Louis Desazars, CEO at NARS reflects on the year that was

NARS is on a roll. Last September, the colour brand kicked off a major push into skin care with the relaunch of its skin care line. At the same time, it has been stepping up its brand partnerships following the success of its Andy Warhol collection last year. This year, it unveiled a nail polish line in partnership with shoe designer Pierre Hardy, while October saw the release of its Guy Bourdin Holiday Collection, inspired by French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin. NARS CEO Louis Desazars talks toCosmetics Businessabout the year that was.

So far so good – its been a strong year. Where we have strongest momentum is within international growth. As far as the US goes, weve been growing steadily and taking market share. Nevertheless, retail foot traffic declined in the US during Q2 compared with 2012 and 2011.

E-commerce has always been a key strategy for us. We restructured our online business a year ago to bring more talent to it. This included developing a new platform. Its now a high growth area for us as our fastest growing channel. Were now putting a lot of resources into digital media to build brand awareness.