Sephora has launched numerous new brands in recent months, many of them buzzy and beloved — but perhaps none has been as hotly anticipated as Ultra Violette (that's pronounced "violet"), the Aussie sunscreen brand first launched in 2018.

Sephora marks the brand's official debut into the U.S. market — a landmark occasion, because, as co-founder Bec Jefferd said on this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, "You can't be a serious global beauty brand if you aren't in the U.S."

That's in spite of the fact that the brand has already launched in 29 other markets. Jefferd and co-founder Ava Matthews met as coworkers at Mecca, the premier Australian beauty retailer. Growing up in Australia, sun protection is a focus, even in childhood, given the country's climate and high skin cancer rates, Matthews said. Still, in 2016, when they began ideation for the brand, the duo saw the opportunity for a brand that approached the category differently.

"[Sunscreen] wasn't at the center of a skin-care routine. We were talking about it as a skin cancer preventative or something to wear in summer, even in Australia," Matthews said. "There were a lot of people talking about sun care in a serious way, in terms of [skin] cancer, but no one talking about sun care as a kind of prestige skin-care product." For reference, Supergoop launched in 2007, as did Coola; while Vacation launched in 2021, as did fellow Aussie sunscreen brand Naked Sundays.

Ultra Violette, with its brightly colored packaging and elegant formulas, quickly became one of the hottest sunscreen brands on the market — its unavailability in the States only added to its cool factor. In-the-know editors got it overseas or had friends bring it back when they traveled — it became ubiquitous in chic poolside pics.

As recently as 2021, Matthews and Jefferd had no plans to launch in the States, but now, with formulas they've deemed just as good as their Aussie counterparts and the promise of a new broad-spectrum filter likely soon to be approved in the U.S., the time was right. And though the U.S. has not approved a new filter since 1999, 2026 might change that. As of March 28, the brand is on Sephora.com and in-store at all doors.

As for the marketing for the Sephora launch, influencer partnerships are about to kick off, mailers have gone out, and a New York City breakfast, co-hosted by Tinx has been held. As Matthews put it, "We're really not prepared to fuck this up." The U.S. range features five products, to start, four sunscreens and one lip product — with SPF, of course — in two shades. Prices range from $22-$40. In 2024, the brand closed a 15 million Australian-dollar minority investment from equity firm Aria Growth Partners.

In this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, the co-founders discuss why it finally made sense to launch stateside, why there's promise in the long-awaited new sunscreen filters in the U.S. and who the Ultra Violette customer is, especially as the sunscreen market has become more crowded.

Act+Acre’s husband-and-wife founders were early to the growth of the scalp-care market when they launched their brand in 2019 with one product: a $48 prewash treatment called Scalp Detox Oil. 

“[Scalp care] was definitely an afterthought for people [a few years ago],” brand founder and hairstylist Helen Reavey told Glossy. “Launching it in 2019, we were one of the first to solely think about scalp care the way skin care had come up and was so personalized, and we took that approach. It's not a one-size-fits-all for the scalp.”

Reavey has seen the effects of poor scalp care throughout her 15-year career as a celebrity and editorial hairstylist — most notably during fashion month, when models’ hair is routinely overworked backstage until their scalps become sensitive to the touch. “I had that moment where I was like, ‘I wish I could give them something to remove everything and to really start with a fresh canvas,'" she said. “It was that moment [where we said], ‘OK, we should do this; we should launch a brand.'” 

Reavey is also a certified trichologist, a specialization focused on the treatment and health of the hair and scalp. She launched Act+Acre with husband and business partner Colm Mackin, who now serves as CEO. 

Now an award-winning hero product for the brand, Scalp Detox is one of 25 products sold individually and through 10 curated systems made up of individual SKUs. From oil control to hydration to hair growth, they’re each designed for a specific concern. 

To help consumers navigate the offerings, Act+Acre publishes blog posts and educational content on social media, and offers a 10-plus question quiz on its site to match a consumer with the right products. 

