napoleon perdis - Beauty Fashion

THEBEAUTYBIZ
All photos by Brandy Sebastian
NAPOLEON PERDIS’ EMPIRE
The Beautymaker’s Retail And
Academic Presence Grows In US
Napoleon Perdis, CEO & Founder of Napoleon
Perdis Cosmetics Inc., has built a beauty empire
on his vision of glamour. Napoleon Perdis is a
house of brands, each designed with a distinct aesthetic:
Napoleon Perdis, the prestige line, is the Oscar’s red
carpet; NP Set, the mass brand, is the after party, and
the Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy then acts as the
education platform for both.
Beauty Fashion visited with Mr. Perdis at his headquarters
in Los Angeles as well as at the Napoleon Perdis
Makeup Academy, a Concept Store, ULTA and Target.
He explained that the DNA of his company is
founded on three pillars: glamour, education and his
design vision. “There is a glamour principle that underlines
everything we do. We enable a woman to define
her own glamour with whatever level of beauty products
we provide. You have to keep things classic and
beautiful with an efficacy in ingredients, results and
performance.” He also reminds that the Napoleon Perdis
headquarters is “on Hollywood Boulevard where
the epitome of glamour began.”
The beauty impresario’s company and all of his
brands are based on education, whether it is acquired at
the Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy or found on a
product package’s directions. He refers to his education
pillar as “the Harvard of Makeup. It’s not just about our
Academy, which is the front end. It is also about our
training people to be Makeup Artists. It is the education
on the packaging we produce for every launch so the
customer can be in control.”
Mr. Perdis’ artistic vision extends to every facet of his
business. Although born in Australia, his Greek heritage
has given him a mix of European glamour and Australian
freshness that has influenced his creative vision. “I design
all of my own spaces from my homes to my offices. I
design the packaging for my products.”
Before he even developed his own lines of products,
Mr. Perdis wanted to train people to do better makeovers
in salons, beauty spas and hair salons, so the
Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy was born in 1993.
“We act as a translation house for all of the brands used
at the Academy. When you are a Makeup Artist, you
don’t train on just one brand. Accreditation of a makeup
school is strictly regulated in Australia. It is an education
system that gives a platform to the Makeup Artist.”
Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics’ Napoleon Perdis on Hollywood Boulevard
SEPTEMBER 2012 /
22
/ BEAUTY FASHION

NAPOLEON PERDIS’ EMPIRE
Mr. Perdis hosted a master class at David Jones to celebrate the
launch of his Nude Bar collection.
Mr. Perdis backstage at the Alex Perry show during Rosemount
Australian Fashion Week
From the training programs for Makeup Artists, it was a
natural segue to Mr. Perdis’ eponymous makeup lines.
Realizing that the makeup available in Australia was
mostly for an Anglo market, he found there was very little
product selection for ethnic skin tones. “We developed a
broad spectrum color line that went from very light to
very dark.” That ethnic color diversity is now reflected in
all of the Napoleon Perdis lines.
Mr. Perdis developed his first makeup line in 1995, and
it has now grown to span both prestige and mass categories.
In terms of product development, he has built a turnkey
system around him. “I take inspiration from life and
give it to my team of sub-editors and category editors who
break it down so it commercializes into a color story.
You need enough teams to keep pushing newness.”
SEPTEMBER 2012 / 24 / BEAUTY FASHION
Mr. Perdis at his desk with Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics’ (rear seated
on couch) Alexis Bloch and Hanna Teklu, (front seated on couch)
Jennifer Lowe and Ebony Faucett, (standing left to right) Jennifer
Seeder, Luis Santos and Brianne Baker
“When I give direction, it is guided by my respect for
heritage. It’s not just about newness. If you don’t understand
the heritage, you won’t understand the future.
I might draw inspiration from the Art Deco Renaissance
in Sao Paulo and add to it the freshness of Brazil today.”
In makeup, Mr. Perdis believes color is all about texture.
“If I like Lucite and sheer, I take that trend and break
it down to a sheer wash of color rather than an intense,
heavy pigment that women don’t want anymore. They
want light, sheer makeup that is easy to apply.”
As a Makeup Artist, Mr. Perdis has created collections
for different demographics. “Napoleon Perdis, available
at Nordstrom, Dillard’s and ULTA, is all about customized
glamour with extra ingredients, a special approach
to application and technology,” he declared. “NP Set is
for a different demographic and customer base at Target.
It is all about glamour on-the-go, catering to that customer
who wants to shop and go. Customized prestige
retailing,” he explained, “allows the customer to have her
own efficacy. In the mass, it’s about allowing the customer
to have choice.” The Napoleon Perdis collection for
ULTA ranges from color to skincare with step-by-step
application directions on the package.
