In a time when flawless skin, plumped lips and ‘no make-up’ make-up seem like the norm, a beauty company that centres itself around the concept of celebrating imperfections feels fresh in a way few other brands do. Ommage, the new make-up brand from model and entrepreneur Lara Worthington, is just that, with lipstick designed to be blurred, a tinted cream designed not to mask the complexion, and packaging intended to look like it's been crushed.
Worthington designed the brand with Brian Roettinger, the renowned graphic designer known for creating the album art and visual identities for everyone from Jay-Z to St. Vincent, and for collaborations with brands such as Chanel and Skims. Together, the pair worked for three years to fully develop a line of products (two of which have been launched so far, along with a brush to apply the tinted cream) that took a distinctly different approach to beauty – a challenge in an industry where every week, if not every day, seems to bring the announcement of a new brand.
Colour was a key starting point for the pair, with products having their own unique packaging shade, developed over innumerable back-and-forth conversations to fine-tune the tone. The final colours, ‘a matcha with too much milk’ green for the tinted face cream (named First Base) and a rich oxblood colour for the Lip Coat, drew inspiration from Joseph Albers’ writing on colour theory, and the artists Worthington encountered in the museums and galleries of New York, where she now lives.
Of course, as a beauty brand, what really makes Ommage noteworthy is the similarly exacting approach applied to the products that lie inside the packaging.
First Base was the product where the Ommage project started for Worthington, a buildable tinted cream developed according to a translucent, three-pigment matrix for each shade category, with soft-focus fillers to diffuse light across the face and to diminish the appearance of fine lines. Mineral powders also work to reduce the appearance of dullness or redness, all resulting in an ultra-lightweight cream that makes skin looking bright and healthy while also still looking like your skin. It's the kind of product that will hide your discolouration without concealing your freckles.
First Base is meant to be applied with the brand’s Buffer Brush, a real standout in the category with densely packed, but super-soft, bristles designed to mimic the pressure of fingertips. An ergonomic handle and curved brush shape make it easy to quickly buff the cream over the face without missing or overcoating any areas of the face.
The final product of the initial launch, the Lip Coat, has the same unfussy, comfortably lightweight feeling as the foundation, but whereas First Base is designed to preserve, if slightly improve, the look of your skin, Lip Coat is intended to make an impact. ‘There’s so much about liners, TikTok videos about creating the perfect lip and things like that at the moment, but I see this brand as a choose-your-own-adventure kind of thing with its reds, browns, and purples,’ says Worthington. ‘If we were so colourful on the outside, the product couldn’t just be nudes. I feel like the imperfections on the outside and the expression of colour had to match. Both sides had to come together.’
Hence, the line of eight initial shades with a lightly satin finish that has been designed to be blurred onto lips to give a light just-kissed tint, or layered a few extra times for a high-impact burst of colour. The blurring aspect was an essential component of Worthington’s ‘beauty in imperfections’ concept of the brand, and its philosophy reflected in the packaging as well, which has been designed to look as if it’s been crunch, twisted, or pulled.
‘I found inspiration in objects that have been put under pressure over time, like dented or squashed cars,’ says Roettinger. ‘I think those things are interesting because they’re formally and aesthetically quite beautiful, but they’re unintentional. When something gets crushed, it isn’t an aesthetic choice.’ And while the approach is unconventional, it’s not, as Roettinger says, a ‘zany art-school-teacher look, it feels trustworthy, premium’.
The performance of the products meets luxury standards but its price point remains relatively accessible compared to similar brands in the category. ‘The design makes it luxury,’ says Worthington, ‘but that doesn't necessarily mean the price has to be luxury. Great design doesn't have to be expensive.’