Scott Miselnicky (Vice President, Makeup Global Product Development for Clinique Laboratories) lässt sich von ein wenig Lippenstift nicht abhalten, seine Produkte in und auswendig zu kennen. Im Büro kennt man ihn mit 4 verschiedenen Tönen von Makup im Gesicht, Bronzer, pinken Lidschatten und einem knallroten Lippenstift. Die Anwendung seiner Produkte bei sich selbst ist für ihn der beste Weg sich mit seiner Arbeit auseinander zu setzen – auch wenn das bedeutet, dass er sein Gesicht, seine Hände und Arme Tag ein, Tag aus in alle denkbaren Farbtönen wechselt.

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Wir haben Scott bei einer exklusiven, internen Konferenz für Clinique kennen gelernt. Im Wiener Bristol hat der New Yorker uns die neue Clinique Pop Liquid Linie vorgestellt an der er selbst von Sekunde eins mit an Bord bei der Entwicklung war. Er liebt seinen Job – das sieht man, wenn man Scott in die Augen sieht. Wenn er davon erzählt, strahlen seine Augen! Sein Apartment in Hell´s Kitchen wechselt er mit einem kleinen Haus am Land fürs Wochenende. Wir haben wirklich noch nie einen Produkt Entwickler für Makeup getroffen und waren richtig neugierig was er uns über seine Profession erzählen könnte:

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„You can´t know it unless you try it yourself!“

Scott, when i prepared for this interview with you, I found out that you are actually WEARING the makeup you are working on the improving – is that right!?? YEAH – Absolutely! People know me with makeup on. I was actually planning to put mascara on today, but i really forgot this morning (laughs).

Wow, so is that one of your philosophies – if you create it, you have to wear it? Yeah, because you can´t know it unless you try it yourself! And I think to be really professional at your job you really have to dive into these thing!!

But HOW did you actually get this job, because it´s a very unique job description I have to say!? I became a chemist and entered the cosmetic industry as a chemist. So I have a background in science. Since I was in the cosmetic industry back then already, I started to put those products on my hand in order to try and feel – and I have to say, I loved it! So it changed from putting it on my hands to putting it onto my face (laughs). And also if you wanna put a product in a certain direction you HAVE TO know it, you HAVE TO try it in order to be able to shape it the way you want! I started at the Estée Lauder Corperation back then and I worked my way up into a more creative position.

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It´s crazy because you´ve been working in this company for such a long time – how do you stay motivated and how do you manage to still be creative with new inventions and ideas!? I think that I´ve always believed in Clinique and I always wanted to push the boundaries and see where we can go in terms of offering women what they want, what they never knew that they wanted and what they would actually fall in love with. I think this is what always drove me! It may sound crazy but I really love makeup – all forms of it! All those different tones and colors.. Just looking at people in the subway and figuring out what would make them look a little better (laughs) – it really became sort of a little passion of mine!

That´s awesome – as we all know, it´s the most important thing to love what you do and you really seem to love your job! But since you´ve been with Clinique for such a long time, I would be thrilled to know which product launch was your highlight!? Definitely the launch of Even Better Make Up back in 2009. For me that was the most exciting because at that time it was cutting edge because at that time no one really covered that territory. We did so much clinical testing to support improving skin tones on asians for examples, it was really fascinating. But of course there is so many exciting products we´ve formed and launched and i just love it!

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Have there been tough times as well!? Oh, yes of course! We´ve had a couple of products that, when we were developing it, were simply great. Then suddenly in the large production process it became bad / it didn´t work out the way we wanted it to be. There was already huge amounts of money spent for marketing purposes and then we had to cancel the production. There were a couple of things that were hard but I think that´s part of the process and all together my career so far has been more than positive overall and that is what counts in the end right?

Talking about development, how do you start with a product? So with this particular line for example, we have an active calendar where everyone’s working on and there is also projects that a couple of people work on from time to time that could be interesting for the future. And this is the case with this particular line. A couple of my colleagues were working on this lipstick and I remember seeing it the first time, I was thinking ‘Oh my god, how did you get to this point? This texture is amazing!’. So from that point on we knew that we have to make this happen. Plus, we´ve seen that the trend towards ‘matte’ is coming and going big!

