The Glossy Beauty Podcast

When Harry Slatkin and his wife, Laura, built Slatkin & Co., they disrupted the fragrance industry by making home fragrances accessible to a wider demographic.Slatkin sold Slatkin & Co. to Limited Brands, which owns Bath & Body Works, in 2005. But he kept his role as executive chairman and president of the company, and eventually took over the entire home fragrance division. After growing the business to $1.3 billion, Slatkin stepped down from his role in 2012. Today, the company does $2.3 billion in home fragrance sales, according to Slatkin.'When I started, I was entrepreneurial at Limited Brands. [Lex Wexner] let me set up offices in New York, and I had my own team," Slatkin said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "As soon as we started hitting $400 million and $500 million [in sales], I was becoming a part of these big teams, and the entrepreneur and the excitement of it starts to leave. … It was no longer what I could call hands-on, for me. I decided, after getting to a billion dollars [in revenue], that it was time for me to step down."Slatkin consulted for Bath & Body Works for three years after selling his company, but at the same time, he pivoted into fashion through a partnership with Tommy Hilfiger. The duo went on to acquire apparel brand Belstaff in 2011.Slatkin is now focused on growing the company's distribution for its current offerings, with no plans to expand to more categories in the near future.

When beauty and personal care executive Rod Little joined personal care conglomerate Edgewell as CFO in 2018, the company’s core businesses of shaving and feminine care were seeing mid-single-digit declines. Competing with giants like Procter & Gamble and DTC disruptors like Billie, the company was in need of a transformation. Rising to CEO in 2019, Little identified the areas that needed to change at the company, which owns household name brands such as Schick, Banana Boat and Playtex. “We had gotten into a rhythm of being too technology-focused, and we had been led by technology, as opposed to being led by the consumer,” he said on this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. His turnaround strategy included not only moving the focus to the consumer, but also adopting a startup mentality and embracing new acquisitions in growth categories. While the company’s attempted acquisition of Harry’s was blocked by the FTC in 2020, the company has made four acquisitions in the past five years: men’s grooming brands Bulldog, Jack Black and Cremo, and razor startup Billie. With its new brands driving double-digit growth, Edgewell’s shaving and feminine care categories have moved up to “mid-single-digit” growth this year, while its sun-care category is going strong. On this week’s episode, Little shares details on the company’s acquisition strategy, his thoughts on the FTC decision and ways brands can stay innovative while scaling. 

Nearly every turn in Isamaya Ffrench’s career was unexpected. Ffrench grew up in a family of engineers and didn’t ascribe to the glamorous rituals her mother and grandmother practiced when she was a child. Her introduction to beauty came by way of discovering Kevyn Aucoin’s iconic beauty book “Making Faces.”But even after studying that book cover to cover, Ffrench still didn’t have dreams of becoming a makeup artist, content creator or founder of her namesake beauty brand — all of which she is now. In fact, Ffrench danced professionally for 15 years. But a colleague at the contemporary theatrical performance group Theo Adams Company put her up for a body painting job at i-D magazine, knowing Ffrench painted faces at children’s parties. While unplanned, that gig planted the seeds for Ffrench’s future career.“I was hired to do a very specific thing,” said Ffrench on the most recent episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. “I was using clay and mixed media and turning these models into Demigods. It was all very creative, but there was another makeup artist on set who had been booked to do the beauty because I guess I was a wildcard. I just remember there was this moment when I was washing up my really dirty, grubby brushes in the sink with washing liquid. I had big paintbrushes and sponges and all this grimy stuff. I looked over at this makeup artist who sat there with her beautiful kit laid out looking very clean. I was like, ‘Hold on a sec, why am I not doing that job? I should be doing that job, as well.'”Ffrench continued to book editorial jobs, all while refining her subverted beauty aesthetic. Her work landed her ambassador and creative director posts at YSL Beauté, Tom Ford Beauty, Burberry and Byredo, which proved to be fortuitous primers to launching her own brand, Isamaya, in June.“I don’t ever think I planned to do my own brand, or not until very, very recently, probably because I was very happy doing it for other people. … And then I sort of thought, ‘Well, maybe there are some things I would like to do for myself that brands wouldn’t let me do because they have their own language,'” she said.Since debuting Isamaya this summer, Ffrench has leaned into the drop model, first launching the Industrial collection, a BDSM-inspired offering. Wild Star, a rhinestone cowgirl-esque drop, debuted Thursday with L.A. pop-ups supporting the collection.

