The Barefaced Podcast

The beauty industry is a trillion dollars, and right now almost all of the biggest names in it are struggling. Estée Lauder's stock is down over 70% from its peak. Coty has been in turnaround mode for years. The giants are stumbling, margins are compressing, and the whole industry is watching a renaissance unfold in every corner.And yet, one company did not just survive this shakeout, it thrived. e.l.f. Beauty went public in 2016 at a valuation of around $737 million. Today, it's worth $5.2 billion. A dollar-store cosmetics brand became beauty's best-performing IPO of the last decade, while the legacy giants who were supposed to own the category collapsed around it.In this episode, I trace the full twenty-year arc. How e.l.f. started by knocking on Target's door and getting rejected, accidentally inventing the DTC playbook before DTC was a term, and then navigating one of the most dramatic post-IPO periods in beauty history — proxy fights, sanctions violations involving North Korean false lash manufacturing, the Varsity Blues scandal, and a $1 billion acquisition of Rhode that cemented e.l.f. as a multi-brand platform. We also look at what e.l.f.'s story tells us about the future of publicly traded beauty — why supply chain speed, disciplined capital structure, and the refusal to play by legacy rules might be the only real moat in an industry being rewritten.A series of images, references, graphs and visual aids have been created to help narrate this story. You can find them at barefaced.substack.com. And you can find Barefaced everywhere else at beacons.ai/barefaced. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

Not that long ago, Australia had more women's magazines per capita than almost any comparable market. Australian Women's Weekly, Vogue, Dolly, Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Girlfriend, Marie Claire, Grazia. Titles that shaped culture, launched careers, and functioned as the single most powerful distribution channel beauty brands had access to.That ecosystem is largely gone now. In May 2020, Bauer Media shut down most of its Australian titles in the middle of a pandemic, laying off the majority of staff over a single Zoom call. Titles that had been publishing for decades closed within weeks.In this episode, I sit down with Kate Lancaster — a beauty journalist who was on that Zoom call. Kate's words you have undoubtedly read, whether in the pages of Elle, Grazia, or on a billboard for your favourite sunscreen brand. Together, we unpack how the magazine business was structured, how it made money, why it stagnated creatively, and what the collapse actually looked like from inside a newsroom. We also look at what comes next — from the rise of brand Substacks to why journalists might be the most valuable hires in beauty right now.A series of images, references, graphs and visual aids have been created to help narrate this story. You can find them at barefaced.substack.com. And you can find Barefaced everywhere else at beacons.ai/barefaced. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

Before Sephora, beauty retail was a very different world. Products sat behind glass, and a single sales rep, loyal to just one brand, controlled how a customer experienced beauty.Today, Sephora has completely rewritten that experience. It is now the largest beauty retailer in the world, generating over 17 billion U.S. dollars in annual sales and holding immense power over which brands rise and which brands fade. But how did a 60-year-old French company become an American powerhouse? What happened that allowed Sephora to rise from a disruptor to the most powerful player in beauty retail?In this episode, we’re diving into part one of Sephora’s story. (Apologies for the late upload, but this turned out to be a much bigger story than we expected.) We’ll unpack how Sephora began, and how it went on to take over the world. Next week, we’ll zoom in on the past decade and take a closer look at the wider industry to understand what Sephora’s position means for brands today, and where it’s headed.A series of images, references, graphs and visual aids have been created to help narrate this story. You can find them at barefaced.substack.com. And you can find Barefaced everywhere else at beacons.ai/barefaced. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

When we talk about the frontiers of beauty, we usually think of France, the United States, South Korea, or China. But a new frontier is emerging further East: the GCC. A group of six countries in the Middle East that are shaping the future of beauty.You’ve probably heard the buzz around Dubai, but the GCC as a whole is worth paying attention to. The region already represents 43% of the global luxury market. And unlike much of the world, where personal luxury spending declined by 2% in 2024, the GCC grew by 6%. Fashion may dominate overall sales, but beauty is the standout, growing 12% year-on-year and quickly becoming the fastest-rising category.In today’s episode, we’ll give you a crash course on beauty, luxury, and the GCC. We’ll explore where this growth is coming from and how brands are positioning themselves to ride this wave — so you have the insights you need to do the same.A series of images, references, graphs and visual aids have been created to help narrate this story. You can find them at barefaced.substack.com. And you can find Barefaced everywhere else at beacons.ai/barefaced. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

