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When Hailey Bieber launched Rhode in 2022, the beauty market was already crowded with celebrity brands. Yet, in just three years, the company reached US$212 million in annual net sales and was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty in a deal valued at up to US$1 billion.
Just a few months later, Rhode delivered the biggest launch in Sephora’s history in North America. Its debut in September 2025 drew consumers into stores and generated more than US$10 million in sales within the first two days, according to estimates from YipitData. At certain points during the launch, approximately three Rhode products were being sold every second.
And the growth continues. In results released this month, e.l.f. Beauty revealed that Rhode generated approximately US$160 million in sales in the latest quarter alone, exceeding the group’s own expectations.
Part of its success lies in an apparently simple strategy: Rhode never tried to sell everything to everyone.
The brand launched with just three products and built a tightly edited portfolio around the idea of creating “one of everything, but really good”. While competitors rapidly expanded their ranges, Rhode turned a small number of products into objects of desire.
Hailey also understood how to turn her own influence into a brand strategy. Trends such as glazed donut skin, highly shareable campaigns and products such as the phone case designed to hold a lip treatment helped transform Rhode into more than a skincare company: it became part of a distinctive and instantly recognisable aesthetic across social media.
Its distribution strategy followed a similar logic. For three years, Rhode sold primarily through its own website, building community, demand and scarcity before entering physical retail. By the time it finally arrived at Sephora, millions of consumers were already looking for the brand.
The Rhode story reflects an important shift in the way contemporary brands are built. Hailey Bieber had an audience before she had a company, but an audience alone does not explain a business valued at US$1 billion.
Rhode succeeded in turning influence into identity, identity into community, and community into sales.
It also did something many businesses struggle to do: it resisted the temptation to grow through excess. A limited product range, an exceptionally consistent aesthetic, controlled distribution and launches capable of generating conversation created a sense of desirability far greater than the size of its catalogue.
Now, under e.l.f. Beauty’s ownership and amid continued international expansion, a new phase is beginning. The challenge is no longer proving that Rhode can generate desire, but determining whether it can transform a brand built on scarcity and the influence of its founder into a truly global business.
Because creating desire is one thing. Scaling it without making it feel ordinary is another.
Does Rhode’s success come from Hailey Bieber’s influence — or from its ability to turn that influence into a business strategy?
