IPSY is the largest beauty membership in the world, home to sample-size beauty subscription Glam Bag, full-size beauty subscription BoxyCharm, celeb-curated collection Icon Box, and clean, sustainable personal care subscription Refreshments. IPSY delivers a customized experience for each of its subscriptions by leveraging IPSY Match, its proprietary machine learning technology, which analyzes hundreds of attributes to match members with beauty products fit to their lifestyles. IPSY has a beauty community of 20 million fans and has amassed 200 million product reviews.
History
IPSY was co-founded in 2011 by YouTube
beauty vlogger
A beauty YouTuber, commonly referred to as a "beauty vlogger", "beauty guru", "beauty influencer," or "Beautuber", is a person who creates and posts videos to YouTube about cosmetics, fashion, hair-styling, nail art, and other beauty-related topi ...
Michelle Phan
Michelle Phan (born April 11, 1987) is an American beauty YouTuber. She is the founder and owner of the multimillion-dollar cosmetics line EM Cosmetics.
Early life
Michelle Phan was born on April 11, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts. Both her p ...
, Marcelo Camberos, who joined the company as CEO from
Funny or Die
Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a re ...
, and Jennifer Jaconetti Goldfarb, who joined from
Bare Escentuals
is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world and ...
. The company's initial business model was tested in a beta site called myglam.com in December 2011 before launching to the public in September 2012 as ipsy.com.
In May 2013, IPSY launched its first live event, Generation Beauty—an annual beauty convention where cosmetics companies, bloggers, and the public could meet.
By February 2016, the company had 10,000 vloggers who contributed one or two videos a month dedicated to the subscription service. At the time, Goldfarb stated, "There are hundreds if not millions of beauty content creators online. We want all of them."
In May 2015, IPSY launched Open Studios, a video production
co-working space
Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...
in Santa Monica, California, for nano creators and vloggers associated with the brand. At the studio, creators were provided equipment to produce content for their social media platforms and receive mentoring.
In September 2015, IPSY raised a $100 million Series B round of funding from
TPG Growth
TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth ...
and
Sherpa Capital
Sherpa Capital is an American venture capital firm established in March 2013 by Shervin Pishevar and Scott Stanford. Based in San Francisco, CA, Sherpa Capital specializes in early stage and growth startups ranging from e-commerce to technology.
...
and the company was valued at about $800M;
before then, it had raised about $3M in seed and Series A funding.
In September 2017, IPSY launched e-commerce to offer beauty deals exclusively to its subscribers. Then in 2018, IPSY expanded its portfolio to two memberships with the introduction of a full-size program called Glam Bag Plus (now called BoxyCharm). In 2019, IPSY expanded even further to three memberships with Glam Bag Ultimate, a program featuring both full-size products and deluxe samples. The program has since evolved into a quarterly upgrade called Icon Box, featuring full-size, celebrity-curated products.
Building on its portfolio of memberships, IPSY launched Refreshments in 2020. Refreshments is a line of vegan, cruelty-free personal care products that are free of parabens, phthalates, and sulfates. The products are also formulated without gluten and nut allergens, and are clinically, allergy, and dermatologist-tested.
In 2020, IPSY acquired BoxyCharm, the largest provider of subscriptions for full-size beauty products, but continued to operate the two businesses separately.
The two brands officially came together in 2023 under the IPSY umbrella. The reimagined combined portfolio couples BoxyCharm's focus on brands and merchandise with IPSY's personalization, customization, and operations. The resulting membership experience is offered exclusively at IPSY.com and the IPSY app.
See also
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Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for ...
*
Beauty YouTuber
A beauty YouTuber, commonly referred to as a "beauty vlogger", "beauty guru", "beauty influencer," or "Beautuber", is a person who creates and posts videos to YouTube about cosmetics, fashion, hair-styling, nail art, and other beauty-related top ...
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.ipsy.com/
Subscription services
2011 establishments in California
Cosmetics companies of the United States
American companies established in 2011
ipsy login steps