When you think of big beauty, L’Occitane probably doesn’t come to mind. It’s a nearly fifty-year-old French brand that, to me, represented nothing more than dated packaging and one fantastic hand cream. I’d always associated it with a dying customer base–and I mean that quite literally.This brand-turned-group is a quiet powerhouse with a fascinating story. But it’s one the company has mostly told itself, so polished and tightly edited that I never felt compelled to pay attention. That was until a listener of this very podcast, an equity analyst no less, shared some recent financial reports with me. They read like a gripping episode of reality TV… if only they weren’t buried under layers of finance jargon.So in this episode , we’ll unpack the untold story of L’Occitane: from its unlikely founding, to the bold bet on Asia that transformed the business, and finally, to the challenges they faced after going public.A series of images, references, graphs and visuals aids have been created to help narrate this story. You can find them at barefaced.substack.com.You can find Barefaced everywhere else at https://beacons.ai/barefaced . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

Despite being the 10th largest economy in the world, Canadian beauty remains a mystery. For a country that birthed giants like MAC and Deciem (The Ordinary) and is a neighbour to the largest beauty market in the world (The US), the lack of conversations around Canadian beauty is nothing short of shocking.After a four-month hiatus, The Barefaced Podcast is back and diving into why this deeply complex and critically under-reported market. Today we will be diving into why this market deserves much more of our attention by breaking down what the Canadian beauty landscape is like, geopolitical and retail shifts affecting the industry, and Canadian beauty on a global stage.A series of graphs, visual aids, and references have been created to help narrate this story. You can find them at https://barefaced.substack.com/ . You can find Barefaced everywhere else at - https://beacons.ai/barefaced . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

Another person talking about tariffs… I know! But this episode is different. Trump’s tariff announcement sent shockwaves through the markets—the S&P 500 dropped 4.9%, the second-biggest daily point loss in history. And beauty felt it too; Elf Beauty’s stock fell by 23.4% and Estée Lauder’s by 15.4%. But what does all this mean for the long-term future of beauty?In this episode of The Barefaced Podcast, that is what we are going to answer. First, we’ll get clear on what’s actually happening, why different countries are being charged different rates, and how Trump’s economic advisors came up with those numbers. Then, we’ll zoom in on the beauty industry—how are international beauty businesses affected, and equally, brands already "Made in the USA"? Finally, we’ll put it all together to explore what this means for the future of beauty.Ultimately, this isn’t a story about tariffs, it’s a turning point for beauty’s entire supply chain. A series of graphs, visual aids, and references have been created to help narrate this story. You can access them at barefaced.substack.comYou can find Barefaced everywhere else - https://beacons.ai/barefaced This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

It seems like almost every day there’s a new beauty brand announcing they've secured funding. Why has there been such a surge?Venture capital (VC) first took off in the tech industry in the 90s, and expanded into consumer packaged goods (CPG) in the 2010s, but why do VCs love beauty brands and why do beauty brands love them back? What is it about the beauty sector that has attracted such significant investment, and what does this mean for the future of the industry? In this episode of The Barefaced Podcast, I speak with Ultra Violette founders Bec Jefferd and Ava Chandler-Matthews about their recent $15 million raise, and what it means for their growth. I also chat with NuFace cofounder and CEO Tera Peterson, who built a cult beauty device brand without taking a cent of outside funding.We unpack the dynamics of VC in beauty, the pros and pitfalls of raising capital, and what this growing trend signals for the future of the industry.A series of graphs, visual aids, and references have been created to help narrate this story. You can access them at barefaced.substack.comYou can find Barefaced everywhere else -https://beacons.ai/barefaced This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com

Luxury brands spend years developing products—MCo Beauty swoops in and replicates them in weeks. And the results speak for themselves.Originally known as ModelCo, an Aussie drugstore brand focused on tanning, MCo Beauty reinvented itself by recreating viral beauty products with eerily similar packaging—at a fraction of the price. By strategically navigating trademark laws, the brand has grown from AU$10M in revenue in FY20 to a staggering $330M in FY25.In February, founder and CEO Shelley Sullivan cashed out, selling her stake in a deal that valued MCo Beauty at over a billion dollars. But how did they pull it off? How is any of this legal? And what’s next for the ultimate dupe brand?In this episode of The Barefaced Podcast, we break down the rise of MCo Beauty.A series of graphs, visual aids, and references have been created to help narrate this story. You can access them at barefaced.substack.comYou can find Barefaced everywhere else -https://beacons.ai/barefaced This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barefaced.substack.com