Dupes and Jennifer Coolidge helped deliver a strong quarter for E.l.f. Beauty

With a little help from viral TikTok beauty dupes and a Super Bowl campaign with Jennifer Coolidge, E.l.f. Beauty reported its 17th consecutive quarter of net sales growth yesterday.

E.l.f., whose brand portfolio includes E.l.f. Cosmetics, E.l.f. Skin, Well People, and Keys Soulcare, reported its net sales rose 78% year over year to $187.4 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, and 48% to $578.8 million for the full year. Its gross margin also increased to 69% in Q4 with help from pricing and lower transportation costs.

• The company is anticipating 22% to 24% net sales growth in fiscal 2024, but expects a stronger performance for fiscal Q1.

The company continues to compete with mass cosmetic legacy brands. In Q4, it surpassed Revlon and CoverGirl to become the No. 3 brand in mass cosmetics, Tarang Amin, e.l.f. Beauty’s chairman and CEO, noted, adding it’s the only brand in the top five to operate a DTC site. The company also grew shelf space at Target, Walmart, CVS, and Shoppers Drug Mart in the spring, and will increase its space at Ulta Beauty, CVS, and Walgreens in the fall.

“Our value proposition, powerhouse innovation, and disruptive marketing engine continue to fuel our performance,” Amin said.

Thrown for a dupe: The beauty brand has gone viral on TikTok in recent months for its dupes of other viral TikTok products, like its Halo Glow Liquid Filter and Beauty Wands, which have been compared to Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter and Beauty Light Wands. Amin himself noted the wands’ $9 price point compared to the “prestige item at $42,” on the call.

• E.l.f.’s “innovation franchises”—Halo Glow, Putty, Power Grip, and Camo—have given the brand a “competitive advantage,” Amin noted. It has particularly maintained interest from Gen Z, ranking as the top cosmetics brand in Piper Sandler’s semiannual Gen Z survey.
• The brand’s last hashtag TikTok challenge also secured almost 15 billion views, Amin noted.

E.l.f. debuted its first ever Super Bowl commercial, featuring Jennifer Coolidge, in February; it notched 57 billion impressions and lifted sales for its Power Grip Primer (said to be a dupe for Milk’s Hydro Grip Primer), he said.

“We have a unique ability to deliver holy grails, taking inspiration from our community and the best products in prestige and bringing them to the market at extraordinary value,” Amin said.