spent some time in Chanel getting my friend Sian the CC cream and a balm lipstick (complete convert now) and then we popped into a Sephora to get her a brush to apply the CC with. One of the things I noticed in Sephora is how bright they’ve gone – they’ve always liked colour displays but this particular store was day-glo.
And, the other very noticeable thing was that their own lines were far more prominent than any of the other brands and for every non-Sephora brand they had a Sephora line right next to it in direct competition – see below.
I am not sure how long other brands will want to continue with this kind of competition because it’s really so blatant. What was very clear is that the department store was alive and well – absolutely heaving when I popped in to look for my favourite Gucci Rene Pink Balm in a weak moment. I was truly surprised to find that they don’t sell Rene Pink in Italy other than at the airport – I feel I need answers! I have no idea why not but I got it air side with seconds to go before the gate call and then felt immediately guilty (and no, that’s not a pun on their fragrance!) because they are so not interested in our (my… and therefore yours) £££ here. The phrase ‘hostile silence’ springs to mind. But, it is an epic lip balm :-).
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