The Glossy Beauty Podcast

Prequel Skin is less than a year old. But the direct-to-consumer brand, founded by dermatologist Dr. Sam Ellis, in partnership with Ben Bennett's incubator, The Center, has caught on. That can be owed, at least in part, to Ellis's social following: She has 336,000 YouTube subscribers, 226,000 Instagram followers and over 129,000 followers on TikTok. The brand's products span multitasking cleansers and moisturizers for the face and body, skin barrier-boosting ointments and a duo of serums, including one with vitamin C and one meant to address skin redness. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Dr. Ellis discusses how she came to create content as a dermatologist, why that's proven valuable, why she partnered with The Center and how her brand is inspired by favorite French pharmacy products.

When Prose launched in 2017, custom hair care was an untapped market, allowing the brand to disrupt the space. Since then, Prose has sold over 10 million units and expanded to skin care, in May 2023. May 2023 also marked a significant milestone for Prose: It reached profitability before bringing in about $135 million in sales for the year. In 2024, co-founder and CEO Arnaud Plas estimates the brand will do about $160 million in sales. Plas credited the brand's skin-care line as a major driving force behind its profitability. It has been reported that the category accounts for about 10% of the brand's sales. In its next stage of growth, Prose will use its learnings and tech innovation to expand into new categories, including textured hair care, and build upon its momentum in skin care. Three years into leading marketing for Prose, CMO Megan Streeter joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to chat about what's next for the brand, how it's further revolutionizing beauty tech and how the customization market is expanding.

Since launching in 2018, Westman Atelier has become one of the most covetable brands in luxury beauty. From the $68 foundation sticks that introduced the brand to the market to newer launches like the Lip Suede Matte Lipstick ($50) and, most recently, the Suprême C serum ($325), the brand's products are the kind that people like to show off on their vanities or pull out of their handbags. The Suprême C serum is its second skin care product — the brand will be leaning more heavily into the category in the months ahead, with plans to grow it to 10% of its business in the next year. Westman Atelier was founded by husband-and-wife Gucci Westman, the celebrity makeup artist, and David Neville, co-founder of Rag & Bone. Before founding the brand, Westman had stints as Lancôme's international artistic director and Revlon's global artistic director. She is known for her clean, you-but-better aesthetic and has worked with actors including Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Aniston. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Westman and Neville come together to discuss the start of their careers, the brand's first true lipstick and new serum, and the reason Westman has remained the brand's most powerful marketing tool.

As more consumers indulge in self-care at home, the body-care category is continuing to grow, allowing brands to seize the moment. For 7-year-old body-care brand Billie, which was acquired for $310 million by personal care company Edgewell in 2021, the body-care surge couldn't have come at a better time. Before the acquisition, Billie solely sold direct-to-consumer. But in 2022, it launched in Walmart before expanding to Amazon, Target, Ulta and Kroger last year. In February, Billie rolled out its biggest category expansion yet with new body wash, body lotion and deodorant products. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Cooley talks about Billie's trajectory post-acquisition and the plans the brand has in store this year. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Digiday Media's WorkLife is proud to present season three of The Return, a podcast about the modern workforce, with this season focused on middle management. Last season, we heard what it’s like for Gen Z to enter the workforce for the first time in a post-pandemic world. We highlighted themes like why values are so important to Gen Zers, whether or not they are loyal to their employers, how they use TikTok for career advice, what it means to be a young professional who is a boss to older workers, and so much more. This time, we’re hearing from the population of workers that some argue is the backbone of a successfully-run organization: middle management. They are the ones who are navigating those RTO mandates, welcoming a new generation of workers that have a different approach than those who came before them, the rise of artificial intelligence – the list goes on. In season three of The Return, we speak to middle managers themselves to hear beyond their everyday stresses of the job, but what they need to guarantee everyone they manage has what they need to be the best at what they do. C-suite, listen up because they need your help too. We dive into how middle management stress is a decades-long issue (there are New York Times headlines dating back to 1971), how the wrong people are being chosen to be managers which is leading to the rise of “accidental managers,” what it’s like to have hard conversations and having to be a therapist at times, where people are finding support as a middle manager, and how AI is impacting the job of a middle manager. With a Q+A format, you will hear in-depth conversations with folks including Colette Stallbaumer, Microsoft’s general manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work Marketing, Rob Pierre, former CEO of advertising services platform Jellyfish, and Emily Field, partner at McKinsey & Company who co-authored “Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work,” to name a few. Season three of The Return is hosted by Cloey Callahan, senior reporter at Digiday Media’s WorkLife, and produced by Digiday Media’s audio producer Sara Patterson. Subscribe to the WorkLife podcast now on Apple Podcasts – or wherever you get your podcasts – to hear the first episode on Tuesday, April 23.

