A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Sharing its name with the French term for the liminal moment linking late afternoon and early evening, Cinq à Sept brings the intriguing tension between day and night to an advanced contemporary collection.

Inspired by the hours between 5 and 7 p.m., when city streets are awash in the warm glow of the vanishing sun and office desks are abandoned for cocktails and as-yet unknown possibilities, Cinq à Sept embodies a deliberate balance between sophistication and ease, youthful daring, and confident allure.

In early February, Deepak Chopra, the ubiquitous self-help guru, and Charles Rosier, the co-founder and C.E.O. of Augustinus Bader, were scheduled to host a swanky cocktail party on the Upper East Side in advance of the launch of AB Chopra Epigenetics, an A.I.-based wellness platform. But about two hours before call time, the event was nixed after Chopra’s name appeared dozens of times in the latest batch of Epstein files. (Chopra has said that the emails “reflect poor judgment” and that he was never involved in “criminal or exploitative conduct.”) The partnership has since ended, the site has been taken down, and Augustinus Bader has announced that its longevity programs will continue without Chopra. There’s no word yet on when the wellness platform might launch.

Alas, this isn’t the only recent investment that hasn’t panned out for Augustinus Bader. Before the Chopra misfire, there was last fall’s approachably priced Dua Lipa diffusion line, which multiple insiders characterized as a flop. (First-day sales were apparently in the mid-five-figure range, I’m told.) And before that, there was a proliferation of new products that were barely differentiated (serums, moisturizers) or a distraction (haircare). The original premise of Augustinus Bader, after all, was that its two hero products—“The Cream” and “The Rich Cream”—could replace nearly all of a customer’s skincare routine. (A representative for Augustinus Bader declined to comment for this story.)

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Sharing its name with the French term for the liminal moment linking late afternoon and early evening, Cinq à Sept brings the intriguing tension between day and night to an advanced contemporary collection.

Inspired by the hours between 5 and 7 p.m., when city streets are awash in the warm glow of the vanishing sun and office desks are abandoned for cocktails and as-yet unknown possibilities, Cinq à Sept embodies a deliberate balance between sophistication and ease, youthful daring, and confident allure.

Of course, the business is still healthy, and growing. Revenue was about $150 million in 2025, up from around $100 million in 2022—a 50 percent increase over a three-year period. Augustinus Bader’s collaboration with Victoria Beckham Beauty has been widely popular. But overall sales have decelerated, I’m told, leading to questions about whether the brand has missed its optimal moment for a big exit. In the beauty M&A market, 30 to 40 percent year-over-year growth is often the minimum rate for a top-tier acquisition target. And timing is everything when it comes to beauty M&A since strategic investors’ needs and preferences change by the quarter, and it can be difficult to generate meaningful deal heat once growth slows. That’s why you almost never hear founders complain that they sold too early; instead, you only hear from founders and executives who admit they held on too long.

Augustinus Bader’s early years were nothing short of remarkable. When the brand was founded by Rosier and Professor Bader, in 2018, it seemed like every fashion- and beauty-industry person was talking about their almost $300 cream. Victoria Beckham was an early supporter, along with tons of other celebrities. Rosier’s strategy—seeding product to makeup artists and aestheticians rather than their famous clients—was remarkably prescient, and, for the first time, the “Big Three” legacy luxury-skincare players (La Mer, Sisley, La Prairie) seemed to have real competition from a startup.

Within a few years, however, the brand abandoned its minimalist-skincare thesis. Maureen Case, the veteran beauty executive who served as C.E.O. from 2019 to 2021, left the company to pursue another opportunity and was replaced by Rosier, who remains the chief executive. A person with knowledge of the business described the years that followed as “cacophonous.” “It was cluttered, illogical, and whenever the product was ready, they would launch it—even if it was at the wrong time or if another product was launching a few weeks after,” this person told me.

Another person familiar with the company told me that, with the exception of the brand’s earliest days, there’s never been real pressure to fundraise. In late 2022, however, Augustinus Bader raised $25 million at a $1 billion valuation—a round of financing that many felt was unnecessary, even if it got Antoine Arnault on the cap table. The largest shareholder besides Rosier and Bader himself is Jacques Veyrat, the billionaire founder of Impala, a French private equity firm. According to the person with knowledge of the business, Veyrat, who has a seat on the board, has essentially acted as the brand’s benefactor, providing reassurance that it can tap “additional resources.”

The company has remained a target for strategics. As recently as last year, Business of Fashion reported that The Estée Lauder Companies was one of several interested parties, also including Beiersdorf and Puig, willing to pay around $1 billion for the brand—the valuation of the 2022 round. Later, an insider told me that Lauder had also been sniffing around the brand, even signing a letter of intent detailing a multistep transaction. Assuming Augustinus Bader hit certain targets, the deal would have exceeded $1 billion. Another source told me that L’Oréal had expressed interest in purchasing the company outright, for somewhere in the $800 million range, with a performance-based earnout that also could have topped out at over $1 billion. But no deal materialized.

The industry sentiment is that the brand likely missed its moment, but the decision to stay the course has been deliberate and personal. According to one of these insiders, the decision to forgo a deal can be traced back to the fact that Rosier “truly believes” that Augustinus Bader’s scientific platform has room to grow, and that it was “not the right time to sell.” I’m also told that Rosier couldn’t countenance the brand being acquired for less than $1 billion, even if future earnouts would surpass that sum. Meanwhile, others close to the company have pointed out that Veyrat remains patient, particularly given that the brand is still a small investment for Impala.

EBay just acquired Depop, which was owned by Etsy, for $1.2 billion in cash. The gross value of the merchandise Depop sold in 2025 was $1 billion. I’m surprised the peer-to-peer secondhand market hasn’t consolidated further. [Inbox]

Puig beat analyst estimates with nearly 8 percent sales growth in 2025 and a significant widening of its EBITDA margin. The group called out Charlotte Tilbury as a house brand that performed exceptionally well. [Inbox]

Jonathan Saunders’ first collection for & Other Stories is out and about. [British Vogue]

Five great shrimp cocktails in New York City [The Angel]

The story of a streamer who made it work in Sephora, too. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Meta’s longtime head of partnerships (and minor Line Sheet celebrity) Charles Porch got poached by OpenAI. [Vanity Fair]

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

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