Estée Lauder Decides to Keep Too Faced, Smashbox, and Dr. Jart+

Too Faced, Smashbox, and Dr. Jart+ are officially off the market and will remain under the umbrella of parent company The Estée Lauder Companies.

While the beauty giant never formally confirmed that the trio of brands was up for sale, it did acknowledge hiring financial advisers to review its portfolio. Multiple industry sources had previously indicated that these three brands were actively being shopped.

Now, however, the company is holding onto the brands and implementing targeted turnaround strategies to boost their respective valuations, alongside skincare brand Origins, according to an internal memo seen by WWD. This decision to retain and restructure comes at a time of intense global beauty industry M&A activity, contrasting with moves like when Henkel completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Olaplex to aggressively expand its premium portfolio.

The Estée Lauder Companies confirmed the contents of the internal memo but declined to comment further.

“Over the past year, we shared that we engaged advisers to conduct a comprehensive review of our portfolio," wrote Stéphane de La Faverie, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Estée Lauder Companies, in the memo. "Throughout that process, we evaluated a range of strategic options, both internal and external, for some of our brands. As we looked ahead, one thing became clear: our brands have different strengths, consumer positioning, competitive dynamics, and growth opportunities, requiring tailored business models to help them accelerate innovation, strengthen consumer connections, and unlock long-term growth. By adopting the speed, agility, and entrepreneurial mindset of successful beauty indies, we are evolving how we operate.”

Under the new organizational strategy:

• Origins will be placed under the management of Deciem, giving the brand direct access to the incubator model that successfully scaled The Ordinary. This mirrors a wider industry trend of leveraging specialized incubation platforms, similar to how Belle Brands acquired Versed, which originally debuted as a digitally incubated beauty brand.
• Too Faced will shift its operations from California to New York to run under the company's centralized makeup cluster, with a heavy strategic focus on targeting Gen Z consumers.
• Dr. Jart+ will remain headquartered in Korea but will refocus on rapid innovation, targeted product categories, and specific geographic markets. "Operating with a leaner, more agile structure will enable the brand to innovate more quickly, respond faster to evolving consumer trends, and compete more effectively," the memo stated.
• Smashbox will remain in Los Angeles but will operate with a "significantly streamlined" team.

While the restructuring is expected to result in job losses across all four brands, the total number of affected positions has not been disclosed.