„California is the place to watch trends.“

Wow, how did you already know that this trend was about to come back then? Well, you know I always say, California is the place to watch trends. And it really is – we´ve seen this trend slowly developing there and we knew we wanted to get on board! Also social media is a tool we can use to make the whole world see those new developing trends way faster than before the existence of it.

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8413

And where, other than in California or on Social Media do you get your inspiration for all those creative ideas? I have a house on the countryside and I go there almost every weekend. I need it to recharge. It helps me think, slow down for a little and re-focus and I love to just

Do fashion trend influence beauty trends or is it the other way around? I used to think that fashion influences beauty but now I feel like it´s the other way around!

A question that I always wanted to know. It´s about the smell. How do you manage to make your products smell good or neutral? That´s a great question because, yeah, there are a lot of smelly products out there. But you know, with Clinique we have to work with clean products and we really have a lot of internal restrictions. We have to work with more purified ingredients so that´s how we keep the small neutral and that´s how we do it!

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8423

„Patience and time is the key to success.“

That´s good to know! Also talking about trends before.. What will be the next big trends concerning beauty? There is no real big new trend because this current trend will stay for a very long time, so you guys better get used to it 😉 .

Haha, ok that´s good to know Scott – thanks for that advise! And talking about trends and the future – what will happen with Clinique and your products in the future? Now you wanna know some secrets (laughs)? Well, I can tell you that we´re constantly working on new things and there are great things to come. We are constantly improving and trying to provide the best products for our customers. So, stay tuned!!

I will for sure! My last question – in your long career as a product developer of a globally known makeup brand, what did you learn from your job? With my job especially I had to get used to being patient! Patience and time is the key to success. It´s hard for many people to understand that but it just takes time when you wanna do something right and properly.

 

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Thank you so much Scott for this great talk! We are sure staying tuned and are excited what amazing products you and your team will create in the future!


More Infos on: clinique.at
Interview: Karin Kaswurm
Text & Images: Caro Eisl

„Yeah, i wear make up almost every day!“

Scott Miselnicky (Vice President, Makeup Global Product Development for Clinique Laboratories) isn’t going to let a little lipstick get in the way of knowing the products he creates. So in the office, it’s not unusual to spot him wearing four shades of foundation, bronzer, icy-pink blush and bright red lipstick. Road testing is the best way for him to get into his work – even if it means swiping his face, hands and arms with every hue his mind can fathom.

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We met Scott at the internal conference of Clinique in Vienna. He was coming a long way from the head offices in the US to present the new Clinique Pop Liquide Series  they´ve been working on and improving for such a long time. He is absolutely in love with his job and you literally see it looking into his eyes! Scott lives in one of the most amazing cities in the world, New York. He has an apartment in Hell´s Kitchen but makes sure to get out of town for the weekend to his little shelter on the countryside. We´ve indeed never met a product developer for Makeup and where kind of curious what he could possibly tell us about his position and passion:

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8398

„You can´t know it unless you try it yourself!“

Scott, when i prepared for this interview with you, I found out that you are actually WEARING the makeup you are working on the improving – is that right!?? YEAH – Absolutely! People know me with makeup on. I was actually planning to put mascara on today, but i really forgot this morning (laughs).

Wow, so is that one of your philosophies – if you create it, you have to wear it? Yeah, because you can´t know it unless you try it yourself! And I think to be really professional at your job you really have to dive into these thing!!

But HOW did you actually get this job, because it´s a very unique job description I have to say!? I became a chemist and entered the cosmetic industry as a chemist. So I have a background in science. Since I was in the cosmetic industry back then already, I started to put those products on my hand in order to try and feel – and I have to say, I loved it! So it changed from putting it on my hands to putting it onto my face (laughs). And also if you wanna put a product in a certain direction you HAVE TO know it, you HAVE TO try it in order to be able to shape it the way you want! I started at the Estée Lauder Corperation back then and I worked my way up into a more creative position.

