So this is not necessarily a new web design project but I am posting about it now because it is in a similar industry to EvePearl.com and since I’ve gotten my feet pretty wet with cosmetics, it makes sense to put up a little information about this site too.
CMKCosmetics.com is an interesting situation because she sells cosmetics to everyone in one sense, because everyone has the potential to use her makeup products to look more beautiful. However, she also has an exciting niche market opportunity to sell cosmetics to a very particular type of customer. That niche is served by her brand of Shabbat Cosmetics. These are lipsticks and eyeshadows for example that are formulated in such a way that Rabbis approve of their use on the holy sabbath.
Without getting into the details too much, not only did this site have the opportunity to showcase products for a definable audience, but it also had to take into consideration the social mores of that community. This meant that the photos used on the site had to be meet a certain level of acceptability for modesty. As well, the whole color scheme of the site had to be in a sense “sensible” and not too flashy. That is a tough bill to fill to sell “sex” but not look like it too much.
Well maybe she wasn’t trying to sell sex, but it’s a pretty fine line between getting all dolled up looking good and crossing the threshold to a bedroom. Yet, that may be a male point of view. From the woman’s perspective beauty and all the accoutrements used to enhance one’s beauty, are not really about sex but about a self perception. In the fashion world, you are what you wear – and not necessarily for an ulterior motive.
So the CMK cosmeticsweb project was noteworthy more because of the limitations presented by the niche audience than because it gave me a chance to showcase some enhancements we had made to the WebCart Ecommerce platform. We are always adding new configuration options to WebCart so it is almost like commonplace – though some of the features you will see on CMK are quite nice. look at all the alternate images of the lipsticks to get an idea of what I mean.