I see beauty and skincare brands as examples of ecommerce growth, from niche momentum and social reach to public-market expectations and the resilience of selling makeup. My observations include both operating claims and headlines whose details or evidence were not captured.
On August 5, 2025, I described the Korean skincare niche as being on a legendary run and pointed to Beauty of Joseon as a strong example. I said it was among the niche’s most popular ecommerce brands, had taken over TikTok over the last couple of years, and was now unstoppable. I gave no supporting data or specific measures for those claims.
On April 25, 2026, I described Spoiled Child (Oddity) as an interesting public ecommerce brand and said its stock had fallen sharply over the prior 6 months as expectations became too high. I characterized its IPO positioning as an “AI-native beauty disruptor” narrative that brought a premium multiple and hype; then growth normalized, CAC concerns arose, the narrative cooled, and the stock was chopped in half. I said it later reported +24% growth, ~71% gross margins, and 15-16% cash flow, after which the stock rose. I offered this as an example of what may happen to other AI-narrative companies, saying only the strong will survive; I did not specify the reporting period or define the cash-flow measure.
On June 11, 2026, I shared a headline describing an unnamed beauty brand as worth $1.3 billion and “Scaling Like Crazy.” The capture did not identify the brand or provide evidence or a valuation method, so I cannot verify the headline’s claim.
On October 23, 2026, I said e.l.f. was up 40% in 3 months while AI stocks were getting smoked, and concluded that selling makeup was still a pretty good business. I did not specify the security or comparison dates behind the stock-performance claim.
Related: unusual beauty product trends, beauty market gold rushes, ecommerce market growth