Tina Chen Craig started Bag Snob, her original claim to fame, in 2005. She hustled her way to the front row of New York Fashion Week when "blogger" was still a dirty word and before "influencer" was in anyone's vocabulary. Then, in 2019, she did something she never expected to do and launched a beauty product, marking her first step in building a full beauty brand spanning skin care, body care and color cosmetics. Called U Beauty, the brand launched on Net-a-Porter in November 2019 with Chen Craig's original product, the Resurfacing Compound. Based on units sold, it's still the brand's bestseller. The product, with various sizes priced $88-$228, is a multi-tasking serum with ingredients including retinol and vitamin C. Typically, these ingredients can't be combined, but the brand's patent-pending Siren capsule technology makes the mix possible. On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Chen Craig goes deep on everything from starting Bagsnob.com when a "Google domain thing" cost $10 to developing UBeauty's most recent launch, its Super Intensive Face Oil. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Running two beauty businesses without outside funding is no small feat, but Maria Hatzistefanis, founder and CEO of Rodial and Nip+Fab, is making it work. And her businesses are thriving. Hatzistefanis launched the luxury skin-care and makeup brand Rodial in 1999, after being fired from her investment banking job in her early 20s. She went on to launch Nip+Fab in 2010. Now best known for its bestselling Glycolic Fix product range, Nip+Fab was originally meant to be Rodial's more accessible, mass-market little sister. "My idea [for both brands] was to come up with products that would give you instant and long-term results," Hatzistefanis told Glossy. "I had a passion for researching ingredients that no one else was using." Today, both Rodial and Nip+Fab are sold in over 10,000 stores across 35 countries. Rodial is distributed in luxury department stores, including Harrods, Selfridges and Blue Mercury, while Nip+Fab is available at Boots and JCPenney. "We have been growing double-digits year-over-year, for both brands," Hatzistefanis said. "Plus, profitability has been a driver of our business, and we've always been profitable." On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Hatzistefanis discussed the ins and outs of running a business for over 25 years and the next stage of growth for Rodial Group. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Along with being the founder of 7-year-old Megababe, Katie Sturino is an influencer (803,000 followers on Instagram, 25,000 on TikTok), a body positivity advocate and the author of the book "Body Talk," published in 2021. Megababe is best known for its first product: Thigh Rescue, an anti-chafe stick of which over 1 million units have sold. In addition to being sold at Target, Ulta, Goop, Anthropologie and Nordstrom, among other retailers, the brand launched at Walmart in early March. "Megababe is still self-funded; we have never taken $1 of fundraising," Sturino said on this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "It's a different type of approach than other brands that launched at the same time. Most people will take funding and grow really big." Also on the podcast, Sturino discusses her start in content creation, Megababe's expansion to Walmart and new categories, the brand's first big marketing investments, and her response to the current heightened fixation on weight. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Tattoos are now big business for the beauty industry. Since 2021, tattooing and tattoo care products have attracted both investor and strategic acquirer attention. Brands like Mad Rabbit have raised millions in outside funding to provide tattooed customers with before, during and aftercare products. According to a 2015 Harris Poll, more Americans are getting tattoos, with 29% having at least one. Specifically, 47% of millennials have one compared to over 36% of Gen Xers. What was previously associated with only select groups of people, tattoos are now more common among people from all walks of life. “A big agenda of Mad Rabbit overall is continuing to push and champion self-expression and make it normal and OK for someone to express themselves in any sort of room,” said Oliver Zak, co-founder and CEO of Mad Rabbit, on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. Mad Rabbit launched in 2019 with $600 invested between its co-founders, Oliver Zak and Selom Agbitor. They bootstrapped the business until being cast on “Shark Tank,” where Mark Cuban invested $500,000 in the brand for 12% equity. Cuban has further invested in subsequent fundraising rounds. Mad Rabbit has raised $16 million in total funding thus far. Speaking on the podcast, Zak detailed the marketing steps the brand took to support its 2023 launch into Walmart, the reasons why people need tattoo care in the first place and the factors driving interest in the tattoo care category. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Love Wellness, the supplements brand created by "Laguna Beach" alum Lo Bosworth in 2016, is now eight years old. The brand's bestsellers include its Good Girl Probiotics and The Killer boric acid suppositories, both designed to support vaginal health, as well as its Bye Bye Bloat de-bloating supplement, of which 2 million bottles have sold. Last week, Bye Bye Bloat became a full-blown franchise with the launch of the brand's first true body-care products: a $14.99 Lymphatic Massage Roller, a $24.99 Firming Clay Body Mask and a $19.99 Detoxifying Body Oil. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Bosworth discusses the origin story and growth of Love Wellness plus the playbook she's leveraging to build a product franchise. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

When Clinique’s 52-year-old Black Honey lipstick went viral on TikTok in 2021, it represented a major shift for both the decades-old brand and the beauty industry. For the industry, it introduced the notion that viral TikTok moments could be a cash windfall for brands and worthy of their always-on marketing attention. For Clinique, it jumpstarted the need for the brand to act like a nimble startup and affirm its cultural currency. Since then, Clinique has been bullish on reaching younger consumers through college campus activations, building on its Black Honey fame with new products, and further developing its science-led background with new studies and liaisons with medical experts. At the helm of this growth is Michelle Freyre, global brand president of Clinique. She joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 2020 as svp and global general manager of Clinique. Previously, Freyre spent 20 years at Johnson & Johnson holding various leadership roles within its consumer health product division. Freyre joined the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast to talk about post-Black Honey virality, the significance of Gen Z’s love for skin care and the new needs states of today’s beauty customers.

Though actor, podcaster, investor and brand founder Sara Foster never intended to launch a clothing line, it turns out she's quite good at it. Four-year-old Favorite Daughter, which she and her sister Erin Foster created in partnership with Centric Brands, was profitable by year two, she said. In 2023, the brand tiptoed into beauty, launching a duo of lip oils with Saint Jane, the "clean" beauty brand founded by Casey Georgeson. Now, with Georgeson's help, Favorite Daughter is launching its first two fragrances — one for each sister. Sara Foster's signature is called "Grecian Nights," while Erin Foster's is "Italian Summers." "We knew we wanted the packaging to be a beautiful moment. And we knew we wanted the fragrance to be the cleanest, but with real efficacy — that's a problem with clean fragrances; they don't last," Sara Foster said, regarding the fragrance development process. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Sara Foster discusses the road to launching a brand, the brand's expansion into beauty, the type of partners she wants to work with and the reason she prefers a customer event over an influencer blowout. According to Foster, beauty isn't the last new category you'll see from the brand. "I think, eventually, Favorite Daughter will be providing everything for you," she said. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Maintaining the cultural relevancy of a 40-year-old brand is no small feat. However, Sarah Koch, svp and gm of Kendo Brands, is up to the task when it comes to OleHenriksen skin care. “You have to be true to your core as a brand, but then you have to continue to evolve with the consumer so that you're relevant to where he or she is in their lives,” said Koch on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. The anti-aging brand was founded in 1983 by Ole Henriksen, a Danish esthetician who developed a collection of products that exfoliate, treat and soothe the skin. The 40-year-old brand was purchased by Kendo Brands in 2011 and relaunched in 2017. At the time of the relaunch, the portfolio was streamlined into four franchises to target the top five skin-care concerns and sharpen the focus on the brand's Scandinavian roots. But brand relevancy is also about where the brand is found. In January 2024, the formerly Sephora-exclusive brand expanded to Ulta Beauty. Also this year, the brand plans to expand its best-selling Banana Bright franchise with an undisclosed product. “It's the sort of launch that brings everything together — like our Scandinavian heritage, efficaciousness and joyful glow — into one product. It will be potentially game-changing for the brand,” she said. Koch further spoke on the Glossy Beauty podcast about brand relevancy, the reason OleHenriksen won't be launching scalp care anytime soon, and the motivation for teaming with TikToker Alix Earle. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Kyle Leahy, Glossier's first CEO after its founder Emily Weiss vacated the role in May 2022, has had a busy first year-and-a-half in the job. She brought the brand into wholesale for the first time. brokering its partnership with Sephora, which has been a great success. She's also continued the brand's WNBA partnership, launched its first college tour and increased the cadence of its launches. But perhaps most importantly, she can be credited with the revival of the brand, which, as she said in her 2023 Glossy 50 profile, is a long-haul job: “We genuinely believe we’re on year 10 of building a 100-year brand.” On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Leahy spoke about all of the above, in addition to what the brand did when Reddit leaked its eye cream launch and what Glossier has in common with Taylor Swift. She also addressed social media rumors regarding whether or not the brand had reformulated its bestselling fragrance, Glossier You. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