When Harry's was founded in 2012, co-founders Jeff Raider and Andy Katz-Mayfield were trying to connect the dots between quality razors, affordable prices and a brand that could connect with consumers."I can tell you exactly where it was' it was a Rite Aid on 14th and Wilshire in Santa Monica, California. I had run out of razor blades and was wandering through the store, looking for somebody to unlock the case, because they were locked away," said Katz-Mayfield, regarding the brand's inspiration. on the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "They're locked away because they're so expensive and they get shoplifted all the time. It was this absurd experience. ... I was looking at the shelf and the brands that were on the shelf, and they didn't speak to me as a consumer. There was like a picture of a razor blade flying over the moon on one of the packages. Obviously, what the brand was trying to communicate was, 'Oh, there's all this space-age technology in this thing, and therefore you should pay $25 for a four-pack of razor blades.' But I was like, 'Should I really, though?'"Katz-Mayfield Gchatted Raider, who had recently co-founded Warby Parker, another early DTC disruptor. The two met while in college as consulting interns at Bain & Company."We say he called me a lot, but actually, he Gchatted me. I was at work, and he said, 'Hey, I had this really bad experience in a drugstore, being overcharged for razor blades by these brands that don't really connect with me. Do you think you could take what you learned at Warby Parker, building [a] brand that people love, trying to do good in the world and for customers, and bring design and style to an industry that might have lacked it before, in razors and razor blades?' I remember reading that and thinking, 'Wow, this is an awesome opportunity,'" said Raider. Though the brand is just nine years old, Raider and Katz-Mayfield have lived many lives with Harry's. The brand has gone from a best-in-class startup to an acquisition target and the focus of the Federal Trade Commission, to now a different type of parent company that acquires and incubates its own brands. Those have included Lume and Cat Person."What Harry's and Flamingo both did was they found an unmet consumer need, an opportunity to do something that was actually better for somebody. … It started with delivering really high-quality products at a great value, and then also speaking to people how they wanted to be spoken to in these categories," said Raider. "We felt like we had the opportunity to build brands and unique products that differentially meet consumers' needs and do it on DTC. That could actually be applied anywhere in CPG."

As the barrier to founding a beauty brand is lower than ever, there is also more opportunity to spot the next big thing earlier in brands' life cycles.Private equity firm True Beauty Ventures "was really born out of a frustration ... and being restricted on the types of businesses [we] could invest in," said TBV co-founder and general partner Cristina Nuñez on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.Nuñez, the former gm and COO of Clark's Botanicals, had been approached by her co-founder, Rich Gersten, about building a beauty- and wellness-specific firm that could invest at the earliest stage. "[Prior, Rich] couldn't invest in any brand without a minimum check of $10 [million] or $20 million," she said.True Beauty Ventures' sweet spot is between the $1 million and $3 million check size, and it has the goal of further supporting brands with more capital as they grow. Since founding True Beauty Ventures at the height of the pandemic, Nuñez and Gersten have invested in emerging brands like K18, Maude and Crown Affair, and best-in-class brands further along in their journey like Moon Juice.

When reviewing the beauty landscape, there are increasingly fewer companies that are built as family businesses. Today, the market skews heavily toward building a company and selling it at a faster-than-ever clip. Though deal flow continues to be hot, NuFace's founders Carol Cole and her daughters, Tera Peterson and Kim Morales, are focused on building their brand while keeping themselves at the helm for as long as possible."My mom, my sister and I started NuFace back in 2005. My mom's been an esthetician since the 1980s. After business school, I decided to go to esthetician school. We created our first device out of our family home in Leucadia, which is a little beach community of Encinitas [outside] San Diego," said Peterson on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.Since founding the brand 17 years ago, NuFace has sold over 4 million devices. Peterson added that NuFace is up 24% in sell-through for 2022. The device category is typically a difficult market to create ongoing value, but NuFace has also avoided the fate of competitors, which saw initial buzz and interaction with their brands but never saw the repeat purchase."The innovation is key; that's where typical devices fail," she said. "They go, 'OK, I'm gonna do X and then I'm going to launch this completely non-related other device." Like, what are you? Are you cleansing? Are you microdermabrasion? It really confuses people, and that's where other devices have really struggled. They don't stay true to themselves."

There is no telling if beauty has reached its peak celebrity brand moment. But Lisa Sequino, co-founder and CEO of JLo Beauty, said that doesn't matter; her company doesn't solely trade on Jennifer Lopez's famous persona. In fact, Sequino said JLo Beauty is as much about pro-living as it is about Lopez."Over the past four years, at my old seat [at Estée Lauder Companies] — where I would sit and look at brands to potentially acquire [and see] where the market is going, where the customer is going — I always went to the same conclusion," said Sequino on the most recent episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "Most companies are focused on a certain customer who's younger, [ages] 18-25. They ignored the subset, which I became part of: the power 40- to 50-year-old. To me, [that consumer] is at the peak of their power."At 53, Lopez is arguably the most famous person exuding that power, making the thread of skin care and aging all the more impactful for JLo Beauty. Since launching in January 2021, the line, which is sold at Sephora and its own e-commerce site, has tripled in size, said Sequino. And it has over 1% market share."Any brand, whether it's celebrity or not, if it doesn't have a strong connection or reason for being with the consumer, it's not going to be as successful," said Sequino. "For us, one thing that rises to the top for Jennifer is her authenticity, in the sense of never giving up but also having a tremendous sense of self-worth, which took a long time for her to have and many of us can relate to. It's about making a discernible transformation in people's lives with an amazing product that works hard, feels good and makes a difference."Below are additional highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