Top selling systems include its Stem Cell System, Thick + Full System and Essential Hydration System. Meanwhile, individual bestsellers include Stem Cell Serum for $86 and Daily Hydro Scalp Serum for $24. 

The line is sold DTC and through Sephora, Revolve, Bluemercury, Amazon, Dermstore, Anthropologie and TikTok Shop, among other channels. The brand does 60% of its business DTC and has a 50% subscription rate within that cohort, Mackin told Glossy. 

Several products are also recognized by the National Psoriasis Foundation for being safe for those with psoriasis. 

“People are definitely starting to understand that the scalp is a foundation for healthy hair, and that comes across in all of our messaging,” Reavey told Glossy. 

Act+Acre's latest launch, a two-step shampoo and treatment, is focused on hard water buildup, which impacts the majority of U.S. consumers. High levels of minerals like calcium and magnesium in tap water can build up in the hair and cause brittleness and discoloration, especially on color-treated hair. “I don't think people were really understanding that hard water was this silent destructor,” Reavey told Glossy. The brand's Clarifying Hard Water Shampoo sells for $32, while the Clarifying Hard Water Scalp Treatment goes for $38. 

In this week’s episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Reavey and Mackin share insider details on these topics. The duo also discusses the ways they stand out in the market, including through community building, education and customer service.

Very few beauty entrepreneurs have had more success than Carolyn Aronson.

In 2006, the longtime hairstylist and salon owner launched professional hair-care brand It’s a 10 with one hero product: Miracle Leave-In spray. The $21 formula was an immediate success for its ability to hydrate, smooth, condition, defrizz and protect hair with one formula. The brand had immediate success by seeding the product to professional hairstylists before entering Ulta Beauty, Target, Sally’s Beauty, Cosmoprof, SalonCentric and Amazon, and selling DTC. 

Using Miracle Leave-In as the anchor for expansion, the company added formulations through the years for various hair types and preferences. This includes new Miracle Leave-Ins for coily, blonde and men’s hair; keratin- or color-treated hair; and lite, fragrance-free and dye-free variations. Each new collection includes shampoo, conditioner, masks and a variety of other offerings. The brand also sells body care.  

In 2017, Aronson bought out her co-founder to become the sole owner of It’s a 10. She’s taken on no investors. The brand currently brings in around $500 million in gross annual sales and is distributed in more than 125 countries. 

On a personal level, Aronson has also provided inspiration for women in the beauty industry. She entered the foster care system at two weeks old, began working in salons as a teenager and is currently one of the beauty industry’s few self-made billionaires. She’s also known for her philanthropy. For example, It’s a 10 donated $250,000 worth of products to the Los Angeles Dream Center in January to help victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. 

This year, Aronson is expanding her empire with Cloud Haircare, a new, Gen Z-focused line of shampoo, conditioner and styling products sold in two collections: nourishing and volumizing. Each SKU sells for $11.99 in CVS, Walmart and DTC. 

The line features colorful, flat lay-friendly packaging and Gen Z-focused values: vegan, Leaping Bunny-approved formulas free of parabens and SLS, and sold in bottles made from post-consumer plastic resins. 

Aronson’s expansion into mass comes at a time when the sector has experienced a renaissance, of sorts. New, fresh brands are currently flooding the market, many of which are priced at $11.99 — like Odele, Saltair, Being Frenshe, Laura Polko and Function of Beauty —  while bargain formulas like Suave are back with new branding. 

Beyond Cloud Haircare, Aronson entered the home hair-color space in 2023 with Rewind it 10, a line of men’s home hair and beard dyes. She partnered with friend and rapper Fat Joe on the collection, as well as her husband Jeff Aronson. It sells for $15 per box DTC and through Sally’s Beauty, CVS, Walmart, Amazon and more retailers. 

To entice shoppers, each shade of hair dye is modeled by an influential figure like model Tyson Beckford, football star Travis Kelce, DJ Khaled and celebrity face Brody Jenner, among many others. 