Botox has dominated the neurotoxin market since its FDA approval for cosmetic use in 2002. However, its iconic status would not be possible without the backing of global company Allergan Aesthetics. In addition to Botox, Allergan Aesthetics itself a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company AbbVie, which houses aesthetics brands including Juvéderm, SkinVive, Kybella and Coolsculpting, among others. In its full-year 2023 earnings released in February, AbbVie reported that the global net revenue of its aesthetics portfolio was about $5.3 billion, with global Botox Cosmetic's net revenue reaching $2.7 billion and global Juvéderm's net revenue equalling $1.4 billion. Leading this portfolio of aesthetics products, and guiding the future of the aesthetics industry, is Carrie Strom, svp of AbbVie and Global Allergan Aesthetics president. Strom has kept busy over the last year. In May 2023, Allergan received FDA approval for Skinvive by Juvéderm, and in early Oct. 2023, it became available for patients to receive as a treatment. Skinvive has been available in Europe since 2017 and marketed under the name “Volite.” Plus, the company has driven countless marketing moments, including the first-ever Juvéderm Day in Aug. 2023 and the fifth-annual National Botox Day in Nov. 2023. In addition, Strom has busied herself by shoring up Botox’s status, as competitors, including Jeuveau and long-lasting neurotoxin Daxxify, nip at its heels. In conversation on the Glossy Beauty podcast, Strom discussed how younger consumers are changing the aesthetics market and how Skinvive can serve as an entry point for new patients, among other topics.

Renée Rouleau, the celebrity esthetician and entrepreneur, opened her first spa and launched her first product in 1996. By 1999, she had become an early entrant in e-commerce. Today, rather than giving facials, Rouleau is focused on her role of founder and CEO of her brand, which offers a robust assortment of SKUs. Still, she makes time for celebrity clients, which include Lili Reinhart and Demi Lovato. Rouleau is known for her unique approach to categorizing skin — she does so by assigning it to nine types, rather than the traditional three or four. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Rouleau spoke about how she categorizes skin, how getting a headstart on e-commerce worked to her brand's advantage and why, after 27 years, she's rethinking her DTC sales focus.

Though Moroccanoil co-founder Carmen Tal initially launched the 15-year-old hair- and body-care brand with little to no beauty experience, she has been able to grow it into a global empire. In February 2023, Moroccanoil, which is currently distributed through thousands of salons, announced a three-day, Las Vegas-based event for professional hairstylists called The Collective. Meant to showcase the brand's network of global talent, the sold-out event eventually hosted 2,000 people in Las Vegas. "Every [attendee] had the opportunity to either learn or demonstrate their skills. It was incredible to see the [hair-care] community, which is very close, share information," Tal said on the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "Trends are changing and tools in the industry have changed, allowing [hairstylists] to do better work. ... Everyone left with a sense of accomplishment and education." With the surprise success of the event, Tal said she is looking forward to producing similar opportunities to bring the brand's community together IRL this year. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Tal talked about the importance of community, as well as her brand's longevity in the hair-care space and its road to becoming a global brand. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

This week, we’re doing things a little differently. Joining us on the Glossy Beauty Podcast is Laurie Lam, E.l.f. Beauty's chief brand officer, providing an up-close look at the beauty brand’s latest project: a 15-minute short film, “Cosmetic Criminals,” which is playing in select AMC theaters before the start of the movie “Mean Girls”. It is also streaming on Amazon Freevee. The film parodies the true crime genre, prompting viewers to piece together who is “E.l.f.-pinching,” which is the brand’s term for “borrowing” products without intending to return them. The concept, Lam said, was introduced to the brand by its community. Get more from Glossy with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit glossy.co/newsletters to sign up.

With over a decade's worth of experience in the hair-care industry, entrepreneur Shelby Wild is now venturing into the mass hair-care space. In July 2023, Wild unveiled California Naturals, a clean hair-care brand that launched direct-to-consumer and with exclusive distribution at Target. Compared to her previous hair-care brand, Playa, Wild is taking a different approach to hair care by zeroing in on more affordable but still effective products. Currently, all of California Naturals products are priced under $10. According to previous Glossy reporting, prior to launching California Naturals, Wild raised $4 million from consumer investors L Catterton, Sandbridge, Midnight Venture Partners and Elizabeth Street Ventures. Investors Eric Ryan and Roth Martin also contributed to the brand's funding round. Though California Naturals, with its accessible price point, may target a different consumer, the core of why Wild got into hair care in the first place remains. "Most of what I did at Playa informed California Naturals. I always knew that I wanted to create a mass market iteration of Playa," Wild said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "I grew up in the South ... and we weren't a high-income family. So for me, throughout my childhood, product development and product discovery was happening on the shelves of Target, CVS and Walmart. It wasn't happening in Sephora or Ulta. While I was creating these prestige products [at Playa], I was also seeing and hearing the feedback — not only from our own customer service channels, but also from my peers at home — that the price point was just too high." As California Naturals approaches its first anniversary, Wild said a few exciting things coming down the pipeline. For starters, the brand tapped pro-skater Tony Hawke, who also serves as the chief culture officer, to create a new fragrance for the brand set to launch this month. A-list actor Owen Wilson also joined the brand and will be a major part of the product development side of the business as well as future marketing campaigns. And in February, California Naturals is set to launch moisture shampoo and conditioner, which was mostly driven by the brand's community and audience. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Wild talked about the reason she launched a second brand and the differences between mass and prestige.

