L Catterton Sells Bliss World to AS Beauty
Bliss World has a new owner.
AS Beauty, a joint venture between Alan and Joey Shamah, the founders of E.l.f. Beauty, and the Azrak family, who previously ran and sold a pajama business, has added the skin-focused, spa-inspired brand to its roster as it looks to diversify its portfolio into skin care. Its current brand lineup consists of Laura Geller Beauty, Julep Beauty, Mally Beauty and Cover FX.
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Beginning as a spa in New York founded by Marcia Kilgore in the mid-‘90s, Bliss has gone through several transformations and owners, including LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Starwood Resorts and Steiner Leisure.
L Catterton purchased the brand as part of its 2015 acquisition of Steiner Leisure and set about relaunching it, phasing out existing products in favor of a reformulated line complete with new packaging, distribution and price structure.
These days it has a firm footing in drug and mass retailers, with more than 30,000 retail points of distribution at Target, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens. Bestsellers include Lemon & Sage Body Butter, Block Star Sunscreen, Youth Got This Serum and Drench and Quench Moisturizer.
According to sources, its revenues are north of $40 million, although terms of the deal were not included.
“What attracted us to Bliss was a few things,” Joey Shamah, principle at AS Beauty, told WWD. “From a corporate standpoint, it’s the ability to diversify away from prestige color and get into skin care. The packaging, the formulations, the rebrand, the distribution it had was all a great opportunity for us to make a splash in the skin care market.”
He added that AS Beauty is on the lookout for more skin care brands to add to its lineup.
For Bliss, his immediate plans are business as usual. “The current management has done a fantastic job around getting distribution, formulations, the fantastic pipeline.” One big change, though, will be that Meri Baregamian, chief executive officer of Bliss since 2016, will step down at the end of the month.
“It is very exciting for the Bliss brand to enter its next chapter of growth with AS Beauty, their operational excellence, and strong digital expertise will accelerate the brand growth and mission of making the Bliss brand accessible to all,” she said.
