Filipino Makeup Finally Gets Shelf Space at The Colorist PH
If you've been inside a The Colorist store, you know the drill. You’ve got lipsticks lined up like paint chips, a wall of blushes you can swatch until your forearm runs out of space, and a crowd of teenagers going berserk with the makeup choices. The brand mix has skewed heavily imported since the chain landed here, mostly Chinese labels like Colorkey, Kato-Kato, and Veecci alongside a few familiar international names.
What you would not have found there until now is a Filipino brand. That changes with Ever Bilena and Careline, which are the first local brands to join the multi-brand retailer's Philippine shelves. Both are now stocked in seven branches: Ayala Vertis North, Ayala Fairview, Ayala Festival Mall, SM Bicutan, Choice Market Pasig, Robinsons Las Piñas, and Southwoods Mall.
See, local makeup has never had a distribution problem. Ever Bilena is in thousands of retail doors across the country, and you can find Careline in most malls and supermarkets without trying very hard. What local makeup has had is a placement problem. Filipino brands typically just stay within drugstore aisles and standalone counters, while imported brands get the well-lit boutique treatment where discovery actually happens.
Putting Ever Bilena and Careline inside The Colorist changes that paradigm. A shopper comparing a P199 lipstick to a P799 one in the same aisle is making a fairer comparison than the market has usually allowed. Local brands do well in that setup more often than people expect.
The two brands also cover different ground, which is likely the point of bringing in both. Ever Bilena is the reliable workhorse: complexion products, everyday lippies, and a formula catalog it has been refining for decades. Careline is the louder, younger sister, built for Gen Z shoppers who want graphic liner, bold color payoff, and whatever the internet decided was the look this month. Between them, they cover most of who walks into a store like this.
Denice Sy, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of Ever Bilena Cosmetics, Inc., framed the placement as a milestone for the category rather than just for the company.
"This is a proud moment for Filipino beauty," she said. "Ever Bilena has spent decades proving what local makeup can do, and standing on the same shelf as international brands inside The Colorist shows how Filipino brands can stand their ground versus global players. We hope this is just the start, and that more Filipino brands are highlighted in the same way too."
It’s a great start, for sure! If you have been curious about either brand but never had a reason to swatch before buying, this is a decent excuse. Go make a mess of your arm.
