Ilia
Sasha Plavsic read the labels on her makeup, didn't like what she found, and spent two years making one better lip balm. She bootstrapped it into a $100 million clean-beauty brand, and nearly worked herself into the ground doing it.
Sasha Plavsic started reading the ingredient labels on her makeup and didn’t like what she found. In 2011 she spent two years developing a single product, a tinted lip balm that was actually good for your skin, and turned it into Ilia, a clean-makeup brand she bootstrapped to roughly $100 million in revenue without taking a dollar of venture capital.
The pace nearly cost her everything. After scaling Ilia to nine figures, Plavsic’s health collapsed and her kidneys shut down, forcing a reckoning about what building at that speed actually costs. In 2024, the Courtin-Clarins family, the family behind Clarins, acquired a majority stake, letting Plavsic keep a piece of the brand she’d owned outright and letting Ilia keep its independence.
At a glance:
| Founded | 2011, by Sasha Plavsic |
| Built | Bootstrapped to ~$100 million in revenue, no venture capital |
| Acquired by | Courtin-Clarins family (Famille C), majority stake, 2024 |
| Ownership after sale | Famille C majority; Clarins, Plavsic, and CEO Lynda Berkowitz hold minority stakes |
| Positioning | Clean, skincare-powered makeup: “makeup that makes your skin better” |
| Hero product | Super Serum Skin Tint, an SPF tinted serum |
| Sold at | Sephora and iliabeauty.com |
The Story
The labels that started it
Plavsic came from branding and design, not beauty. Back home in Vancouver, she started paying attention to what was actually in the products she used every day, and what she found unsettled her: ingredients in some of the industry’s most celebrated brands that she didn’t want on her skin. There was no real option for makeup that performed like the luxury stuff without the questionable formulas, so she decided to build one.
Two years for one lip balm
She spent two years developing a single product, a hybrid tinted lip conditioner that colored and hydrated at the same time. The idea underneath it became the whole brand: “makeup that makes your skin better.” This was 2011, years before “clean beauty” was a category anyone marketed, which meant Plavsic wasn’t riding a trend, she was betting one would arrive.
Bootstrapping to $100 million
It did. As clean beauty went mainstream, Ilia was already there with credibility others had to manufacture. The Super Serum Skin Tint, an SPF tinted serum that treated skin while it evened it out, became the hero that carried the brand, and Ilia grew into a Sephora staple. Plavsic did it all without venture capital, bootstrapping the company to roughly $100 million in revenue and owning it outright the whole way.
The wake-up call
Scaling at that speed had a cost the founder story usually leaves out. Plavsic’s health broke down under the load, to the point that her kidneys shut down, a crisis that forced her to confront what she’d been trading away to grow. She’s spoken publicly about it as a turning point in how she leads, and a warning about mistaking exhaustion for commitment.
The Clarins deal
In 2024, the Courtin-Clarins family’s investment arm, Famille C, agreed to acquire a majority stake in Ilia, with Clarins taking a minority position and Plavsic and CEO Lynda Berkowitz keeping stakes of their own. Terms weren’t disclosed. Because Plavsic had bootstrapped the company, she went into the deal owning it, and Ilia was structured to keep its autonomy rather than disappear into a conglomerate.
The Strategy
Makeup that makes your skin better
Ilia’s entire wedge was collapsing two categories into one. Instead of makeup that sat on top of skin and skincare that lived in a separate routine, it built products that did both, color that treated. That gave a clean-beauty brand a performance reason to exist beyond its ingredient list, and it’s the same skin-first idea that later powered brands like Saie and Westman Atelier.
Bootstrapped, so the brand stayed hers
By refusing outside money, Plavsic kept full control of the brand’s direction, pace, and standards for over a decade. It was slower than a venture-funded sprint, but it meant no board pushing for scale over quality, and it meant that when a buyer finally came, she owned what they wanted.
One hero, built to last
Ilia’s growth leaned on a small set of proven products led by the Super Serum Skin Tint rather than a constant churn of launches. A hero that customers repurchase gives a brand a stable base and a clear identity, and it’s what let a bootstrapped company compete with brands spending far more.
