The Glossy Beauty Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Rare Beauty's fragrance, C-suite hires, L'Oréal earnings — and K-beauty brand Krave Beauty’s Liah Yoo Jul 31, 2025

Show notes

Krave Beauty isn’t your average K-Beauty brand.

“[Our mission] resonates with a lot of people who are really tired of the beauty industry's narrative of ‘more is more,’” CEO and co-founder Liah Yoo told Glossy.

After getting her start working for Amorepacific in Seoul, South Korea, Yoo joined YouTube to share her own skin challenges. “I was documenting my acne skin struggles in my mid 20s, and I literally tried everything,” she said. “Nothing worked until I pressed reset and simplified my routine, going from a 14-step skin-care routine to a super minimal three-step skin-care routine [with] super gentle, minimal, hydrating ingredients.”
In today’s episode, Yoo walks us through the process of sourcing tamanu oil, a main ingredient in Krave’s best-selling $28 Great Barrier Relief Serum.
But first, Lexy Lebsack is joined by senior reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the news of the week. This includes Rare Beauty’s foray into fragrance with Rare Eau de Parfum, a $75 fragrance created with famous nose Jerome Epinette. It launches at Sephora on August 7. Lebsack and Jensen also discuss a lineup of new C-suite appointments, including new execs at Herbivore and Saltair. Finally, they discuss L’Oréal’s latest earnings and a shift happening within the in-office injectable marketplace.

TSG Group's Phlur acquisition, Shiseido's layoffs — and everything you should know about sunscreen in the US Jul 24, 2025

Show notes

In this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon Dr. Jane Yoo, and the Melanoma Research Foundation's director of advocacy, Kim Wezik, MPH, chat with Glossy podcast co-host Sara Spruch-Feiner about how the U.S. wound up so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to sunscreen, how the Melanoma Research Foundation is working with congress to try to make progress in the field, and what's at stake (20:00).

But first, co-hosts Lexy Lebsack and Emily Jensen discuss some of the week’s biggest beauty news, including TSG Group's acquisition of Chriselle Lim's Phlur, which was relaunched by Ben Bennett's incubator, The Center, in 2022. They also discuss a recent controversy surrounding the introduction of an AI fragrance influencer "launched" by another incubator, Slate Brands. The influencer's profile has since been deleted. And finally, they discuss recent layoffs at Shiseido — the parent company of Drunk Elephant, Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, Nars, and several fragrance licenses including Tory Burch and Narciso Rodriguez — as well as at Walmart.

Prime Day's results, Beauty's wrestling opportunity — and a lawyer's take on beauty’s dupe lawsuits Jul 17, 2025

Show notes

Beauty dupes have never been more popular. But is mimicking a competitor a sound business decision?

“This might surprise people, [but] dupes may not be illegal on their own," brand protection attorney Elizabeth Milian told Glossy. The word “dupe” is shorthand for “duplicate” and often denotes a product that is inspired by a higher-priced luxury offering. A dupe is different from a counterfeit product that presents itself as the original.

It's very common for duped brands to regularly bring lawsuits against the companies allegedly infringing on their trade dress, or IP, such as packaging, branding, logos or any other unique asset. While the majority of these lawsuits pop up then quickly disappear, Milian told Glossy they’re a vital action for long-term brand IP protection.

Most cases quickly settle out of court and so there is little legal precedent, yet most are based upon the same thing: Is consumer confusion happening? To better understand this growing issue, and how it impacts beauty business on both sides, Milian breaks down four recent cases.

Beauty dupes have never been more popular. But is mimicking a competitor a sound business decision?

Debut Biotech’s Joshua Britton on the breakthrough beetle pigment set to disrupt beauty, plus Amazon Prime sale news Jul 10, 2025

Show notes

The female cochineal beetle may not be aware of it, but it owes a debt of gratitude to Joshua Britton.

In February, Britton’s Debut Biotech unveiled a breakthrough set to disrupt how beauty products are formulated. Using biotechnology, the San Diego-based company created a vegan, bio-identical alternative to a common red cosmetics colorant traditionally harvested from the cochineal beetle.

This beetle pigment can be found on ingredient labels as “carmine,” “cochineal extract,” “crimson lake,” “natural red 4” or “C.I. 75470.” A quick online search reveals carmine in products from Stila, Fenty Beauty, Maybelline, M.A.C., Chanel and dozens more brands.

Britton has had a team of 10 researchers working on this for around four years. Debut has invested around $10 million in the project thus far, and the new, vegan pigment will soon be available for the industry at scale.

Britton has a PHD in biochemistry and organic chemistry and launched Debut six years ago. Debut is backed by L’Oréal’s science-focused incubator arm Bold and was named a Time 100 2025 Most Influential Companies of the Year. The company also launched its first in-house skin-care brand, called Deinde, in 2024. Glossy awarded Britton a Glossy 50 award last year.

Britton joins the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the breakthrough and its impact, and provides a primer on the power of biotechnology in beauty today.

But first, Lexy Lebsack is joined by senior reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the news of the week. This includes early results from Amazon Prime Days, which is on track to be the retailer’s largest annual sale yet.