After working in Hollywood for over two decades, Ashley Tisdale has now set her sights on the wellness space. In 2020, she launched an online community platform called Frenshe with the goal of making wellness and wellness-focused goals a bit more accessible to all. Two years later, that community transformed into the wellness brand Being Frenshe. And in July 2022, the brand launched at Target with a 45-product assortment spanning candles, body washes, hair masks and bath bombs. "I wasn’t even thinking about doing a product line. I was very much just wanting to connect with people," Tisdale told Glossy in a July 2022 interview. "I started to understand what [people] were going through in the pandemic, together." In the years since, Being Frenshe has had its fair share of TikTok virality due to the success of its hero products, the Body Serum Sticks, which have magnesium on the ingredient list. And in June, the brand won two Self Healthy Beauty Awards for its body lotion and body oil. Tisdale credits Being Frenshe's quick rise to fame to staying true to the brand's original mission of offering wellness with a non-intimidating and inclusive approach. On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, founder Ashley Tisdale talked about Being Frenshe's early stages and how staying authentic has helped the brand grow.

Before the term "clean beauty" was coined, brands were making notable strides in the space. One of those was Pacficia Beauty, a 100% vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand founded in 1996 by Brooke Harvey-Taylor and her then-partner-now-husband Billy Taylor. The brand, which is currently based in Portland, Oregon, is partly a love letter to Harvey-Taylor's childhood, she said. She grew up on a ranch in Montana where she was first introduced to the world of clean, cruelty-free beauty. "[Pacifica] is a beauty company based on the strong beliefs that animals, humans and the planet should be treated with compassion and that fearlessness is our greatest natural resource," Harvey-Taylor said on the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "We use this brand to make a difference in the world, and we work tirelessly to do that. I'm proud that this has been my trajectory in the beauty industry and my contribution. I've always had a very clear position on accessibility, fairness and justice." Through the brand's progressive stances on sustainability, environmentally-friendly packaging and what Harvey-Taylor describes as "compassionism," Pacifica Beauty has been able to resonate with a diverse group of consumers, which has led to its longevity in the beauty industry. Now, Pacficia Beauty is looking to the future after a recent investment from private equity firm Brentwood Associates in 2022 and a newly focused business plan, which includes more innovative products and a prioritization of safe, accessible beauty. On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Harvey-Taylor talks about how Pacifica has been able to stay true to its core values while evolving and growing in the ever-changing beauty industry.

Over the past year, the Glossy Beauty Podcast has provided an insider’s look into the beauty industry through thoughtful interviews, unique perspectives and forward-thinking commentary. But this week, we’re taking a look backward. For the final episode of the year, hosts Emma Sandler, Glossy’s beauty and wellness editor, and senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner, are joined by myself, Glossy’s West Coast Correspondent, to reflect on 2023 and offer our predictions for the year ahead. The changing finance landscape — and how it impacted brand closures, as well as mergers and acquisitions — was a topic du jour. As was the opportunity for brands using TikTok Shop. We dissect the growth and innovation in the fragrance category, which is having a gangbuster year, and what we can expect from influencer- and community-focused marketing in 2024. Keep scrolling for highlights, and be sure to listen to the full episode for the team’s end-of-year thoughts. We’ll see you next year!

Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight, the 23-year-old identical twins and co-founders of ITK Skin, got their start on YouTube in 2013, where they now have over 7 million subscribers. They also have 9.3 million followers on Instagram and 6.6 million on TikTok. Together, in partnership with the beauty incubator Maesa, the sisters launched ITK in August 2022. The brand started at Walmart, with 15 products priced at $7-$15. But, by the time they launched ITK, the McKnight sisters were already veteran founders, having launched their first business venture, clothing and mascara brand Lash Next Door, when they were just 16. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight discuss how they got their start on their mom’s YouTube channel, why Brooklyn got her esthetician’s license, why they think TikTok Shop will level the playing field for brands and what it was like to pitch their brand to Walmart.

Over the past five years, corporate venture capital (CVC) has emerged as a major player in the startup funding space. And CPG company Reckitt plans to be front and center of that change through its own CVC firm, Access VC. In 2020, Rakesh Narayana, gm of Access VC, saw that most consumer venture funding was flowing toward traditional food and beverage consumer brands, not categories like sexual health and hygiene, to which Reckitt is dedicated. Reckitt owns brands like condom brand Durex, feminine hygiene brand Queen V and sexual wellness brand KY. Additionally, there was a dearth of brands serving or being led by people of color, coupled with a growth in better-for-you brands. Since its launch, in 2020 Access VC has invested more than $50 million in over 30 startups, including sexual wellness brand Maude and men’s wellness brand Asystem, across pre-seed to Series C rounds and beyond. On the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast, Narayana shared that he grew up in India and was raised by a single mother before moving to London for higher education. From there, he worked at Boston Consulting Group as a consultant before entering the CPG category. He said his love for CPG stems from an appreciation for its tangibility and tactile nature and the way consumers interact with and are influenced by consumer brands. While at Reckitt in various roles, he saw the gap between large CPG conglomerates and more innovative indie brands, and the solution he spotted was corporate venture capital. “There is a large difference and gap between big companies being able to do disruptive innovation and the startups and universities and laboratories that have real cutting-edge innovation,” he said. “Corporate venture capital, in some ways, is meant to bridge that gap. Large companies are exceptionally good at making $100 million brands into $1 billion brands but perhaps not as good at creating brands which don't exist [and growing them] to a $100 million brand.” Narayana detailed the Access VC investing strategy, the way it differs from traditional venture capital and the role investors have in fostering innovation.

Cyndi Ramirez founded Chillhouse, a self-care spot in SoHo, in 2017. The idea was to solve for a white space she’d observed: a place to get an affordable massage, a manicure and an adaptogenic matcha latte, all under one roof. During Covid, Chillhouse pivoted quickly to ensure its survival, launching press-on nails featuring its signature cool-girl nail art. Since then, the brand has also launched a suite of body-care products including a body scrub, mist and in-shower lotion. Today, these products account for around 70% of the brand’s business and are sold at retailers like Target and Urban Outfitters. On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner spoke to Ramirez about her original idea for Chillhouse, the pivot to press-ons and the process of choosing brand collaborators.

