Crayola x Clinique

Do you remember using crayons when you were a kid? Take a moment to recall their sweet waxy smell, their smooth application, and the excitement of testing all the colors on a big piece of paper. 

When you reach a certain age, you begin to forget about crayons. Your adult world is taken up by graphite pencils, black and blue pens, and the occasional yellow highlighter.  

Thanks to Clinique and Crayola’s 2017 collaboration, adults now can use crayons as part of their daily makeup routine. These brands turned Clinique’s Chubby Stick Lip Balm into a crayon for your face.

The collaboration was surprising for Clinique, a luxury skincare brand that takes a clinical approach to beauty. They are best known for popularizing the idea of following a strict skincare regime with three simple steps: cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize.

Before partnering with Crayola, Clinique had also launched a number of best-selling makeup products, and the Chubby Stick was one of them. Since 2011, beauty bloggers had praised the moisturizing lip balm, highlighting it’s “crayon-like” application. However, many complained that the stick only came in three dull colors.

It seems that Clinique had a lightbulb moment. Why not partner with Crayola, the expert of color and the inventor of the crayon?

Crayola had already made its mark in the world of makeup, albeit unwillingly. In 2016, beauty influencers started the #CrayolaMakeupChallenge, which resulted in hundreds of people drawing full faces of makeup with Crayola art supplies. 

Luckily, Crayola was ready to revisit makeup with Clinique the following year. Their collaboration resulted in a set of Chubby Stick Lip Balms inspired by Crayola packaging. The sticks came in 10 fun shades named after Crayola colors like “Razzmatazz” and “Mauvelous.” 

The brands’ reimagination of the Chubby Stick gave customers a new way to experience makeup. In contrast to the strict routine that made Clinique famous, the Crayola Chubby Sticks made applying makeup fun. Customers loved playing with color, and Crayola appreciated the fact that they could do it safely. 

Despite it being out of character, the collaboration succeeded because it evoked a new emotional experience for the brands’ shared customers.