IT Cosmetics
Jamie Kern Lima built a cosmetics company from her apartment, sold it to L'Oréal for $1.2 billion, and became the first female CEO in L'Oréal's 108-year history.
IT Cosmetics launched in 2008 from a living room in Studio City, California, founded by a former TV news anchor whose rosacea made her intimately familiar with makeup that did not work. Jamie Kern Lima and her husband Paulo created the brand after two years of hearing “no” from every major retailer, then built it into the number one prestige cosmetics brand in America through live television selling on QVC, eventually reaching $182 million in net sales the year L’Oréal paid $1.2 billion in cash to acquire the company.
The sale made Lima one of the richest women in beauty with a personal payout of approximately $410 million after taxes, and she became the first female CEO of a brand in L’Oréal’s entire 108-year history. Before that, she had spent three years without a salary, borrowed money to fund her first QVC appearance, and was told by a male investor that he was not sure anyone would buy makeup from someone who “looked like her.”
At a glance:
| Founded | 2008 |
| Founders | Jamie Kern Lima and Paulo Lima |
| Headquarters | Jersey City, New Jersey (post-acquisition) |
| Ownership | Acquired by L’Oréal for $1.2 billion in August 2016 |
| Net sales (12 months ending June 2016) | $182 million (56% year-over-year growth) |
| Estimated retail sales (2015–2016) | $300–400 million |
| Products | 300+ SKUs, all developed with dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and chemists |
| Retailers | Sephora, Ulta (900+ stores), Target, Boots UK |
The Story
Jamie Kern Lima grew up in Seattle as a first-generation college student, waitressing at Denny’s and bagging groceries at Safeway to pay her way through Washington State University, where she graduated as valedictorian. She earned her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2004 and then worked as a television news anchor and reporter at KPTV in Portland, Oregon. In her late twenties, she developed rosacea that caused visible redness on camera, and the experience of searching for coverage that actually worked became the seed of the company.
She met Paulo Lima in a statistics class at Columbia, and the two wrote their business plan on the flight to South Africa for their honeymoon in 2007. The name “IT” stood for “Innovative Technology,” reflecting the brand’s clinical positioning: every product was developed with an advisory board of plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and cosmetic chemists. They launched with a single product and five employees, operating out of their apartment in Studio City, and generated roughly $1 million in their first year.
For the first two years, Lima sent product samples to every major retailer in the country and received rejections from all of them. QVC declined for three consecutive years, and Sephora said no for six. One male investor told her he was not sure anyone would buy makeup from someone who looked like her, referencing her body and her weight. Lima did not pay herself for the first three years of the company, and at one point the business had less than $1,000 in its bank account.
The Strategy
Removing her makeup on live television
In September 2010, a QVC buyer spotted IT Cosmetics at a trade show and offered Lima a single ten-minute segment. She borrowed money to purchase the manufacturer’s minimum order of 6,000 units of Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer, knowing she would go into debt if they did not sell. During the live broadcast, she broke from her script, removed her own makeup on camera to reveal her rosacea, and then applied the concealer in real time. All 6,000 units sold out in under 11 minutes. That single appearance led to 101 QVC airings in 2011, and Lima eventually logged more than 1,000 live shows on the network, turning IT Cosmetics into QVC’s largest beauty brand.
Clinical credibility instead of celebrity endorsement
While most beauty brands in the late 2000s chased celebrity spokespeople or influencer marketing, Lima built credibility through a different channel entirely. Every product was co-developed with an advisory board of physicians and chemists, and the brand led with clinical language and before-and-after demonstrations rather than aspirational imagery. This product development approach allowed IT Cosmetics to sell through live demonstration in a way that felt educational rather than promotional, which is exactly why the QVC format worked so well for the brand. The flagship Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer eventually sold more than 1.7 million units and expanded to 48 shades, while the CC+ Cream with SPF 50 became the number one SPF foundation in America according to Circana.
