A win for personality-driven beauty with billion-dollar acquisition

The sale of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty received interest from Unilever, L’Oréal and Shiseido. Credit: svetlichniy_igor / Shutterstock.

Charlotte Tilbury, the founder of the makeup and skincare brand of the same name, will be going into the weekend a few million pounds richer thanks to a deal with Spanish fragrance, beauty and fashion brand, Puig, in more proof that personality-driven brands are leading the beauty industry.

While it was an undisclosed amount, it is believed that the acquisition by Puig could be worth nearly £1bn, an astounding amount considering Charlotte Tilbury launched only seven years ago.

Charlotte Tilbury (the entrepreneur in this case) gained fame as a makeup artist for famous clients such as Amal Clooney, Penelope Cruz and Kate Moss.

This deal reflects the success ‘personality-led’ beauty brands have seen over the last few years. Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian are the often-used examples as they grew their business because of their fan base and influence. Last year Jenner sold 51% of Kylie Cosmetics to Coty for $600m. While there is constant debate about whether or not Kylie Jenner was truly ‘self-made’, it is clear that her success is because Kylie the brand and Kylie the person are intrinsically linked.

In the last few years, there have been launches from celebrities who purport to have a point of view behind their business. Selena Gomez plans to launch Rare Beauty this summer, a much-anticipated self-love beauty brand. Florence by Mills was launched by teen actress Millie Bobby Brown and the clean beauty brand is targeted at teens like her. And we can’t forget the extremely successful Fenty Beauty line by Rihanna, which was launched to great success thanks to her diverse skin tone options and has gone on to influence even well-established brands globally.

Tilbury’s brand, launched in 2013, is similar in this way. She is the face of the company, and her bright red hair and infamous eye makeup are signature aspects of her image in her YouTube tutorials. The products are known as ‘Charlotte’s’ products, making each eyeliner or face cream appear to be a personal recommendation from your friend, Charlotte.

What’s more, Puig has a history of luxury brand acquisitions, from Carolina Herrera to Nina Ricci to Jean Paul Gaultier, and it makes fragrances for other brands such as Prada. Puig knows that brands like Tilbury’s represent the future of the beauty industry: diverse, hyper-connected, social media savvy, ethical (Tilbury’s products claim to be cruelty-free) help to define meaningful engagement with its avid customers.

According to reports, Charlotte Tilbury will still be a shareholder (though with a smaller stake) and act as chair and chief creativity officer. This is smart from Puig; the brand has her name on it and their shared success is dependent on her and her striking red hair.

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