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8371ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8404

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8314

It´s crazy because you´ve been working in this company for such a long time – how do you stay motivated and how do you manage to still be creative with new inventions and ideas!? I think that I´ve always believed in Clinique and I always wanted to push the boundaries and see where we can go in terms of offering women what they want, what they never knew that they wanted and what they would actually fall in love with. I think this is what always drove me! It may sound crazy but I really love makeup – all forms of it! All those different tones and colors.. Just looking at people in the subway and figuring out what would make them look a little better (laughs) – it really became sort of a little passion of mine!

That´s awesome – as we all know, it´s the most important thing to love what you do and you really seem to love your job! But since you´ve been with Clinique for such a long time, I would be thrilled to know which product launch was your highlight!? Definitely the launch of Even Better Make Up back in 2009. For me that was the most exciting because at that time it was cutting edge because at that time no one really covered that territory. We did so much clinical testing to support improving skin tones on asians for examples, it was really fascinating. But of course there is so many exciting products we´ve formed and launched and i just love it!

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8410

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8390

Have there been tough times as well!? Oh, yes of course! We´ve had a couple of products that, when we were developing it, were simply great. Then suddenly in the large production process it became bad / it didn´t work out the way we wanted it to be. There was already huge amounts of money spent for marketing purposes and then we had to cancel the production. There were a couple of things that were hard but I think that´s part of the process and all together my career so far has been more than positive overall and that is what counts in the end right?

Talking about development, how do you start with a product? So with this particular line for example, we have an active calendar where everyone’s working on and there is also projects that a couple of people work on from time to time that could be interesting for the future. And this is the case with this particular line. A couple of my colleagues were working on this lipstick and I remember seeing it the first time, I was thinking ‘Oh my god, how did you get to this point? This texture is amazing!’. So from that point on we knew that we have to make this happen. Plus, we´ve seen that the trend towards ‘matte’ is coming and going big!

„California is the place to watch trends.“

Wow, how did you already know that this trend was about to come back then? Well, you know I always say, California is the place to watch trends. And it really is – we´ve seen this trend slowly developing there and we knew we wanted to get on board! Also social media is a tool we can use to make the whole world see those new developing trends way faster than before the existence of it.

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8413

And where, other than in California or on Social Media do you get your inspiration for all those creative ideas? I have a house on the countryside and I go there almost every weekend. I need it to recharge. It helps me think, slow down for a little and re-focus and I love to just 

Do fashion trend influence beauty trends or is it the other way around? I used to think that fashion influences beauty but now I feel like it´s the other way around! 

A question that I always wanted to know. It´s about the smell. How do you manage to make your products smell good or neutral? That´s a great question because, yeah, there are a lot of smelly products out there. But you know, with Clinique we have to work with clean products and we really have a lot of internal restrictions. We have to work with more purified ingredients so that´s how we keep the small neutral and that´s how we do it!

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8423

„Patience and time is the key to success.“

That´s good to know! Also talking about trends before.. What will be the next big trends concerning beauty? There is no real big new trend because this current trend will stay for a very long time, so you guys better get used to it 😉 .

Haha, ok that´s good to know Scott – thanks for that advise! And talking about trends and the future – what will happen with Clinique and your products in the future? Now you wanna know some secrets (laughs)? Well, I can tell you that we´re constantly working on new things and there are great things to come. We are constantly improving and trying to provide the best products for our customers. So, stay tuned!!

I will for sure! My last question – in your long career as a product developer of a globally known makeup brand, what did you learn from your job? With my job especially I had to get used to being patient! Patience and time is the key to success. It´s hard for many people to understand that but it just takes time when you wanna do something right and properly.

 

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8438

ck-constantlyk-com-karin-kaswurm-clinique-scott-miselnicky-8435

Thank you so much Scott for this great talk! We are sure staying tuned and are excited what amazing products you and your team will create in the future!


More Infos on: clinique.at
Interview: Karin Kaswurm
Text & Images: Caro Eisl

BY:

mail@constantlyk.com

Karin is the founder and the face of Constantly K. Next to her career as host, she travels the world, visits all fashion weeks and keeps you updated about what´s happening – CONSTANTLY!

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