Makeup artist Hung Vanngo’s legendary career spans editorial, celebrity, campaign, runway; he is even a YouTube phenomenon. It would seem that he’s already conquered it all — but not quite, until now. On Monday, he announced the launch of his eponymous beauty brand, Hung Vanngo Beauty, which will debut exclusively at Sephora on Sept. 8.

“For me, the goal of the brand is what we call ‘perfecting the basics,'” Vanngo tells Fashionista. At launch, the line spans 54 SKUs (plus an additional 28 shades that will be exclusive to hungvanngobeauty.com). That includes eight eye-shadow palettes, eight longwear eyeliner pencils, three soft kohl eyeliner pencils, 14 creamy matte lipsticks, nine lip liners, six bronzers and six blushes.

I point out that this seems like quite an expansive way to debut a brand modestly claiming to be focused on “basics,” “[These are the basics] that I’ve come to want over my 20-year career,” Vanngo clarifies. “I put my whole career into it.” 

That’s not to say the brand doesn’t plan to get more experimental in the future. “Later on we are going to launch product that we think is more innovative. But for the launch, it’s more of a reintroduction to the perfect basics,” he explains.

Vanngo’s fingerprints can be found across every aspect of the line. Because the artist hates when makeup packaging gets dirty, for example, Hung Vanngo Beauty’s components and compacts have a matte, easy-to-clean, vibrant red finish. The color is also intentional and deeply personal to the artist: “The packaging is [similar] to the ‘Vanngo Red’ lipstick in the line. I wanted an orange-y red, with a little blue in there to flatter most skin tones. This is a more a vibrant color, it’s not a muted red at all. It’s a confident red, and that’s why I love it so much.”

The hue is also a nod to his heritage: Vanngo was born in Vietnam, and then moved to a refugee camp in Thailand at the age of six, where he and his family lived for three years before immigrating to Calgary, Canada. “[Red] is a very big color in Asian heritage; we believe [it’s] a happy color, a powerful color — so that is part of the tribute back to my heritage as well.”

But Vanngo didn’t just bring his personal background to the packaging aesthetic: All of the shade names for his Creamy Matte Lipsticks “tell the story of Hung’s journey in life,” per the brand’s press release. A terracotta-like one, for instance, is dubbed “Phanat Nikhom,” the name of the Thai refugee camp in which he spent some of his formative years. “I always believe you should remember where you’re from and who helped you,” says Vanngo. “I could [be like other brands and use] fancy French shade names, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. I want to do everything with consideration to staying true to my past.”

When asked why now — several decades into his career — is the right time to launch his brand, Vanngo shrugs it off. “I think there’s no right time or the wrong time. You just have to do what feels right,” he says. “I was never in a rush, but we’ve been ready… we’ve been working on it for a long time.” For five years, to be specific — he and his team began the process of envisioning Hung Vanngo Beauty amid the pandemic, doing most of their work via Zoom. “This is a startup brand,” he emphasizes.

His team then approached Sephora, and the retailer was immediately on board. “It’s a dream for every makeup artist have their product in there… I like to go to Sephora at least once a month just to test, to play with product,” he says. And he acknowledges how much the retailer has brought to the brand, too. “I love the support — they do respect my artistry and they understand this is a makeup artistry brand,” he says. The Sephora powers-that-be also helped to influence and inform the launch lineup.

Looking toward the future, Vanngo has major aspirations for his beauty brand: “I would love this brand to be international, to be a cult favorite. I don’t want to create trendy products… I would love to branch out to skin care and other things. But that’s the future plan. Right now, we would love to focus on makeup and creating great formulas that everyone loves.”

We offer unique services and partnership opportunities for brands big and small to get in front of Fashionista’s community of 1M readers. Learn More.

#Makeup #Artist #Hung #Vanngo #Put #039Whole #Career039 #Debut #Beauty #Brand