Hey,
Something wild just happened in the beauty world that basically never happens.
E.L.F. disclosed Rhode’s full P&L. Like, the entire financial breakdown of Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand. Every margin. Every cost. Every pound accounted for.
And honestly? This is the kind of transparency that makes my finance head sing because we almost never get to see the real numbers behind celebrity brands.
Let me break down what this tells us about how modern beauty brands actually make money (and why E.L.F. just pulled off one of the smartest acquisitions in recent memory).
The Numbers
Before we dive deep, here’s the snapshot that has everyone talking:
Rhode’s P&L Breakdown:
Product COGS: 19% of sales
Cost of Delivery: 15%
Marketing: 11%
G&A (General & Administrative): 17%
EBITDA Margin: 34%
Now, if you’re not in the beauty business, those numbers might not mean much. But trust me this is basically a masterclass in how to build a celebrity brand that actually works.
Let me explain why each of these matters.
Product COGS: 19%
This one blew my mind.
Rhode’s hero product the Glazing Milk that everyone and their mum is obsessed with costs just over £4.50 to make and sells for £24.
That’s a roughly 5x markup. In “mastige” beauty (that sweet spot between mass and prestige), that’s really strong.
For context, most DTC beauty brands are sitting at 25-30% COGS. Rhode is operating more like a traditional beauty giant with scale and efficiency.
The insight: They actually engineered products that could be manufactured efficiently whilst maintaining quality. That’s rare for a celebrity brand, especially one that launched so recently.