Napoleon Perdis’ Jennifer Seeder, Vice President of
Product Development at Napoleon Perdis, has a demanding
schedule to keep up with new products for all of the
company’s collections. “I gather a lot of new products
together and hold development meetings with Napoleon
and Soula-Marie [Perdis] to get their creative spin. Soula-
Marie works very closely with me and the product development
department on a daily basis as each project
moves along.”
(Continued on page 46)

NAPOLEON PERDIS’ EMPIRE
(continued from page 24)
Ms. Seeder and the team “want to make sure that the
customer uses the products correctly. We are an education-based
brand. The packaging must carry a story about
the product. We also want the customer to be proud to
pull our gorgeous compact from her purse.”
Luxury and elegance extends from the packaging to all
of the collateral for the lines. According to Jennifer Lowe,
Marketing Communications Executive at Napoleon Perdis
Cosmetics Inc., “our collateral pieces must have that
elegant, luxurious and expensive look. From our beauty
shots to our product images, they reflect Napoleon Perdis’
personality and establish him as the expert.”
Education, one of the main pillars of Napoleon Perdis
Cosmetics Inc., is directed by Luis Santos, Senior Vice-
President of Sales & Operations. “We have our Academy,
which offers different trainings—trainings within the various
retailers and trainings for our own Sales Executives.
The education modules we offer—whether it’s a blended
rally before events or the game plans for a product
launch—there are resources that give as much information
as possible about the product, how to sell it and
what makes it different. Today’s savvy customer wants to
know about a product’s ingredients and what it does for
her.”
Mr. Santos, associated with the company for ten years,
maintains that “the DNA is about education. Napoleon
wants a woman who purchases his products to know
about their ingredients and how to apply them. It’s up to
me to educate the sales teams, many of whom are Makeup
Artists, on how to pair their creative side with their
ability to sell.”
“It is very important that our team knows how to tell
the story of our brand,” Mr. Santos noted. He uses the
book, How to Say It: Business to Business Selling: Power
Words and Strategies from the World’s Top Sales Experts
by Geoffrey James in his education programs. “Our sales
people must know how to talk about our DNA.”
Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics Inc.’s products are sold in
over 500 ULTA stores, and the retailer is opening about
100 stores per year. “Napoleon is in every door that
opens. Our sales at ULTA have grown 75% last year, and
we are the #1 brand in terms of growth at ULTA…When
women are exposed to the quality of our products, they
come back [for repeat purchases].”
Along with the Napoleon Perdis Concept Stores, the
Napoleon Perdis collection is sold in over 102 Dillard’s
locations. “Nordstrom has created a very special environment
for us in 12 of their doors including Michigan
Avenue in Chicago and four locations in Texas where we
are very strong as well as in Los Angeles.”
In order to support the expansion of sales, Mr. Santos
SEPTEMBER 2012 / 46 / BEAUTY FASHION
initiated the Mentor Program a year and a half ago. “The
Harvard Business Review sells a course over the Internet
which offers 44 different topics related to the cosmetics
industry. I selected 12 top employees based on their skills
of selling, communication, presentation and loyalty and
started a year-long program. They met online once a week,
and every three months these 12 people came here to our
headquarters. Topics covered were dealing with a daily
budget, how to counsel staff, how to listen to customers
and how to listen to your own staff. The first twelve have
been certified and some have become Managers.”
Ms. Lowe and Ms. Baker discuss the product mix for Nordstrom with
Mr. Perdis.
“We are not only investing in staff because we want
them to stay with us; we want them to grow and realize
that by staying with us they can progress much faster than
they would in a traditional company that has been established
for over 20 years. Most importantly,” he added,
“they have a piece of paper that certifies they have covered
44 topics in the program.”
Sales results have already confirmed Mr. Santos’ faith
in the Mentor Program. “I believe that part of our growth
at ULTA is related to the fact that the graduates of this
program were responsible for driving sales there.”
He uses WebEx as a way to stay in touch with his 63
sales people all over the US. “They can log in to their
computers and communicate with colleagues once a
week. We are now using this interactive WebEx program
for training on new products. I train my staff to share
power by sharing information, and the WebEx helps us to
do that.”
“It’s important to sell but not oversell,” Mr. Santos
affirmed. “When Napoleon is at the counter doing a
makeover, he’s really giving himself to that customer. He
listens to what she is saying and, at the same time, tries to
take her to a different level. Napoleon considers that the
woman is beautiful, and the makeup is there to enhance
and make her feel even better and more confident.”

