e.l.f. Cosmetics is an American cosmetics brand based in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. It was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba in 2004. Items include bath and skin-care products, mineral-based makeup, professional tools,

eyeliner Eye liner or eyeliner is a cosmetic used to define the eyes. It is applied around the contours of the eye(s). It is often used to create various aesthetic effects. History Eye liner was first used in ancient India, ancient Egypt and Mesopota ...

lipstick Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back to ...

glosses A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different. A collection of glosses is a ''g ...

, blushes,

bronzers Sunless tanning, also known as UV filled tanning, self tanning, spray tanning (when applied topically), or fake tanning, refers to the effect of a sun tanning, suntan without exposure to the Sun. Sunless tanning involves the use of #Oral agents, ...

brushes A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...

, and

mascara Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the upper and lower eyelashes. It is used to darken, thicken, lengthen, and/or define the eyelashes. Normally in one of three forms—liquid, powder, or cream—the modern mascara product has vario ...

, among others. According to the company, its products are 100% "

cruelty-free In the animal rights movement, cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products tested on animals or made from animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these tests are often ...

", and it supports

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

's no fur campaign. e.l.f. Cosmetics' products have been reviewed in '' Glamour'', '' Allure'', ''

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

'', ''

InStyle ''InStyle'' was an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith. In February 2022, it was announced that InStyle would cease print publications and move to a digital-only ...

'', and ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'', and are sold in 17 countries, and in several stores including

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

Dollar General Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of variety stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of April 11, 2022, Dollar General operates 18,216 stores in the continental United States. The company began in 1939 as a family-own ...

, and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. Over half the company's sales come from its website, which doubles as a social networking site with over two million members.

History and operations

e.l.f. (short for EyesLipsFace) Cosmetics was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba in June 2004 with the assistance of Shamah's father, Alan. The duo originally met at a party in 2002; Shamah was a 23-year-old

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

business student. Borba was a 31-year-old

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

beauty-industry veteran, responsible for previously launching brands such as

Hard Candy A hard candy (American English), or boiled sweet (British English), is a sugar candy prepared from one or more sugar-based syrups that is heated to a temperature of 160 °C (320 °F) to make candy. Among the many hard candy varietie ...

cosmetics. Both were enthusiastic about an inexpensive, high-quality cosmetics line for women and decided to form a company together. A few days after the party, they sat down to brainstorm, and a business plan was created within months. Borba claims the idea originated from seeing women with expensive cars such as BMWs and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

es buying bargain-price cosmetics at 99-cent stores in Los Angeles. On February 3, 2014, TPG Growth bought a majority stake in e.l.f. Cosmetics. Joey Shamah was replaced by Tarang P. Amin, who "has been appointed president, chief executive officer and director of e.l.f. Cosmetics."

Products

The company started with only 13 makeup products, but has since developed more than 300 products that include bath products, skin-care products, mineral-based makeup, professional tools,

, blushes,

, and many more. Most items cost $3. The variety of e.l.f. products allows the company to target a demographic with a broad age range, from teenagers to women in their 40s and 50s. The company carries different product lines, which include e.l.f. Studio, e.l.f. Minerals, and e.l.f. Essentials. There used to be e.l.f. Bath & Body, which included

moisturizer A moisturizer, or emollient, is a cosmetic preparation used for protecting, moisturizing, and lubricating the skin. These functions are normally performed by sebum produced by healthy skin. The word "emollient" is derived from the Latin verb ''mo ...

cleanser The term cleanser refers to a product that cleans or removes dirt or other substances. A cleanser could be a detergent, and there are many types of cleansers that are produced with a specific objective or focus. For instance a degreaser or carbur ...

, and

fragrances An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance or flavoring, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficiently vo ...

. They have now stopped making those products. *e.l.f. Studio - makeup line includes professional makeup for professional

makeup artists A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions incl ...

and consumers. *e.l.f. Minerals - consists of makeup made out of natural minerals. *e.l.f. Essentials - includes "every-day" makeup supplies at lower prices, in an effort to be affordable.

Sales

Retail

e.l.f. Cosmetics is currently available in 18 countries including the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Products can be purchased at regional drug chains across the United States and Canada. e.l.f products are most commonly found in Target. In March 2010, e.l.f.'s $1 and Studio line of products were placed in over 700

stores, with most individual items prices at $1 and $3. Another Target expansion to include most outlets happened in March 2011. Other stores include

, and

. e.l.f. is also sold at various supermarkets and women's apparel discount retailers, often in four-tiered spinners or "fish bowls" in impulse-buy sections.

Website

History

In 2004, the company was having only partial success stocking its products in retail stores, including

dollar stores A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It us ...

