Welcome back to Full Coverage.
Not that long ago, a founder told me that it feels like every other day The Business of Beauty is reporting on a brand closure or a distressed asset sale. I agreed with her; it’s not an easy time for anyone, but especially the small guys out there. Still, despite challenges, there are people who are growing their businesses. So after a few weeks on the big beauty beat, I’m going to celebrate some indie successes and look for clues about what small brands can do to win.
Read on to learn more about:
- Starface’s new investment round and explosive ambitions
- Fara Homidi’s slow growth story
And just a quick housekeeping note: I’ll be travelling next week, so Full Coverage will be handled by the very smart Daniela Morosini. Be sure to dive in!
Who Gets To Be an Indie Brand?
As I was thinking about this week’s column, I started asking myself: What really constitutes an indie brand? The definition has been stretched in recent years. Usually the term means founder-owned, scrappy and small. Can you still meet that criteria when you have over 30,000 points of distribution and just raised over $100 million?
If that brand is Starface, I’d say the answer is yes.
Last month, the brand, best known for its star-shaped pimple patches, quietly closed a substantial minority round ($105 million) with the funds Astō and Align Ventures. Astō, which launched last year, has already built a reputation for operational expertise and big exits with food brands Skinnypop and Good Culture. Align has invested in beauty-adjacent lines Coterie and Touchland. People with knowledge of Starface’s business said that co-founders Julie Schott and Brian Bordainick remain in control.
It’s a huge round for Starface — which had only raised under $20 million to date — that reflects the size of its ambitions. Yes, it certainly is a beauty brand — beyond acne stickers, it sells skincare and launched into lip last year — but Schott emphasised that the line exists in a “different universe,” much like Touchland or Skinnypop.
“We’ve built the brand around an emotional connection first,” said Schott. ”For us, it starts with how someone wants to feel, not just what an ingredient does.”
Starface’s massive distribution also reflects its counterintuitive approach to be found in virtually every kind of retailer, which is much more of a big beauty strategy: mass (Target and Superdrug), prestige (Ulta Beauty) and specialty (Mecca, where it just launched; yet another win for the retailer that’s recently landed Rhode, Victoria Beckham and Fara Homidi). More markets and categories are lined up. (I’m guessing that based on the success of their lip launch they will be diving deeper there.) But Bordainick said the fresh cash will be used to maximise existing distribution channels versus entering more. Not to say that Starface couldn’t end up in your favourite grocer, but it likely won’t.
It’s hard to imagine any other beauty brand raising that much funding responsibly for their latter investors or their cofounders today, but Bordainick stressed that Starface experienced many of the growing pains that brands of their age are facing now (profitability, cap table alignment) much earlier in its story. The brand has been profitable for four years (Starface was founded in 2019) and hit $110 million in revenue last year; insiders close to the company expect that figure to be closer to $150 million for 2026. That’s certainly a lot of product, especially when Starface’s hero Hydro-stars sell for $10.99.
But like any independent brand, there is still more room for growth. Starface still has plenty of digital runway, which is a bit of a surprise given how online the brand can feel. Since signing with Astō and Align, for example, the brand’s Amazon business is up 100 percent in the last month.
But Starface was after something more elusive, and something that indie founders should keep in mind: investor alignment. As another young founder told me recently, every time a financial partner comes on board it can feel like a fairy loses their wings. In Starface’s case Astō and Align’s relationship comes down to world building.
“Finding someone that understands our point of difference versus trying to force us into more of a traditional beauty mould was pretty critical,” said Bordainick.
Going Global: Fara Homidi’s Slow Growth Story
In yet another win for Mecca, makeup artistry brand Fara Homidi announced this week that it will debut in the Australian retailer next month.
After launching direct-to-consumer in the US in 2023 (before landing in Sephora and Selfridges locations last year), the line has largely stayed out of the colour cosmetic fray: It’s not releasing loads of products and it’s not trying to get acquired. This is a refreshing perspective when conversations in beauty revolve around which makeup brands are for sale (Makeup by Mario) or which are struggling (Pat McGrath Labs).
That founder Homidi even explored international markets at this stage is a win, considering the brand’s lineup includes just six makeup items and five brushes. But that’s a reminder of the power of a solid edit. Homidi’s slow beauty strategy may seem at odds with the flood of launches hitting the market, but she finds that retailers are actually encouraging less product and more quality.
“In this tough environment, resonating on a broader level is challenging, and retailers know that,” she said. “There was a heyday of ‘You can have a brand,’ ‘You can have a brand.’ There was so much blue sky, and that has changed.”
Homidi told me that Mecca, in particular, had been courting the brand since launch, as it is known to do. The namesake line was highly desired for its editorial-yet-wearable POV and its beach-inspired vibes. And as makeup enters its maximalist era, Mecca is reportedly stocking up on next-gen brands.
While the business is still in its early stages, Homidi said she always had ambitions for her namesake line to go international. After all, she’s a global makeup artist. “I work with designers in New York, London, Paris, Milan,” Homidi said. “That passion of working with different cultures is important to me.” So is creating a luxury product that “you can see yourself in.”
What I’m Reading
The Pat McGrath Labs saga never ends, as the brand continues to be shopped to potential buyers. Brennan Kilbane has the scoop. [The Business of Beauty]
I love Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu’s look! [The Cut]
Sleepy, century-old brands like Gold Bond and Vaseline are trying to market like beauty companies. Should they? [The Business of Beauty]
A sports medicine doctor points out the concerning trends brought on by the longevity craze. [The Atlantic]
After a tepid batch of earnings, Daniela Morosini investigates where the beauty industry goes next. [The Business of Beauty]
Thanks, y’all,
Priya
