The Full Coverage newsletter by Priya Rao will be part of a BoF Professional Membership from October.
Welcome back to Full Coverage, my weekly newsletter on all things beauty and wellness.
Thank you to everyone who read last week’s edition; be sure to send all your thoughts to priya.rao@businessoffashion.com or @priyarao.
The last few days I’ve been dealing with two sick kids, which, when they’re both boys, might as well be 10 sick kids. In the midst of it all, The Business of Beauty held a chic community dinner at Tusk Bar in New York with our friends over at Amazon. Thank you to everyone who showed up!
Before I jump in, it’s been a big week for sports. I happen to think NikeSkims looks really good, so be sure to check out Mike Sykes’ newsletter, The Kicks You Wear, for his take. Mike joined BoF this summer and brought his definitive fashion-sports column with him.
I’ve got a bit of a makeup bent this week, so here goes… and don’t forget to check out my convo with the ever-candid Bobbi Brown. She always delivers.
Can the New Guard Win At Foundation?
Last Sunday was the third time that I stopped by the Upper East Side’s Sephora and Bloomingdale’s, which sit across from one another on Lexington Avenue, in search of complexion products. At Sephora, I was directed to foundations from Armani, LVMH’s Make Up For Ever and Huda Beauty, where all the young, cool girls hovered; at Bloomingdale’s, it was Prada and Armani again.
Despite my decade in the beauty industry and my nearly 25 years of wearing makeup, foundation is notoriously hard to get right. I’m no artist, but I am kind of an expert. Given the glut of new launches (Makeup by Mario) and marketing activations (Haus Labs) from newer labels, why am I being recommended the same big brands everywhere I go?
Every makeup brand wants to win at foundation — it’s price-elastic, has a high repeat purchase rate and generates a lot of cash. But getting it right comes with a cost.
A formidable player has at least 30 to 55 shades, which is incredibly capital-intensive for a young label and pays off slowly (people buy a $50 foundation once every three to four months). Brands have to hold a lot of stock because of said amount of shades. One insider told me that labels must “have diverse shade ranges” even though about 80 percent of what they sell is in shades sand through honey.
It’s no wonder why, if you look at Circana’s Top 10 in prestige foundation brands, it’s filled with established products: Estée Lauder Double Wear, It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+, Clinique Even Better Makeup SPF, MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF and Lancôme Tinte Idole.
Up-and-comers have their work cut out for them, but millennials and Gen Z want new foundations. They are the ones who helped usher in the wet, glowy looks that made Ilia a winner. And now, I would say they are looking for an effortful no-makeup look (just look at all the underpainting and sculpting that brands like M.ph, Makeup by Mario, and Victoria Beckham are doing).
But some launches have more at stake than others.
Over at Makeup by Mario, the brand’s new SurrealSkin Natural Finish Foundation is its second major complexion push. Almost three years ago, it debuted its first, SurrealSkin Luminous Hydrating Foundation. According to global chief marketing officer Oskar Chabrowski, the brand’s latest formula feels lighter and gives a second-skin, blurring finish (better for normal to oily skin), while Luminous gives a radiant look (better for dry to normal skin). To me, the new Natural Finish Foundation feels more sophisticated and indicates where makeup is going now. (I feel like I’m giving a TikTok review; do you?)
Tom Ford, which is adding another foundation to its slate, and MAC, which updated its Studio Fix franchise this summer, have the corporate strength to pad them even if these debuts fall flat. Indie brands don’t have that luxury.
Very few of Sephora’s newer brands are winning here. There are some exceptions; Ilia remains a go-to and Haus Labs recently clinched the top spot. (According to YipitData, it also ranks number 10 overall in foundation across Sephora and Ulta Beauty, where it’s not even sold.)
Chabrowski told me Makeup by Mario has already seen a spike from its latest launch, stating it has doubled its business, making foundation its number one category. Shaping sticks, brushes and eyeshadow palettes ranked higher before. Trend-driven products are great, but winning big means nailing complexion.
Mario Dedivanovic and his strong leadership team, clearly, are ambitious and want to own this category, and any potential acquirer wants to see it can be a viable player. I know for a fact that any numbers being floated around to buyers include the last 12 months of revenue, meaning that the team wants credit for SurrealSkin Natural Finish. When I broke the brand’s minority investment, it was expected to hit $100 million in revenue in 2023; now, I’m hearing $150 to $200 million in revenue for the year.
Sephora has thrown its support behind the brand, launching globally, and Dedivanovic is currently on a roadshow to promote it. I think Makeup by Mario can pull it off; let’s see what the multiple is.
Nykaa Lands Deepika Padukone
It’s a big day for Nykaa, as the retail giant has tapped Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone as its latest global ambassador. It’s sure to cause chaos on its site.
Why? Ambassadorships might be something that some shoppers (and I) don’t usually care about unless it’s Bad Bunny, but for Nykaa it’s part of a broader strategy to reach pan-India and the world. Nykaa Beauty chief executive Anchit Nayar told me that the South Indian actress will be the face of Nykaa’s biggest business, the omnichannel arm, which counts its online platform and stores (the company’s other two big pieces of the puzzle are its House of Nykaa owned brands, which Kay Beauty’s Katrina Kaif fronts with up-and-coming actress Rasha Thadani, and its B2B division). As Nykaa’s audience and platform grow, it’s smart to have all of India’s biggest names on its side.
