This week, I checked in with Michael Malinsky, the CEO of TikTok-famous makeup brand Wonderskin, to learn the takeaways from the brand’s sell-out collaboration with Chipotle. It represents a growing number of beauty-focused brand partnerships within the food and beverage industries this year. Additionally, a new beauty executive to know at Kenvue, California passes anti-shoplifting legislation, and Vitamin Shoppe’s parent company files for bankruptcy.
Inside Wonderskin’s sell-out partnership with Chipotle
Food and beverage partnerships continue to drive sales and awareness for the beauty industry.
Earlier this year, E.l.f. Beauty partnered with Liquid Death canned water for a line of heavy metal-inspired makeup and a viral commercial. The collab is based around a kit called “Corpse Paint” that includes white and black face paint, as well as black eyeliner, lipstick and setting spray for $34.
Meanwhile, NYX Professional makeup partnered with iconic chef Gordan Ramsey and his 24-year-old daughter, Holly Ramsay, to promote the brand’s $10 Buttermilk Blush through a series of baking videos. The father and daughter duo appear in several pieces of content that leverage her followership of around 700,000 across Instagram and TikTok.
These both come on the tail of last fall’s Beekman1802 collaboration with Nestlé Toll House, which generated $1 million of sales within the first hour, and reached $2 million through the collaboration. The collaboration includes chocolate chip cookie-scented body-care and lip balm sold on QVC and DTC.
The latest in this list includes TikTok-famous color cosmetics brand Wonderskin, which partnered with Chipotle Mexican Grill for a “burrito-proof” lip stain kit timed to National Avocado Day on July 31.
The kit, renamed Lipotle, features the cosmetic brand’s cult two-step lip stain, which includes a lip mask and activator. Like the brand’s TikTok-famous formulas, the colorful mask peels off to reveal a lip stain. But instead of a blue mask that reveals a variety of tints, Lipotle’s formula dries down to a green, guac-like color and, upon peeling it off, reveals a universally flattering pink shade. Like all of Wonderskin’s stains, it is designed to last through eating and drinking.
“The collaboration was a great bump in business, but the true value was the exposure and the conversations [it started online],” Michael Malinsky, CEO of Wonderskin, told Glossy. He said the brand garnered more than 1 billion media impressions through the life of the partnership, which was covered by beauty, F&B and news publications including Food & Wine, CNN and WWD.
Since this was a brand awareness play, Wonderskin’s goal was to create scarcity, so Malinsky forecasted 10,000 units, which sold for $29.99 through the brand’s DTC channel.
“We started teasing it [to our community] by commenting on each other’s social channels with Chipotle, providing little teasers about a week prior,” Malinsky said. “Two or three days before launch, we started posting some visuals, without explaining what it is, and then we created a short media blitz including an in-person event in L.A. where we took over one of the Chipotle stores.”
The two brands aligned their social channels to promote the launch and also created staggered communication drops across email and SMS to allow Chiptole and Wonderskin fans first access to purchase.
Wonderskin placed a three-unit cap on the collab on each order. “We didn’t limit any other items in the cart, and about 70% of the buyers bought more than one item,” Malinsky said. “We didn’t want to create a sort of hoarding or reselling situation, [and] we actually had people trying to check out with 30 or 40 of them in the cart, potentially to resell. … We appreciate the enthusiasm, but we’d rather have 30 people have a chance to enjoy it, rather than one person sit on all of them or put them on eBay down the road, although they did trickle down into eBay at a higher price [after they sold out].”
The collaboration sold out in one day, and about half of the buyers represented a new customer for Wonderskin. The brand also had several thousand new social media followers associated with the drop.
For Chipotle’s part, marketing messaging took place across social media with buyers encouraged to download the Chipotle app to use a code for free guac on one purchase. Chipotle has more than 3,300 restaurants in the U.S., and this marks the brand’s second beauty collab. In 2021, the brand collaborated with E.l.f. Beauty for an eye palette.
Wonderskin was founded in 2020 and has grown across TikTok and Instagram thanks to its highly visual hero product lip stain. It also sells powder, eyeliner and many more color cosmetics.
