Wonderskin, the London-based brand known for its peel-off lip stain that’s drawn more than 200 million views on TikTok and sold over 4 million units, is launching at Sephora as the beauty specialty chain is greasing the smartphone-to-shelf pipeline with new “Hot on Social” endcaps.
The lip stain will be on the endcaps in 350 locations on Sept. 26 after being greenlit by Sephora in under three months, an atypically short lead-up to store rollout, according to Michael Malinsky, founder and CEO of Wonderskin. The brand’s Sephora debut follows it closing a $50 million series A round in May this year led by venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners, with entrance into a beauty specialty retailer high on its list of growth strategies.
“Millions of people already know about the brand and have purchased it. Still, at the first point of purchase, they want to touch and feel it. They want to get beauty advisors’ help on how to apply it,” says Malinsky. “This is why our products on Sephora’s shelves and elsewhere will sell through at a high rate because the demand and curiosity are there, and the retailer completes the final step.”
Prior to Sephora, Wonderskin had been expanding its retail network and surpassed 3,000 points of retail distribution worldwide, with a presence at Selfridges, Boots, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Marionnaud, Matas, Kicks and Lyko. On Amazon, the brand is ranked No. 1 in the lip stain category. Wonderskin remains a digital-first operation, and wholesale isn’t projected to exceed 15% of turnover in 2025, although it will be the fastest-growing part of the business.
According to an estimate in the publication BeautyMatter, Wonderskin’s expected revenues for 2025 are $100 million to $125 million. Timed with the series A, Malinsky, who continues to hold majority ownership, told Beauty Independent that the brand’s sales were on track to double this year. Sales skyrocketed 300% in both 2024 and 2023. He shared Wonderskin is a profitable business, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of just under 10%.
As Sephora seizes upon the upside of social media-propelled brands, it may increase its susceptibility to the downside. The retailer is quite familiar with that downside. At the height of the Sephora kids craze sending teens and tweens into its stores to purchase products viral on TikTok in 2023, Drunk Elephant, the Shiseido-owned skincare brand available at Sephora, saw its sales rise 77%. When the craze cooled in 2024, the brand’s sales sunk 25%, and they slipped another 65% in the first quarter this year, although the declines narrowed in the second quarter.
Wonderskin has seen enviable momentum on social media. For example, according to a TikTok for Business case study, in the first quarter, Wonderskin’s TikTok Shop sales jumped 70% from the fourth quarter last year, with more than 400 units per day sold since the beginning of the year. A lip stain was sold every five seconds on the platform, where Wonderskin ran 5,000 variations of its creative in the past year.
“The demand and curiosity are there, and the retailer completes the final step.”
However, Malinsky believes Wonderskin isn’t as vulnerable to the seesaw of virality because its digital sales are largely propelled by paid and not organic social media. He figures the brand spends about $5 million a month on marketing, with about a quarter going to influencers and affiliates and the rest divided up between Meta, TikTok and Google. Wonderskin has partnerships with 3,000-plus content creators on a paid basis.
“We have been on the receiving end of many viral moments where a boost has been given to us through highly viral videos and organic exposure, but that is just a boost, that isn’t the driving force,” says Malinsky. “The fuel that powers the engine is the paid marketing and that isn’t going anywhere. That’s why we are not experiencing the ups and downs.”
Wonderskin is applying the lessons from its marketing success to supporting its arrival at Sephora. He says it’s executing a six-month plan he half-jokingly calls “operation sell-through” involving layering Sephora in its paid and organic communications. Wonderskin has worked with the agency Breakthru Beauty to shepherd its launch at Sephora and will be assembling an in-house field sales team to educate staff and customers in Sephora stores. It uses the in-house field sales model in Europe.
Wonderskin’s goal is to show Sephora it has the sales strength to justify moving from the “Hot on Social” fixtures to brand-focused displays in greater store distribution. Wonderskin’s competitor Sacheu Beauty, the brand behind a peel-off lip liner, has been broadening its Ulta Beauty footprint. It broke into the chain online in 2021, and in July this year landed at 700 stores with its full cosmetics range. In January, Sacheu owner Gloss Ventures raised $15 million in Series A funding and forecast it would reach $100 million in sales in two years.
On its website, Wonderskin’s full assortment contains about 64 stockkeeping units, and prices run from $5 to $39 for single items. The lip stain is $22. Malinsky says non-lip stain products account for close to 40% of Wonderskin’s sales as it deepens its relationships with customers. North America is responsible for two-thirds of the brand’s sales, with the rest from the United Kingdom and Europe.
Next month, Wonderskin is slated to introduce foundation. “It is very true to our brand ethos as far as long-wear beauty and really strong efficacy and performance,” says Malinsky. “We managed to create a long-wear product that’s very sheer and lightweight and carries incredible skincare ingredients.”