. '' Glamour'' magazine wanted to feature an e.l.f. product but told the company they couldn't unless the product was nationally available for their 2 million-person readership base. e.l.f. Cosmetics at that point had a website intended as a product showcase, and that year it relaunched the site as an e-commerce site, quickly shipping out thousands of orders. Since the premiere of the new site, e.l.f. products have been featured in ''Glamour'' over seven times. The website is now the brand's primary sales vehicle and accounted for approximately 50% of all sales in 2008.

Features

In June 2007, e.l.f. launched a beauty

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

and

advice column An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are w ...

that touts products (not only e.l.f.) and talks about celebrity sightings. Since then, the length of customer visits to the website has tripled. All product pages on the site host a "chat now" button that lets customers connect directly with one of the company's in-house professional makeup artists. The site hosts a "virtual makeover lab", where customers can digitally test products on models or their own photos. Customers can create a personal profile, publish and comment on blogs, converse with other customers, and access a beauty encyclopedia. They can also create a "beauty profile" and are recommended e.l.f. products according to their skin type, hair and eye colors, and typical beauty regimen. Also included is the option to create a wish-list that connects to

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, or view educational web videos on makeup techniques and styles. The website currently includes over 2 million members.

Promotions

In 2007, the company began to invest heavily in

email marketing Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It involves using email to s ...

, and its weekly email campaigns are considered by ''eCommerce-Guide'' to be the company's strongest promotion. The company offers a near-constant supply of promotions to its customers, largely through its website. Subscribers on the

mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

can earn points or gift certificates for making web referrals that turn into sales transactions. Shamah claimed that as of September 2009, more than 500,000 friend referrals had come back to make a purchase. It also frequently hosts online events, and since 2010 has asked customers of all ages and ethnicities to submit to a casting resource to select a yearly model representative for the brand. Four selected individuals are brought to New York City to receive

makeover A makeover is a radical change in appearance. When the word is used to describe a change in human physical appearance, it may imply a change in clothing, haircut, or cosmetics. A personal makeover might also include weight loss, plastic surgery, ...

s from Achelle Dunaway, e.l.f.'s Creative Director and lead makeup artist, as well as participate in a

photo shoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a Model (person), model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images ...

. There are various cash prizes for nominees, and the winner is dubbed "face of e.l.f."

Media presence

e.l.f. products have been favorably reviewed in dozens of major magazines, including '' Glamour'', '' Allure'', ''

'', ''

'', and ''

''. A segment on e.l.f. premiered on the ''

Style Network Esquire Network was an American pay television network that was a 50/50 joint venture between NBCUniversal and the Hearst Corporation. The network carried programs aimed at a metrosexual audience centering on travel, cooking, sports and fashio ...

'' as well. The business has been profiled by publications such as ''

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

'', ''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

'', ''Retail Merchandiser,'' ''

Information Week ''InformationWeek'' is a digital magazine which conducts corresponding face-to-face events, virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1985 by CMP Media, later called Informa. The p ...

'', and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. In December 2010, the e.l.f. product '100-Piece Endless Eyes Pro Eyeshadow Palette' was featured in "The O List: Holiday Edition" ("

Oprah's Favorite Things "Oprah's Favorite Things" was an annual segment that appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' from the 1990s to 2008 and 2010, as well as on ''Rachael Ray'' in 2017. In the segment, which airs during Thanksgiving week and was inspired by the holiday ...

") in

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

's '' O'' magazine. The magazine stated the set included "almost every color imaginable," and the product quickly sold entirely out of stock. In January 2011, e.l.f. reintroduced the product at half price, or $10.

Campaigns

Breast cancer funds

During October 2004, just months after its founding, e.l.f. donated 20% of the proceeds from its 'Shimmering Facial Whip' to Win Against Breast Cancer's research and facilities. It also provided "Color Therapy Care Packages" to

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

patients in

inner-city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists sometim ...

hospitals in

PETA

The brand only uses products that are

. In 2007, it was announced that e.l.f. was selling

tweezers Tweezers are small hand tools used for grasping objects too small to be easily handled with the human fingers. Tweezers are thumb-driven forceps most likely derived from tongs used to grab or hold hot objects since the dawn of recorded history. ...

in a faux leather case that read "e.l.f. Professional Supports

in the Fur Free Campaign. 50% of the proceeds from sales of these tweezers go straight to PETA!" CEO Joseph Shamah later earned PETA's "Trail-Blazer Award", given for "compassion and commitment to never testing on animals."

2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami

e.l.f. Cosmetics announced the "Mi & You Can Make a Difference" campaign days after the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

disaster, which helped fund relief efforts. The program donated 5% of all online purchases to the Red Cross for Japan's crisis recovery initiative.

History and operations

Products

Sales

Retail

Website

History

Features

Promotions

Media presence

Campaigns

Breast cancer funds

PETA

2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami

References

Further reading