The Glossy Beauty Podcast

As the beauty industry moves past the direct-to-consumer boom of the 2010s, some of its most influential brands are being forced to redefine what success looks like. One of the most closely watched is Glossier, which recently appointed a new CEO, Colin Walsh, who joined from Ouai. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, co-host Sara Spruch-Feiner is joined by senior beauty reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the staple millennial brand — which famously helped pioneer the modern "clean girl" aesthetic — and what its next chapter may hold. In recent months, the company has undergone several changes. Since Walsh’s appointment, they've included layoffs affecting roughly a third of its workforce, a pullback on physical retail, and a renewed focus on hero products and fragrance, a category now driving significant growth. Headlines about the brand have often forecasted inevitable doom, but this episode explores Glossier’s current moment beyond a foregone conclusion, examining what it takes for a beauty brand to achieve longevity in an increasingly crowded market, the balance between newness and attention paid to hero products, and the challenge of maintaining relevance across generations.