When Melissa Peluso took on the CEO role at 94-year-old Revlon in late 2024, the parent company of more than 20 brands like Almay and Elizabeth Arden, she knew there were countless questions to answer.
“How do you modernize these brands for the future, bring innovation that’s really consumer backed and tell bigger, bolder, more digital stories?” She told Glossy. “How do you regain the trust of retailers? And how do you bring technology and data to the forefront?”
Revlon debuted in 1932 and spent the next decades launching new categories and acquiring brands and fragrance licenses on its path to becoming a drugstore darling. The company went public in 1996. In 2021, the last full year before the brand delisted from the NYSE, Revlon reported just over $2 billion in annual revenue. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
“At the end of the day, I think these brands had a lot of under investment for a whole variety of reasons, not the least of which is the debt load the company was carrying,” Peluso told Glossy. “[The company] just stopped investing, and you can’t do that in beauty.”
Revon has more than 20 brands in its portfolio including color cosmetics, nail polish, and hair color and care under the Revlon brand; as well as Almay color cosmetics; nail brands like CND, Cutex and Sinful colors; Mitchum deodorant; and hair-care brands like American Crew and Creme of Nature; plus fragrance licenses for Juicy Couture, Lucky, Ed Hardy, John Varvatos, and more.
The company emerged from bankruptcy as a private company owned by a consortium of its former lenders in 2023. Peluso’s arrival marked the beginning of a turnaround effort that includes a narrower focus for its brands, beginning with Revlon and Almay.
Glossy sat down with Peluso 16 months into her tenure to learn about her ongoing rebound strategy. Below, Glossy has summarized three key parts of her turnaround, including a refreshed brand identity, an aggressive expansion of its fragrance footprint and a rethinking of its global supply chain.
Narrow, unique brand identities
“Brand by brand, we’ve done the hard work to really understand the demand landscape: where we have the right to win, what consumers want and need, where we’re performing well and where we’re not,” Peluso told Glossy. “We haven’t done it for all of our brands yet, but we’ve made progress against all of our major brands.”
The company started with a 4,000-person study conducted in its three largest markets: Mexico, Australia and the U.S. For Revlon specifically, the team found that “women want high-glam, high-impact looks,” Peluso said.
The company landed on a new narrow focus of easy-to-use, bold color designed for a full-face beat. Internally, they call it “e-glam” for efficient glamour. “This isn’t a brand for the girl next door,” she said. “This isn’t a brand for ‘no-makeup makeup’ — and we had probably [made an error in the past] airing in that direction [with Revlon].”
For example, Revlon relaunched its Photo Ready collection earlier this month with new packaging, colors and formulas that are more aligned to Gen-Z shoppers. “[The packaging] is so clean, fresh and modern, and doesn’t look like it’s from the ‘90s [anymore],” she said.
On the flipside of this change is Almay, the color line launched in 1931 and acquired by Revlon in the late ‘80s. Peluso’s team is currently revamping the line with new formulas and packaging made for the clean, “no-makeup makeup” shopper. Peluso told Glossy the forthcoming changes have already earned the brand more shelf space in some mass retailers.
Peluso believes Almy has the right to win in clean drugstore makeup, a little-exploited category. “We’ve seen amazing clean makeup take off in prestige and masstige, but we haven’t seen it in mass,” she said.
A multi-pronged approach to fragrance expansion
“I’m super excited about fragrance — and, look, this is the place where we have a lot of work to do, just to be clear,” Peluso said.
In October, she onboarded longtime Estée Lauder Companies exec Amber Garrison to lead fragrance and Elizabeth Arden. “[We’re trying to] make sure we’re hitting on multiple different segments in a very distinct way,” Peluso said. “We have our hands full [with new fragrance launches].”
Fragrance sales provide about a quarter of Revlon’s sales, driven by a mix of in-house brands like Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door and Revlon’s Charlie, and fragrance licenses including Halston, Curve, and collections from celebrities like Christina Aguilera and Elizabeth Taylor. Peluso is quickly expanding the company’s footprint across various fragrance sub-categories.
First up is a fragrance from Grammy-nominated rapper Ice Spice to be released later this year. The brand is also betting on Elizabeth Arden with a new scent called Eternal Aura that will launch this year. In addition, the company tapped luxury Italian streetwear brand Palm Angels, launched in 2015, for a licensing deal to launch scents in 2027. “This one is gorgeous,” Peluso said. “We’re playing with a scent right now, but I think this one will be a really nice one.”
Peluso also teased new formats for Just Moi, the best-selling Juicy Couture perfume. The line currently has eu de parfum in regular and travel sizes.
Finally, Revlon entered an agreement with Authentic Brands Group in 2025 to develop the first fragrance for Champion sportswear to launch in 2027.
On rethinking the role of China
Another key takeaway from Glossy’s conversation with Peluso is a reframing of its global supply chain and the overall role of China in the beauty industry. According to business reporting during its 2022 bankruptcy, it was Revlon’s “snarled supply chain” that led to its downfall, according to CNBC.
One part of its rehabilitation is regional manufacturing, with active, local research and development teams serving regional consumers, with the ability to scale innovation into global markets after proven demand.
“China is a great example where we actually set up an R&D facility [because] Elizabeth Arden is a powerhouse brand in China,’ she said. “They need the ability to have rapid-fire local innovation [to meet the needs of the Chinese consumer].”
It’s part of a larger shift, Peluso said. “One of the most underwritten, but remarkably interesting things about China right now is most companies thought about ‘the West for China’, and then there was this brief period where [people thought about] ‘China for China.’ But I actually think the real [move] is ‘China [development, branding and manufacturing] for the rest of the world.”
What else that may lead to exactly remains to be seen. “The rise in quality of local brands in China, and local innovation, has relevance in other parts of the world,” Peluso said. “We’re trying to be at the forefront of that thinking with our own company and our own brands.”