NAPOLEON PERDIS’ EMPIRE
The Beautymaker’s Retail And
Academic Presence Grows In US
Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics Inc. functions as both a
brand and a retailer. “We have 75 stand-alone Concept
Stores in Australia and in the US and 4,500 points of distribution
between Australia/New Zealand and the US,
which is a breakdown between department store distribution,
salon partner distribution, high-end chain drug
stores like Drug Mart and mass,” Mr. Perdis explained.
“While we are now establishing our online digital and
social presence, we define our distribution through
bricks-and-mortar. Some of our retailers have a big presence
online, and we’ll be a part of that.”
A Tour Of Napoleon Perdis’ World
Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy
The sleek, new state-of-the-art Makeup Academy is the
Mr. flagship Perdis US hosted location a master on class Hollywood at David Jones Boulevard. to celebrate “I the wanted
launch to establish of his Nude a position Bar collection. on Hollywood Boulevard, since
we are a Hollywood go-to brand,” Mr. Perdis said. “It’s
about understanding the glamour principle of Hollywood
and bringing that into our culture here.”
The Academy has two classrooms for students to learn
how to be successful Makeup Artists, which includes
building and maintaining a portfolio to being part of a
backstage-fit team. Mobile makeup stations with vanity
light mirrors offer many different layouts for classes
where students with an ambition to work in cosmetic
retail, in runway, multi-media and other related work are
trained.
There is a photo studio featuring seamless white walls,
a high ceiling, natural light and polished concrete floors.
The studio is available to current and past students to
gain shoot experience and build their portfolios. It is also
Mr. Perdis backstage at the Alex Perry show during Rosemount
available for professional photo shoots. NYLON
Australian Fashion Week
magazine and KTLA-TV have worked on stories with Mr.
Perdis From and the his training team programs in the new for space. Makeup Artists, it was a
natural segue to Mr. Perdis’ eponymous makeup lines.
Realizing that the makeup available in Australia was
mostly for an Anglo market, he found there was very little
product selection for ethnic skin tones. “We developed a
broad spectrum color line that went from very light to
very dark.” That ethnic color diversity is now reflected in
all of the Napoleon Perdis lines.
Mr. Perdis developed his first makeup line in 1995, and
it has now grown to span both prestige and mass categories.
In terms of product development, he has built a turnkey
system around him. “I take inspiration from life and
give it to my team of sub-editors and category editors who
break it down so it commercializes into a color story.
You The Napoleon need enough Perdis Makeup teams Academy to keep on pushing Hollywood newness.” Boulevard
SEPTEMBER 2012 / 24 47 / BEAUTY FASHION
Mr. Perdis at his desk with Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics’ (rear seated
on Mobile couch) makeup Alexis stations Bloch and with Hanna vanity Teklu, light mirrors (front seated on couch)
Jennifer Lowe and Ebony Faucett, (standing left to right) Jennifer
Seeder, The Luis Academy’s Santos and Brianne curriculum Baker offers a broad range of
experience from Personal Makeup Skills Workshops to
industry-recognized “When I give direction, certificate it is courses guided by covering my respect fashion, for
heritage. trend, runway, It’s not red just carpet about and newness. bridal If looks. you don’t Students under- get
stand the broad the range heritage, of skills you they won’t need understand to become the working future.
I Makeup might draw Artists. inspiration Classes range from from the Art 12 Deco to 20 students Renaissance dur-
in ing Sao the Paulo week and add are huge to it the on freshness the weekends. of Brazil today.”
In An makeup, event space Mr. Perdis at the believes Academy color is is a all lounge about area texture.
equipped “If I like with Lucite a 70” and flat sheer, screen I take television that trend and micro- break
it phones down for to a demonstrations sheer wash of color and other rather presentations. than an intense, A
heavy kitchenette pigment can accommodate that women don’t catered want parties anymore. and special They
want events. light, Retractable sheer makeup blackout that shades is easy to can apply.” block sunlight
and As create a Makeup a private Artist, space Mr. or Perdis remain has open created for street collections front-
for age different visibility. demographics. “Napoleon Perdis, available
at A Nordstrom, new media Dillard’s library features and ULTA, beauty is all and about fashion custompubliizedcations. glamour This resource with extra has ingredients, two computers a special equipped approach with
to editing application software. and technology,” he declared. “NP Set is
for a different demographic and customer base at Target.
It is all about glamour on-the-go, catering to that customer
who wants to shop and go. Customized prestige
retailing,” he explained, “allows the customer to have her
own efficacy. In the mass, it’s about allowing the customer
to have choice.” The Napoleon Perdis collection for
ULTA ranges from color to skincare with step-by-step
application directions on the package.
