Glossier built the modern beauty playbook — now what?

On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, co-host Sara Spruch-Feiner is joined by senior beauty reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the staple millennial brand — which famously helped pioneer the modern “clean girl” aesthetic — and what its next chapter may hold. 

In recent months, the company has undergone several changes. Since Walsh’s appointment, they’ve included layoffs affecting roughly a third of its workforce, a pullback on physical retail, and a renewed focus on hero products and fragrance, a category now driving significant growth.

Headlines about the brand have often forecasted inevitable doom, but this episode explores Glossier’s current moment beyond a foregone conclusion, examining what it takes for a beauty brand to achieve longevity in an increasingly crowded market, the balance between newness and attention paid to hero products, and the challenge of maintaining relevance across generations.

Highlights from the episode, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.

On longevity in the beauty industry:

Spruch-Feiner: “What’s so interesting to me is [the question of] longevity in the beauty industry. And I’ve been thinking a lot about whether case studies for that really exist. You have brands like Clinique that, at least for many women around our age, was maybe a brand we saw our moms using. I don’t know many people who are using it nowadays, but I recently reported that they are still the No. 1 skin-care and makeup brand at Ulta. … Many of these articles [about what happened at Glossier] — and I’m not saying they’re wrong — are talking about Merit and Saie and Rhode and Summer Fridays as brands that have sort of taken the Glossier playbook and run with it further than Glossier did. And it’s like, ‘Yeah, sure, but where will they be in five years?’ I mean, my suspicion is that we’ll be talking about another set of five upstart brands that have taken those mantles and that playbook and executed faster, harder, whatever, because that’s just the nature of this industry. And that is not a knock at any of those brands, which make products that I use every day. … It’s just sort of the nature of the beast in this industry. So I think the question is more, ‘How does a brand become multi-generational?’ And that’s something that [former Glossier CEO] Kyle [Leahy] spoke about being a main goal for her when she came on the podcast.”

The first mover disadvantage:

Jensen: “It’s tough when you’re the first innovator in a category like Glossier was, where they kind of set the playbook for this style of [marketing], similar to [what] Rhode has now — a really direct bond with their consumers who are very hyped up about their products and willing to wait in line for them. They kind of set the standard for it. They kind of tinker with it, maybe mess up a bit. And then the next wave of brands that comes can see that playbook, can learn from those mistakes and can kind of do it … not necessarily better, but maybe they can have an easier time learning how to navigate those roadblocks of, [say], with Rhode, like, ‘OK, we are just going to go ahead and launch into Sephora earlier.'”

‘No makeup-makeup’s’ enduring appeal

Jensen: “No matter what happens with these trends, on Instagram or on TikTok, I think no makeup-makeup will always be relevant to consumers. I saw an interview with a famous makeup artist, and they were asked, ‘What’s the look that you’re most known for?’ And [the answer was], ‘Ninety percent of the jobs you’re booked for, people want a beautifying makeup,’ which she said is like, ‘I just want to look like a person, but with brighter, clearer skin, maybe a little bit of color, definition on the eyes, and that’s it.’ … Glossier does deserve credit for laying the groundwork for a lot of things, like with skin scents, as well. But how do you get consumers to care, or get them to say, ‘OK, so you did it first, so what? Are you still doing it the best?’ Like, ‘Should I still go to you for it, as opposed to your many other competitors?'”