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Beauty products, like everything else we buy, come with extremely high markups. These markups help pay for the countless things it takes to keep a company running (think: retailer margins, advertising and marketing, and even making sample sachets). Still, it’s crazy to think about the fact that a $30 lipstick typically costs something closer to $3 to make. That disparity led to the idea for Beauty Pie, a membership-based “club” for beauty lovers, founded by serial entrepreneur, Marcia Kilgore. For those in the industry, Kilgore’s name alone is enough to spike interest. She’s also behind a spate of other crazy successful companies: Bliss, FitFlop, and Soap & Glory — to name a few.
“The idea for Beauty Pie came to me one afternoon in a Milan train station as I was making my way back from a beauty manufacturing region in Italy known as ‘Lipstick Valley,’” Kilgore says. “I had about $5,000 of let’s call it ‘street value,’ of cosmetic and skincare product samples from all the best labs and third party manufacturers in my shoulder bag and suitcase, and they had cost me nothing. And I suddenly thought, what if all the women who usually buy these products in Sephora or luxury department stores at crazy 10-20x markups could have this feeling that I have right now — like being a kid in a cosmetics candy store.”
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Beauty Pie launched in 2016 based on that very premise. At launch, it sold a selection of makeup and skincare products, but has since expanded to cover hair, fragrance, candles, body products, nail polish, and supplements — with more categories on the horizon. “Instead of marking them up 1000-2000% and selling them through e-tailers or retailers, we ship them to our warehouses, where members can buy them direct, for a whole lot less,” Kilgore explains. There are various membership tiers, but to illustrate how it works, consider the $99 annual membership which allows users to purchase $100 worth of products per month, which goes a decent way with Beauty Pie’s members only prices. For example, the bestselling Super Retinol (+ Vitamin C) Night Renewal Moisturizer would typically cost $85, but with a membership uses just $13.61 of that monthly allowance.
Below, discover some notable products — though it’s certainly worth exploring the brand’s full lineup.
Soul Providers Re-Energizing Dry Oil Sugar Scrub ($55/members: $12.01)
This sugar scrub feels (and smells) like an island resort thanks to grapefruit, lemongrass, and black pepper essential oils. Rich, nourishing oils (apricot, sweet almond) leave skin silky smooth even after the sugar exfoliant is rinsed off.
Bahia De Miel Candle ($60/members: $19.08)
Housed in a sleek, shelfie-worthy black vessel, this luxury candle has top notes of basil and liquorice milk, middle notes of balsam fir, guiac wood, and wild honey. Finally, its base notes are red juniper, vanilla, and musk. This candle is a Beauty Pie bestseller.
Oxygen Instant Facial Refueling Mask ($60/members: $17.75)
Let’s be real: facials are expensive (and take a solid amount of time). When you can’t get one, try this 15 minute treatment, meant to mimic the energizing effects of an oxygen facial. It also contains clarifying salicylic acid to help fight blemishes and vitamin A to help resurface skin.
Superactive Capsules Essential Ceramides + ($65/members: $11.99)
Barrier support has been a buzzword in beauty for the past year — and it’s because a lot of our tired, over-exfoliated complexions could use some help. These single serving (biodegradable) capsules are full of skin-identical lipids which boost the skin’s production of ceramides — which, in turn, boosts hydration and smoothes skin.
Super Healthy Hair Detox Wash Shampoo ($30/members: $6.55)
Every now and then, everyone’s scalp could use a reset. Enter: this super affordable detoxifying shampoo, which uses clarifiers like apple cider vinegar and activated charcoal to get hair back to baseline, and rid product buildup and dirt in the process.
Beauty junkies: your move. Beauty Pie is one of the best in the biz when it comes to keeping up on trends, and using cutting edge ingredients — all without sacrificing your ability to pay rent.
5 More Reasons To Love Beauty Pie
- The brand imports its luxury offerings from France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Germany “via the best chemists in the beauty business.”
- Products are sourced from 59 world-leading third party labs with a straight line to the best cosmetic and skincare chemists, fragrance noses, aromatherapists and skincare and product development experts.
- Averages savings are 80% off what you’d typically pay at retail.
- Beauty Pie is always cruelty free, we champion clean beauty and most of our formulas are vegan.
- Beauty Pie has a refer-a-friend program — friends get their first month free and you'll get $50 extra Spending Limit if they join us. The bigger our club, the better. “The larger our lab orders, the stronger our negotiating power! We all get better pricing, higher priority and even exclusive access to formulas and ingredients,” they explain.
