(Beauty)

This Major Beauty Brand Just Bought Too Faced For $1.4 Billion

by Stephanie Montes

We already know that millennials will play a huge role in the future of our country, but as we’re learning, their influence is affecting every other aspect of the world, including the beauty industry. Today, Estee Lauder Cosmetics, Inc. made the largest brand acquisition in their 70-year history by purchasing Too Faced for $1.45 billion and the brand credits their generational impact for the buy. John Demsey, executive group president at Estee Lauder, tells WWD that 85 percent of their customers are millennials and part of generation Z.

If you thought the Estee Lauder brand skewed slightly older, that’s what attracted them to Too Faced in the first place, as a means to reach a younger consumer. As Glamglow, Smashbox and Becca (among other Instagram favorites) are also under its umbrella, the company won’t have to worry about cannibalizing brands in their makeup portfolio against each other. With Too Faced products constantly reigning top-selling spots in retailers like Sephora and Ulta, the brand is sure to fit right in at Estee Lauder Cosmetics, Inc.

So, what does this mean for the future of your makeup bag? A lot, actually! With the new onslaught of Lauder funds and resources behind the young cosmetics company, this can mean a slew of new products and perhaps even standalone stores. Co-founder of Too Faced, Jerrod Blandino, told WWD, “we are going to continue to dominate the color category, spinning skin care ingredients into the color cosmetics arena, but looking forward to skin care, fragrance—there are so many different places that we can go now because we have the support and resources.” He also adds of the cruelty-free cosmetics company, “we will not be animal testing, we will not be going into China, we will not be made to fold into a corporate culture that we do not have.”