The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty. More from the series →
The Innovators: These thought leaders advanced their respective industries with groundbreaking products or ideas.
Custom beauty brand Function of Beauty is betting big on its expansion strategy.
In March, the bespoke brand launched in more than 380 U.K.-based Boots locations and on the retailer’s e-commerce site. And in August, it introduced a new hair-care range, Function of Beauty PRO, exclusively at 300 Sephora locations in North America and online — it was the first custom hair-care line to debut at Sephora. The pro-tested line, consisting of 19 products, is fully customizable based on hair type, hair goals and damage level.
“We looked at insights from our DTC business, and it became clear to us that there were very important hair needs that weren’t being addressed by our product range,” said Alexanra Papazian, Function of Beauty’s CEO. “Those needs are specifically tied to people who go to salons and need care between salon [visits]. And clearly, that customer shops in prestige.”
The launch into prestige was years in the making, said Papazian, who joined the company as CEO in 2021, taking over for co-founder Zahir Dossa.
“Sephora [contributed] to the product’s launch at every step, from product naming to marketing strategy,” Papazian said. “They were literally in the kitchen with us testing and helping us reformulate until we all felt at a great place.”
Papazian called the Sephora launch one of her proudest moments of the year because it reflects the brand’s larger goal of creating customizable experiences for every consumer.
“Within the Sephora environment, our products range from $24-$28, which is significantly below key competitors. That was a conscious choice because the brand wants to democratize access to customization,” Papazian said.
Multichannel retail is a top priority for Function of Beauty moving forward. However, because each channel targets a different demographic, Papazian said there has been a learning curve with each expansion.
“We have a pretty clear [marketing] recipe for DTC and for Target, but with Sephora, we’re just getting started,” Papazian said. “We’re testing different things, and we’re looking at what is working and what is resonating.”
To date, Function of Beauty has received $12 million in funding, and industry experts expect it to do between $125 million and $150 million in sales this year.
Click here to see all 2023 Glossy 50 honorees.
