For Ami Colè, constructing community is crucial element of the brand’s DNA, which is why she is the founder and CEO N’Diaye-Mbaye diarrhea I desired to do something somewhat different: a version of March Madness called “The Ami Colé Cup.”

“We focus our community online because that’s where our girl hangs out the most, whether she’s looking at videos on Instagram or what’s currently trending on TikTok, she’s there, so we want to be there with her too,” Mbaye said Andscape.

With this in mind, the Mbaye team at Ami Colé reached out to their online community, encouraging them to vote for his or her favorite lip oil shade in a March Madness-style competition.

In 2021, Mbaye launched Ami Colé, her clean beauty brand specializing in melanin-rich skin tones, offering skin tone, HighlighterAND lip oil. Before starting her brand, Mbaye worked in marketing for L’Oreal and product development for Glossier. The Ami Colé product line now features a skin strengthening product foundation stickcream reusable stick lip and cheek products, mascara, eye shadow, eyebrow pencil, eyebrow gel and powder. Still, the lip oil – now available in six shades – might be successful.

“We’ve really grown so much in the last few years that I still pinch myself when I think about how much we have,” Mbaye said. “We are truly proud to give our community a front row seat to the world of Ami Colé. From the beginning to today, we have always given our community an inside look at the brand, especially through social media. Our community has followed us from the moment I first thought of Ami Colé in my apartment in Brooklyn, to now where we are available at our local Sephoras. It was a truly humbling and joyful experience to watch events unfold.”

Kamille Greenwood, head of influencer partnerships at Ami Colé, joined the brand in October and worked closely with the vice chairman of graphic development and head of graphic design to bring the bracket to life.

“March can be a slower month, so we talked as a team, as you can see March Madness is really important to some people,” Greenwood said. “I’m not up to date, but my boyfriend always has it on, so what a cool way for Ami Colé girls to participate.”

The goal was to rejoice with the handle and give attention to what landed in it Sephora cart since the Sephora Spring 2024 Sale is going on this month.

“We wanted the bracket to last a few weeks and be a short sprint,” Greenwood added. “So we said, OK, it has to last three weeks, so a minimum of 16 shades. We have divided the colours into shade families – pinks, browns and shimmers. From that moment on, what did our girl like? We know that Bliss is the best-selling shade. How can we vary the shade of Bliss but not deviate from Bliss in any respect? I just discuss with our product development girl and make certain every little thing is on par.

Greenwood said it was exciting to look at consumers interact with the lock. “It was cool to see the numbers go up,” she said. “I had no idea it would be successful, some days we had over 700 votes and over 20,000 views on our website.”

She also said she was surprised that more vibrant shades, corresponding to hot pink and a few shimmery shades, weren’t rejected in earlier rounds, while purple did not have long-lasting traction with voters. “I feel like black women tend to gravitate towards darker shades, so it’s interesting to see lighter shades have more reach.”

The Ami Colé Cup buckle is proof of the importance of listening to the general public because, as Greenwood said internally, the brand made predictions using its own brackets that bore no resemblance to the voting results. “We wanted, oh, everyone will choose Eggplant, Eggplant will be the winner. It ended up being something else.”

The winner was Brick Red, but it would only be available for purchase in 2025. “Many products will already be released this year,” Greenwood confirmed. “Brick Red will now be in the pipeline, we hope the winning color will appear in 2025. Now that we know the shade, we can start thinking about the formula and the exact shade of brick red we can achieve.”

When the lip oil was launched in 2021 in Excellence, the brand’s signature pinky-brown color, Black women were desperate to reach for it since it was the right nude shade, pigmented and non-sticky. Beauty author Tembe Denton-Hurst called it “Telfar lip gloss bag” due to his stylish and famous fans – the comparison blew Mbaye away.

“Talk about a stunning moment,” she shared. “I felt like Ami Colé really filled a void in the beauty industry where representation is necessary and has been missing for a long time. Growing up in Harlem, I was surrounded by this culture. From beauty to music to food, I’ve been immersed in it all since I left home. For Black women, lip gloss has always been a means of entry into the world of beauty at an early age.”

She continued, “I remember going to the sweetness supply store to purchase my extra shiny lip gloss in my favorite flavor — it’s pure nostalgia. We all know that feeling once you placed on lip gloss and feel such as you’re IT, so after I heard that lip oil had grow to be a staple for all girls, whether or not they were pulling it out at a brunch or an event, I used to be over the moon. “

Mbaye considered the praise, confirming that she was on the proper path.

“I want Ami Colé to be a big sister who always keeps you informed about the latest trends and always keeps you informed about what is the best product at the moment. When I heard this headline, my belief was confirmed. Lip care oil has definitely taken our community by storm. Initially I thought it would be our skin enhancing shade which also performs very well and is very loved by our community, but the girls took the lip oil and ran with it!”