Winky Lux’s Natalie Mackey: 'Customer behavior has intrinsically changed’

Winky Lux may be in growth mode, but it’s faced its fair share of pandemic-driven challenges.

“It's such a fun mental exercise to go back to pre-pandemic life. I think our mental outlook was super arrogant,” said Natalie Mackey, co-founder and CEO of The Glow Concept and Winky Lux, on the Glossy Beauty Podcast.

Still, Mackey’s been pushing forward with Winky Lux. The brand has cemented a strong wholesale partnership with Target, which it launched in early March 2020, just prior to the pandemic hitting the states. And earlier this month, it joined a long list of color cosmetics brands that have expanded to skin care in the last year.

Earning market share in the skin care category won’t be easy, said Mackey, but she’s up to the challenge.

“We really believe this is a 360 [degree] brand,” said Mackey. “But it's going to take time to build trust with the [skin-care customer]. Skin care is a more intimate relationship.”

And despite slumping makeup sales industry-wide, Mackey said has no plans to turn her back on the category.

“My take is that color will come back with a vengeance. I think it's going to be 6-18 months, depending on what happens with the vaccine. But women have been wearing color cosmetics for 2000 years. We're not giving it up.”

Mackey also discussed the importance of profitability, Instagrammable products and product reviews.