Cargo adopts Blu-ray for high-def makeup
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 4/29/2008
APRIL 29 | You can either watch or wear Blu-ray, courtesy of a new Cargo cosmetic line.
Cargo’s ‘blu_ray High-Definition Make-up’ is designed to mask all facial imperfections, including microscopic flaws that are incredibly magnified under high-definition filming. The blu_ray line includes mascara, blush, eye shadow and pressed power, among other items, priced between $20 and $30 each.
Mall-based makeup retailer Sephora is offering Cargo’s blu_ray line in-stores and online.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has already jumped at the cross-promotional opportunities with Cargo’s makeup and studio Blu-ray Disc product. The studio included Cargo blu_ray merchandise inside gift bags handed out at a New York launch party for 27 Dresses, which was released on Blu-ray and standard-definition DVD last week.
Cargo did not officially license the Blu-ray name, according to the cosmetic company’s president and founder Hana Zalzal. The company did trademark the different spelling of the high-def format, using all lower case lettering and an underscore rather than a hyphen.
“I liked the blu_ray name, because it sounds high-tech and since our products are high-tech and innovative, I thought it would be a great way to get the message across,” said Zalzal. “I did not talk to anyone outside the industry when naming our products ... We designed our own logo for this line in a way that we thought would brand the products appropriately.”
The Blu-ray Disc Assn. did not immediately comment.
Cargo’s Web site does carry an explanation that the BDA developed the Blu-ray Disc format, “which delivers the latest high-definition technology providing viewers the most crisp and life-like picture available on the market.”
Zalzal added that Cargo’s blu_ray line “is doing tremendously well, and never in our history have we received such a positive and overwhelming response from the make-up artist community.”
Cargo has posted testimonials from celebrity stylists who are using the blu_ray makeup line on TV and film stars.
“It’s exciting to see a company so dedicated to making the future of makeup for TV and film an easier transition with high-definition products that are simple to use,” Suzanne Westmore, head makeup artist for FX series Dirt, is quoted on the site. “Cargo’s careful and thorough research has put them above the rest.”
Other professional makeup artists providing shout-outs include Darrell Redleaf and Robin Siegel.
