Jakks Pacific-Owned Clean Teen And Tween Beauty Brand C’est Moi Shutters

Toy company Jakks Pacific has closed C’est Moi.

The teen and tween skincare and makeup brand, which promoted itself as offering “a new generation of clean beauty,” was the precursor to many of the newer beauty brands promising better-for-you products designed to resonate with teen and tween beauty enthusiasts while not turning off their parents, who are poring over ingredient lists. As the newer brands chase gen alpha, C’est Moi’s demise is a reminder of just how difficult it is to become a perennial staple in young consumers’ routines.

Jakks Pacific acquired the brand in 2016 from Singapore-based entrepreneur Jessica Tang for a reported $300,000 to diversify its toy-centered business. Tang had erected distribution for C’est Moi in Singapore, Dubai, Australia and Malaysia, although Jakks Pacific completely redid the brand to build it in the United States with 8- to 14-year-olds as its core audience.

Jennifer Saul, formerly director of product development at Beautycounter, joined the company as VP of marketing to overhaul C’est Moi and guide its growth. In 2018, the brand unfurled 38 stockkeeping units across skincare and color cosmetics priced from $8 for an eyeliner pencil to $26 for a three-piece set and broke into Target. The centerpiece of its selection was a three-step regimen featuring the products Gentle Foaming Cleansing Gel, Gentle Moisture Lotion and Gentle Mineral Sunscreen Lotion SPF. C’est Moi achieved Environmental Working Group and cruelty-free certification.

Promoting C’est Moi’s relaunch, Saul, who later became SVP of marketing, told Beauty Independent, “When young girls start to use beauty products, it’s a real rite of passage for them, but what’s crazy is, if you look at the beauty landscape and what’s available for them, there’s nothing that’s been thoughtfully and effectively formulated for their skin.”

In 2020, C’est Moi, which is pronounced “say mwah” and means “it’s me” in French,” collaborated with actress, producer and influencer Liza Koshy on a capsule collection and informed Beauty Independent that its sales had shot up 160% since launch. By 2021, the brand had landed at 3,000 Walmart locations. Speaking with the publication Los Angeles Business Journal that year, Saul estimated it could reach $7 million to $10 million in revenues. Along with Walmart and Target, C’est Moi was available at CVS and Amazon. Select products from the brand remain available online at retailers.

Samantha Cutler, founder of teen and tween makeup brand Petite ‘n Pretty, believes C’est Moi missed making a mark on social media platforms relevant to teens and tweens, particularly TikTok. She says, “They just didn’t get in early enough, which is so important with these younger consumers today.”

C’est Moi also faced gen alpha preferences and retail structures that made it difficult for it to succeed. As the publication Retail Dive points out citing a study by the agency Razorfish, young consumers are “opting for adult-focused brands over ‘kiddie brands’ before they enter their teens.” In beauty, that manifests in teens and tweens gravitating to adult-oriented brands such as Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe.

C’est Moi grappled with retailers not understanding how to place or market beauty and personal care brands targeting teens and tweens. Jill Biren, co-founder of JB Skrub, a body care brand for boys, says, “For some brands, their products live in acne solutions, clean/natural, general beauty and men’s. Discovering the appropriate products for this age is very confusing for a consumer, both the parent and teen. Now, with the recent growth of tween/teen brands, it will be interesting to observe which retailer gets it right and merchandises a section specifically dedicated for a pre-teen/teen.”

Within Jakks Pacific, C’est Moi was an outlier in a portfolio dominated by Disney Princess, Sonic the Hedgehog, Peanuts, World of Warcraft and Super Mario Bros. toy and costume franchises. In recent months, the toy company has been concentrating on improving its bottom-line results. Given the bottom-line push, spending money to energize C’est Moi’s tricky business may have been a tough sell, especially as the brand’s prospects to add meaningfully to Jakks Pacific’s profits dimmed in light of a burgeoning host of competitors going after gen alpha.

Jakks Pacific didn’t respond to Beauty Independent’s requests for comment on C’est Moi. In the second quarter of this year, the company’s net sales dropped 24.3% to $166.9 million and its gross profit declined almost 16% to $51.2 million. Gross margin was up 30.7% in the quarter.