US handmade colour cosmetics company Bitch Slap! Cosmetics has been acquired, Cosmetics Business can reveal.
The company declined to give details of the transaction, but confirmed that the brand's edgy products, which feature imprinted images of human genitals including vulva and penises, have proved a hit with consumers – and sales are up 60%.
“We wanted to create something no make-up company has ever created,” Tina Martinez, in charge of the creative department at Bitch Slap!, told Cosmetics Business.
“With so many companies out there, we thought about what we could do to stand out. We came up with the idea of pop art, using breasts, vaginas etc and it’s worked because people have never seen anything like that.”
The ‘naughty’ products, including penis-shaped lipsticks, are particularly in demand from bridal parties, said Martinez, but Bitch Slap! also makes products with more conventional pop-art images, such as singers Bob Marley, David Bowie and Prince, and imprints such as cannabis leaves or joints.
Martinez confirmed the brand is also planning a series aimed at the transgender community.
Bitch Slap! was founded by Kathy Silvantes, who worked for Estée Lauder's MAC brand for six years and also L'Oréal-owned Lancôme. She also formerly worked for Penthouse and Playboy magazines as a make-up artist.
The brand's products are handmade and hand-finished and are currently sold only online, with a 7-10 day wait as they are made to order. Being fresh, they also need to be kept in a cold environment.
Bitch Slap!'s latest launch is a range of eyeshadows, blushers and highlighters imprinted with images of vulvas and penises.
For an individual pan such as the King Dong palette, it costs £18.81, but for the Netflix & Chill colour palette in a magnetic holder, the cost can rise to around £100. The latter features six jumbo-sized 59mm eyeshadow pans with images of vaginas and penises.