THE LATEST ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
Estee Lauder Paulina fragrance
Rachel Strugatz November 19, 2025
The Estée Lauder Companies’s latest niche fragrance investment has all the trappings of a potential next big thing, but the deal begs the question: Why does the company keep ignoring the frothy middle market?
Victoria Beckham beauty
Rachel Strugatz November 14, 2025
With its beauty business booming, the brand has engaged a banker to facilitate a deal.
Victoria Beckham netflix documentary
Rachel Strugatz November 12, 2025
Victoria Beckham Beauty is winning discerning customers and finding new channels to grow into the luxury brand it has long aspired to be. It’s increasingly clear that if Beckham cashes out, it’s going to be thanks to makeup—not apparel.
Stephane de la Faverie
Rachel Strugatz November 5, 2025
Estée Lauder boss Stéphane de La Faverie seems to have ushered in a new era of common-sense leadership and fiscal responsibility. But what if he took a page from Kering’s Luca de Meo and did something radical, like sell off the brands diverting attention from the priority businesses?


hailey bieber rhode
Rachel Strugatz October 29, 2025
A recent S.E.C. filing from Rhode’s new parentco revealed surprising new financial details about Hailey Bieber’s lip gloss juggernaut. But the more salient takeaway was what it seemed to signal about E.l.f.’s anxieties regarding the growth trajectory of its new portfolio company.
rihanna fenty
Rachel Strugatz & Sarah Shapiro October 22, 2025
News and notes on LVMH’s decision to dump its 50 percent stake in Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, what ShopMy’s $70 million raise portends for the affiliate marketing wars, and the juxtaposition between the designer skirt revival and the latest fall retail data.
Luca de Meo
Rachel Strugatz October 22, 2025
Inside C.E.O. Luca de Meo’s decision to abruptly abandon the company’s long-term beauty strategy—and what it means for the L’Oréal regime.
alicia sontag
Rachel Strugatz October 15, 2025
Prelude Growth’s Alicia Sontag has carved out a sweet spot in beauty, investing in ascendant but proven brands just as they’re hitting their stride, and then applying her retail expertise and post-D.T.C. strategy to help them thrive. In the small world of beauty investors, she’s the new queen.


Mikayla Nogueira
Rachel Strugatz October 8, 2025
Ulta and Sephora have spent months locked in a pitched battle to land an exclusive partnership with Point of View, the D.T.C. skincare brand from self-taught makeup artist Mikayla Nogueira. The war is now over, and there are emerging signs about which direction the brand will go next.
Sue Nabi
Rachel Strugatz October 1, 2025
News and notes on the divestiture chatter swirling around Coty, and Glossier’s buzzy follow-up to its cult-favorite Cloud Paint blush.
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