This week, I report on E.l.f. Beauty’s new interactive partnership with Pinterest, which taps into social media‘s growing color season analysis trend to drive consumers to E.l.f’s curated product collections. Additionally, L’Oréal Group partners with AI chipmaker Nvidia, P&G gets a new beauty division CEO, and French glass manufacturer Verescence is acquired.
E.l.f. Beauty rolls out interactive Pinterest partnership driven by K-Beauty’s seasonal color analysis trend
Pinterest continues to be an increasingly-important marketing channel for brands
The social media platform currently has approximately 570 million active monthly users that save around 1.5 billion pins each week, according to the company.
On Monday, E.l.f. Beauty unveiled an interactive partnership with Pinterest called “color e.l.f.nalysis” where users can take or upload an image to determine one’s seasonal color from 12 archetypes.
Personal color season analysis is far from new, but it has seen a revival in the last few years thanks to a trending, hyper-visual interpretation that originated in South Korea. Videos of the service have flooded TikTok and Instagram and often consist of an expert covering a client’s hair and body with white fabric before comparing colorful fabric swatches to the client’s face.
In-person color analysis appointments can cost hundreds of dollars per session. According to Pinterest, searches for “color analysis test” have grown 22 times in the past year.
The goal is to determine which “season” one is, which uses eye color, hair color, skin color and skin undertone to group a person into one of 12 archetypes such as “light spring,” “deep winter” or “soft summer.”
According to Mintel market research company, 70% of Pinterest users say it is where they go to find new products, ideas or services they can trust. Nearly half of Pinterest users are women ages 25-44, according to Mintel.
This is Pinterest’s first partnership with E.l.f Beauty. The consumer journey begins on a landing page where the user is prompted to upload or take a photo that is then analyzed by AI in a few seconds to reveal one’s color season. Users are then dropped into one of E.l.f.’s 12 collections of pinned images, or boards, where they can explore pre-curated color cosmetics available for purchase on E.l.f.’s e-commerce site.
E.l.f Beauty is known for its offbeat and effective partnership strategy. The company counts canned water brand Liquid Death, fast food chain Chipotle and refillable mug brand Stanley as its previous partners. More recently, it drove an estimated $20 million in “media impact value” after its Rhode acquisition earlier this month, according to influencer marketing-focused software company Launchmetrics. MIV is a proprietary metric that estimates the value of non-paid digital press.
Last month, E.l.f Beauty parent company E.l.f. Cosmetics reported its 25th consecutive quarter of net sales growth. It had a 4% increase in net sales, reaching $332.6 million for the quarter ending on March 31. Meanwhile, its full-year fiscal 2025 net sales grew 28%.
Pinterest also has a robust partnership strategy. As previously reported by Glossy, Maybelline partnered with the company late last year to reach Gen-Z makeup consumers, while Anthropologie collaborated with Pinterest the same year to target brides-to-be.
According to a 2018 study commissioned by Pinterest, more than half of users surveyed think of Pinterest as a place to shop.
Earlier this year, Pinterest rolled out a new partnership with the WNBA team the New York Liberty as an official sponsor. It also completed its second annual partnership with music festival Coachella earlier this year. Both partnerships featured online and in-person activations intended to engage consumers “where they are.”
The California-based social media platform launched in 2010 and went public in 2019. Pinterest reported a 16% revenue increase for its Q1 2025 to reach $855 million in the three months ending March 31. Global monthly users jumped 10% to reach 570 million monthly active users.
Pinterest is also a burgeoning place for content creators. Total creator posts on the platform grew by 50% year over year in 2024, reaching 18,900 posts, according to CreatorIQ, a platform that tracks digital performance across the global creator economy. A representative from the firm told Glossy that 23% of brands say they regularly use Pinterest for creator marketing, while 18% of creators say they regularly use Pinterest.
“The top 50 U.S. beauty brands averaged a 516% year-over-year surge in Pinterest impressions, but that growth tended to be driven by several outlier brands,” said Alex Rawitz, director of research and insights for CreatorIQ. These include luxury brands YSL Beauty, Chanel Beauty, Armani Beauty and Dior Beauty, as well as prestige brands like Huda, Saie, Makeup by Mario and Tower 28, according to Rawitz.
“Ultimately, while we do see some momentum for Pinterest among top beauty brands, activity on the channel remains much lower than creator activity on other social platforms,” said Rawitz. “It’s possible that E.l.f. Beauty will help heighten this momentum and spark more of a revival for the platform.”
Executive moves:
- Colin Walsh, CEO of P&G’s specialty beauty division, is set to step down on August 1. He has held the role since July 2023 and will be replaced by John Brownlee, svp of North America hair care. Walsh’s CV includes CEO of Ouai and DevaCurl. P&G’s specialty beauty division includes hair-care brand Ouai and skin-care brands Tula, Farmacy and First Aid Beauty.
- Clare Horner, beauty director of the U.K.-based luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols, has stepped down. Horner joined the retailer, which has seven stores in the U.K. and six international stores, in 2021. It’s part of a larger restructuring for the retailer that reportedly includes cost-cutting measures and a remodeling of its London flagship.
News to know:
- Leonard A. Lauder, longtime beauty executive and son of trailblazing beauty founder Estée Lauder, died on Sunday at 92. During his career, Lauder grew Estée Lauder Companies into the beauty juggernaut it is today. “Throughout his life, my father worked tirelessly to build and transform the beauty industry, pioneering many of the innovations, trends and best practices that are foundational to the industry today,” William P. Lauder, chair of ELC’s board of directors, said in a statement. ELC was launched in 1946, went public in 1955 and generated $15.61 billion in net sales during its fiscal 2024.
- L’Oréal Group has partnered with artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia to strengthen the beauty company’s AI strategy. “[With the partnership] L’Oréal is bringing rapid innovation, scalability, personalized marketing and advertising that improve consumer engagement and conversion,” Azita Martin, vp and gm of retail and CPG at NVIDIA, said in a statement.
- A new study from consultancy firm AlixPartners found that most retail leaders surveyed expect President Donald Trump to walk back reciprocal tariffs next month. For example, more than half of respondents report that they believe Vietnam, a burgeoning manufacturing hub, will end up having a 10% tariff as opposed to the 46% tariff announced in April before being paused. The survey, which includes executives from brands, retailers and consumer-focused companies, was executed on June 1.
- Verescence, the French glass manufacturer that supplies LVMH, L’Oréal and Chanel with fragrance and cosmetics packaging, has been acquired by a consortium between investment holding companies Movendo Capital and Draycott. The manufacturer was sold by Stirling Square Capital Partners for more than $567 million.
- According to influencer marketing-focused software company Launchmetrics, E.l.f. Beauty saw a stunning uptick in attention online after its $1 billion Rhode acquisition announcement earlier this month. Launchmetrics estimates that E.l.f. earned around $20 million in “media impact value” within 48 hours. MIV is a proprietary metric that estimates the value of non-paid digital press.
Stat of the week:
Brands across the fashion and beauty industries are looking for ways to cut back their spending. According to a new survey conducted by Glossy, 68% of respondents said they’d cut back their marketing spend in the past six months, followed by payroll, inventory, technology and stores.
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Listen in:
After a $255 million exit from her blowout brand Drybar, Alli Webb is back with an opposing beauty venture. This week, the mogul launched Messy, a hair product brand that sells consumers at-home products to embrace an anti-blowout look. Webb joins the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the line, launch and origin story.
Need a Glossy recap?
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