Olamide Olowe is a born entrepreneur. The Topicals skin-care founder grew up in an entrepreneurial household and pursued track running, which enabled her to earn a scholarship to UCLA, where she initially studied pre-med to become a dermatologist. Topicals was born after Olowe's college roommate revealed a family connection to SheaMoisture. On the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast, Olowe said she learned that skin care, dermatology and beauty could be made accessible over the counter. The name Topicals serves a dual function because it means both something applied on the skin and something that is culturally relevant or topical. Topicals is dedicated to helping chronic skin issues like eczema and psoriasis for all types of consumers and is sold through Sephora and its DTC e-commerce. Topicals has received wide praise since its launch in 2020, including being honored by Allure's Best of Beauty in 2023 and Women's Health 2023 Skincare Awards, among others. But the journey to get there was not easy. Just like many other female and BIPOC-founded brands, Topicals had a difficult fundraising experience, at first. But the brand went on to raise $15 million in outside funding. On the latest Glossy Podcast, Olowe spoke with Emma Sandler, beauty and wellness editor at Glossy, about her entrepreneurial vision for the beauty industry, Topicals' early entry into Sephora and streetwear culture's influence on her business.

Pritika Swarup has built a large following, thanks, in part, to her successful career as a model. A graduate of Columbia Business School, Swarup founded her skin-care brand, Prakti, in 2021. It was designed to blend Ayurvedic tradition with modern skin-care ingredients. It soft-launched with one product, an exfoliating powder. Today, the brand has six products and sells direct-to-consumer, though expansion into retail will come next year. On this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Pritika discusses balancing modeling and brand-building, introducing the U.S. consumer to Ayurvedic ingredients, and giving back via Operation Smile, for which she is a global ambassador.

Mona Kattan has been obsessed with fragrance her whole life. So after building Huda Beauty with her sister, Huda, following its launch in 2013, she decided to build her own brand, Kayali, starting in 2018. Now, Huda Beauty, Kayali and Wishful (which makes skin care) form the Kattan sisters' beauty empire. Kattan's passion for scent is evident when she speaks about perfume. In January, she shared a video on YouTube displaying her "fragrance library," which stores over 3,500 bottles. Kayali, she shares on this episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast, had a big year. It launched its Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 perfume, a limited edition wedding collection timed to Kattan's own nuptials and, most recently, its biggest drop yet, "Oudgasm." The Oudgasm collection focuses on four interpretations of oud, a traditionally Middle Eastern wood note. Kattan spoke with Glossy about her lifelong obsession with fragrance, her approach to building a brand at the right speed and her process of testing up to 500 new scents at a time.

Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali's office is in New York City. But, on any given day, he could be in Miami or Los Angeles, or just about anywhere else, working on one of the various side projects that keep him busy both in and out of the dermatology office. Dr. Bhanusali has founded multiple companies including Skin Medicinals, a prescribing platform allowing dermatologists to custom-create formulas for their patients at lower prices than traditional prescriptions. There's also HairStim Labs, which similarly aids in the creation of products helping patients experiencing hair loss, and Aire Health, which lets dermatologists create over-the-counter skin-care routines from vetted brands, at a discount. In addition, he's an adviser to Ephemeral — the long-lasting, but not permanent, tattoo startup — and the dermatologist-in-residence for Hailey Bieber's Rhode. Dr. Bhanusali joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss his various businesses, including how he works with Hailey Bieber on Rhode and how he believes dermatologists can be most effective on social media.

Joey Gonzalez, CEO of Barry’s, said he used to hate working out in group settings. Living in Los Angeles in 2004, Gonzalez found his way into the workout studio and fell in love with it. Barry's -- formerly Barry's Bootcamp until 2015 -- first began in Los Angeles in 1998 under Barry Jay. At the time, Barry's had a military boot camp theme with camouflage decorations and dog tags for clients. But over time, the fitness brand has shed that image in favor of a broader and more high-end aesthetic, including its well-known red lighting. The cult favorite workout studio now celebrates its 25th anniversary, building a solid following of devotees along the way. To date, Barry’s has 84 studios across 14 countries, with six locations in the U.S. It plans to soon expand into Israel, Spain, Bahrain and Egypt. “There are mirrors all around the room [at Barry's]. And that is intended so that you can watch your form and have your eyes on yourself,” said Gonzalez. “It's very much you versus you. It can be competitive [between people], but for the most part, people are there to connect with themselves.” Over the past 25 years, Barry’s has been able to withstand the fitness fads and Covid-19 impacts to emerge more resilient than ever. Today, Barry’s is once again profitable, surpassing $100 million in revenue in 2022, according to the company. It expects a 40% year-over-year increase in 2023. In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, fitness companies suffered. Gonzalez said that, as of the first quarter of 2023, Barry’s revenue is 99% back to where it was just before the pandemic. During this period, Barry’s debuted its virtual workout series called Barry’s X. Additional class forms include Barry’s original HIIT workout consisting of 50% treadmill running and 50% weightlifting, and Barry’s x Ride, which replaced running with stationary bicycling. There is also Barry’s x Lift and Barry’s x Release, which are strength training and recovery classes. Gonzalez spoke with Glossy about how he went from client to CEO, what exercise habits around the world are like, and why when the doors open to the red room, you’re home.

Violette Serrat, the mostly mononymous makeup artist behind the brand Violette FR, decided to become a makeup artist as the result of a costume party. She put some glitter on a friend’s face for the event, and inspiration struck. After pounding the pavement doing various makeup jobs, in 2011, she was discovered by Vogue France, which helped to kickstart her career. Since then, she has worked with the biggest beauty brands in the world. She's been a product development consultant for Sephora, an ambassador for La Mer and global beauty director of Estée Lauder. She is currently Guerlain’s global creative director for makeup. In 2016, she launched a YouTube channel, where she started to build a following. She has 305,000 YouTube subscribers and 525,000 Instagram followers. In 2021, she launched her namesake brand, with a small assortment of makeup products, skin-care products, a dry shampoo and a fragrance. Since then, she has continued to build the brand across categories, despite the fact that she built her career on makeup. Violette joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss her brand's roots, evolution and future.

Digiday Media and WorkLife is proud to present season two of The Return, a podcast about what it’s like for Gen Z to enter the workforce for the first time in a post-pandemic world. In season one, The Return followed an Atlanta-based advertising agency as the company returned to the office after a two-year pandemic hiatus. There were clear challenges among this population of workers who knew what a “normal” office used to look like. But what about a generation that is entering the workforce post-pandemic and has nothing to compare it to? That’s what we uncover across eight episodes in season two of The Return. We see headlines repeatedly accusing this generation of being lazy, unmotivated, quiet quitters. But what's the real story behind this generation's attitude about work? In season two of The Return, we speak with Gen Zers across the country to lift the lid on what motivates and inspires this young generation of workers, and how they’re not as work-shy as they’re often depicted. We also speak with seasoned workplace experts who can put the changing expectations of these young professionals into context. We dive into why values are so important to Gen Zers, whether or not they are loyal to their employers, how they use TikTok for career advice, what it means to be a young professional who is a boss to older workers, and so much more. Season two of The Return is hosted by Cloey Callahan, a Gen Zer and senior reporter at Digiday Media’s WorkLife, and produced by Digiday Media's audio producer Sara Patterson. Subscribe to the WorkLife podcast now on Apple Podcasts – or wherever you get your podcasts – to hear the first episode on Wednesday, Oct. 18.