The Marketing
Clean before it was a slogan
Ilia’s best marketing asset was time. It had been making clean makeup since 2011, so when the market swung toward clean, Ilia carried a credibility that brands arriving later had to buy. That head start, and a founder who could speak to it honestly, generated the kind of trust and earned media that no launch campaign manufactures.
The founder’s point of view
Plavsic’s simple line, “makeup that makes your skin better,” did more work than any tagline. It gave the brand a clear, repeatable point of view that customers and press could carry for her, and it tied every product back to a single promise instead of a list of features.
The Numbers
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Ilia launches with a single tinted lip balm |
| 2010s | Grows into a Sephora clean-beauty staple, led by Super Serum Skin Tint |
| ~2020s | Reaches roughly $100 million in revenue, bootstrapped |
| 2024 | Courtin-Clarins family (Famille C) acquires a majority stake |
Bootstrapped to nine figures: The headline number is that Ilia reached about $100 million in revenue without venture capital. That’s rare in beauty, where most brands raise early and dilute fast, and it meant Plavsic controlled the company and captured its value herself.
The Clarins deal: Famille C took the majority, Clarins a minority, and Plavsic and CEO Lynda Berkowitz retained stakes, with terms undisclosed. Ilia kept its independence inside the Clarins world, the kind of outcome that’s far easier to negotiate when you own the thing being bought.
What You Can Learn
You can bootstrap to nine figures. Ilia reached roughly $100 million without a venture round. Bootstrapping is slower and harder, but it keeps the company yours, and it means you’re not handing away the value you’re building before you’ve captured it.
Get to a category before it’s a category. Plavsic made clean makeup in 2011, years before the market wanted it. Arriving early to a shift lets you own it instead of competing inside it, so learn to read where a market is heading, not just where it is.
Solve two problems with one product. Ilia’s makeup-that-treats-skin wedge gave it a reason to exist beyond “clean.” A product that does two jobs at once is harder to copy and easier to justify buying.
The pace has a cost, and ignoring it is not a strategy. Plavsic scaled to $100 million and her body gave out. Building sustainably isn’t the soft option, it’s what keeps the founder, the most important part of a founder-led brand, in the game long enough to win.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Ilia Beauty?
Sasha Plavsic founded Ilia in 2011. She came from a branding and design background and started the brand after becoming alarmed by the ingredients in conventional makeup, developing its first product, a tinted lip balm, over two years.
Who owns Ilia now?
In 2024, the Courtin-Clarins family’s investment arm, Famille C, acquired a majority stake in Ilia. Clarins holds a minority stake, and founder Sasha Plavsic and CEO Lynda Berkowitz retain stakes as well. Ilia operates with autonomy inside the group.
Did Ilia take venture capital?
No. Plavsic bootstrapped Ilia to roughly $100 million in revenue without venture funding, which is unusual in the beauty industry and meant she owned the company outright going into its 2024 acquisition.
What is Ilia’s bestselling product?
The Super Serum Skin Tint, an SPF tinted serum that treats and evens skin at once, is Ilia’s hero product and the item most responsible for the brand’s growth.
Is Ilia actually clean?
Ilia has positioned itself as a clean-beauty brand since 2011, built around skincare-grade formulas free of many ingredients common in conventional makeup. Its founding premise was “makeup that makes your skin better.”
Sources
- Forbes, “Ilia Beauty Founder Sasha Plavsic Leans Into Her Purpose,” February 2026. Founding story, the two-year first product, and brand philosophy.
- Forbes, “‘My Kidneys Shut Down’ — Ilia Beauty Founder’s Wake-Up Call After Scaling to $100 Million,” June 2025. The $100 million bootstrap figure and the health crisis.
- BeautyMatter, “Clean Makeup Pioneer Ilia Acquired by Courtin-Clarins Family”. The Famille C majority acquisition and ownership structure.
- WWD, “How Ilia Beauty Founder Sasha Plavsic Has Maintained a ‘Brand-first’ Approach Post-acquisition”. Post-acquisition autonomy and growth.
- FashionNetwork, “Ilia to be acquired by Famille C”. Deal structure, undisclosed terms, and CEO Lynda Berkowitz.