EspressOh is not just a cosmetics brand; it’s a sensory experience led by the aroma of coffee, celebrating Italian authenticity and natural beauty. Founded with passion and ambition by Chiara Cascella, it revolutionizes traditional beauty standards, promoting simplicity and inclusivity. With fresh and international communication, EspressOh introduces a new approach to beauty that is accessible to all and genuinely values diversity without compromise. It’s a form of personal expression that integrates harmoniously with nature and inner well-being, not just outer appearance.
A Simple and Inclusive Soul
Chiara was born and raised in Pescara, later moving to Milan to study Economics and Management at Bocconi University. After graduating, she quickly found a job at L'Oréal, initially as an intern in the Italy marketing team in the makeup department. Her career rapidly took off: she was hired after a few months, working in Italy for three years and then for two years in Paris in the international marketing team, where she managed product development comprehensively. After these intense five years, which allowed her to travel and live in various parts of the world, driven by strong creativity and the desire to create an innovative and bold beauty identity, Chiara decided to follow her instinct, leave a secure position, and become an entrepreneur. She began to materialize her ideas, outlining the first steps to turn her personal project into reality, now known as EspressOh.
From the concept’s creation to the name, Chiara launched her “back to basics” brand within a few months, advocating a return to simplicity made in Italy, using coffee as a manifesto of its values: simplicity, Italian heritage, strength, and inclusivity. With strategically planned and innovative communication, Chiara emphasized from the start that EspressOh aims to be a simple and accessible product, detached from the constant pursuit of perfection and tutorials to learn specific makeup techniques, offering an unconventional concept for the Italian market. According to this line of thinking, the brand targets consumers very similar to Chiara: young women who are trend-conscious yet rooted in traditions, with an essential and minimalist approach to makeup, lovers of aesthetics but always attentive to quality. This is EspressOh's core target audience, consisting of women between 25 and 35 years old, although its basic, natural, and versatile product offerings also appeal to a broader audience.
With EspressOh, Chiara returns to what she believes is the essence of the makeup world: attention to formulas, with simplicity as the predominant value in communication. It’s a true return to essential gestures and “less but better.” EspressOh focuses not on having a varied palette for each product, but on a few simple, high-quality products. The epitome of this philosophy, and the brand's flagship product, is Glossy: a transparent blush that adapts to any skin tone upon contact. Universal and always sold out, it perfectly represents the soul of EspressOh.
Chiara, in this perspective of simplifying product use, also simplifies their purchase, satisfying those who don't want many items by offering a few versatile products, encouraging a true return to the philosophy of self and essentials.
An Italian Brand with an International Flavor
From the outset, EspressOh aimed to go against the grain, adopting international-flavored communication. This alternative path, which no one in Italy had previously taken, proves to be a winning strategy thanks to a new kind of spontaneity, especially in the digital world. EspressOh thus becomes the first beauty brand to encourage people to stay true to themselves, offering natural and light products while conveying messages of versatility and inclusivity. An authentic demonstration of these values is the campaign shot during quarantine, where the brand collaborated with girls from around the world who took photos from home without professional photographers and, notably, without makeup.
Thanks to a well-defined brand identity and tone of voice, EspressOh has grown rapidly, achieving significant milestones such as entering the US market. In this highly competitive context, where standing out can be very difficult, the brand manages to carve out a significant space, increasing its foreign sales from 10% to 20% in just one year in the US alone, and expanding to Southeast Asia, where it is already present in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Since 2018, Chiara has been leading her startup through continuous evolution, not only in terms of revenue but also in the growth of a cohesive team in which she places great trust. One of the ingredients of her success is the strong collaboration within the group, which includes her husband Luca, responsible for finance. Another key element is building and maintaining a clear and coherent brand identity that aligns with the brand's values, reflected in every aspect, from imagery to pop-up stores to partnerships. These are just some of the fundamental components for building a strong and lasting brand.
From her base in Pescara, Chiara gradually achieves global success thanks to her international vision and ambition to promote an Italian-made product abroad, supported by an extremely solid community. An Italian brand that, in an overly saturated beauty market, stands out even against the most established and renowned brands that have never ventured outside Italy. With seemingly slower but healthier organic growth, EspressOh challenges conventions, establishing itself worldwide as a symbol of authentic Italian quality and a proponent of “less is more,” embracing a sincere approach to makeup that includes and values every beauty as unique, without resorting to tricks or compromises.
From Oh.Bar Pop-Up Stores to the First Flagship Store in Milan
Following the success of customizing newsstands in 2021, which became a case study, EspressOh introduced Oh.Bar a year later. This unique retail project, through a traveling temporary store, aims to reach residents of previously untapped cities like Bari and southern Italy in general, after focusing mainly on Rome, Turin, and Milan. The initiative debuted in New York during fashion week, then moved to its most popular Italian cities and planned new stops, like Naples. It allows for two activities in one: trying and buying cosmetics while sipping coffee in a versatile space that is both a store and a bar, a pure expression of sharing and community, with the brand and the conviviality of Italian coffee at the center.
Oh.Bar is a space with an essential and evocative design, inspired by the aesthetics of early 20th-century Italian locales, with tables and a counter, projecting the classic Italian café into a contemporary and international dimension while keeping the concept of ritual alive. It’s the ideal blend of design and traditional elements that fully express the brand's values.
In 2024, this idea takes root in Milan, acquiring a new sense of permanence. Chiara opens the first flagship store, characterized by pink and brown colors, in collaboration with Naessi Studio. A permanent home for EspressOh, inspired by Milan’s historic patisseries and bars, where the main feature, a curvilinear counter, is surrounded by high stools and accentuated by a mirrored screen panel at the back, reinterpreting the physical concept of the bar and transforming the ritual into a reflection on beauty.
The opening of this permanent store is one of the most significant milestones for EspressOh and its founder Chiara, as Milan is where the brand was born and developed, finding a community ready to welcome it and eager to visit.
Chiara Cascella continues to impress with her creativity and resourcefulness, creating an original and captivating format where the beauty routine becomes a spontaneous act, breaking down the obsolete barriers of perfectionist aesthetics and promoting instead an aesthetic tied to well-being. EspressOh disrupts and simplifies the traditional makeup vision, associating makeup with small gestures, like savoring a good coffee. The brand thus becomes the undisputed spokesperson for a powerful message of inclusivity and love for one's body and skin, which becomes, day by day, a habit through small daily actions.
Therefore, to the question "Do you want a coffee with us?" one can only answer with a resounding yes!