“[This collaboration worked because] we had a well laid out plan [where we were able to] control the message, build up a little anticipation and hype, and ensure that the scarcity was genuine and clear to everybody,” Malinsky told Glossy. “People are driven by scarcity and by fun new products. That was the objective, and I think we nailed it on this one.”
Executive moves:
- Andrew Stanleick is the new president of skin health and beauty for Kenvue Inc., the conglomerate that owns brands like Neutrogena and Aveeno. He will oversee the North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa markets. Prior, Stanleicka was the CEO and president of Beauty Health Company, which owns brands like Hydrafacial and SkinStylus, and, previously, he was the CEO of Coty-owned Kylie Jenner Beauty and Kim Kardashian Beauty.
News to know:
- The owner of supplement chain Vitamin Shoppe has filed bankruptcy. Franchise Group Inc., which also owns retailers like Buddy’s Home Furnishings and Pet Supplies Plus, filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware, and according to Bloomberg News, has nearly $2 billion of debt. Vitamin Shoppe has more than 700 stores in the U.S.
- Olaplex reported a 3.6% decline in sales during its Q3 earnings call on Thursday. Whereas direct-to-consumer sales grew by 6.8%, professional sales dropped by 12.6% and specialty retail sales fell by 1.3%. Total sales for the quarter landed at $119.1 million.
- Oddity Tech, which owns beauty brands Il Makiage and SpoiledChild, lifted its full-year outlook after another successful quarter. The company reported a Q3 sales lift with $119 million in sales, up from $94 million during the same time last year. The company lifted its full-year outlook by $2 million to reach $644 million, which would mean around 26% YoY growth for the NYC-based company.
- As reported by Glossy, California passed anti-shoplifting legislation with Proposition 36, which would impose harsher penalties for crimes like shoplifting. It’s part of a larger initiative in the Golden State to curb organized retail crime.
- Fine’ry, the mass fragrance brand created by Maesa incubator and available at Target, announced that it will begin marketing on gaming platform Roblox in an effort to connect with Gen Alpha consumers. “We are thrilled to engage with Roblox’s audience & Gen Alpha, creating a space where users can learn about fragrances while expressing their individuality and creativity in a fun, interactive environment,” Oshiya Savur, chief brand officer at Maesa, said in a statement.
- Shiseido, which owns brands like NARS and Drunk Elephant, reported a 26% decline in core operating profit for the first nine months of the year on Thursday. The company owed the sales plunge to lackluster sales in China and a delayed recovery in its Americas business.
Stat of the week:
According to a research report done by Ulta Beauty called “Generation Joy,” Gen Alpha is 27% less likely to be required to wait until a certain age to wear makeup compared to other generations. The report also found that Gen-Z females started experimenting with beauty products and services around the age 13, while Gen Alpha, on average, starts around age 8 — five years earlier than the previous generation. According to the report, not only does Gen Alpha begin to experiment with beauty products at an earlier age than previous generations, but they also start more concretely defining what beauty means to them around the age of 11.
In the headlines:
What does Gen Z want for Christmas? Inside the hair-raising world of ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ wig department. TikTok’s favorite sunscreen brand pushes further into the U.S. Create & Cultivate founder Jaclyn Johnson is connecting brands and angel investors at Cherub. Chocolate brown is the lipstick shade to know this fall. Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s latest Lemme launch is all about hair health, without acne-causing biotin. Bubble, Tower 28 and Crown Affair founders give us the lowdown on launching at retail down under. How Space NK is keeping its edge amid fierce competition.
Listen in:
Skin-care founder Angela Caglia joins the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the stem cell technology that created 437% sales growth and retail expansion for her brand, Angela Caglia Skincare, in 2024.
Need a Glossy recap?
Stem cell science is dominating the luxury skin-care market as human-derived ingredients become less taboo. E.l.f. Beauty CEO announces Dollar General Store expansion during earnings call Wednesday. How Mormon culture became mainstream, and why the beauty industry wants a piece of it. Coty defies beauty slowdown with fragrance still on the rise. How Trump’s re-election impacts women-founded startups. How Revolve is growing its beauty category. How fashion and beauty brand founders are responding to Trump’s re-election.
