Why Am I Still Explaining What Substack Is...

+ The Phlur acquisition, the influencer-fragrance pipeline and $50,000 from Amika

Beauty gave us a little more this week.

I was invited by The Brand Guild for a breakfast with Substack's Head of Comms to discuss the future of the platform. She shared her notes on growth which include: 2 posts a week (1 free / 1 paid) which I'm already failing at, plus A/B testing different headlines. Basically more ways for me to annoy youse. She also mentioned comping subscribers to build brand loyalty. Do with this what you will.

I gotta be honest, am I majorly annoyed every time someone asks me WTF Substack is? I’m just like wow. How déclassé. But it's all good because it just means I'm on the wave early and can stop kicking myself in the foot for never starting the YouTube channel I should have started back in 2014.

Photos shared by The Brand Guild

The Discourse Continues

• I published Black Beauty Closures Are Not Your Cautionary Tale, on the Ami Colé discourse and you guys had a lot to say about it! Go read it if you yet haven’t.

Also are influencer Re-founders going to be the next It thing?

• Phlur got acquired by PE firm TSG Consumer. The brand had flatlined since their 2015 entry until they relaunched with fashion influencer Chriselle Lim in 2021. Now they're a top 10 fragrance brand at Sephora, hitting $150M in retail sales this year.

  Financial terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed, which I was surprised about given the hype when Phlur got acquired, lol. I honestly was expecting a billion dollar headline. But knowing it went to PE, the tightlippedness tells me it’s a quick hold and flip. Expect Phlur to lose some brand DNA with the aggressive growth to come, and to be absolutely everywhere in the next few years.

• The Phlur news echoes that of Love Island’s Leah Kateb joining Skylar as Chief Creative Officer and Re-founder and even Brooke Devard’s Naked Beauty partnership with creator based beauty incubator Modern Magic. There is clearly a shift in how beauty brands are repositioning influence and front-facing leadership. Why is the common thread fragrance?

  Dude should I just become an influencer? It’s starting to feel like a requirement for the life I want lmao.

Something a little spicy to wake it up …

• OnlyFans x Urban Decay
  Urban Decay named OnlyFans star Ari Kytsya a brand ambassador and why do I lowkey love it although I’m not really an evangelist of either. At the end of the day, beauty is still about fantasy, so why not tap someone who seems to be in on the joke.

The Industry is getting more closed loop, BB

• Melanie Bender (former Rhode CEO, also Versed, Merit) is starting her own brand Lore, which she teased on IG the other night.

  ATP, it feels like if you're starting a brand in 2025, you either a. built someone else’s brand before or b. have the kind of money / visibility to bring on somebody who’s built someone else’s brand before.

  The bar now greatly requires more and more pedigree! Stressful to many early builders, I’m sure. But I am curious to see what she’s cooking up and in which segment, though.

Grant ALERT

• You better go ahead and win $50,000 for your hair care brand via Amika's Rooted in Growth startup grant. They're awarding 4 businesses with funding + mentorship.

  Make sure you grab Slutty Founder’s grant strategy plug-in-play workbook and cheatsheet neowwww.

Is this the return of Ty Haney??

• In the latest that is the roller coaster that is Outdoor Voices….

  Always some drama with them, it seems. Plz Ty Haney is so fucking funny to me 😂. Remember when she had to leave her company, but was still @’ing them on IG like, “stop ruining my brand.”

  Commenters seem thrilled that it looks like she’s finally reclaiming the brand. In the world of SET Active and Alo, I’m not sure what a 2025 Outdoor Voices even looks like. What do y’all think? Lol

Signing off from here. Have a sexy weekend. Maybe go to the beach or something?

xx,

SF