I saw this infographic on Instagram about Estee Lauders declining sales. 

And it coincided with Shiseido's earnings report that showed that their sales and company market cap tanked after their overpriced acquisition of the confection merchandise line, Drunk Elephant. In addition to other cosmetic titans reporting a steady stream of sales decline since 2022. 

On the other side, I saw the exact opposite happen with Oumere where demand for what I have been making for about 8 years now has been higher than ever, to the point where most of the products are selling out within minutes of availability. 

I think OUMERE’s surge in demand is happening now because the luxury skincare market is undergoing a psychological tipping point. Everyone seems to be finally rejecting the illusion they've been sold for decades.

The disillusionment seems high and everyone is tired and frustrated about the lack of quality in everything they buy. For years, brands like Estée Lauder, Shiseido, and their subsidiaries marketed “luxury” while producing what appeared to me and possibly everyone else to be the same industrialized, filler-heavy formulas as mid-tier products.

In my opinion, what made it the worst was that everyone was paying hundreds for prestige packaging, influencer endorsements, and celebrity campaigns, seemingly everything except a working product. Rising prices against declining performance created cognitive dissonance, and now people are realizing the emperor has no clothes. That trust breach is driving a migration away from the conglomerates. People seem to be repulsed by it. 

I have been seeing this phenomenon from the outside looking in as someone who was never a part of the skincare marketing fantasy role play game that has been going on for the last decade. OUMERE’s philosophy has been the inverse of what the rest of the industry has been doing. While the giants cut quality and scaled production, I was busy for years focusing on escalating quality, always looking for the highest-grade ingredients, formulating through scientific research, and making every product by hand first in California then in Palm Beach. I don't do factories, mass production or gimmicks. Its a contrast:  quiet authenticity versus manufactured luxury.

And while this was something that honestly was not valued for a long time over influencer marketing and million dollar imagery, it now seems to be resonating now more than ever because consumers feel burned by the old system.

I also see a rejection of fake luxury because how can anything mass produced be luxurious? Luxury comes down to three things: quality, rarity and price point. The corporations just took a high price point and faked the rest. OUMERE’s small-volume production, Italian glass packaging, and refusal to outsource to a factory, use industrialized materials and warehouse storage make it verifiably exclusive in a way few brands can claim. The OUMERE customer isn't just buying a product; they’re buying proof that they see through the illusion and are part of a more discerning tier of consumers.

As the big players falter, intelligent consumers are seeking alternatives that match their evolved expectations: efficacy, transparency, and integrity. OUMERE delivers what people thought they were getting all along, and that alignment is pulling customers away from the giants naturally and rapidly.