The Glossy Beauty Podcast

Michael Malinsky’s 6-year-old brand Wonderskin could have easily become a one-hit wonder. 

Wonderskin launched in 2020 with a peel-off lip stain that immediately went viral on TikTok for its metallic blue formula and social media-friendly reveal. Since launch, the brand has sold more than 6 million units of the $22 Wonder Blading Lip Stain Peel-Off Mask, according to Malinsky. 

“The unique visual ‘wow factor’ helped us tremendously in capturing attention, but just standing out is a small part [of success],” Malinsky said. “Delivering curiosity, entertainment and ultimately the desire to try a product is what we spent the first two years of the business really honing in on.” 

In fact, Wonderskin’s viral success took years to build. “Our virality curve wasn't instant and up into the right; it was a slow-building momentum while we figured out the right messaging, the right visuals, the right branding, the right communications, the right packaging, the right pricing,” he said. “Only when we were very, very confident in the complete package were we more comfortable in activating the bigger partnerships and shouting a little bit more loudly about our product.” 

As early adopters of TikTok Shop and live selling, Wonderskin leveraged seller tools to grow an online community and saw a 328% increase in return on ad spend, plus a 182% increase in click-through rate, according to a TikTok case study on the brand. 

“The digital entrepreneurs’ anxiety is always there, because whenever something is working well in digital, there's always the concept of the half-life, because at some point, it will be less efficient. At some point, it will be less viral,” Malinsky said.

But what happened next could be considered the more novel part of Wonderskin’s rise: The brand successfully launched into several more categories, including eye and complexion; took on $50 million in funding led by Insight Partners; and launched into traditional retail with Sephora. 

This growth is partially fueled by Malinsky’s data-first approach to performance marketing, including a test-and-learn philosophy to new product launches. "We are confident and comfortable enough to move away from things that don't work," he said.

Wonderskin’s sales revenue grew by 300% in 2023 and 2024, and in 2025, the brand did more than $125 million in revenue, according to Malinksy. Today, Wonderskin sells DTC and through Amazon and TikTok Shop, plus Sephora, Boots, Nordstrom and Revolve. 

Malinsky joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the challenges in turning a viral product into a full-fledged beauty brand, including learnings along the way and advice for fueling the fire behind a viral product.

As the beauty industry moves past the direct-to-consumer boom of the 2010s, some of its most influential brands are being forced to redefine what success looks like. One of the most closely watched is Glossier, which recently appointed a new CEO, Colin Walsh, who joined from Ouai. 

On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, co-host Sara Spruch-Feiner is joined by senior beauty reporter Emily Jensen to discuss the staple millennial brand — which famously helped pioneer the modern "clean girl" aesthetic — and what its next chapter may hold. 

In recent months, the company has undergone several changes. Since Walsh’s appointment, they've included layoffs affecting roughly a third of its workforce, a pullback on physical retail, and a renewed focus on hero products and fragrance, a category now driving significant growth.

Headlines about the brand have often forecasted inevitable doom, but this episode explores Glossier’s current moment beyond a foregone conclusion, examining what it takes for a beauty brand to achieve longevity in an increasingly crowded market, the balance between newness and attention paid to hero products, and the challenge of maintaining relevance across generations.

As beauty and wellness industry insiders are well aware, the supplement space has exploded in size and scope over the past decade. 

Stiff competition has driven new ways for brands, retailers and adjacent tech companies to stand out, from third-party certification to award programs, and more recently, the advent of AI-powered wellness chatbots. Last year, Thorne became a first-mover with the launch of Taia, a first-of-its-kind generative AI advisor that lives on Thorne’s homepage. “In the first six months, [Taia has fielded] over 200,000 messages and more than 350,000 product and lifestyle recommendations,” said Nathan Price, PhD., chief science officer of Thorne. “We get about 8% higher average order value for those who use Taia versus those who just visit Thorne’s [website].” 

Thorne is a supplement category leader launched in 1984 and acquired by L Catterton equity group in 2023 for approximately $680 million. The brand has more than 300 SKUs but no hero product, which is one reason Taia exists.

“My primary thesis is that the No. 1 thing we can do to help Thorne as a company is to help the Thorne customer,” Dr. Price said. “If Taia and personalization can meaningfully make it so that the person gets the health outcome they were looking for, we think [Taia is] going to have a very big ROI.” 

Dr. Price oversaw the creation of Taia, which is trained on Thorne’s internal knowledge database, powered by a team of researchers and doctors, and AI foundational knowledge of health and wellness. For example, Taia can provide insights into common queries around things like gut health, itchy skin or exhaustion. It then provides personalized supplement recommendations, and lifestyle and nutrition tips, and helps users locate informational blog posts or product information on Thorne’s site. 

While the practical uses of Taia are somewhat obvious, Dr. Price is also a thought leader on the future of AI-powered health and wellness. He believes that every wellness brand should begin investing now or be left in the dust in the next two years. 

“It's like deciding not to have a website and be plugged into the Internet when that started becoming a thing in the late 90s,” Dr. Price told Glossy. “It’s absolutely table stakes [because] this is how most people are getting information, and in the future, it's going to radically [increase].” 

Dr. Price’s career sits at the forefront of where longevity and healthspan research intersects with evolving technologies like AI and AI companions. 

He is the author of the 2023 bestselling book “The Age of Scientific Wellness,” has published over 200 scientific papers, and is a professor and co-director of the Center for Human Healthspan at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, a California-based research institute focused solely on aging. He’s also been the CSO at Thorne for more than four years.

In today’s episode, Dr. Price sat down with host Lexy Lebsack to break down the strategy, implementation and future of generative wellness chatbots like Taia, as well as big picture thoughts on the future of AI and wellness, and how brands must future-proof their businesses in the fast-moving AI revolution.

On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, co-host Sara Spruch-Feiner sits down with Kim van Haaster, founder of Bloomeffects, to discuss the brand’s seven-year journey to Ulta Beauty.

Bloomeffects officially launched at the retailer in February, but the journey was years in the making — and included multiple rejections, a brand redesign and, perhaps most compellingly, a social post that transparently documented the whole process, including those rejections.

On this episode, van Haaster candidly shares how Bloomeffects reworked its packaging and assortment to turn Ulta's no into a yes, what the brand changed to get into retail (including lowering some prices) and why Ulta was so worth fighting for for Bloomeffects.