As a 31-year-old, I’m starting to enter that grey area when it comes to skincare.
The products aimed at my age group either promise to preserve a youthful glow or boldly market anti-aging claims that don’t always land.
And as I glance ahead to my mid-30s and beyond, I’m noticing how few brands really speak to women in this phase of life.
Related: The Birkin and LL Bean mashup you didn’t know you needed
That’s why one particular comeback caught my eye.
A beauty brand that once held a $1 billion valuation — before it abruptly collapsed into bankruptcy — is making a return this summer. But it won’t be the same brand you remember.
Its founder is bringing it back with a bold new focus: women 35 and up. And this time, the mission feels personal.
For women like me, caught between skincare marketing aimed at 20-somethings and older demographics, that mission is worth watching.
This bankrupt clean beauty brand is coming back with a new name.
Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Bankrupt Beautycounter to relaunch under new name
According to Beauty Independent, the company formerly known as Beautycounter will officially relaunch on June 25 — this time, simply as Counter.
Founder and CEO Gregg Renfrew, who bought the brand’s assets out of bankruptcy last year, is rolling out a soft launch this summer, with a bigger public push planned in the fall.
“We’re going to do it with respect and with a high level of humility,” Renfrew said at a recent event. The new Counter lineup will feature about 50 products (down from 245), focused on clean skincare products and makeup.
Gone (for now) are the mass retail partnerships with Ulta and Target. Counter is doubling down on direct-to-consumer, with a flagship store in Nantucket and more branded locations planned.
It will also revive its community-based selling model, this time branded as “brand partners.”
Related: Sephora unveils new brand partnership Gen Z will love
“As a woman in her fifties, we are largely ignored, yet we have the spending power,” Renfrew said. The goal: make Counter the go-to brand for women 35+, a group often overlooked in the beauty industry.
But this comeback isn’t just about targeting an underserved age group. It’s about raising the bar for clean beauty and how beauty brands do business.
“We’ve always talked about making the impossible possible,” Renfrew said. “The whole essence of us was going counter to industry norms, counter to how people always do business.”
That means a renewed focus on transparency and higher standards, especially as “clean beauty” has become a crowded, sometimes murky space.
Lessons from a billion-dollar clean beauty brand collapse
Counter’s comeback is about more than a new name and a smaller product lineup. It’s about applying the hard lessons learned from Beautycounter’s spectacular rise and fall in the beauty industry.
Founded in 2013 to lead the clean beauty movement, Beautycounter built a cult following with its “Never List” — an evolving list of banned ingredients linked to health risks. But after private equity giant Carlyle Group acquired the brand for $1 billion in 2021, the business faltered.
A controversial compensation shift alienated many sales reps. A deal with Ulta meant to broaden the brand’s reach ultimately undercut its core community-driven model.
By April 2024, Beautycounter had entered foreclosure. Renfrew’s effort to reacquire the brand wasn’t just about nostalgia; it was about giving the company a second chance to do things differently.
Now, she’s betting on a leaner assortment, a sharper audience focus, and a more sustainable retail strategy. And with clean beauty now mainstream, Counter aims to raise the bar.
“Our opportunity is to go in and set the standards, educate people on the standards, and hold ourselves accountable,” Renfrew said.
For an underserved group of beauty consumers, Counter’s return might be the shift they’ve been waiting for.
