Along with Terry de Gunzburg's new haute couture beauty venture, By Terry, discussed in the last column, which is perhaps the most high profile and exclusive of the current custom beauty lines, there are some others worth having a closer look at.
Shu Uemura is a true artist-entrepreneur and one of the most inspired and fascinating figures in the world of beauty. He always seems to come up with ideas well before his contemporaries, and products he originated become inspirations to other companies. Something you saw first at Shu Uemura begins to proliferate years later in countless other lines. But some of his ideas have yet to catch on. Years ago, for example, Uemura opened a restaurant that served delicious food which also promoted beauty and health. He has also worked closely for many years with the world of traditional medicine on the principle of inner-outer beauty.
Shu Uemura's current beauty coup is the Shu Uemura Atelier Factory in the Venus Fort shopping center in Tokyo. Similar in some ways to the By Terry concept, Shu Uemura's venture does something truly revolutionary and makes custom makeup financially accessible. As always, he puts the focus on the product and not its packaging, on the individual client and not the sales pitch.