Recently, The Better Skin Co., a skincare brand known for its multipurpose, gender-neutral products, has announced its closure after nearly a decade in business. Once available at major retailers like Ulta Beauty, Bloomingdale’s, Costco, and Urban Outfitters, the brand is winding down operations, with Dec. 20 marking the last day to purchase products through its website. The decision, shared via Facebook, follows significant challenges, including a steep decline in sales and rising advertising costs.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Murphy Bishop II and aesthetician Natalya Rachkova, the brand launched with its hero product, Mirakle Cream, a versatile moisturizer marketed as “genius in a jar.”
With an initial investment of $25,000, The Better Skin Co. expanded to a lineup of 17 products, priced between $18 and $38, and gained media attention through features on The Wendy Williams Show and Today, as well as partnerships like its 2018 collaboration with Orange Is the New Black actress Jessica Pimental.
At its peak in 2019, the brand achieved $20 million in sales, with 90% stemming from retail. However, the pandemic disrupted its wholesale business, causing a pivot to online-only distribution through its website and Amazon. Despite maintaining a relationship with Costco International until 2023, sales plummeted to under $1 million by this year.
Bishop cites the increasingly high costs of online advertising and the difficulty of reaching consumers as major hurdles. “When we started, you could figure out the algorithm…Now, it’s a constant trope of finding [customers] and getting to them, which means you have to spend more money,” he explains.
Reflecting on the closure, Bishop acknowledges missteps, including a lack of focus on digital relevance in its early years, veering away from its core multipurpose ethos, and not prioritizing fundraising. “We were making sales and running a business. I simply could not fit [fundraising] in,” he says.
The brand’s closure is part of a broader trend, as numerous indie beauty brands—including Ingredients, LOLI Beauty, and Supernal—have exited the market in 2023. Bishop emphasizes the challenges faced by independent brands today, noting, “You’ve got to have money to get [your story] out there. That’s the biggest difference.”
