/ Q&A With Davis Factor Of Smashbox

by Anokhi Admin

Q&A With Davis Factor Of Smashbox

Jun 10, 2013

The brand born behind the lens

Davis Factor, senior vice president of Global Creative for Smashbox, shares with us his vision for his brand — today and beyond.

Davis Factor fell in love with the creative art of the photo shoot when he visited his famous grandfather, Max Factor, on set at the age of 10. Davis got his first camera three years later, his love for photography grew and the creation of Smashbox Studios came in 1990 with the family legacy in mind. The makeup brand we all know and love today came shortly after. Here’s the scoop behind the origins of Smashbox and the reason why you look so camera-ready when you wear makeup.

A.D: When anyone starts building a brand there is a creative spark behind it. What was it that inspired you to begin Smashbox as a brand?

D.F: It was created from Smashbox Media from Los Angeles. I was very young at the time. My brother Dean and I created Smashbox together. I ran the creative and Dean ran the business. After a few years in the studio I started to have issues with some of the makeup that was being applied on-set and how it was getting applied. It was bothering me that we had to powder so much. I would just highlight sometimes and it would get wet a bit, wear down or it would get really caked. So Dean and I talked about creating some products that we could use in-studio to help me on my photo shoots and I figured it would help other photographers as well. We wanted to make something that was really super high quality and something that felt really good on the skin. And that was what we did and we came out with our anti-shine foundation, primer and cream eye shadow – we started to invent different makeup using my photography. We would sit on the shoot and wait for things to happen. This is happening, let’s fix this; that is happening, let’s fix that.

A.D: That’s really hands on.

D.F: Plus, just the fact that Dean and I came from a cosmetics family and our grandfather literally invented the word makeup, invented makeup from a retail point of view and Hollywood makeup as an inventor as well, we were really inspired by what was happening at the Smashbox studios. But we also had the lineage that really helped us with the challenge of succeeding and making our families proud. It was very organic and it wasn’t forced. When it comes down to it, it’s Smashbox studios that is still thriving today and still doing great photo shoots all day long.

A.D: That is something unique about Smashbox – it’s not just a cosmetic brand, it’s a photo studio too. As a photographer, what do the studios mean to you?

I am constantly around the energy of hair, makeup and style, and I am constantly challenged to create images that are forward in fashion and forward with the times. It just goes along with the makeup. We work 18 months ahead sometimes with our collections and I shoot everything for Smashbox cosmetics. But with the past fall collection, we tried something a little different. We really wanted to give the consumer a look inside of what it was like when I was shooting. I hired Terry to do that; it was really cool. I want to hire a guest photographer once a year and have them give us their take on Smashbox. They’ll shoot me in action and give the consumer an idea of what it’s like to create the pictures I create.

Basically it’s about the studios. I bring it back there because that’s the nucleus of the brand and it’s the authenticity of the brand. It’s where we are making the makeup. It’s where we work – Smashbox cosmetics headquarters are at the studios. It’s a never-ending process of season to season to season and coming up with great new colour stories. And coming out with innovative products that work very well.

A.D: What products are the most important to the Smashbox brand?

D.F: I always say that it starts with a canvas and that is why our foundations have been so important to us. It’s not as creative, but at the end of the day, if you don’t have the right foundation you really don’t have the canvas. That’s our philosophy; it’s been that from the beginning and it still is.

A.D: What can Smashbox fans and Davis Factor fans expect to see over the next year with the brand?

D.F: Right now we just launched our new website which is fantastic. We will have a blog so you can follow me and see the photos and follow my life. Socialshop is really amazing. We will put some products together for you so can actually talk about it live right there, like a marriage between Smashbox and Facebook. We have always been advanced in social media and have been ahead of the curve. There are companies that always have more fans than we do, but the technology we’re using is far advanced. And that’s because I have been shooting digital for 10 years as a photographer and my brother learned how to hack into computers when he was 10 years old. We always thought we were savvy.

Besides coming out with amazing new products, I really think reaching people and doing it in a really cool, fun, interactive way is one of things you’re are going to see a lot more substantially from this brand. More video content, more cool events in Los Angeles, we are going to remodel the studios and make them look bitchin’ and amazing. I want to do more fashion events there and embrace fashion in LA and the fashion community, which is something we’ve always been a part of and have loved. Smashbox brought Fashion Week to Los Angeles; we just want to have fun with the brand.

BY AMANPREET DHAMI / PUBLISHED IN THE 9TH ANNIVERSARY JANUARY 2012 ISSUE