Aussie Fave Designer Brands Celebrates 10th Anniversary in Style

When there’s a milestone to celebrate, it’s time to pull out all the stops and fête with fashionable festivities. That’s exactly what Designer Brands did to honour their 10th anniversary, and if anyone deserves a toast, it’s this cosmetic favourite. First conceived on the back of a napkin (!) by husband and wife team Tony and Sharon Rechtman while living in LA, the brand launched a decade ago. It was created to challenge the notion that affordable cosmetics were not as good quality as high-end brands — the couple couldn’t help but notice that the women in LA managed to look like a million bucks in high street fashion brands, yet in cosmetics, inexpensive more often than not translated to poor quality.

This prompted the Rechtman’s to create great quality, affordable cosmetics that would be better than the high-end brands, and they did just that. Shortly after, they moved back to Australia to launch Designer Brands, starting with 15 products and one only staff member (Tony!). Today, Designer Brands sells millions of products each year in over 4,000 pharmacies across Australia and New Zealand. Pioneering quality affordable cosmetics, this truly remarkable brand also leads the way in providing products that are free of parabens, talc and bismuth while achieving vegan and cruelty-free certifications.

“From the very beginning we have had a commitment to creating the very best quality, high performing products at affordable prices that are as good if not better than the high end cosmetics brands. The growth and success of Designer Brands over the past 10 years has well exceeded what Sharon and I expected, but with over 20 million products sold since we launched and close to 4 products sold each minute, the Designer Brands offer has really resonated with Australian women,” Tony shared. We’ll cheers to that, and we did!

Toasting the brand’s incredible success, select media were invited to a fabulous dinner party held at the impossibly stylish QT in Sydney. Greeted with a pink cocktail (of course!), guests were treated to a family-style five course meal, which included delightfully delicious dishes such as wild hand dived scallops with lemon, garlic and basil butter, and black truffle mac and cheese that proved beauty editors have great manners, because we shared. The evening was as informative as it was fun, as Tony gave insight about the brand and what the future holds (stay tuned!). Between courses, new product launches were both discussed and tested, because how much better does a product standout when it’s applied and looks flawless after a few glasses of wine?

Among the brand new launches tested table side was the Crème Gel Eyeliner, which features an extendable slanted brush to apply the deeply-pigmented and smudge/ budge proof formula; the False & Flared False Lash Effect Mascara, which builds insane volume and boosts lash health; three new Mineral Quad Eyeshadow palettes in limited edition shades that offer a foolproof numbered application guide for a flawless result;  the Express Makeup Remover, with its dual-phase formula that easily eradicates all traces of makeup, dirt and impurities while leaving skin hydrated and fresh; and finally, the Spray & Set Makeup Setting Spray, a fine-misting spray that locks makeup in place while protecting skin from the elements and adding luminosity to the complexion.

After toasting, testing and scraping our plates clean, Tony was presented a gorgeously appropriate lipstick-shaped birthday cake, which he generously shared with us. Life’s a slice, and to many more, Designer Brands!