Ipsy’s Fundraise, Stories & Ink’s Round, Susan Yara’s Playa Play And More Indie Beauty Dish

Stories & Ink, the tattoo aftercare brand founded by Stu Jolley as The Others in 2018, has raised roughly $1.8 million at an $11.2 million pre-money valuation as it sharpens its focus on Amazon and profitability. The British company, which divulges its sales are around $2.2 million and is on track to reach profitability in roughly 10 months, plans to use the funding to accelerate growth in the United States, where Jolley sees Amazon, TikTok and tattoo studio distribution as key opportunities.

The raise follows a stint at Target for Stories & Ink that Jolley says underscored the importance of building demand outside retail before scaling into big-box stores. Today, about three-quarters of the brand’s sales come from Amazon, where its bestselling Aftercare Cream has helped make it the No. 2 player in its category in the U.K., behind Bepanthen, the baby ointment long used for fresh tattoos. Jolley expects Stories & Ink to soon surpass $5 million in sales through Amazon.

Bathorium, the Canadian bath and body brand founded by Greg Macdonald, has raised around $1.3 million of a planned $1.8 million SAFE round at roughly a $10.4 million post-money valuation to fund growth initiatives including a rebrand, senior hires and U.S. expansion.

The company generated approximately $5.4 million in sales last year, up from $3.1 million the year before, per Macdonald. It’s been profitable in all but one year since its 2014 launch. Bathorium counts Nordstrom, Sprouts and more than 140 additional spas among recent distribution wins. The Bathologist, the company’s more mass-market second line, accounted for about 15% of 2025 sales. Macdonald says an equity round or acquisition could be possible within two to five years.

The corporate entity behind Ipsy filed a Form D with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on April 22 for a securities offering that includes equity and equity-linked instruments. The filing, which doesn’t disclose an amount, indicates the offering isn’t expected to last more than a year. In 2025, Ipsy raised a $100 million series B round led by TPG Growth and Sherpa Ventures.

Susan Yara’s forthcoming brand Playa Beauty has acquired the intellectual property for the name from Forma Brands, which in 2020 bought the haircare brand Playa founded by Shelby Wild three years earlier. Playa Beauty now holds at least a dozen trademarks spanning haircare, cosmetics, fragrance and even hospitality-related services. Wild, who was involved in a legal dispute with Forma over its lack of support for Playa, went on to co-found California Naturals.

With its IP maneuver, Playa Beauty, launching May 1, is drawing from the playbook of The Center, which incubated Naturium, the skincare brand Yara co-founded, and sold it in 2023 to E.l.f. Beauty. The Center previously purchased IP from brands including Phlur and Make Beauty to reimagine them. According to reporting by Puck, Phlur was acquired for $1 million in 2021. The brand grew to over $150 million in retail sales before its sale to TSG Consumer Partners last year.

Facing difficulties securing IP for brand names, others may look to emulate the approach taken by Playa Beauty and The Center, but attorney Diana Palchik warns it carries significant risk. She notes that trademarks that appear defunct can still be revived, and startups that adopt them without thorough diligence and legal safeguards from prior owners could expose themselves to disputes that threaten their ability to scale or exit.

She says, “A formal agreement would ideally contain written assurances that the brand’s previous owner will not compete against or pursue trademark infringement claims against the brand’s buyer at any point.”

Nivora Group, a newly formed company describing itself as a consumer private equity firm led by partners Joel Golombeck and Elliott Weller, has acquired Indian-inspired haircare brand Aavrani for an undisclosed amount. Launched in 2018 as a skincare brand, Aavrani later pivoted into haircare, including a Sephora launch and celebrity partnership with Lilly Singh in 2024. Prior to the sale, the company had raised $15 million.

Co-founders Rooshy Roy and Justin Silver have departed the business. Announcing the sale on the podcast South Asian Trailblazer in February, Roy said, “Sephora is no longer a brand builder. They will take what you’ve created and amplify it, which is incredible, but it’ll expose all your strengths and weaknesses. There’s no forgiveness around a learning curve anymore. When it comes to retail, you have to be excellent from the moment you enter.”

Nette, the fragrance brand founded by Carol Han Pyle in 2021, has hired former Byredo U.S. president Robert Sorce to lead retail expansion and business strategy as it accelerates distribution growth. The brand recently entered 18 Bloomingdale’s stores nationwide, adding to existing placements at Sephora and last year’s rollout to Space NK. In an interview with Beauty Independent last fall, Pyle disclosed Nette was projecting roughly 50% year-over-year growth in 2025 and nearing breakeven by the end of 2026.

Antiperspirant brand Duradry is raising new SAFE financing, with $120,000 raised so far, according to an SEC filing dated April 13 that details the raise isn’t expected to last more than a year. The filing lists revenue between $5 million and $25 million. In 2024, founder Jack Benzaquen shared on LinkedIn that Duradry had generated more than $25 million in sales over seven years and outlined lessons from being turned down by Target, including the need for faster growth, stronger resources and greater social reach.