While health tracking devices are not new, Ōura, best known for its $300 Oura Ring, has somehow seamlessly bridged the worlds of technology, wellness and design, so much so that Kim Kardashian, Jack Dorsey and Prince Harry are all fans. That unlock happened largely due to the ring’s focus on sleep, according to Oura CEO Tom Hale.“Most fitness wellness trackers are oriented around ‘get more activity,’ ‘get going’ and ‘get out there,’ and we’re like, ‘Hey, relax and recover, make sure that you’re well-rested,'” Hale said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.CMO Karina Kogan agreed, “There is now a movement in culture, a move away from sick care to self-care. Historically, when you think about tracking anything in your health people tended to count calories and count steps. It was all about weight loss,” she said. “Now, consumers are thinking about longevity. They’re thinking about their immunity. They’re thinking about how can I live longer.”Ōura, the Finnish parent company of the Oura ring, launched in 2013 and on Kickstarter no less. While the original Oura ring was bulker in design, much like any piece of technology, the ring became sleeker and more technologically enabled. To date, the company has sold nearly 1.5 million rings and has a $2.55 billion valuation.This week, the company launches its latest innovation, the Oura Gen3 Horizon which is reminiscent of a wedding ring and comes in a rose gold finish. It continues to track Ōura’s hallmarks such as daytime and live heart rate, advanced temperature sensing, blood oxygen sensing, all while providing consumers more options.Below are additional highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.A culture shiftKogan: “It’s all it’s a broadening the definition of health, so it’s not just about how many steps you took and how many calories you burned. It’s also about how well you slept, how much time you spent in REM or deep sleep, how much stress you’re undergoing, whether it’s physical stress or emotional stress, it’s about tuning into other aspects, other biometrics or biomarkers. I think consumers are very comfortable with metrics and there’s a certain gamification to scores. Oura gives you three daily scores, your readiness, sleep score and your activity, and those help guide you. The range of metrics that consumers are looking at are expanding, consumers want to optimize their life”Future-proofing for uncertaintyHale: “[With] all the things that are going on in the world today, Covid, a war, more economic upset, inflation, all the things, I think our mission is more important than ever because people are stressed out more than they’ve ever been. If we can do our part to help people understand where they are, meet them where they are, and provide them support for where they are, that’s immensely rewarding. It’s not about some giant outcome. It’s about doing good for the people of this planet, who are right now facing some really, really stressful times.”

Mara Beauty founder Allison McNamara was surrounded by beauty growing up — her father Michael McNamara is a longstanding executive in the space. But beauty wasn't an obvious career path for her, at least not at first."I was actually a television host and reporter before doing Mara," said McNamara, on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. "I worked at Popsugar, and for a long time, I did everything from fashion to beauty to entertainment, and hosted a show that was taken from digital to linear television. … I thought I was going to be the next Ryan Seacrest."After that show got canceled, McNamara had a rethink, which led her to revisit her childhood notebooks. There, she found page after page of beauty brand and product ideas."I thought of the idea for Mara and I didn't know what would become of it," she said. "I went on the journey of creating the business but had no true intention of like, 'I'm going to build this type of brand.' It happened organically," she said.Mara Beauty officially launched in 2018, DTC first before launching in Credo. In the four years since, McNamara has been sure to keep a thoughtful eye on what she delivers: new, innovative luxury products with a clear sustainability component. "When I started the business, it was a side hustle. Now it's become a true business, which is really exciting. But at the same time, I have such a clear idea of the products I want to create and where I want to go."

When co-founders and partners Matthew Herman and David Kien started developing Boy Smells, they weren't exactly sure they had a brand. In fact, Herman said the process of making candles in their living room in 2016 was a side hustle. Both Herman and Kien were working in fashion at the time; Herman was a designer at Nasty Gal and Kien worked in production at The Elder Statesman."We didn't have a ton of high aspirations for the brand when we first started it because we really wanted it to be a recreational little side hustle. It was in years two and three that we really started to get serious. We left our jobs. We were running the entire business out of the living room, then it was the living room and kitchen, and then the living room, kitchen and sunroom. All of a sudden, there was inventory in the hallways," said Herman on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.While "genderful" Boy Smells launched at Sephora this month, it first launched into retail via independent stores like Boy George in Austin and now closed Barneys New York, positioning the line as for a fashion savvy person but sold at a more accessible price. Equally thoughtful is the brand's perspective on collaborations. After the runway success of Boy Smells' Slowburn candle with singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves, it would have been easy for the team to take a rinse and repeat mentality to other partnerships. But Herman said whoever Boy Smells works with has to represent what Boy Smells is all about, which led the brand to its latest work with Grace Jones.In essence, Hermand said, "[We asked ourselves], 'If we could choose one person that represents our genderful values and who we are as a brand, who would we want to work with?' And we went after that person, who is not the person that the digital people who want to inform every decision about ... audience reach or whatever [would choose]. We went after the person that we really felt represented our brand values," said Herman.