Jo Malone, CBE, was born special. She was born with synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon wherein one sensory stimulation can create involuntary experiences for another. For Malone, this means she can experience smells visually. Malone parlayed this uniqueness into creating Jo Malone London, a global fragrance brand that The Estée Lauder Companies bought in 1999 for an undisclosed sum. Malone left the brand in 2006 after a breast cancer diagnosis, which rendered her unable to smell at the time. After a 5-year hiatus from fragrance, she reentered the category with Jo Loves. “I've learned over the last few years that fragrance is not a business or a career. To me, it's my best friend and the thing I love doing most in the whole world,” said Malone on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. Jo Loves has become a Gen-Z favorite. And it's notable for its fragrance paintbrushes, released in 2017, and an in-store tapas bar concept to introduce customers to scents in a playful way. As the brand steadily expands internationally, it’s also adding more hospitality partnerships including Shangri-La The Shard in London and the Park Lane Hotel in New York. For Malone, the goal is to change the world through fragrance. Malone spoke with Glossy about how she restarted a brand from scratch, why Dubai inspires her creatively, what she thinks of clean-beauty fragrances and why she aspires to create 101 fragrances.

For the past 10 years, Dr. Shereene Idriss has been a practicing dermatologist in New York City. And in 2018, she also became a social media star. Today, Dr. Idriss has 657,000 followers on Instagram, 441,000 on TikTok and 704,000 on YouTube. In October 2021, she opened her own practice, Idriss Dermatology, in Manhattan. Then, a year later, in October 2022, she launched PillowtalkDerm, her skin-care brand, named for the content series she'd become known for. In #PillowtalkDerm social media content, Dr. Idriss can often be found in bed, in her pajamas, educating her followers about skin care in her typical no-B.S. style. While Dr. Idriss built her robust following of "nerds," as she calls her followers, by calling out trends she's deemed unworthy of their hype and mostly shying away from paid brand deals, it's worth noting that she's also very funny. When PillowtalkDerm, the brand, became available for pre-sale in September 2022, it sold out in less than 36 hours. It launched with three products, all aimed at hyperpigmentation and discoloration and labeled the Major Fade collection. Since then, it has released just one more product, the Depuffer, in April 2023. The arnica-filled roller serum was inspired by Dr. Idriss's patients recovering from treatments including injectables and Sculptra. Dr. Shereene Idriss, spoke with Glossy senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner about the inception of #PillowtalkDerm on social, the reason she's turned down lucrative brand deals and the decision to kick off the brand with a focus on hyperpigmentation.

It is notoriously difficult to succeed in the luxury indie beauty space, and not many brands do. But by all accounts, Noble Panacea has superseded all expectations. Noble Panacea launched in Oct. 2019, emerging as the result of the scientific discoveries of Sir Fraser Stoddard, a scientist who has received numerous awards, including the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His discovery of the organic super molecular vessel technology, also called OSMV, is the core of Nobel Panacea and its unique ingredient delivery system. The brand made a splash with a launch event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and has since signed on actress Jodie Comer as a brand ambassador. The brand is distributed in 13 countries and sold through retailers like Neiman Marcus, Harrods, Net-a-Porter and Moda Operandi. It has approximately 50 full-time employees. Céline Talabaza, CEO of Noble Panacea, spoke with Glossy beauty and wellness editor Emma Sandler about what attracted her to the brand, how the brand is approaching the Asian market and what a luxury approach to social media looks like.

When Idris and Sabrina Elba, husband and wife, launched their gender-neutral skin-care brand, S’able Labs, in July 2022, it was just ahead of the boom in celebrity beauty launches. The brand had been in development for over a year, born during the height of the Covid-19 era. The impetus was an Instagram Live series the couple started together called "Together Tuesdays," in which they talked about couples. The idea of S’able Labs is that skin care is genderless and something that couples can share. Growing up in Vancouver, Canada and experiencing acne as a teenager, Sabrina Elba became a beauty aficionado from an early period. But the co-founder of S’able Labs said she also struggled as the only Black person in high school and felt the lack of representation in beauty, too. “My relationship with beauty early on felt a lot like an investment on my part into brands that weren't investing in me,” she said. “I had a complete misunderstanding about how to care for melanated skin. But it wasn't only because I wasn't surrounded by people who looked like me, but it was also because the beauty industry didn't cater to people who looked like me.” As her relationship and eventual marriage to Idris Elba blossomed, Sabrina was exposed to a more entrepreneurial culture and mindset, which eventually translated into S’able Labs. Today, the brand is just over 1 year old and sells five products ranging from $28-$50 through its e-commerce site and SpaceNK. Zooming in from Camden, London, joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss how the Instagram Live series inspired the brand, what it’s like operating a celebrity brand and what it means to be a melanin-inclusive brand.

Sravya Adusumilli, the founder of Mango People, never thought she would become a makeup brand founder. But, after spending her academic career in a chemistry lab, she found she preferred being an entrepreneur. Mango People is Sephora’s first Ayurvedic-inspired makeup brand, selling via Sephora.com. Mango People products include a bronzer stick, a highlighter stick and a multi-stick for cheek, lip and eye application. After becoming unsatisfied with the lipsticks she used, Adusumilli developed the brand around 2017 while she was a college student studying chemical engineering. After a series of experimentations, which included accidentally dying her mother’s kitchen pink, Adusumilli finally created the Multi-Stick, which sells for $27. “Being a broke college student, I could barely afford to like get one makeup product, let alone several,” said Adusumilli. “That's how the idea of the Multi-Stick came to be; I focused on having safe ingredients on your eyes, cheeks and lips. And all you need is five minutes to look put together, which is all I had at the time.” The hero ingredient, mango butter, helped inspire the name, as did the popularity of South Asian countries, many of which practice Ayurveda. Ayurveda is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Popular therapies include yoga and therapeutic oils and ingredients like ashwagandha, ginger and turmeric. Adusumilli joined the Glossy Beauty podcast to discuss how she created the brand, how her chemical engineering background is a boon to entrepreneurship and what it means to be the first Ayurvedic makeup brand at Sephora.

When Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson first launched Too Faced back in 1998, the beauty startup world was a whole different game. Over the decades, the co-founders powered through all the big changes in the beauty industry, from the rise of Sephora to the onset of the influencer era. After Estée Lauder Companies acquired Too Faced in 2016, Blandino and Johnson are at it again with a new company and two brand launches. Their new makeup brand, Polite Society, was unveiled on August 27 with Ulta Beauty as its retail partner. It joins the roster of Blandino and Johnson's new parent company, Toy Box Brands, which also recently unveiled jewelry-cleaner brand Diamond Drunk. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, the business partners share the history of their careers with Too Faced, as well as all the details on the new beauty brand, including the new products, the clean ingredients focus and the brand positioning. Related reads: Sephora accelerates clean makeup push ‘More creative’: Why Too Faced is letting influencers produce its campaigns

It's no secret that natural deodorant gets a bad rap. Clean beauty consumers looking for brands that leave out ingredients such as aluminum have long complained of having trouble finding something that works. These frustrations were what inspired Sarah Moret to found body-care brand Curie in 2018. Aluminum-free deodorant has come a long way since then, as Curie’s latest news shows: The brand launched into 4,300 Walmart locations nationwide on August 22. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Moret tells the story of the early days of the brand and the pivots she made along the way, including the introduction of hand sanitizer when deodorant buying fell off a cliff during the pandemic lockdowns. She also talked about her experience on the hit show "Shark Tank," and why it was as good for exposure as it was for fundraising.

Patrick Ta has come a long way from the MAC counter, where he started working over 12 years ago in Scottsdale, Arizona. Today, the brand founder and full-time makeup artist travels the country creating looks for Gigi Hadid, Sydney Sweeney, Camila Cabello and Alix Earle, among other well-known names. He often documents the process or the finished looks for his following of 3.4 million on Instagram and 1.2 million on TikTok. In 2019, Ta launched his namesake brand with a small array of products including a body oil, a lip gloss, a face mist and a fan to set the makeup in place. Since then, the brand has expanded to foundation, blush, contour, lipliner, lipsticks and a brow collection. In the past few months, Ta has been active on TikTok, documenting a TikTok tour of sorts that took him from Alix Earle's Miami dorm room to Bretman Rock's Paris Fashion Week suite to his own hometown of L.A. for stops with Glamzilla, Kensington Tillo (aka @kensnation) and Patrick Starrr. In this month's Glossy Pop edition of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Ta speaks about how he made it as a celebrity makeup artist, what celebrity makeup artists owe to the Kardashians and how Earle changed his perspective on TikTok. Related stories: Patrick Ta, Ashley Tisdale, Susan Yara and Glamzilla on leveraging a viral moment ‘It was easier for Kylie Jenner’: Makeup artist Patrick Ta on the launch of his brand and plans for expansion

Back in the day, the men’s grooming category was synonymous with shaving products. But not anymore. The rising acceptance of facial hair has led to a boom in beard-care products. Take Scotch Porter, for example. On top of the fact that it's the top-selling beard-care brand at Target, its beard conditioning balm is the No. 2 best-selling product in the retailer's entire men’s care category. “Beards have the staying power,” said Scotch Porter founder Calvin Quallis on this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. Investors agree that beard care is big business, as well. The brand’s $11 million dollar Series B round was led by Pendulum, a firm founded by the Obamas' financial advisor. The brand is now expanding into body care, skin care and fragrance. In the episode, Quallis shares the founding story of the brand, which emerged from the popular barbershop he founded to serve as a hub for both hair care and events ranging from performances to political debates. He also talks about men’s care trends and the brand’s bet on new categories such as fragrance and skin care. Related reads: Men’s grooming sales pick up momentum Men’s brands remain ‘bullish on beards’ The mustache makes its comeback: How brands are getting on board

We all know that there are diehard skin-care enthusiasts out there who spend hours researching the ingredients. In 2021, Emily DiDonato and Christina Uribe launched skin-care brand Covey to target the opposite of that type of customer. Instead of "skintellectuals," they’re focused on the busy millennial who doesn’t have time to go down what they call the “skin-care rabbit hole.” Both founders are bringing unique expertise to the brand. As a fashion model who has worked with countless brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, DiDonato has had firsthand experience with time-consuming skin-care routines. Uribe, meanwhile, is still working full-time at Google, which offers her firsthand knowledge of the process of researching search trends to find what beauty shoppers want. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, DiDonato and Uribe discuss the founding story of the brand, the Covey lip balm that went viral on TikTok, and the state of mainstream consumer awareness about popular skin-care trends like vitamin C and SPF.

In the past, most of the celebrity hairstylists that launched their own salons and hair-care lines were men. That’s been changing, as more female celebrity stylists are becoming founders. Mara Roszak is a member of this new generation shaking up the hair-care market. You’ve probably seen her styling work on Natalie Portman, Emma Stone, Michelle Yeoh, Olivia Wilde or Zoe Saldana on the red carpet. When she’s not doing celebrity looks, she runs her salon, Mare, and her new hair-care line, Rōz, which launched in 2021. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Roszak shares the story of how she got started working with celebrities and how that led her to found her own brand. She also discusses the processes of coming up with silicone-free formulations and ensuring the efficacy needed for celebrity public appearances. And finally, she talks about how she's approaching sustainable packaging, and where she’s putting her focus during the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes.

In 2022, Chriselle Lim and Ben Bennett, re-launched Phlur, a dormant "clean" fragrance brand at the time, with Ben Bennett. Bennett is the founder of the brand incubator The Center, which is behind Saltair, Naturium and Make Beauty. The brand was a near-instant success, with its first fragrance, Missing Person, going viral on TikTok. That year, Lim was named to the annual Glossy 50, a list of people who made a mark on the fashion or beauty industry. Last week, Lim launched the brand's ninth new fragrance, Father Figure. It launched with a splashy campaign featuring some of Lim's notable, powerful female friends, including influencer Aimee Song; founder of Make, Carrie Barber; founder of Arrae, Siffat Haider; co-CEO of Baby2Baby, Kelly Sawyer; and stylist Monica Rose. Lim is also heavily featured in the campaign imagery, alongside phrases like, "I'll be your Daddy," and "One week they love me. Next week they hate me. Both weeks I got paid." In this monthly Glossy Pop edition of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Lim speaks about Phlur's boom of a relaunch and newest perfume, and her journey from college vlogger to mega-influencer.

