Minimalist Clean Makeup Brand Lilah B. Will Close By The End Of The Year

Lilah B., the clean beauty brand known for its pebble-like packaging and minimalist makeup philosophy, will close by the end of the year.

Founder Cheryl Yannotti Foland announced the closure via posts on the brand’s social media accounts in which she expressed gratitude for its community. She wrote, “Your love and support over the past seven years is what continues to inspire me and what has kept us going even through challenging times. I thank you all.”

Yannotti Foland, who worked in private equity for 21 years, came up with the idea for Lilah B. after she moved from New York to Sausalito, Calif., for her role as West Coast senior director at the beauty sampling specialist Arcade Marketing. Her leap into entrepreneurialism was motivated by the healthy lifestyle she encountered in California and a gap in the market she spotted for a pared-down makeup brand.

Lilah B. founder and CEO Cheryl Yannotti Foland
Lilah B. founder Cheryl Yannotti Foland

In an interview two years ago, she explained to Beauty Independent, “I desired to create a brand that made beauty simple again. In the early ‘90s, Bobbi Brown was my girl. She made it simple and easy across ages, skin types and skin tones. When I started the development of Lilah B. five years ago, no one was really doing that.”

Lilah B. launched in 2015 with 11 stockkeeping units, including Flawless Finish Pressed Powder Foundation and Divine Duo Lip & Cheek, after 18 months in development. Back then, industry sources cited by the publication Women’s Wear Daily projected the brand could hit $3 million in first-year sales. Multitasking beauty products were its modus operandi, and Yannotti Foland emphasized that three makeup products are all anyone should need.

Lilah B.’s signature white pebble components were evocative of designs by Elsa Peretti, who Yannotti Foland was a big fan of. “They are objects to be kept, collected and cherished, not utilitarian, but an art piece,” she told Beauty Independent.

As direct-to-consumer distribution was gaining in popularity—Glossier was born a year before Lilah B.—Yannotti Foland pursued a traditional path to distribution at high-end retailers and e-tailers that could showcase Lilah B.’s prestige makeup and convey its clean formulations. It entered retail initially at Barneys New York and Net-a-Porter, where it sought to convert Tom Ford and Chanel customers looking for clean products.

By 2019, Lilah B. had expanded its retail reach to Mecca, Sephora, Cos Bar, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, and enlarged its assortment to 45 SKUs priced primarily from $30 to $58. At a moment of skincare ascendancy, the brand branched out from makeup to skincare, and its Aglow Face Mist became a bestseller.

“The closure speaks to the growing competition and saturation in the indie market.”

Lilah B. delivered a message of sustainability prior to sustainability becoming a major issue of concern among beauty consumers. It encouraged people to declutter their lives and had a recycling program that would recycle products consumers sent to it.

Yannotti Foland didn’t publicly discuss Lilah B.’s funding. However, Crunchbase estimates the brand raised a total of $3.8 million. In 2020, the business information platform reports it secured $3 million in series A funding from venture capital firm &vest at a pre-money valuation of $10 million.

Last year, Lilah B. shifted a bit from its retail-heavy distribution model to focus on drawing gen x customers through e-commerce. The move might have been effective in the short term, but Melissa Hibbért, founder of Shyft Beauty Consulting Agency, concludes it wasn’t effective for the long term. She says, “Now that consumers are going back in person and value in-store experiences that many retailers are providing, they likely saw a huge decline from the DTC business they garnered in 2020/2021.”

She adds, “Furthermore, clean and minimalistic beauty is now accessible to everyone, not just consumers who shop prestige. In fact, while the gen Z clean beauty consumer today still feels underserved, they have access to more affordable brands and are far more discerning and less experimental than gen Z consumers. I don’t think it was good strategy to alienate the younger consumers who are shopping online.”

Indie beauty brands have faced an uphill battle of late. Along with Lilah B., Sigil, Meant, Biophile, Makeup Geek and La Bella Figura are among several that have recently closed or revealed they will be closing. Emerging brands are challenged by elevated digital advertising and material costs, and a slew of competitors that have popped up. Notably for Lilah B.’s fate, Brown’s latest brand Jones Road Beauty has a clean, minimalist approach that’s similar to it.

Lilah B.
Lilah B., a brand known for clean products and a minimalist approach to makeup, is closing. At one point, it was available at Mecca, Sephora, Net-a-Porter, Cos Bar, Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York and Nordstrom.

Melissa D’Aquila Chiofolo, co-founder of beauty business consultancy Beauty Breakthrough and a former buyer at Lord & Taylor, says, “I believe the closure speaks to the growing competition and saturation in the indie market. While Lilah B. is a beautiful brand, its positioning isn’t unique enough from larger players like Ilia and RMS, which already have a strong customer base, or newer to market brands like Merit Beauty, which I am seeing all over social.”

Taylor Barry, D’Aquila Chiofolo’s fellow co-founder at Beauty Breakthrough and a former senior manager for training and events at Lord & Taylor, agrees market saturation was a huge dilemma for Lilah B. She says, “Founder Cheryl Yannotti Foland had the foresight to recognize the major industry shift towards minimalistic makeup crafted with only the cleanest ingredients. On the outside looking in, Lilah B. had everything—beautiful packaging, a gorgeous Instagram feed, impactful sets, amazing distribution and so on—but not enough to sustain.”

She continues, “Brands like Lilah B. have been losing shelf space to those like Merit and Saie, whose price point is lower and shade range is wider. Brands need to have a clearly outlined tone of voice to further differentiate themselves from other emerging brands. I’m so saddened to hear of the news of yet another great brand closing. I do look forward to seeing what their team and founder come up with next.”