With Everything Under $10, Glossmetics Wants To Be The Go-To Brand For Price-Conscious Gen Z Shoppers

Brand incubator Gloss Ventures is making moves on several fronts.

Its new brand Glossmetics, which sells skincare and tools for under $10, landed at Walmart Canada in January, where it’s already increased from 110 to 320 stores, and went up on Amazon this month. It’s due to roll out next month to 3,049 CVS stores and will soon be chain-wide at Anthropologie, Aerie, Nordstrom Rack and Urban Outfitters. Distribution partners for the United Kingdom, Asia and European Union are on deck.

“Essentially, what we are doing is we are taking market favorites as benchmarks, and we are democratizing beauty. You don’t need to spend $50, $60, $70, $80 to get a similar quality product with the same efficacy,” says Quinn Roukema, partner at Gloss Ventures. “You can get all the best of beauty below $10.”

Gloss Ventures believes Glossmetics can surpass $2 million in sales in its first year on the market and $8 million in its second year by winning over gen Z shoppers. “We want to be the No. 1 go-to brand for budget-sensitive consumers in the gen Z market,” says Roukema. “Gen Z does not want to pay a dollar extra to get the best of beauty. Also, the market obviously right now is leaning more toward lower price products.”

Glossmetics, a new brand from incubator Gloss Ventures, aims to be a go-to brand for price-conscious gen Z consumers. All of its products are under $10, and it’s rolling out to more than 3,000 CVS doors in September.

Out of the gate, Glossmetics’ facial roller Magic Roller Wand and ice roller Keep Your Cool have been top sellers. The brand anticipates Healthy Lash & Brow Serum, Lychee Berry Lip Glaze and Peptide Glazed Face Serum being its non-tools bestsellers. Glossmetics is set to extend into oral care, haircare, and bath and body care with products priced from $4.99 to $9.99.

The brand hopes to ride TikTok trends and trigger its own as well. Seventy percent of its marketing spend is being dedicated to sparking viral moments on TikTok, and the rest is slated for public relations, events, retargeting and retention efforts. Glossmetics has launched a partnership with TikTok Shop, the e-commerce solution the social media network has integrated into its platform, and it has an-house product team that can help bring a product concept to market in less than six months to jump on trends.

Sacheu Beauty, another brand from Gloss Ventures, has expanded across Ulta Beauty’s nearly 1,350 stores. In its locations, the retailer carries Sacheu’s $32 Stainless Steel Gua Sha, $35 Stainless Steel Facial Roller and $38 Stainless Steel Body Gua Sha. Forthcoming products will be heading to Ulta stores in January.

Founded in partnership with influencer Sarah Cheung, Sacheu broke into Ulta online in 2021 prior to spreading to 400 Ulta stores in 2022 and 550 Ulta stores earlier this year. It’s sold at Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Amazon, too, and Gloss Ventures is working on stretching it abroad to the U.K., EU and Asia.

“We want to be the No. 1 go-to brand for budget-sensitive consumers in the gen Z market.”

Available online at Ulta, Sacheu’s $12 peel-off Lip Liner Stay-N has been a major hit. Since its release in March, Gloss Ventures’ TikTok campaign for the brand has generated 100 million-plus views. The product sold out twice and has become the No. 2 lip liner on Amazon. In the three weeks following its premiere, it generated $450,000 in direct-to-consumer sales. Aided by Lip Liner Stay-N, Sacheu’s sales have climbed almost 100% this year.

Although some influencer-led beauty brands have faced challenges, Gloss Ventures is convinced Sacheu has the stuff to rise above the fray and be a lasting beauty player. It’s been pursuing institutional funding to further scale the brand. Gloss Ventures declined to discuss Sacheu’s exact sales, but shared the brand is closing in on an eight-figure sales total.

Speaking of Cheung and Sacheu, Roukema, who’s CEO of Sacheu, says, “I wouldn’t call her an influencer or call this necessarily an influencer brand. She’s really a businessperson, a creative director and a strategic force for product development. Sacheu is creating visually marketable products that are very exciting and work for TikTok and Instagram. In addition to that, we use smart funnels for rewarding people, generating UGC and getting video conversations going. That combination allows us to go and remain viral. Our core criteria for future product is its ability to show and tell and add value to people’s beauty routines.”

Last year, Gloss Ventures told Beauty Independent it was looking to acquire brands. This year, however, its strategy has changed. The company is concentrating on its incubated brands, particularly Glossmetics, Sacheu and Pursuit Beauty, a sun protection line tied to surfer Alana Blanchard. Other brands in Gloss Ventures’ portfolio include beauty tools and accessories brand Zoë Ayla and teeth whitening brand Active Wow. The company recently sold supplement brand Vitamin Bounty to an undisclosed buyer.

Sacheu Beauty, which recently rolled out across Ulta Beauty’s nearly 1,350 stores, has had a major hit with its $12 peel-off Lip Liner Stay-N. In three weeks following the product’s launch in March, the brand sold $450,000 worth of it via direct-to-consumer distribution, and its TikTok campaign for the product has drawn 100 million-plus views.

“We realized that we’re not investment bankers. Instead, we’re brand builders. We thrive at building concepts and launching products that compel the market and make a major impact,” says Roukema. “Therefore, we have shifted away from an acquisition focus to an inherent brand-building and growth focus and that has proven to be extremely productive and lucrative in the past 12 months.”

For Gloss Ventures as a whole, retail accounts for about 60% of sales, Amazon accounts for about 25% of sales, and DTC distribution accounts for the remainder. The company’s team sits at around 20 people today, and it’s planning to boost its Amazon and DTC marketing talent.

“Amazon has been really good at building a trusted logistics infrastructure, and there are huge spillovers. We are seeing a lot of people discovering our products on TikTok and buying them on Amazon,” says Roukema. “Amazon is going to continue to take more and more market share because of its shipping ability and it’s greater emphasis now on protecting beauty brands.”