Chipotle x E.L.F. Cosmetics: Unlikely Food & Beauty Duo Unveil Menu-Inspired Vegan Makeup Line

The U.S.-based fast-food restaurant chain, Chipotle recently joined forces with California-based skincare and makeup brand e.l.f. cosmetics to launch a vegan makeup collection inspired by the former’s customizable menu.

Does the future of beauty marketing involve food chain collabs? In line with e.l.f’s commitment to offer cruelty-free and vegan products, the collaboration with Chipotle will see the launch of the limited-edition collection on March 10.

Starting with an eyeshadow palette priced at US$16, this product is inspired by Chipotle’s vegan ingredients, including white rice, brown rice, pinto beans, black beans, sofritas, fajitas, mild salsa, green salsa, hot salsa, corn salsa, guacamole, and lettuce. Aside from this, every purchase comes along with a free chips & guac offer from the restaurant chain.

The line also offers a red salsa-tinted Make It Hot lip gloss priced at US$8, an avocado makeup blending sponge set for US$10, and a makeup bag that looks just like Chipotle’s brown tortilla chip bag for US$18.

In a press release seen by Green Queen, Chief Marketing Officer of e.l.f. Beauty, Kory Marchisotto said that there is nothing tastier or prettier than the combination of burritos and makeup. “We have long admired Chipotle and we are thrilled to come together to do things that neither one of us have done before. We share the same renegade spirit and are both committed to bringing the best ingredients to our consumers at extraordinary prices.”

There is nothing tastier or prettier than the combination of burritos and makeup. We have long admired Chipotle and we are thrilled to come together to do things that neither one of us have done before. We share the same renegade spirit and are both committed to bringing the best ingredients to our consumers at extraordinary prices

Kory Marchisotto, Chief Marketing Officer of e.l.f. Beauty

Additionally, Chipotle will also offer the Eyes. Chips. Face. Bowl, a beauty-inspired all-vegan entrée curated by RuPaul Drag Race contestants Trixie Mattel and Kim Chi that will launch on March 17.

The bowl represents the first time that Chipotle has collaborated on a menu item with another consumer brand and it will contain white rice, pinto beans, roasted chili-corn salsa, tomatillo-red salsa, guacamole, and lettuce, and comes with a side of chips and will be available on the Chipotle app and its website.

Marchisotto added: “Superfoods are a superpower. We love the Eyes. Chips. Face. Bowl and how it nourishes the body, ignites the taste buds, and invigorates the soul.”

To highlight the e.l.f. x Chipotle collection, Mattel will host Chi on her YouTube channel where the pair will use the set to give each other makeovers whereas on TikTok, e.l.f. is remixing its iconic track ‘Eyes. Lips. Face. (e.l.f.)’ to ‘Eyes.Chips.Face’ to draw attention to the vegan entrée bowl.

Vice President, Digital Marketing and Off-Premise of Chipotle, Tressie Lieberman said: “We’re always looking for opportunities to lead culture and make authentic connections with Gen-Z alongside brands that share similar values. Following our first launch with e.l.f., which sold out in less than four minutes last spring, we’ve taken our collaboration to the next level with beauty products celebrating our real ingredients in totally unexpected ways.”

Furthermore, on International Women’s Day, Marchisotto and Lieberman went live on Clubhouse, an invitation-only audio-chat app, to speak about burritos and beauty, as well as celebrating female empowerment.

Recently, e.l.f. cosmetics joined forces with Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys to launch a vegan beauty collection this year that will focus on inner beauty and wellness and will be a cruelty-free, dermatologist-tested, and vegan-friendly collection. Singer-songwriter and actor Selena Gomez’s vegan makeup brand Rare Beauty also launched last September.

Demand for cruelty-free and vegan cosmetics are increasing over the past few years with one report predicting that the trend could drive the market to rise to a staggering US$25.3 billion before the end of the decade. 

Apart from brands offering vegan-friendly products, mainstream retailers have also joined the trend, for instance, e-commerce giant NET-A-PORTER introduced a new vegan “pillar” on their website under their NET-SUSTAIN edit, where customers can scroll through certified vegan and animal-free brands across a number of categories.

The e.l.f. X Chipotle collection is exclusively available on e.l.f.’s website, Chipotle’s online store, and on the mobile-first virtual shopping platform NTWRK.

If you’re in Hong Kong and are looking for clean beauty products and are on a budget, here is a handy list to keep in mind whilst shopping.

Lead image courtesy of e.l.f cosmetics.