Celebrity Beauty Brands Shutter as Founders Discover Visibility Alone Cannot Sustain Sales

Indie beauty brands are learning a costly lesson about the gap between early momentum and lasting success. Several celebrity-backed ventures have quietly shut down or paused operations in recent months, signaling that viral attention and retail placement alone cannot sustain a business without strong fundamentals and customer retention.

Kate Hudson’s supplement brand InBloom appears to have closed roughly six years after its 2020 launch. The brand’s website is no longer operational, and its Instagram account has been dormant since July of last year. InBloom had entered 450 Whole Foods stores and Amazon in 2024, and as recently as October, Hudson told EatingWell that expansion was just beginning. The brand had reported millions in revenue since launch and a 25% customer repeat rate. InBloom did not respond to requests for comment.

Camila Coelho’s beauty brand Elaluz, created with incubator Luxury Brand Partners, has paused operations after six years. The brand’s website no longer displays products for purchase and displays a message saying it is “out for a quick touch-up” and “refining our formula.” At launch, Luxury Brand Partners planned to invest $6 million to $7 million in Elaluz over three years. By 2021, Elaluz and Coelho’s namesake fashion brand generated more than $10 million in combined sales.

What Sets Apart the Brands That Endure

The closure of celebrity brands contrasts sharply with the philosophy driving success at Dolce Glow, a spray-tan brand that has attracted clients including Kylie Jenner, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, and Kim Kardashian. Founder Isabel Alysa built the company on a principle: treating every customer, whether a celebrity or a first-time client, with identical care and attention.

Alysa grew up in foster care and credits that experience with shaping her approach to customer experience. She views service not as a transaction but as an opportunity to make someone feel valued. “Whether someone is a first-time customer ordering online or a celebrity sitting in my tanning tent before the Oscars, I want them to leave feeling seen, valued, and more confident than when they arrived,” Alysa said.

This distinction matters because visibility and celebrity endorsements are often mistaken for business durability. Viral posts and red carpet placements introduce people to a brand, but consistency of experience and the trust earned over time determine whether customers return. Enduring businesses are built in the quieter moments after the initial attention fades.

Capital and Growth Cannot Substitute for Retention

Some celebrity brands have attracted significant funding but still faltered. InBloom launched with backing from Syllable, an incubator created by The Craftory, and initially priced its supplements between $49 and $59. The brand lowered prices to $34.99 ahead of its Whole Foods entrance. However, despite retail expansion and reported revenue in the millions, the brand could not sustain momentum.

Other celebrity ventures continue to raise capital and show early strength. Fara Homidi Beauty has raised an additional $4 million in growth capital from Sandbridge Capital, bringing total investment to over $7 million. The brand was projected to reach $15 million in 2025 sales. Martha Stewart and dermatologist Dhaval Bhanusali’s skincare brand Elm Biosciences reached a $24 million revenue run rate within a year of launch and is exploring a $10 million to $15 million Series A.

Yet growth capital and early revenue projections do not guarantee survival. Menagerie Cosmetics closed after an eight-year run, and founder Samantha VanDahl said she would shift to a new creative direction. Blip, a nicotine replacement therapy brand, also closed after launching in 2023 and expanding to more than 7,000 retail locations across CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, and Target. The brand had raised around $5 million in 2022.

The pattern suggests that retail placement and funding rounds are necessary but insufficient conditions for long-term success. A brand must also build customer loyalty through consistent, thoughtful service, the very element that celebrity-backed ventures, focused on rapid growth and distribution, often overlook.

For founders launching beauty brands in a crowded market, the lesson is clear: attention is not the same as affection. A celebrity name may open doors and secure capital, but a business survives because customers choose to return.