On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Aronson provides Glossy listeners an inside view of her move into mass hair care with Cloud and insights into navigating the men’s marketplace with Rewind it 10. She also gives listeners a teaser on her entry into women’s hair color and her hopes for Cloud Haircare.

Kathryn Winokur launched Hally Hair in 2021 after working for companies including PepsiCo and Dove. From engineering college partnerships to hosting a trip for Alabama sorority girls, the brand has succeeded by keeping its finger on the pulse and remaining deeply entrenched in youth culture. Its latest move is a timely one, too: On March 6, it introduced Lady H, a $39 alcohol-free hair perfume that also adds shine to hair. The scent launched DTC and on TikTok Shop and will hit Ulta Beauty — in all doors and online — on April 20.

"We see hair and fragrance as some of the most individualistic forms of self-expression. That was the driving force behind Hally's new hair perfume," Winokur said.

In this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Winokur talks about filling a white space with Hally, getting insights directly from Gen Z and launching the brand's new product, Lady H hair perfume. The scent has notes of ripe cherry, jasmine vanilla and deep moss.

For New Yorkers, C.O. Bigelow is an institution. 

“There's something about the [Bigelow] apothecary that emotionally appeals to people,” Ian Ginsberg, president, pharmacist and third generation owner of C.O. Bigelow, told Glossy. “Everybody, no matter how young or old you are, has some memory about going to the apothecary and the pharmacist telling you what to do. That's where I started [when I joined the family business four decades ago]. I started focusing on what happens when you walk in the door.”

Opened in 1838, C.O. Bigelow is a mainstay in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City and touted as the city’s oldest apothecary. To wit: The original Kiehl's apothecary opened 14 years later in 1851. 

C.O. Bigelow is known as a go-to for well-heeled New Yorkers, NYU students, tourists and neighborhood locals. Its lore includes customers like Sarah Jessica Parker and the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, who purchased her iconic headbands in the shop, according to C.O. Bigelow. 

“It's not always about what you buy, it's about how you feel when you're there,” said Ginsberg. “I always say we have to be in the want business, not the need business. The minute we're in the need business, we're dead.” 

His family has built more than a pharmacy and retail. The company also has an eponymous beauty brand made in partnership with Bath & Body Works, formerly Limited Brands. The products range from makeup to body care and currently sell in the Greenwich store as well as through Bath & Body Works, Bloomingdale's and Revolve, among other retailers. 

The company also sells its wares direct to consumers. They include the namesake beauty line and the diverse curation found in store. Its stores offers luxury brands like Westman Atelier and Augustinus Bader, prestige offerings from RMS Beauty and Caudalie, and masstige products like Avene and Bioderma. 

“You can't just put stuff on shelves anymore,” Ginsberg said. “Anybody can find unique things and put them on shelves, but it's about making people feel good -- that's more important now than ever before. People talk about experiential retail, but our experimental retail is just person-to-person communication, helping people, explaining things to them and answering questions and showing them how to use things in whatever category it is. That's the secret sauce.”

The company also owns a distribution company called Bigelow Trading that imports and distributes small brands into the U.S., for its own retail and others. Marvis toothpaste is among those brands. In addition, Bigelow Trading has a thriving hotel amenities business that works across hospitality brands like Aman, Nobu Hotel and Soho Grand Hotel, among others. 

But perhaps the most surprising thing about C.O. Bigelow is the role of the pharmacy in the overall business. 

“People sometimes say to me, ‘You have this great beauty business because you have this strong pharmacy business,” Ginsberg said. “But they have it all wrong. [The pharmacy business is supported by the beauty business].” 

As previously reported by Glossy, 2024 was a bad year for American drugstores, and 2025 could end up even worse. Just last year, CVS closed 586 locations, Rite Aid closed 408 stores, and Walgreens closed 259 locations, which has created “drugstore deserts” across the U.S.

As a pharmacist and third-generation pharmacy owner, Ginsberg also shared his perspective on a buzzy topic in the industry: pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between drug companies and consumers. PBMs are currently under investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for alleged pricing abuse, according to reporting by Reuters in January, 

Paired with razor-sharp drug margins, pharmacist staffing shortages and more issues native to pharmacies, the industry is struggling. Ginsberg joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the company’s secret sauce behind its thriving brick-and-mortar business and the role beauty retails plays in it. 