What do I need to know about Deepika? Padukone is Bollywood’s biggest crossover star. Besides her day job, the actress has been the face of Cartier, Louis Vuitton and recently, Levi’s. She also has her own beauty brand 82°E, which is sold direct-to-consumer (but I wouldn’t be surprised if the line launches on Nykaa soon). The announcement is timely as the company gears up for its massive beauty festival Nykaaland the first week of November.
“About five or six years ago, we started to see customers coming to Nykaa from all parts of the country, the North, the South, everywhere, and we needed [someone] who had that wider appeal to all of India,” said Nayar. “It’s not only 20 year olds coming to Nykaa, it’s affluent customers, older women. Deepika is a huge actress, she’s an athlete, a businesswoman and speaks openly about her mental health, something new India loves.”
The Retail Wars Heat Up
On Thursday, we reported that Puig-owned Charlotte Tilbury landed on Amazon, another score for the online retailer that has been going hard to lure luxury brands away from Sephora and Ulta Beauty.
What Does This Mean For Amazon? Amazon has only been going after luxury brands in earnest since 2020. Early adopters included Clé de Peu, but over time other labels are biting the bullet, i.e. Clinique and Kiehl’s. I’ve written before that Amazon is too large of a platform to ignore as TikTok videos and searches often bring customers directly to Amazon anyway, but brands are also looking closer at retailers’ exclusivity agreements to see who they actually benefit.
But they aren’t going down without a fight, with Sephora launching its influencer-led My Sephora Storefront and Ulta Beauty working on its soon-to-be-revealed marketplace.
And For Charlotte? The label, and its founder, has been making concerted efforts to dodge copycats. Amazon was rife with randoms selling the brand’s products before this, which makes her embrace of the retailer also a block and tackle.
Can Windsong Succeed Where Amyris Didn’t?
Late on Friday, Beauty Independent broke that private equity firm Windsong Global acquired KVD Vegan (previously known as Kat Von D Beauty) from Kendo. KVD is joining Windsong’s beauty play, Belle Brands, after buying other distressed assets JVN Hair and Pipette from Amyris’ ashes.
OK, So? KVD was Kendo’s first big success story, launching in 2008, well before Marc Jacobs Beauty and Fenty. But after its founders’ string of controversies (anti-semitism and vaccine skepticism), Katherine von Drachenberg left the brand in 2020 and Kendo went through two rebrands to no avail.
I broke the Amyris news back in 2023 and covered the fallout extensively. Its initial premise of finding talent to build brands wasn’t wrong, but it was executed poorly. Windsong seems to be taking a page out of Amyris’ playbook (see JVN), but few companies have done this successfully except for The Center, the original home of Phlur.
Belle Brands CEO Teresa Lo, believes it is the community that is going to be the muscle, citing the brand’s nearly 7 million Instagram followers. “Community” is a word a lot of us are sick of, but as Lo reminded me Pipette has no founder and that community is “tight.” Let’s see if KVD’s followers can pull their weight.
A Chat with Bobbi Brown
Happy Bobbi Brown week to all who celebrate! The makeup artist and founder of her namesake line and Jones Road has been making the rounds with her new book, “Still Bobbi”. I gave her a ring.
Priya Rao: It’s been a big week for you with the release of “Still Bobbi”, how do you feel?
Bobbi Brown: It’s a bizarre feeling. I feel like I have postpartum depression. I’ve been pushing, pushing, pushing to sell this mother and now it’s done.
PR: At 68, you’ve constantly said you’re not done; look at Jones Road. Why did you want to write a memoir?
BB: The honest truth is I didn’t. My agent in France said I had to meet this agent at UTA. I wanted to do another makeup book and she said I should do a memoir. I told her that I wasn’t that old. I’m still in the middle of my life, but she got me a great book deal. [The book is] more like a roadmap. My life has always been a hack, like if something didn’t work out, I said, “Ok, let’s try something else, what’s next.”
PR: It was tough to leave your original brand, Bobbi Brown; were you ever depressed?
BB: No, I don’t have a depressed bone in my body, but there was a lot of angst. I was there 22 years. 15 to 17 years were glorious, then [it] got tougher and then it was angsty from all the people around me, and then I left. Then, I was angsty because I really missed makeup. I opened a hotel, did wellness, but just because I had the [25-year] non-compete didn’t mean I couldn’t go to a lab and play around; that’s how Jones Road started.
PR: Every brand wants to find a quick exit; what are your thoughts?
BB: Everyone wants the exit or the Series A, everyone wants to make a deck. It’s a lovely deck, but where is the product? Some of us really love our business and that’s enough. I get a lot of calls when things go wrong and people are like, “They ruined my business,” and I’m like, “Lady, Man, what did you expect? Did you think they were going to be as brilliant as you?”
PR: Would you sell again?
BB: I’m not a serial founder; I happen to be someone who loves what I do. It’s my hobby, it’s not my grandkids or tennis or bridge. We are profitable and now I only report to my husband and my son [CEO Cody Plofker]. I don’t know, I used to say I would never get a facelift and maybe now I should stop saying that. I get a lot of phone calls that I don’t follow up on.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Well, that’s it. Thanks again for reading Full Coverage.
Priya