Scaling through private equity before the exit
In 2012, TSG Consumer Partners took a minority equity stake in the company, providing capital to expand beyond QVC and into traditional retail. By 2013 to 2014, revenue had climbed past $100 million with roughly 60 employees. The brand entered Ulta’s 900-plus stores and eventually launched at Sephora in September 2016, six years after the retailer’s initial rejection, and only weeks after the L’Oréal acquisition closed.
The Numbers
| Year | Estimated Revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 (Year 1) | ~$1M | 5 employees, selling from apartment |
| 2013–2014 | ~$100M+ | 60 employees, QVC + expanding retail |
| 12 months ending June 2016 | $182M net sales | 56% year-over-year growth; ~$300–400M at retail |
The acquisition: L’Oréal paid $1.2 billion in cash on August 31, 2016, making it the company’s largest acquisition in eight years at that time. Lima became the first female CEO of a brand in L’Oréal’s 108-year history. After the acquisition, IT Cosmetics doubled in size and reached the number two position in U.S. selective makeup.
Lima’s payout: After taxes, Lima received approximately $410 million from the sale. Combined with subsequent earnings and investments, her net worth now sits at an estimated $650 to $670 million, placing her among the richest women in the beauty industry.
The growth trajectory: IT Cosmetics went from under $1,000 in the bank to a $1.2 billion exit in eight years, built primarily through a single retail channel that most prestige beauty brands would never have considered. For comparison, Glossier raised $265 million in venture capital over a decade before being acquired by L’Oréal in 2025 for roughly $1.5 billion, and Rare Beauty reached a $2 billion valuation by year four with Sephora distribution from day one.
Controversies
Cruelty-free status under L’Oréal
IT Cosmetics was PETA-certified cruelty-free before the acquisition, but L’Oréal tests on animals where required by law, particularly in China. Consumers who had chosen the brand specifically for its cruelty-free status objected to the change in parent company practices, and the tension between a cruelty-free brand and an animal-testing parent company became a recurring point of criticism online.
Departure of the founders
Jamie and Paulo Lima’s three-year contracts with L’Oréal expired in September 2019, and both left the company. Lima said publicly that she was “completely burnt out” after more than a decade of building the brand. The departure raised questions about what happens to founder-led brands once the founder exits, particularly inside a conglomerate the size of L’Oréal.
Removal from QVC
In early 2023, L’Oréal pulled IT Cosmetics from QVC, the very channel that had built the brand from zero to $182 million. The decision was part of a broader strategy to reposition the brand toward traditional retail and digital channels, but it severed the relationship that had defined IT Cosmetics’ identity for over a decade.
What You Can Learn
The channel everyone ignores might be the one that works. Lima built a billion-dollar business through QVC at a time when most founders in the beauty space were focused on social media and DTC websites, because live demonstration was the best possible format for a product that needed to prove it worked.
Rejection does not disqualify the idea. Six years of rejection from Sephora, three years of rejection from QVC, and a room full of investors who said no did not mean the product was wrong; it meant the gatekeepers had not yet seen the demand. Lima built that demand herself through live television.
Clinical credibility can replace celebrity. IT Cosmetics had no famous face and no influencer army, but co-developing every product with dermatologists and plastic surgeons gave the brand a form of authority that celebrity endorsement cannot replicate.
Ownership math matters even in an acquisition. Lima’s roughly $410 million after-tax payout came from building a company valuable enough to command $1.2 billion, and taking on only a single minority investor before the sale preserved enough of her stake to make the exit life-changing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did L’Oréal pay for IT Cosmetics?
L’Oréal paid $1.2 billion in cash in August 2016, making it the company’s largest acquisition in eight years at that time.
How much did Jamie Kern Lima make from selling IT Cosmetics?
Lima received approximately $410 million after taxes from the $1.2 billion sale, and her current net worth is estimated at $650 to $670 million.
What does “IT” stand for in IT Cosmetics?
The “IT” stands for “Innovative Technology,” reflecting the brand’s clinical approach to product development with an advisory board of plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and chemists.
How did IT Cosmetics get on QVC?
