Glossier
Emily Weiss turned a beauty blog into a $1.8 billion brand, then watched it nearly collapse. Now it's rebuilding under its third CEO.
Glossier did something no beauty brand had done before: it let the customers build the company. Emily Weiss started a blog called Into the Gloss in 2010 where she asked women what they put on their faces, and four years later she turned those answers into a product line that grew 600% in its first two years, reached $100 million in annual revenue by 2018, and hit a $1.8 billion valuation by 2021 without a single celebrity endorsement, a single retail partner, or a single traditional ad campaign. Roughly 80% of Glossier’s customers were referred by a friend, which meant the customers were the marketing department.
Then it fell apart. A failed product line, workplace racism allegations, three rounds of layoffs, and a founder who was effectively pushed out by her own board turned the most talked-about beauty startup of the decade into a cautionary tale about what happens when a brand built on community loses touch with the people who built it. Glossier is now on its third CEO, has cut its workforce by roughly a third, and is seeking funding at a valuation below $1 billion, less than half its peak. Whether the comeback works is still an open question.
At a glance:
| Founded | October 2014 |
| Founder | Emily Weiss |
| CEO | Colin Walsh (October 2025, third CEO) |
| Previous CEOs | Emily Weiss (2014–2022), Kyle Leahy (2022–2025) |
| Total retail sales (2023) | ~$275–300M |
| Peak valuation | $1.8B (July 2021) |
| Current valuation | Seeking funding below $1B (2025) |
| Total funding raised | ~$266M across six rounds |
| Retailers | glossier.com, Sephora (600+ stores), 12+ own stores |
The Story
Emily Weiss started a beauty blog called Into the Gloss in 2010 while working as an assistant at Vogue. The signature feature, “Top Shelf,” had women in the fashion world open their bathroom cabinets and talk about what they actually used on their skin. By 2014, the blog had 10 million monthly page views and Weiss had a direct line to millions of women who trusted her enough to tell her exactly what they wanted.
Eleven of twelve venture capital firms turned her down. Kirsten Green at Forerunner Ventures wrote the first check, and in October 2014 Glossier launched with four products priced between $12 and $26. The philosophy was “skin first, makeup second,” positioning the brand against the heavy contouring and full-glam Instagram makeup that dominated the mid-2010s. Everything was sheer, dewy, and designed to enhance skin rather than cover it.
Weiss built the products the same way she built the blog: by asking her audience. When Glossier wanted to make a cleanser, she posted “What’s your dream face wash?” on Into the Gloss and received nearly 400 comments. The chemist developed 40 versions before landing on the Milky Jelly Cleanser. Boy Brow, launched in late 2015, became the brand’s best-seller and at its peak sold one unit every 32 seconds globally. By 2023, over one million users had participated in product development discussions.
The first Glossier showroom opened in New York in December 2016 and earned more revenue per square foot than the average Apple Store. The Los Angeles location had a 45-minute wait on opening day, and a London pop-up drew over 10,000 visitors in its first week. By early 2019, Glossier had raised $100 million from Sequoia Capital at a $1.2 billion valuation. Sequoia called it “one of the most efficient direct-to-consumer businesses we’ve encountered.”
The Strategy
The customers are the marketing department
Glossier spent almost nothing on traditional advertising because it did not need to. Roughly 70% of online sales and traffic came from peer referrals, and the company built an ambassador program of over 1,500 micro-influencers who earned commissions on sales rather than upfront payments. The brand regularly reposted user-generated content on its Instagram account, which made customers feel like they were part of the brand rather than buying from it. Eight percent of revenue was directly tied to Instagram ambassador efforts, and the earned media value of having millions of customers voluntarily posting about your products is something no advertising budget can replicate.
Skin first, makeup second
The entire product line was built around the idea that most women do not want to look like they are wearing makeup. Everything was sheer, buildable, and designed to be applied with fingers rather than brushes. Cloud Paint blush, Haloscope highlighter, and Generation G lipstick all followed the same principle: a hint of color that looked like it came from your skin rather than from a tube. This positioning worked because it arrived at exactly the moment when the beauty industry’s obsession with heavy coverage was exhausting the customers who had been doing it for years.
DTC as a brand decision
Glossier sold exclusively through its own website and its own stores from 2014 through 2022, which was a deliberate choice rather than a limitation. The DTC model gave the company complete control over the customer experience, from the Glossier-pink bubble-wrap pouches and sticker sheets that turned every order into something worth posting online to the customer data that informed every product decision. The showrooms were designed as Instagram-friendly spaces that functioned as much as marketing events as retail locations, and the unboxing experience itself became a form of free advertising.
The Numbers
| Year | Estimated Revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015–2016 | ~$40M by 2016 | 600% year-over-year growth |
| 2018 | ~$100M | 1 million new customers added |
| 2019 | $100M+ | Peak of the DTC era |
| 2022 | ~$180M | Post-layoffs, pre-Sephora |
| 2023 | ~$275–300M total retail | 73% year-over-year growth; Sephora contributed ~$100M |
| 2024 | ~$200–250M total (est.) | DTC alone: ~$134M |
Funding rounds:
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead Investor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 2013 | ~$2M | Forerunner Ventures |
| Series A | November 2014 | $8.4M | Thrive Capital |
| Series B | November 2016 | $24M | Index Ventures |
| Series C | February 2018 | $52M | IVP and Index Ventures |
| Series D | March 2019 | $100M | Sequoia Capital |
| Series E | July 2021 | $80M | Lone Pine Capital |
Total raised: approximately $266 million. In 2025, Glossier was seeking an additional $100 million at a valuation below $1 billion, roughly half the $1.8 billion peak from the Series E round four years earlier.
