Designer Interview: Carisa Janes, Hourglass Cosmetics
Carisa Janes
After helping craft many other beauty brands’ looks, Janes now enjoys creating designs for her own brands.
By Marie Redding, Senior EditorCarisa Janes has been a creative force behind many different brands during her extensive career in the beauty industry, dating back to 1996. She began her career as an assistant product developer at Urban Decay. After that, she developed and brought to market Body & Soul, an upscale niche cosmetics line that received a lot of press attention when it first launched due to its unique packaging. Next, as head of her own consulting firm, Isa Design, Janes oversaw the creative direction for multiple skin care and cosmetic lines, including teen brand Sugar Cosmetics. In recent years, however, Janes finally took the plunge and started her very own brands: a bath and body collection called Trees, and a cosmetics line she created in 2004, Hourglass Cosmetics.
Janes is often inspired by her collection of art and photography books. The artistic influence is evident in the eclectic mix of styles that Janes chose for her lines. “When different elements are blended together, a package takes on a life of its own and creates its own interesting vibe,” she says.
Janes took her time working on the conceptual design for Hourglass, which she describes as a luxury line with a modern edge. “As soon as I had the design concept worked out in my head, the rest came together rather easily and quickly,” she says.
The brand’s logo looks like an hourglass, or the letter H. Janes describes the logo as “art nouveau.” The packaging is sleek. Many of the packages are metal, such as the lipstick case, which is anodized with a dark bronze finish. “I chose this color because it’s sophisticated and a rich alternative to black,” she says. The cartons are printed with a matte coating over metallic ink and are hot-stamped and embossed with the Hourglass logo.
Janes uses a combination of custom and stock packaging. “Stock packaging suppliers are a great resource for smaller companies. You always have to be on the hunt for packaging that fits your brand when you’re trying to put together a cohesive look from existing packages,” she says.
Janes says that she loves the creative process and is happiest when she’s putting new ideas into motion, whether it’s for her own brand or someone else’s. “Seeing your concepts materialize into actual products is the greatest feeling,” she says. “If I have a vision in mind and stay true to it, the rest just seems to work itself out.”