Hourglass only celebrated its 20th birthday last year — but in the beauty industry, it might as well be 200.
To celebrate, it launched a pop-up space that paid homage to its first retail partner, Barneys New York, during New York Fashion Week last September. On March 27, Hourglass reopened the space as a permanent flagship. Cast in a quarry of earth tones, it’s a more muted, intimate setting for the glossy makeup label; a grown-up Hourglass.
It’s also the latest example of a brand leaning on its history — be it 20 or 2,000 years old — to inform its latest moves, expand its footprint and generally shore up its position in the crowding contemporary beauty market.
“Some people have just discovered us, and then other people are like, ‘You’re a heritage brand,‘” said Carisa Janes, who founded the upscale cosmetics line in 2004 after developing products for Urban Decay. “I never thought I would be here long enough to hear that.”
Thanks to the relentless pace of beauty trends and launches, where an era-defining look seems to rise and fall every other week — slugging, Kontouring, blueberry milk nails — brands are reaching heritage status more quickly than ever.
With so much newness, beauty labels across categories have struggled to maintain their core message while simultaneously evolving to adapt to today’s customers. The evidence is in recent campaigns, from the 50 year-old MAC Cosmetics (featuring Julia Fox and sex education) or the 110 year-old Neutrogena (featuring John Cena and meme-driven marketing.) Hourglass recently cast nepo pop star Gracie Abrams as the face of its Illusion Priming Moisturiser.
The task for heritage brands across categories is to preserve their history while updating it for today’s beauty conversation. The Hungarian skincare collection Omorovicza, inspired by the 17th century mineral water spas of Budapest, is undergoing a change to more eco-friendly packaging (with new colours taken from the palettes of bathhouses). Björn Axén, the namesake label of the Swedish Royal Family’s hairdresser, is using their seal of approval to break into markets around Europe and beyond.
“Every time I tell the [brand’s] history, people get fascinated,” said Johan Hellström, chief executive and owner of Björn Axén. “I think so many brands today try to create a story, rather than actually have one.”
Flexing Your Roots
How old can a brand’s heritage be? For the UK-based skincare line Omorovicza (pronounced oh-more-o-veet-za), the story stretches back to the Late Cenozoic period, 34 million years ago.
That’s when the convergence of tectonic plates beneath present day Hungary caused the formation of the Pannonian Basin, home to a number of mineral-rich hot springs. From the Roman empire into the present day, Europeans have flocked to Hungary to take the waters as a form of preventative medicine — a spa culture that endures today on a global scale.
Stephen de Heinrich de Omorovicza, whose family owned and operated a bath in the 16th century, hopes to preserve that culture in the line of masks and muds he and his wife Margaret launched in 2006. This year, the brand is undergoing a digital refresh and packaging redesign to bring more of its past to its present, starting with a colour scheme that recalls the interiors of 16th century Hungarian baths. These pinks, beiges and pale sages are expressed through a more sustainable palette of materials, including recycled paper stock and post-consumer recycled caps. “We want to do more wordless storytelling,” de Heinrich said.
The brand contracts a laboratory in Szeged, south of Budapest, to ferment its spring water into a proprietary Healing Concentrate, before distilling it into a range of 48 SKUs and sending it to department stores like Neiman Marcus and Selfridges or hotel spas at the Four Seasons or Oberoi properties.
A few thousand kilometres north, the Swedish hairdresser label Björn Axén is cultivating its own cultural export. The brand, which was founded in 1963, enjoys a 92 percent awareness rate in its home country, according to Hellström, due in no small part to its eponymous founder’s role as the official coiffure of the Swedish Royal Family. (The crown issued a Royal Warrant to Axén in 1984, the year he launched his line, and his products bear the court’s seal today.) Axén passed away in 1993, willing his brand and business to his one-time assistant, Hellström, who now runs it with Peter Hägelstam, an Axén acolyte and hairdresser of Sweden’s Queen Silvia.
Hellström knew Axén for several years, after, as an 18 year-old, he assisted the hairstylist for two weeks. But he remembers the late founder’s focus on home care as essential to maintaining salon-quality hair, an axiom that defines the brand’s mission today.
One of his recent priorities is international expansion, and the brand now ships to 17 countries. Its home country’s growing refugee population has lifted the brand’s profile in unusual ways, with Hellström noting that Ukraine has become their largest export market.
Everything Old Is New Again
Hourglass hopes its new space will hearken back to its luxury retail roots. In the new Soho space, a point of sale is discreetly located out of sight, where sales associates process transactions as if in a luxury boutique.
Hourglass’ first retail boutique in Los Angeles’ Venice Beach opened in 2014 but closed during the pandemic, and the brand’s 14 extant boutiques in China reflect a prior aesthetic era, all lacquered in black and chock full of digital interfaces. (The brand also has storefronts on apps like Douyin, Tmall and Xiaohongshu.)
“Lots of screens,” Janes said, almost shuddering.
By contrast, the new store favours events and in-real-life connections over digital interfaces. It will also play host to exclusive launches, an alternative to the brand’s specialty channels at Sephora and Ulta Beauty.
The layout is centred on a modular set of marble blocks that display the brand’s gold-plated cosmetics. The fixtures can be rearranged to refresh the scenery, or re-stage the space for events like a master class with Billie Eilish’s makeup artist. Two seating areas invite shoppers to sip on coffee or champagne as they pore over palettes.
The positive response to last fall’s Barneys pop-up, particularly its in-store events, fed the approach to the store’s creation.
“Being able to do things that aren’t necessarily going to be right for Sephora might be right for this space,” Janes said.
Since it was acquired by Unilever Prestige in 2017, Hourglass has become the keystone in the brand’s portfolio thanks to timely product launches and wide wholesale distribution. In fiscal third quarter earnings last October, the brand was called out for leading the division’s “strong double-digit growth” due to hero products like its Vanish Airbrush Concealer (launched in 2020, and expanded its shade range in 2025) and Veil Hydrating Skin Tint (launched in 2023).
Janes said Hourglass is focused on getting its products into the hands of new customers. The store may be screenless, but the brand has made a concerted effort to market on social media; in 2024, awareness increased by 200 percent, while TikTok searches quintupled, according to a representative from the brand.
“We know there’s a big opportunity for awareness with our brand,” Janes said. “There’s still lots of work to do, and customers to introduce Hourglass to.”
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