1. Influencers x Morphe
Around the time Morphe started, YouTube beauty influencers were on the way. You may have noticed whenever you watched beauty influencers such as Jaclyn Hill, James Charles, and Jefferre Star, they either partnered with Morphe through sponsoring products or promoting their makeup pallet. This brought in a tsunami of sales. Mind you, these sales were coming from beauty influencers and their mass following. Now, what do these three beauty influencers I mentioned have in common? The answer: they’ve all gotten themselves caught in a scandal or outright crime. That, and the fact that Morphe was depending on one influencer pallet after another, their massive sales were short-lived. Even more so with the rise of skincare.
2. Skin Care>Makeup
With the pandemic, most people weren’t interested in putting much makeup on since they weren’t able to go out. This caused the rise of TikTok, following the rise of skincare. Everyone and their great-grandmothers were shoving the Ordinary, Paul’s Choice, olive oil, and turmeric face masks their moms swear by. Everyone wanted clear, glass skin. A natural-looking makeup look. Nothing Morphe could provide, until they partnered with Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. They launched almost every product on trend with a clear, glass skin face: light coverage foundation, blush/highlighters, and lip gloss. These products were mainly targeted at young teens but were inclusive to a much older age range. However, not a single product trended. And that’s what drives sales nowadays. Skincare was and still is the trend. Makeup? Not so much.
3. Shady Business Practice
Aside from selling cheap products and lying about ingredients/formulas, they have shut down stores without notifying on-the-floor employees firsthand. With many without a job, ex-employees and ex-managers took to TikTok and Twitter to spread attention. This caused many to leave thousands of comments on Morphe’s Instagram, TikTok, and every social media platform begging for answers. Their response? Little to none. They’ve been doing everything in their power to keep their downfall silent, but they eventually came out stating their stores are in fact closing. Not all, but most, which still feels like a lie with everyone documenting on TikTok their closest Morphe store shutting down.
4. Will Morphe have a comeback?
Only time will tell, but if there’s one way they could make a comeback, it’s by partnering with beauty influencers on TikTok and being open about the ingredients they use.