In a timely Glossy Beauty Podcast episode for the height of summer, this week features a category that has blown up in beauty: sunscreen. Long gone are the days when options were limited to a handful of brands like Coppertone and Hawaiian Tropic. In recent years, a wide range of chic new sunscreen labels have been hitting the market, while skin-care brands are churning out new SPF product launches. One of these hip new brands is one-year-old Dune Suncare, which uses a colorful, nostalgic aesthetic to appeal to both men and women across all age groups. This week’s episode features the brand’s co-founders, Emily Doyle, an event production and marketing pro, and Mei Kwok, who also produces events and performs as a highly sought-after DJ. The founders have created a cool factor for the brand by working with luxury hotels, including QR codes to Kwok’s playlists in its packaging, and shooting campaigns with top fashion photographers. But its distribution plan is all about accessibility as they focus on scaling through wholesale partners including Amazon and Ulta Beauty.

When Snapchat first tapped into the power of augmented reality circa 2015, no one understood how impactful it would be to the social media platform and the beauty industry. Snapchat's “Lens” feature was introduced in 2015. This feature, powered by augmented reality technology, allows users to change how they and the world around them look. But it wasn’t until at least 2017 that the beauty industry started to catch up through independent providers like Modiface, which was later acquired by L'Oréal Group in 2018. To help further Snapchat’s relationship with the beauty and fashion industries and promote its AR strategy, Snapchat hired Rajni Jacques, head of fashion and beauty partnerships at Snapchat, to lead the charge. Jacques joined the social media platform in April 2021 from her previous role as fashion director at Teen Vogue and Allure. Jacques has been in the editorial world for the last two decades, holding positions at InStyle, Glamour, Nylon, The Fader, Vibe and Honey. Jacques sat down with Liz Flora, Glossy’s West Coast correspondent and host of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, to chat about all things augmented reality, Gen Z and the ways both play into beauty.

The star of Netflix’s "Queer Eye," Jonathan Van Ness has captivated a massive fan base as a comedian, best-selling author and podcast host with a prolific social media presence. But he definitely hasn’t forgotten about hair. Nearly two years ago, he added hair-care brand founder to his expanding resume with the launch of JVN Hair. For this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Van Ness was joined by Teresa Lo, JVN Hair’s global vp and gm who has been with the brand from the start. Topics covered include Van Ness’s career journey, JVN Hair's founding story and the products’ unique formulations, which use hemisqualane and are silicone-free. Lo also addressed whether the brand is seeing any impacts from the recent changes at its parent company, Amyris, after the company announced layoffs and the departure of its CEO last week. While Van Ness is known for his humor and positivity, he’s also outspoken when it comes to more serious topics. In this interview, he reflected on the end of a Pride Month that was rife with homophobic rhetoric.

If you are one of Mikayla Nogueira’s 14.6 million TikTok followers, then you already know that one of the app’s biggest beauty influencers is getting married this weekend. But what you may not know is that she custom-created the lipstick and liner for her big day, with E.l.f. Cosmetics. The color resulting from the collaboration, which launched on Thursday, is cheekily named “Til Death Do Us Paht,” a reference to Nogueira’s famous Boston accent. Nogueira had partnered with E.l.f. before, and, as she struggled to find a lipstick she deemed perfect for her wedding day, she decided to reach out to the brand and ask if they’d like to work on one collaboratively. Nogueira has been creating content on the app since the early days of Covid. Before becoming a full-time creator, she worked at Ulta Beauty. She has done product collaborations with brands including the indie makeup brand Glamlite and skin-care brand Glow Recipe, and has partnered on sponsored posts for brands including Charlotte Tilbury, L’Oréal, Maybelline, Rael and RoC. In an April 2022 Glossy story, we reported on Nogueira’s ability to sell out a beauty product or catapult it into virality. In late January, Nogueira was at the center of a TikTok controversy around a L’Oréal mascara ad she posted: She was accused of wearing false lashes in the “after” footage demonstrating the mascara’s results. After taking a few days off, Nogueira’s next video started with, “I’m sure we all know why we’ve all gathered here today. … It’s the month of love, bitches.” She never addressed the criticism further. In the monthly Glossy Pop episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Nogueira speaks to the harsh realities of being an influencer with nearly 15 million sets of eyes on her, the pros and cons of going viral (and that ubiquitous TikTok sound of her saying Kim Kardashian’s name), and the creation of her wedding-day lipstick.

If you’re familiar with skin-care brand Dieux, you probably first came across its cult eye masks that all the cool kids have been wearing on Instagram. Now with multiple products, the brand’s celebrity fans include everyone from Hailey Bieber to Harrison Ford. This week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast features an interview with Charlotte Palermino, who co-founded the brand in 2020 with Joyce de Lemos and Marta Freedman. In addition to Dieux, Palermino is known for her prolific social media presence with a fan base of over 668,000 combined followers on TikTok and Instagram. In this conversation, she talked about how her social presence blew up on TikTok when she started sharing her strong viewpoints on everything from SPF to clean beauty. The conversation also touched on how this transfers over into running what she calls a “TMI” skincare brand that gives details on ingredients and clinical trials. On the creative side, she shared the concept behind Dieux’s “God’-like branding and the customer base it calls its “Angels.”

While economic headwinds are impacting the beauty industry these days, one area that’s still going strong is fragrance. Take InterParfums, for example. It’s the fragrance company that holds the licenses for over 20 fashion and luxury goods labels including Montblanc and Jimmy Choo. The first quarter of this year was its best in its 40-year history as it reported 24% sales growth and surpassed $1 billion in sales. On this week’s podcast, InterParfums CEO and co-founder Jean Madar shared what’s driving that growth. He talked about the surge in sales that the category has been seeing globally since the pandemic began, and why fragrance is a means for a luxury brand to bring in new customers. And at a time when a new celebrity beauty brand is hitting the market virtually every week, he made it clear that InterParfums’ licensing business is still all about fashion partners. Madar gave the details on why the company has no interest in getting in on the fickle celebrity fragrance licensing business.