There is a traditional path for successful makeup artists nowadays: Build up a roster of influential clients, accrue a following on social media, and start a brand of your own. After all, makeup artist-led brands — think: Makeup by Mario, Patrick Ta, Violette Fr and Fara Homidi — have never been hotter.

But makeup artist Kelli Anne Sewell is taking a different approach.

Sewell started her career in tech and would slide into the DMs of influential people, offering free services during her time off from work and posting the results on social media — even when she had 10 followers, she recalled. Her strategy has since paid off. Sewell has now provided glam for celebs and influencers including Kelsea Ballerini, Alix Earle and Kristin Juszczyk.

Along the way, Sewell realized she also has a knack for education. So, rather than stamp her name on a product collection, she founded Makeup By Kelli Anne, a members-only app and website featuring long-form beauty tutorial content ranging up from makeup 101s, like "How to line your lips" and "How to cover dark circles," to joint features with big names like Jaclyn Hill, Sir John and Daniel Martin.

Now, Sewell herself has 331,000 Instagram followers and 159,000 TikTok followers, and her company's Instagram account has over 73,000 followers.

In this episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Sewell talks about starting scrappy, building a community and giving back to that community.

For MCoBeauty CMO Meridith Rojas, the ability to democratize the beauty industry lies in the power of dupes. 

“We're in this moment, in this cultural zeitgeist, where people don't want to have to spend $1,000 on a face of beauty and don't want to be left out of the trends,” said Rojas. “We really want to create luxury for everyone. And of course, we have amazing dupes, but we also have some homegrown innovation. The combination has been really magnetic, and our community is growing in the U.S. so fast. We have a very exciting year ahead of us.” 

Dupes, the colloquial term for a lower-priced product inspired by a luxury category leader, makes up about half of MCo’s offering. Unlike counterfeits or copies, which are often associated with unsafe formulas and flagrant IP violations, dupes are in their own category and are incredibly popular globally. 

MCoBeauty sells recognizable dupes for popular products from brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro and Laneige for around a third of the price. For example, MCo Beauty’s best-selling Flawless Glow Foundation retails for $14.99, and its Miracle Flawless Pressed Powder goes for $9.99. Similar products from Charlotte Tilbury retail for $49 and $28, respectively.

It also offers non-dupes, like its best-selling XtendLash tubing mascara, which sells for $13.99.

MCoBeauty was launched in Australia in 2016 by founder Shelley Sullivan, a former modeling agency owner. It is currently the top-selling color cosmetics brand in Australia and New Zealand, according to Greg Barker, MCoBeauty’s evp of North America.

As previously reported by Glossy in December, MCoBeauty launched its U.S. expansion at the end of 2024 with entry into 1,700 Kroger stores, which include regional grocery stores like Smiths, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Frys, Ralphs and more. The expansion also includes DTC sales via MCoBeauty’s site and Amazon. This week, MCo Beauty also launched into 1,300 Target doors and on Target.com. 

Rojas joined The Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss MCoBeauty’s U.S. expansion and the marketing strategy supporting it. She shared anecdotes about the company's OOH and digital marketing successes, including advice on building a digital community, connecting with influencers early in their careers, getting the best community UGC and hiring digitally-minded celebrities to lead social-first campaigns.

Longtime beauty executive Lori Singer has been instrumental in some of the biggest fragrance license deals of the past 20 years.

Singer spent more than a decade at Coty, where she worked on bestselling fragrances by Calvin Klein, Vera Wang, Balenciaga and Nautica. She also tripled global net revenues for Marc Jacobs with its iconic Daisy franchise launched in 2007. Singer got her start at Revlon, and her CV also includes Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Unilever and Benetton Group. 

“I've spent my entire career in beauty. I’m sort of a beauty lifer,” she told Glossy. “I fell in love on day one at Revlon, my first job, and I really have never looked back.” 

