Sephora or Against?

The beloved makeup brand Ami Colé is shutting down despite its nearly four-year partnership with Sephora. The development resurfaced one of the most pressing questions in the beauty business: Is a deal with Sephora still the best way to get ahead in the industry?

Many struggle to hit their wholesale partner’s aggressive sales targets, which makes it harder to raise additional capital from investors: The challenges, as Ami Colé’s fate demonstrated, are often insurmountable, even for a beloved brand that was early to the viral lip oil trend. Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Fifteen Percent Pledge

Rachel Strugatz

July 23, 2025

Only four years ago, Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye founded Ami Colé, a line that specialized in foundation and tints for “melanin-rich” skin. Alas, last week, N’Diaye-Mbaye announced she would be shutting it down. In a well-written and candid essay for The Cut, she laid out many of the challenges other founders are scared to address: She called out temperamental investors, and perhaps most saliently, explained the inequities involved in competing with corporate-backed brands for Sephora shelf space. (N’Diaye-Mbaye declined to comment for this piece.)