You may have heard about the Tealive x dUCk Cosmetics limited edition collection with its 5 bubble tea inspired lipsticks by now.
But in case you’re not sure what Tealive and dUCk Cosmetics are, here’s some very brief background on them.
Tealive is undoubtedly Malaysia’s largest bubble tea franchise, with over 500* outlets in our home country herself.
*Editor’s Update: The number of Tealive’s Malaysian outlets has been updated to reflect accuracy, based on information from a Tealive representative.
On the other hand, dUCk Cosmetics is under The Duck Group, co-founded by Vivy Yusof who’s also popular for the fashion e-commerce company FashionValet.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the two brands have come together to create a collection that many of us may have always secretly wanted but had thought too far fetched to demand for.
Merging The Best Of Both Worlds
Officially called dUCk Boba Lipsticks, these 5 lipsticks aren’t just bubble tea inspired, they’re also bubble tea scented.
Their names are 70% Sugar, Pudding Please, Brown Sugar, Warm Boba and Extra Pearls, all phrases that we might say when making a Tealive order.
Individually, they cost RM50, but if you buy all 5 as a set, it’ll cost RM200. The set comes with a free, exclusively designed Tealive lifetime membership card as well.
However, at the moment of writing, the set itself is out of stock on FashionValet’s website, all sold out in a mere 3 hours.
But fret not, as it appears that the individual lipsticks can still be added to your cart and bought, and you can head to a physical dUCk Cosmetics store to grab them too.
If you’re now the proud owner of a dUCk Boba Lipstick, you can head to any of these 50 participating Tealive stores and show it to the tearista to get a 10% discount on a Tealive drink of your choice from now until March 31, 2019.
Spilling The Tea
That’s the lowdown of what’s in the collection, but ‘thirsty’ for more information on how the collection actually came about, Vulcan Post reached out to Bryan Loo of Tealive and Vivy Yusof of dUCk Cosmetics.
According to Vivy, it was only after she came up with the idea of launching bubble tea inspired lipsticks that she reached out to Bryan.
The most surprising thing? In a very relatable way, she contacted Bryan through Instagram DMs—and thankfully, he replied.
Through this collaboration, Bryan saw the opportunity not only to extend Tealive’s reach into the beauty industry, but also more specifically into the community of affluent Malay ladies who make up dUCk’s customers.
So, on they went to actually create these lipsticks. In the 8 months that it took for the idea to hit the shelves, dUCk took the reins on R&D and Tealive played a bigger role in the marketing campaign aspect.
The formula of the lipsticks was taken from dUCk Cosmetic’s existing Velvet Matte formula—one of their bestsellers—which helped speed up the R&D process significantly.
As for the naming of the shades, Vivy chuckled, “I used my own experience from ordering bubble tea, hence you have cheeky names like Pudding Please and Extra Pearls because those are literally my orders at Tealive.”
Putting It On The Shelves
Once the lipsticks had been developed, Vivy and Bryan put their heads together for their marketing, and that was how the idea of providing a membership card with the set came about.
Bryan shared with us, “There were actually a lot of wild ideas being thrown out over conversations, but they were restricted as the execution on our offline channels nationwide was operationally challenged.”
An example of those wild ideas that didn’t work out is how they had originally planned for dUCk Boba Lipstick owners to call out the names of their lipstick at Tealive outlets to be entitled to the 10% discount.
This could have confused the cashiers on the actual drink order, thanks to the lipsticks’ names.
“But we are still very happy with the current arrangement as it caused a lot of hype and was the talk of the town when the launch commenced,” Bryan concluded.
Unfortunately, the collection is a limited edition, so you’ll only be able to get the lipsticks while stocks last.
And according to Bryan, you had better get them now if you really want them as he shared, “Looking at the overwhelming responses, the stock should be off the shelves in just days.”
Vivy added, “dUCk usually doesn’t repeat collaborations with partners, as I like to keep things fresh and very, very special.”
But despite that, when we asked if this collection marked the first of many more to come between dUCk and Tealive, she teasingly said, “Well, you never know.”
On Tealive’s side, Bryan said, “I think we have a big interest in the skincare or cosmetic segment, as in general, they are very much aligned with our current customer base which consists a majority of young to mid-age ladies.”
In fact, Tealive is already collaborating with Safi, Malaysia’s largest skincare brand, to launch a series of tea inspired premium face cleansers.
As for whether these collaborations are just for publicity, Bryan said these moves are actually to prove Tealive’s brand extension into the beauty segment.
Once their branding has been established, they can focus on the larger profitability potential later, thus opening up a new revenue stream for Tealive.
Featured Image Credit: Bryan Loo / Vivy Yusof