Jensen and Lebsack also discuss Sephora’s newest brand, Beauty of Joseon, which is known for its viral and hard-to-get sunscreens. Founder Sumin Lee joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast late last year to discuss its stunning growth in the U.S. market. The company hopes to sell $120 million in the U.S. market this year.

Unilever's acquisition, Glossier's CEO shakeup and Arrae's Siff Haider on predicting wellness trends Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

In the big wide world of health and wellness, there is always a buzzword du jour. In the past couple months, you've likely heard buzz about gut health and GLP-1s, ingredients like creatine and colostrum, and, of course, protein. For many of these trends, Arrae, the supplement brand co-founded by Siffat "Siff" Haider and her husband, Nishant Samantray, has been right there, answering consumer demand with a product featuring that of-the-moment ingredient or speaking to a top-of-mind concern.

Wellness is Haider's passion and something she enjoys thinking about constantly, she said, both to live her best life and to get ahead of the zeitgeist for the brand. She also has a built-in focus group via her online community of 117,000 Instagram followers. Her podcast, "The Dream Bigger Podcast" — where she focuses on business, beauty and wellness — has another 38,000 Instagram followers. Arrae, meanwhile, has 222,000 Instagram followers.

On June 12, the brand introduced its first protein product, Clear Protein+. A box of 20 single-use sachets is $55, without a subscription. The protein is raspberry yuzu flavor, which Haider likens to a "raspberry refresher." In addition to its hero ingredient, hydrolyzed whey protein, it includes electrolytes and collagen peptides.

In this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast (16:50), Haider chats with Glossy senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner about how she stays on top of wellness's next big things, how she knew creatine was going to have a big moment and what's special about Arrae's latest launch.

But first, co-hosts Lexy Lebsack and Emily Jensen discuss some of the week’s biggest beauty news, including Unilever’s acquisition of the buzzy men’s grooming brand Dr. Squatch, which recently made headlines for selling soap infused with Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater. They also touch on Glossier’s search for a new CEO, as current chief Kyle Leahy is set to step down at the end of the year, and Dossier’s expansion into brick-and-mortar retail.

Beauty news from L’Oréal, Coty and Byredo — plus, Sahajan Skincare’s Lisa Mattam on clinical testing Jun 19, 2025

Show notes

Earlier this year, Sahajan founder Lisa Mattam shared insights into her clinical testing strategy with Glossy, including the difference between clinical testing and consumer perception testing; the cost, challenges and complications that can arise with this sort of investment; and how she uses the results to market her line.

In today’s podcast episode, she breaks down all of this in more detail, including the challenges, cost and unseen hurdles.

But first, Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack is joined by senior reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the news of the week. This includes the latest C-suite shuffles at Byredo and Kering, plus analysis of L’Oréal Group’s big #JoinTheRefillMovement refillability campaign that kicked off this week. It marks L’Oréal Group’s first global multi-brand, multi-category, multi-channel campaign — but is it a worthwhile investment?

Glow Recipe’s lawsuit, L'Oréal Group’s acquisition — and Drybar's Alli Webb on her new hair brand Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

West Coast correspondent Lexy Lebsack is joined by senior reporter Emily Jensen to discuss this week’s news, starting with a buzzy new lawsuit that could impact the future of beauty dupes. They discuss Glow Recipe’s new lawsuit against MCo Beauty for allegedly copying one of its hero products, $36 Watermelon Glow Dew Drops, with MCo’s $11.99 Hydrate & Glow Ultra-Dew Serum.

Jensen and Lebsack also discuss L'Oréal Group’s latest acquisition of the British skin-care brand Medik8. Announced this week, the conglomerate acquired a majority stake in the brand, which launched stateside in 2023, to bolster its luxury and dermatological beauty division. The line is omnichannel, doctor-founded and led, results-based, rooted in clinical science, and priced under its competitors — a cocktail of the top attributes many investment firms and conglomerates are looking for today.

And finally, Drybar founder Alli Webb is back with a new hair brand (16:27) — but it’s not what you think. Glossy Pop senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner sat down with Webb to learn about the line’s origin story and launch.

BeautyTok's latest and Huda Kattan's buy-back — plus, inside Rhode's big E.l.f. Beauty deal Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast, Sara Spruch-Feiner, senior reporter at Glossy Pop, and Emily Jensen, Glossy senior beauty reporter, are joined by Gabi Barko, senior reporter at Glossy's sister publication Modern Retail, and Brit Starr, CMO at influencer marketing platform Creator IQ.

Kicking off the episode, Jensen and Spruch-Feiner chat what's happening on TikTok in beauty this week, why Pride Month will look a little different this year, and why Huda Kattan is taking back full ownership of Huda Beauty.

