My passion has always been makeup and so Make up your Makeup was born.

My intention behind the game was to ideate and develop a game that focused on building a pro makeup artist kit with a play and trade style of game. By collecting the makeup cards /trading the cards, not only are players learning what products can be found in a pro makeup artist kit and are building their kit, but they’re also getting to enjoy a makeup themed game, something that through browsing boardgamegeek, I discovered appears does not exist. It looks like I’ve discovered a niche with the potential for a game release.

Having no makeup themed tabletop games already on the market, it is difficult for me to determine how well this game would perform if released to the public. What can be commonly found online when you search “makeup games” are the games where makeup is applied to either a mannequin head/another player or to paper to design a look.

In Australia, the cosmetics industry is worth $3.73 billion and is only expected to continue to grow (Australia Beauty and Personal Care Products Market – Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2022 – 2027) 2022), with this said, I believe my game has the potential once finalised to fit within this industry and open a new niche to other aspiring game developers. Partnerships with big named beauty brands could accelerate the growth of this niche and become a form of advertising that could generate sales to both the brand and my game.

Below are my game rules and a basic game prototype which includes what the player’s boards would look like as well as the cards that would be played with.

I wanted to Make up Your Makeup to feature a soft and girly aesthetic to attract a younger audience. The aesthetics of my game would be crucial to its success and so I have placed a heavy emphasis on pretty colours and recognisable fonts and symbols.

The game loop is as simple as playing with the 2 card decks (makeup & clientele cards).

With each game round, the player will pick a makeup card, then decide if they will play their card in their gameboard, trade with other players or dispose of the card to the centre gameboard which you can see in action in my prototype video.

Once a row has been completed, a player may collect a clientele card.

As Makeup your Makeup is still in its early prototype stage, I hope to receive feedback to implement into the game design to improve the experience, and game mechanics/ game loops. I hope to receive feedback on a strategy to implement points to elongate the game experience as well as a way to make the game have a more competitive feel.

References

Australia Beauty and Personal Care Products Market – Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2022 – 2027) 2022, Mordorintelligence.com, viewed 20 April 2022, <https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/australia-beauty-and-personal-care-products-market-industry#:~:text=Market%20Overview,period%20(2021%2D2026).>.

BoardGameGeek | Gaming Unplugged Since 2000 2022, Boardgamegeek.com, viewed 24 April 2022, <https://boardgamegeek.com/geeksearch.php?action=search&objecttype=boardgame&q=makeup%20games&gt;.

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