Singer joined Parlux in 2019 to grow its license business and immediately set her sights on Billie Eilish. 

“Other than music, fragrance and scent are everything to her. So, upon meeting her and hearing about her deep knowledge [of fragrance, we knew it was a fit for Parlux],” Singer told Glossy. “She knows ingredients and she knows about olfactory territory. She has had a natural nose for scents."

By 2021, her first scent, Eilish, was released, which she followed up with Eilish No. 2 the next year and Eilish No. 3 in 2023. 

Fast forward to last week, and Parlux released Eilish’s fourth fragrance, called Your Turn. The new scent is priced at $90 for 100 milliliters and available DTC — it will launch in Ulta Beauty doors later this spring. Your Turn is gender-neutral and described as “warm, woody and fresh” with notes of peach, ginger and sandalwood. 

Frank Voelkl, principal perfumer at fragrance house Firmenich, was the “nose.” One of the most famous perfumers working today, he has created Glossier’s You franchise, Phlur’s Mood Ring and Father Figure, and Le Labo’s cult Santal 33, among others. 

Parlux is a global licensee for celebrities, fashion houses and lifestyle brands. The company launched in 1984 and is privately held. Its licenses include Kenneth Cole, Vince Camuto, Jessica Simpson, Steve Madden and Jason Wu, among others.

Most recently, Parlux entered into a partnership with basketball player LeBron James to create The Shop, a line of grooming products distributed through Walmart. Then, in late 2024, the company launched its first fragrance with influencer-turned-designer Danielle Bernstein, the creator behind WeWoreWhat, called WeWoreWhat 001. 

Later this year, the company will celebrate another milestone: Paris Hilton’s 30th fragrance over 20 years. Called Iconic, the scent will launch this spring. 

Singer joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the secret sauce behind Parlux’s celeb fragrances, the evolving fragrance consumer and 2025 industry predictions.

Jordan Samuel, a former ballet dancer, launched his eponymous skin care brand in 2013, with just two products: The After Show Treatment Cleanser and the Hydrate Facial Serum.

He has grown, since then, but remained small, which he calls, a “badge of honor.” The brand is beloved by leading skin care influencers like Caroline Hirons (776,000 Instagram followers). It is primarily DTC but is carried at the fast facial bar, Formula Fig, as well as C.O. Bigelow, and available to international customers via Cult Beauty.

In this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, he discusses his unique trajectory from ballet dancer to brand founder, the autonomy he’s been able to maintain by being carefully selective with retail partnerships, and staying small, and why launching less makes a big difference.

To her 769,000 Instagram followers, fitness entrepreneur-turned-brand founder Amanda Kloots feels like a friend who just happens to sometimes star in movies or host TV shows — she wrapped her gig on CBS's "The Talk" when the show ended last year and hosts "Live From The Other Side" on Netflix. Some of her fans have been following her journey since she started teaching fitness classes nearly a decade ago, in 2016. That was when she first transitioned out of her previous career as a Radio City Rockette and Broadway dancer and started building her fitness business, Amanda Kloots Fitness.

Earlier this month, Kloots launched Proper, a wellness brand that debuted with five powder supplements. It is the seventh brand to launch in partnership with Ben Bennett's incubator, The Center — its other brands include Naturium, which exited to E.l.f. Beauty at the end of 2023. Bennett and Kloots are striving to create products that appeal to the "everyday woman who comes to my classes, who is really just looking for something to keep her happy and to make her feel her best," Kloots said on this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast.

Proper's first five products include the greens powder Daily Boost, Metabolism + Energy Boost, Digestion + Bloat Relief, Immune Support, and Calming Aid. Each is $28 and, for now, exclusively available direct-to-consumer. And they're brightly colored to represent the idea of "drinking the rainbow," Kloots said.

On this week's episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Kloots discusses how the early days of the boutique fitness boom made her social media savvy, what business lessons she learned from past ventures and collaborations, and what's next for Proper.