What Went Wrong
Glossier Play
In March 2019, the same month the company became a unicorn, Glossier launched a sub-brand called Glossier Play with five products built around glitter, bold color, and heavy shimmer. The line contradicted everything the brand stood for. The formulas were patchy and difficult to apply, the packaging was excessively wasteful (foil inside a box inside another box) for a customer base that valued sustainability, and the hero product, Glitter Gelee, used non-biodegradable plastic microglitter that triggered environmental backlash. Two-thirds of Play buyers were existing Glossier customers, which meant the line failed to attract a single new audience. Weiss later admitted that the company should have launched the products under the main Glossier line rather than creating a separate brand that confused customers about what Glossier stood for. Glitter Gelee was discontinued within a year, and the entire Play line was dissolved.
Layoffs and leadership changes
In January 2022, Glossier laid off over 80 employees, roughly one-third of its corporate workforce, with the deepest cuts in the technology team. Weiss admitted the company had “made some mistakes,” saying they “prioritized certain strategic projects that distracted us from the laser-focus we needed to have on our core business” and “got ahead of ourselves on hiring.” In May 2022, Weiss stepped down as CEO and became executive chairwoman. Per reports, she was effectively pushed out by the board, which told her she could stay with reduced authority or step down while pregnant with her first child and control her own narrative. Kyle Leahy, previously the Chief Commercial Officer, replaced her. A second round of approximately 24 layoffs followed later in 2022.
The Comeback
Leahy’s first major move was ending the DTC-only model. In February 2023, Glossier launched in over 600 Sephora stores across the U.S. and Canada, the brand’s first-ever wholesale partnership. Sephora contributed roughly $100 million in retail sales in the first year, total revenue grew 73% year-over-year, and Leahy declared the company profitable.
In June 2025, Leahy announced her departure, and Colin Walsh, with a background at Procter & Gamble and the haircare brand Ouai, became the third CEO in October 2025. His first move was cutting approximately 54 employees, roughly 30% of the 170-person workforce, saying the company needed “smaller, more agile teams that can move with the speed of culture.” As of early 2026, Glossier operates 12+ permanent stores, sells through 600+ Sephora locations, and is seeking new funding at a valuation that would mark a significant down round from its peak.
Controversies
Workplace racism (2020)
In August 2020, anonymous former retail employees created an Instagram account called “Outta the Gloss” alleging systemic anti-Blackness, transphobia, ableism, and retaliation at Glossier’s stores. Specific allegations included customers applying blackface with dark concealer shades without intervention from managers, visitors touching Black employees’ hair and skin while managers apologized to the visitors, and HR being described as “a dead-end resource” where filed incidents were diminished or never escalated. The allegations arrived weeks after Glossier had donated $1 million to racial justice causes and posted Black Lives Matter content, which made the gap between the brand’s public messaging and its internal culture sharper. Weiss apologized on Instagram, but former employees called the response performative and called for a boycott in September 2020.
What You Can Learn
Your audience can build the product, but you still need to run the company. Glossier proved that community-driven product development creates products people actually want, with 80% of sales coming from peer referrals and a cleanser crowdsourced from 400 blog comments. The model failed not because the products were wrong but because the company’s operations, culture, and strategic decisions could not keep up with its growth.
DTC works until it doesn’t. Glossier was the poster child for the direct-to-consumer model until rising customer acquisition costs and a saturated market made the economics unsustainable. The pivot to Sephora in 2023 grew revenue 73% in a single year, which raises the question of whether the DTC-only approach was ever a long-term strategy or just a necessary phase for a brand that could not yet get a wholesale deal on favorable terms.
Brand identity is not optional. Glossier Play failed because it contradicted the core identity that made customers fall in love with the brand in the first place. The lesson applies to any online business: expanding into something that confuses your existing customers about who you are is worse than not expanding at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Glossier?
Emily Weiss founded Glossier in October 2014 after building the beauty blog Into the Gloss, which she started in 2010 while working at Vogue. She served as CEO until May 2022 and currently holds the title of executive chairwoman.
How much is Glossier worth?
Glossier was valued at $1.8 billion in July 2021 during its Series E round. As of 2025, the company is seeking new funding at a valuation below $1 billion, which would represent a significant decline from its peak.
Is Glossier profitable?
Under CEO Kyle Leahy, Glossier declared itself profitable in 2023 following the Sephora partnership launch. Detailed financial figures are not available because the company is private.
What happened to Emily Weiss?
Weiss stepped down as CEO in May 2022 and became executive chairwoman. Per reports, she was effectively pushed out by the board. She retains significant equity in the company.
What is Glossier’s best-selling product?
Boy Brow, a brow gel launched in late 2015, is the brand’s best-selling product of all time with nearly 4 million units sold. At its peak, one Boy Brow sold every 32 seconds globally.
Why did Glossier start selling at Sephora?
After eight years of selling exclusively through its own website and stores, Glossier launched at Sephora in February 2023 to reach customers beyond its DTC audience. Sephora contributed roughly $100 million in retail sales in the first year.
When was Glossier founded?
Emily Weiss founded Glossier in October 2014, after building the beauty blog Into the Gloss to roughly 10 million monthly page views over four years. The brand launched with four products priced between $12 and $26 and a “skin first, makeup second” philosophy.
How much revenue does Glossier make?
Total retail sales reached approximately $275 to $300 million in 2023, a 73% year-over-year jump driven largely by the Sephora launch that February. Revenue settled at roughly $200 to $250 million in 2024 once the post-launch bump leveled off, with DTC alone contributing about $134 million.
Sources: CNBC, TechCrunch, Business of Fashion, Fortune, WWD, CNN, BuzzFeed News, Retail Dive, Fast Company, Refinery29, Contrary Research, BeautyMatter