2019-10-16 The Hollywood Reporter

Style

Beauty

E

ven with an Oscar, nine Grammys and

a reported net worth of $320 million,

Lady Gaga still knows how to hustle. In

late May, realizing that the shooting of a video

for her beauty startup Haus Laboratories was

about to run over schedule, the 33-year-old

started to clean up around the models, film

crew and makeup artist. “Everybody go home

so I don’t have to pay you overtime,” she told

the group of 20 people. “I’m going to pack

up.” Says Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Nicole

Quinn, whose firm invests in Haus: “We want

that [kind of] involvement.”

Following the success of Gwyneth Paltrow’s

Goop and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, more and

more stars have been developing, launch-

ing and marketing their own beauty brands.

They’re finding it hard to resist the allure

of repeat sales, high profit margins (up to

90 percent for a fragrance) and word-of-

mouth marketing among customers who

already follow them (such as the 37.3 million

on Gaga’s Instagram). Based on launches

headed up by 12 stars, here are today’s six

branding rules of celebrity beauty.

1. MAKE IT ‘YOU’ With a stringent record of
   investing in only two of the 2,500 companies
   who pitch the Lightspeed venture capitalist
   every year, Quinn says she felt confident with
   Gaga because “authenticity is everything.” It’s
   the same approach that guided Lightspeed’s
   investments in Goop and Jessica Alba’s
   Honest Co. “Whatever it may be — beauty or
   any product — they have passion and want to
   build a company around it,” Quinn says.
   Goop’s 15% Glycolic Overnight Glow Peel
   and Microderm Instant Glow Exfoliator
   emerged directly from Paltrow. “She was
   talking about what she’d like to do at a
   dermatologist, which is to get a laser peel
   or microdermabrasion. From that we cre-
   ated two products,” says Erin Cotter, Goop’s
   senior vp beauty. Once Paltrow posted a video
   of herself using the peel on Goop’s site and
   Instagram page, it recorded the best first-day
   sales in Goop’s profitable beauty division.
   Products emphasizing inclusion propelled
   the growth of Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty. In
   September 2017, the LVMH-backed brand
   premiered 40 shades of foundation, among
   91 items, both online and in 1,620 stores in
   more than 17 countries. “I’m not the face of my
   brand, but I am the muse, and my DNA has to
   run all the way through it,” she recently said to

‘A u t h e n t i c i t y

Is Everything’

for a Star’s

Beauty Brand

The more involved, the better, as Lady Gaga

and Rihanna have learned: ‘I turned a major

deal down as I wouldn’t have full control over

ingredients,’ says Michelle Pfeiffer

By Khanh T.L. Tran

Vog u e. The philosophy works: From its launch

through 2018, the singer’s business gener-

ated sales of about $550 million, according

to LVMH. “Incredible success with Rihanna,”

LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said

during a January presentation detailing the

French conglomerate’s fiscal 2018 earnings.

2. IF IT’S NOT YOU, MOVE ON Taking a different
   path, Michelle Pfeiffer has funded her own
   company, Henry Rose, which introduced
   fragrances made with non-toxic ingredients
   in April. “I came quite close to signing a
   major endorsement deal with a large beauty
   house but ultimately decided to turn it down
   as I wouldn’t have full control over the safety
   of ingredients, which was a non-negotiable
   for me,” she tells THR in a September email.
   The actress commissioned New York’s

1

2

Ryan Seacrest

promotes the

Polished by

Dr. Lancer line

he cofounded

on QVC and

social media.

Above: Ariana Grande with

Thank U, Next fragrance.

Right: Rihanna at a

Sephora store in Sydney

in 2018. Her line forced

major brands to increase

their foundation shades.

Below: Pro Filt’r Hydrating

Longwear Foundation, $35.