Later (16:18), Spruch-Feiner, Barkho and Starr discuss the biggest beauty news of the year, announced last Wednesday: E.l.f. Beauty is acquiring Rhode, the 3-year-old brand launched by Hailey Bieber. The acquisition was notable for numerous reasons, but some of the bold headlines include the fact that, though a Sephora launch is coming soon, it hasn't happened yet. Plus, the brand currently sells under ten SKUs, including its viral phone case. E.l.f., for its part, has had 25 quarters of consecutive net-sales and market-share growth. In addition to her roles as Chief Creative Officer and head of innovation at Rhode, Bieber will also serve as a strategic advisor to E.l.f. Beauty, across its portfolio, which includes E.l.f. Cosmetics and E.l.f. Skin, W3ll People, Keys Soulcare, and Naturium, the last of which it acquired in 2023.

Maison Louis Marie's founders on the changing pace of fragrance — plus, the new ways shoppers are finding beauty products May 29, 2025

Show notes

Maison Louis Marie (20:00) was founded in 2012 and has never taken on investment, which, according to the married couple behind the brand, Marie du Petit Thouars and Matthew Berkson, has allowed it to focus on slow and steady growth. It is profitable and does not spend excessively on influencer marketing.

"We want to be careful with the brand. We really want to create a legacy brand," Berkson said.

In 13 years, Maison Louis Marie has grown to sell eau de parfums, perfume oils, candles, diffusers, body wash, lotion and deodorant, among other products. It entered Sephora in 2017. A little over six months ago, it opened its first dedicated retail space, at Platform, an open-air shopping center in Los Angeles's Culver City.

According to the founders, Maison Louis Marie's community members love the space and the chance to shop the brand's full collection — a smaller selection of products is carried at Sephora.

"People want to smell [things IRL] — yet what each store can carry is so limited, as there are so many brands," said du Petit Thouars. "[At our store] the customer is so excited to [discover] all the things we offer that they're not aware of and to be able to touch, smell and look," said du Petit Thouars.

In this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Sara Spruch-Feiner speaks with Berkson and du Petit Thouars about how Maison Louis Marie is meeting the current moment of fragrance mania, how it's working to attract a younger audience with its soon-to-launch hair and body mists, and what drove its first-ever celebrity endorsement.

But first, co-hosts Sara Spruch-Feiner and Lexy Lebsack chat about the different ways customers discover new products nowadays, including ChatGPT's updated shopping capabilities, Wirecutter's new beauty vertical and Ulta Beauty's program transforming its salespeople into content creators.

Sports agent Jacki Gemelos on beauty’s WNBA sponsorship opportunity, plus industry news May 22, 2025

Show notes

The WNBA kicked off its new season last week with beauty brands lining up to gain access to the league’s growing cohort of fans.

In a gold rush that started around 2020, some of the industry’s top brands have entered into multi-year sponsorships with the league or its top players. The most recent, Fenty’s sponsorship of the New York Liberty, was announced earlier this month and kicked off on Saturday’s home game opener with several activations including a "Gloss Bomb glam cam" where fans show off their beauty look.

The NY Liberty, a top team in the league, has also received sponsorships from L’Oréal-owned brands Essie nail polish and NYX color cosmetics. Meanwhile, Amorepacific-owned Laneige became the Phoenix Mercury’s official sponsor last year, mass hair-care brand Odele Beauty sponsors the Minnesota Lynx, and Glossier has been a league sponsor since 2020.

What’s more, Youth To The People has partnered with the Seattle Storm, and L’Oréal-owned Urban Decay was the official L.A. Sparks sponsor for two seasons. Plus, the Chicago Sky has partnerships with Covergirl, Olay and hair-care band Jamaican Mango and Lime. But perhaps one of the biggest deals is Sephora’s sponsorship of the league’s newest team, San Francisco’s Golden State Valkyries, who will now play at the newly-renamed "Sephora Performance Center" in Oakland. And this is just a snapshot of the WNBA deals Glossy is tracking.

“There was limited broadcast for women's sports [a few years ago], and now we have record-breaking viewership, which has been just absolutely amazing,” said Jacki Gemelos, a former WNBA player and coach turned sports agent. “Major brands rarely built campaigns around female athletes. And now athletes like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Alex Morgan and Simone Biles, just to name a few, are leading campaigns and not just being included.”

As previously reported by Glossy, attention from the beauty industry aligns with a sharp rise in WNBA audience attention. Viewership on ESPN was up 155% last season and, within this, viewership among people aged 18–34 rose by 164% and viewership among women increased by 165% year-over-year.

Glossy welcomed Gemelos to the podcast to discuss this change and provide context and advice for beauty execs looking to join in on the action. She provides context as to different types of deals, including the average costs and what makes a deal authentic.

Gemelos is a lifelong basketball player who spent more than a decade playing professionally overseas and in the WNBA for the Chicago Sky and the Connecticut Sun. She was an assistant coach for the NY Liberty before joining Nike as an athlete community coordinator. Today, she’s an agent at prestigious boutique firm Disrupt the Game, where she oversees deals for a roster of top talent.

In today’s episode, Gemelosdiscusses everything beauty execs need to know about this cultural shift. But first, hosts Lexy Lebsack and Sara Spruch-Feiner discuss the top headlines of the week. This includes QVC’s foray into 24/7 social commerce selling through TikTok Shop, plus a bird’s eye view on how the beauty industry did in the first quarter of the year, according to a new report from Circana market research company.

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