Hailey Bieber’s skin care brand Rhode just struck an agreement to be acquired by E.l.f. Beauty in a deal valued at a whopping $1 billion. The deal comes just three years after the model founded Rhode in 2022, which was originally a three-product line that’s since grown to include new items.
This is the biggest acquisition that E.l.f. has ever made and marks a thawing of the beauty M&A market, which had seen a raft of brands put for sale signs up with no success.
Here, WWD ponders which celebrity beauty brand could be next.
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Haus Labs
Image Credit: courtesy of Haus Labs Founded in 2018 by Lady Gaga, Haus Labs launched as the first exclusive beauty brand to partner with Amazon. However, a slow start led the company to part ways with the e-giant retailer for a total brand revamp in 2022, which saw the business reintroduce itself under a new name and refresh everything from its product packaging to formulas as part of a new partnership with Sephora. Haus Labs was projected to reach between $45 million and $50 million in retail sales following its relaunch with Sephora.
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Rare Beauty
Image Credit: Getty Images for Rare Beauty Selena Gomez founded makeup brand Rare Beauty in 2019, selling a range of products from liquid blushes to cream bronzers. Yearly sales in 2024 totaled about $400 million, up 14 percent from 2023. There were talks of Gomez selling the company after she hired investment bankers Goldman Sachs and Raymond James to evaluate potential options in March of last year. However, sources stressed at the time that a formal sale process had not begun.
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Cécred
Image Credit: Courtesy In 2024, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter made her move into the beauty industry with the launch of her clinically backed hair care products and tools company, Cécred. Products include nourishing hair oil, moisture sealing lotion, shampoo and conditioner. A year after its release, Cécred unveiled its first retail partner: Ulta Beauty. This partnership marked the largest of its kind in the retailer’s history. Cécred was invited into more than 1,400 Ulta locations in addition to the retailer’s website, and about two months ago, Ulta salons began integrating Cécred products into its services.
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Blake Brown
Image Credit: Courtesy of Blake Brown/Guy Aroch Blake Lively dove headfirst into hair care in 2024, releasing her first-ever products brand, Blake Brown, at Target, marking the largest hair care launch in the retailer’s history. Within one week, the company generated $16 million in media impact value, according to Launchmetrics, and the immediate in-store success was just as great. On its launch day alone, the company had the top five bestselling hair products at Target. Blake Brown products include hair mist, strengthening shampoo and conditioner, a nourishing mask and a “leave-in potion.”
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Lemme
Image Credit: @PIERRESNAPS Lemme is Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s wellness brainchild, co-founded by her and her business partner, Simon Huck, in September 2022. From Lemme Purr, a vaginal probiotic, to Lemme Play, a daily intimacy gummy, the supplement brand has released almost every capsule and gummy vitamin under the sun. Individual bottles and bundles are sold online through the brand’s website, on Amazon and in-person at Ulta Beauty and Target. Lemme and Target decided to team up in January 2024 to help manage the brand’s overwhelming consumer demand.
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Goop
Image Credit: Courtesy of The Beautyaholic’s Shop What started as a weekly newsletter led by Gwyneth Paltrow in 2008 has since grown to become a leading source in lifestyle and wellness with a cult-like online following. Goop Beauty, a subsidiary of the larger brand, launched in 2016, debuting its own line of skincare and makeup essentials. While over time Goop created products in multiple categories, including wellness, home, travel, fashion, food, beauty and sexual wellness, in September the 16-year-old company restructured to focus on fashion, beauty and food. Goop said its revenue increased in 2023 and is on track to increase again in 2024, but did not provide a percentage number or a monetary figure. As part of that, beauty revenue was up 40 percent last year.
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R.e.m. Beauty
Image Credit: Courtesy Ariana Grande’s R.e.m Beauty, a PETA-approved cruelty free makeup brand, was first launched through Forma Brands, the beauty conglomerate behind Morphe Cosmetics, in November 2021. The products, including highlight serums and liquid shadows, were sold exclusively through the company’s website before they hit major retailers such as Sephora, Ulta Beauty and Selfridges in the U.K. At the time of its release, Grande had licensed her name and image to Forma Brands. However, she bought back her brand in 2023 and purchased the remaining inventory for $15 million after the former licensee filed for bankruptcy.