Napoleon Perdis’ Jennifer Seeder, Vice President of
Product Development at Napoleon Perdis, has a demanding
schedule to keep up with new products for all of the
company’s collections. “I gather a lot of new products
together and hold development meetings with Napoleon
and Soula-Marie [Perdis] to get their creative spin. Soula-
Marie works very closely with me and the product development
Mr. Perdis explains department makeup on techniques a daily to basis students as at each the Napoleon project
moves Perdis Makeup along.” Academy.
(Continued on page 46)

NAPOLEON PERDIS’ EMPIRE
Napoleon Perdis Concept Store
Mr. Perdis at the Napoleon Perdis Concept Store
Mr. Perdis was inspired by famed Decorator Dorothy
Draper’s style for the décor in the Concept Store located
next door to the Makeup Academy. White Baroque chandeliers
and black and white stripe mirrored surfaces provide
a glamorous setting for customers. “We use sources
like Gilt City to bring in groups,” he explained, “where
we can do workshops.”
ULTA Burbank
Burbank, California
“We like product displayed so that it is accessible,” Mr.
Perdis informed. “The gondolas make it easy for women
who like to play with the products . We’ve expanded
from half a gondola to six feet in this store, and more of
the ULTA doors have been converted to that size space.”
He prefers that his products be displayed with classic, not
trendy brands.
The product selection is edited on rate of sale and customer
demographic. “We have step-by-step directions on
the packages in both English and Spanish.”
“Blended training features our Makeup and Education
Executives on the floor with ULTA staff once a week.
There are Paparazzi one-on-one makeovers with customers
and, two or three times a year, members of our Sales
and Education staff have rallies where all of the ULTA
store’s staff is shown Napoleon Perdis’ newness. The
ULTA people sell our products, unlike our own dedicated
staff that sells at Nordstrom,” Mr. Perdis shared.
SEPTEMBER 2012 / 48 / BEAUTY FASHION
Mr. Perdis explains that his products are sold in over 500 ULTA stores
nationwide.
“The customer is all about a quick demo and explanation
after which she does her own editing,” he explained.
“She’s able to come into this environment that she can
edit for herself as opposed to Dillard’s and Nordstrom,
which are much more about a customized experience.”
The product display for Mr. Perdis’ line ranges from color to skincare.

NAPOLEON PERDIS’ EMPIRE
The Beautymaker’s Retail And
Academic Presence Grows In US
Target
West Hollywood
Mr. Perdis hosted a master class at David Jones to celebrate the
launch Mr. Perdis of his at Target Nude Bar collection.
At the Beauty Destination in this Target on Santa Monica
Boulevard, NP Set has a new installation which Mr.
Perdis points out gives the brand more presence. “Indie
brands like NP Set offer innovation for the consumer.”
Mr. Perdis backstage at the Alex Perry show during Rosemount
Australian Fashion Week
From the training programs for Makeup Artists, it was a
natural segue to Mr. Perdis’ eponymous makeup lines.
Realizing that the makeup available in Australia was
mostly for an Anglo market, he found there was very little
product selection for ethnic skin tones. “We developed a
broad spectrum color line that went from very light to
very dark.” That ethnic color diversity is now reflected in
all of the Napoleon Perdis lines.
Mr. Perdis developed his first makeup line in 1995, and
it has now grown to span both prestige and mass categories.
In terms of product development, he has built a turnkey
system around him. “I take inspiration from life and
give it to my team of sub-editors and category editors who
break it down so it commercializes into a color story.
You Mr. Perdis need showcases enough the teams display to at keep Target pushing for his NP newness.” Set line.
SEPTEMBER 2012 / 49 24 / BEAUTY FASHION
The top shelf, which is in eye contact with the customer,
displays NP Set’s new products. There are two shelves
for testers to engage the customer. Replenishment is
reserved for the bottom shelf. “The challenge,” he shared,
“is to keep up with replenishment, because we go
through stock so quickly.”
Mr. Perdis, who has Target’s only male-Makeup-Artist
line, is happy about being in the retailer’s “valley, where
you really think about shopping. It’s where you come to a
decision point, so the ‘valley’ is really good positioning
for us.”
Target does special beauty events in their car parking
lots where big makeup trailers are set up as a studio. “We
give samples to customers, which introduce products to
the customers and build awareness. It helps to grow
indie, Mr. Perdis innovative at his desk brands.” with Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics’ (rear seated
on couch) Alexis Bloch and Hanna Teklu, (front seated on couch)
Jennifer Lowe and Ebony Faucett, (standing left to right) Jennifer
Seeder, Napoleon Luis Santos and Brianne Perdis Baker At Nordstrom
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(Continued Pilot Pre-Foundation on page 46)
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