A QVC buyer spotted the brand at a trade show in 2010 and offered Lima a single ten-minute segment after three years of prior rejections. She borrowed money to purchase 6,000 units and sold all of them in under 11 minutes by removing her own makeup on live television to demonstrate the product.
Is Jamie Kern Lima still involved with IT Cosmetics?
Lima and her husband Paulo departed in September 2019 when their three-year contracts with L’Oréal expired. She has since become a New York Times bestselling author, a guest Shark on Shark Tank Season 16, and has donated over $40 million in product and funds to various causes.
How does IT Cosmetics compare to other beauty brand exits?
The $1.2 billion sale in 2016 was L’Oréal’s largest acquisition in eight years. For context, L’Oréal later acquired Glossier for roughly $1.5 billion in 2025, and e.l.f. Beauty purchased Rhode for up to $1 billion in 2025. IT Cosmetics reached its exit with a fraction of the media attention those brands received, built primarily through a television shopping channel.
Who founded IT Cosmetics?
Jamie Kern Lima and her husband Paulo Lima founded IT Cosmetics in 2008. Lima had developed rosacea while working as a TV news anchor and could not find coverage that worked on camera, so the couple wrote the business plan on their honeymoon flight to South Africa in 2007 and launched the company from their apartment in Studio City, California.
When was IT Cosmetics founded?
IT Cosmetics launched in 2008 with five employees, one product, and roughly $1 million in first-year revenue. The “IT” stands for “Innovative Technology,” reflecting the clinical product development approach the brand built with an advisory board of plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and chemists.
Who owns IT Cosmetics?
L’Oréal has owned IT Cosmetics since August 2016, when it paid $1.2 billion in cash to acquire the brand. The company sits inside the L’Oréal Luxe division and continues to operate as a stand-alone brand within the conglomerate.
Sources
- L’Oréal Finance, “L’Oréal signs agreement to acquire IT Cosmetics,” July 2016. Acquisition price, net sales of $182 million, 56% year-over-year growth, product count, and division placement within L’Oréal Luxe.
- CNBC, “Jamie Kern Lima went from bagging groceries to building IT Cosmetics,” May 2018. Lima’s $410 million after-tax payout, majority ownership stake, and early career background.
- Foundr, “Jamie Kern Lima Used 10 Minutes to Create a Billion-Dollar Business”. Business plan origin on the honeymoon flight, QVC first appearance details, borrowing money for 6,000 units, and two years of retailer rejections.
- Boca Raton Observer, “Making It Big”. QVC segment details, removing makeup on live television, selling 6,000 units in under 11 minutes, and rosacea backstory.
- CNBC, “Jamie Kern Lima on handling rejection while building IT Cosmetics,” February 2021. Three years of QVC rejections, six years of Sephora rejections, and the investor who commented on her appearance.
- Cosmetics Business, “IT Cosmetics bosses to leave the brand they created 11 years ago,” 2019. Departure of Jamie and Paulo Lima in September 2019, brand doubling in size post-acquisition, and reaching #2 in U.S. selective makeup.
- Entrepreneur, “How Jamie Kern Lima Negotiated a $1.2-Billion Deal for IT Cosmetics,” 2018. Three-year negotiation timeline with L’Oréal, competitive bidding interest, and deal structure.
- Business of Fashion, “L’Oreal to Acquire IT Cosmetics for $1.2 Billion in Cash,” July 2016. Confirmation that the deal was L’Oréal’s largest acquisition in eight years.
- Cruelty-Free Kitty, “IT Cosmetics Sells Out to L’Oreal for $1.2 Billion,” 2016. Cruelty-free status concerns under L’Oréal ownership and consumer backlash over animal testing.
- CNBC, “IT Cosmetics Jamie Kern Lima: ‘I lived completely burnt out for almost a decade,’” March 2021. Lima’s burnout, no salary for three years, and reflections on building the company.
- TSG Consumer Partners, “Announces Sale of IT Cosmetics”. TSG’s minority equity stake taken in 2012 and role as co-owner at time of acquisition.