Leaked Labs is tweaking its concept after backlash to its debut product. The brand has offered refunds for Amplify Flexi Powder, its first so-called “leak,” pushed back its next launch and clarified its two-pronged model for future releases.

True Beauty Ventures-backed Leaked Labs will introduce both products discovered from outside labs and products developed by Alexis Androulakis, who founded the brand with her wife, Christina Basias Androulakis. The latter category could represent a clearer path to retail expansion and long-term brand building.

Soshe has announced via social media that it will launch at Ulta Beauty in August as its exclusive retail partner. The brand’s assortment, spanning blush, eyeliner and lip treatments, is typically priced from about $22 to $32, with refills starting at around $17. Ahead of the Ulta rollout, Soshe has been publicly documenting behind-the-scenes preparations, signaling a more transparent approach to retail launches than the traditional closer-to-launch teaser strategy.

Combe Inc.-owned Virtue Labs has expanded its Ulta footprint by more than 230 stores to nearly 600 stores. The biotechnology-powered haircare brand launched at Ulta in 2024  and closed 2025 with 40% year-over-year growth. It’s also stocked in Sephora across the United States, United Kingdom, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Fearless Group, the company behind men’s skincare brand Particle, is preparing to launch another brand after scaling Particle to $100 million in sales, according to a recent LinkedIn post from CEO and co-founder Ayal Ebert. In the post, Ebert said the company is hiring a head of growth to help guide the new venture. Particle, known for its anti-aging products targeted at men over 40, has been one of the more prominent digitally native men’s skincare brands to emerge in recent years.

Three Ships launched a citywide out-of-home campaign across Toronto on April 20 challenging the beauty industry’s use of the terms “natural” and “clean,” which lack legally binding definitions for cosmetics in the U.S. and Canada. The campaign asks questions such as “Natural. According to who?” and “Clean. Based on what?” while directing consumers to a landing page where they can add their names in support of clearer standards. Developed in-house by the skincare brand, the campaign involved an investment of under $4,000 dedicated primarily to poster placement.

Condom and lubricant brand Champ is featured prominently in the Amazon comedy “Balls Up,” which is centered on a condom company. The movie premiered April 15 and stars Mark Wahlberg, Sacha Baron Cohen and Molly Shannon. The brand integration demonstrates how sexual wellness brands are getting creative with marketing as advertising restrictions tied to sexual content limit their reach on major social media platforms.

Comedian Chelsea Handler said during the April 2 episode of “Good One: A Podcast About Jokes” that she invested $250,000 in makeup brand Nudestix and lost the full amount, providing a fresh glimpse into the company’s past financial struggles before its 2025 sale to an undisclosed U.S. private equity firm. Beauty editor and TikToker Cristina Montemayor highlighted the comments on TikTok. Nudestix previously secured backing from celebrity investors Handler and Hilary Duff and growth equity firm Alliance Consumer Growth, which reportedly took a 30% stake in the brand that raised around $10 million.

Rephr, the digitally native makeup brush brand known for handcrafted Kumano tools, is entering retail for the first time with a May 6 launch in seven Sephora Hong Kong stores and online. The company is inviting its 200,000-plus customer community to vote on how the brand appears in-store, from shelf layouts to endcaps. Sephora is looking to international markets to serve as early proving grounds for broader expansion at its stores, including potential entry into the U.S.

She Biology, the psychodermatology-focused skincare brand founded in 2020 by Chinenyem Nwadiugwu, has opened a multi-brand concept store on King Street in Charleston designed to test an alternative retail model centered on education, rituals and customer retention. Alongside She Biology products, the store features partner brands under a 60/40 commission-based structure intended to reduce inventory risk. Nwadiugwu says its in-house products carry margins of roughly 85% to support profitability.

She Biology has also launched online at Nordstrom as it expands its distribution network while continuing to use in-person experiences and community-led events to drive repeat purchases and lifetime value.

Mythologie, a prestige haircare brand founded by longtime hairstylist Gina DiBitetto, is launching May 1 with a six-product collection priced from $38 to $72. It will be available direct-to-consumer and at Bella G’s Beauty Lounge in Ormond Beach, Fla., which is owned by DiBitetto.

The line includes products such as Golden Aura Clarifying Shampoo, Crown Renewal Hydrating Conditioner and Divine Intervention Styling Cream, and is positioned around a “roots, ritual and renewal” concept that blends scalp care, fragrance and crystal-inspired ingredients. The launch adds to a growing wave of prestige haircare brands betting on elevated rituals and sensorial storytelling.

Alfredo Lewis, a hairstylist with more than 941,000 Instagram followers, is launching Qoat Hair with what it describes as the first professional hair-color topcoat. Applied after a color service, the treatment is designed to enhance results and help extend the life of hair color. “It’s like insurance for your hair color,” Lewis says in an Instagram post.