SONIA G Update

I have received several emails and comments with questions over the recent days, I thought it would be a good idea to group them here in a faq/update post.
It’s a miscellanous list of questions that I receive frequently, but the answers are somehow connected so it makes sense to answer them together.

FUDE PRICE INCREASES

Many people have asked me if my brushes (Sonia G) will increase in price in the future. To answer this question, I think it makes sense to talk about Fude price increases in general.

Ignoring currency or tax related changes, it is good to know that not only bristle price increases affect the overall price of your Fude.

Since I have been working with the artisans, I have noticed considerable price increases on the ferrules (the metal as well as the cost of the craftsmanship), on the handles (the wood and craftsmanship), the paints and lacquers. I also know that they have administrative fees, salaries, processes, or other fees that change with time and affect the labour cost. Shipping prices have also exploded over the past 2 years due to labour and capacity issues.

Today I am both a customer (I also buy other brands for myself!) and an OEM company.

As a customer, unless the brand tells us, it’s quite impossible to identify what has caused a price increase. Maybe some manufacturers increased prices at the same time, or it could be a provider they have in common, a resource which is becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of or even coincidence! Each Fude manufacturer is different so we cannot know for sure.

As an OEM company working with more than one provider, I receive some information when the manufacture price’s increases and can extrapolate some information, but I don’t have the full detail.

You haven’t seen any price increase on my brushes restocks, but that doesn’t mean my purchase prices haven’t increased – they have. A price increase will probably happen in the future, but I don’t yet know when this could be or how it will be applied.

Japanese make-up brushes are very expensive to make. One of my biggest surprises when I started working with the manufacturers was to see the production costs, especially when trying to make something different and custom (not off the shelf existing products). This often requires a more unique production technique and much more development and research. Ordering parts in small quantities is insanely expensive and not always feasible.

Which takes me to the next question:

“Will the Soft Brush Book / Double Decker Case be available again?”

I took note of the messages that I have received so far and I thank you so much for your interest and for using your precious time to send me a message.

I said that they were going to be permanent when they launched. However, the production cost and all the logistics behind these items are so insanely high that it makes these very challenging to bring back.
I am trying to, but several things need to be sorted out before this becomes possible, and today I still don’t know if it will. We don’t always have the control or flexibility we wish we had, and I really want these items to be made in Japan.

As mentioned above, larger order quantities make bringing this back into stock more realistic, so please leave me a message / comment below if you’re interested in seeing these in stock again.

“Will the Jumbo Bronzer be back in stock soon?”

Thank you so so much for your wonderful welcome and your interest in this Jumbo Bronzer brush!
The artisans that manufactured this brush are reading your reactions, they are so sincerely grateful for your appreciation for Fude. So am I of course! And we hope that you will love it!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I work a lot based on emotional connections, I want to feel that the artisans and all the people working on the brushes are truly happy to work and motivated to do their best and that they put all their love in what they are doing. Which is absolutely the case with this big brush.

I wanted to launch this brush now because making brushes with longer natural bristles is getting more and more difficult.

We had issues restocking 6 of the permanent brushes in the past, this happened very suddenly and we could not prepare or inform beforehand, so they were out of stock for a very long time. This Jumbo Bronzer has even longer bristles, so I cannot say what will happen in the future but I can confirm today that it is backordered and a restock production is currently ongoing.

“Where did the Fundamentals go?”

It’s a very good question… There is a change happening, the Face One moved to the PRO series (Buffer Pro), some are discontinued or redesigned to make a return in 2023. Some brushes won’t change, only the handle will. Unfortunatelly, I cannot share more details at this stage yet but I will share the reasons of this change once we get closer. There is a very good reason.

There are very frequent messages in my inbox about the Sculpt One! I can confirm that it is going to be back, just with a different handle and ferrule, and it’s breathtaking. I hope things move smoothly now and that we can soon see its transformation.

“Will you create a Fusion Eye set?”

I have been contacted many times with questions regarding a Fusion Eye set! First of all, thank you so much because it’s utterly rewarding to receive such requests and messages, it’s so exciting to share this love for fude with you all! I am always ready for a challenge but your support fuels my determination to deliver something extraordinary.

I remember very clearly that when I launched the Fusion Face set I mentioned that I tried to make smaller brushes with the same mix as the Fusion face brushes but it wasn’t working out, I was very sad but I kept working on this with the manufacturer. I am very happy to confirm that the Fusion Eye set is now in production.

It took a while, I started at the same time as the Fusion Face set! A long process but so worth it because those Fusion Eye brushes are everything I wished for and more.

I have also received a lot of interest with regards to the overall design process of a brush, how long does that take, how many prototypes, what is done with the artisan to bring a design from start to finish. I cannot share that process publicly since it changes depending on who I am working with, however, I will pick one or several brushes in the future and will share some statistics and this can hopefully give you an idea of the work behind a design, it is pretty huge.

“Will you launch something for Holiday?”

Yes, I am working on something and I cannot wait to share, it’s very special for so many reasons so let’s hope that all goes smoothly and that it makes it on time for the Holiday season end of 2022.

The upcoming releases are very exciting, it is going to be a bit more collector oriented in 2023 but still bringing very functional brushes that I believe still fill a gap in our collections!