BeautyCounter Review and History

BeautyCounter no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.

Beautycounter is no longer active as a multilevel direct-selling company. The original business shut down in April 2024 after entering foreclosure, and founder Gregg Renfrew later relaunched the brand as Counter with a single-level affiliate model rather than an MLM compensation structure.

Original Npros business profile for BeautyCounter, preserved below for archival purposes:

Beautycounter was founded by Gregg Renfrew in 2011 and commercially launched in 2013 from Santa Monica, California. The company became one of the better-known "clean beauty" brands in the United States, selling skincare, cosmetics, bath and body products, sunscreen, and personal-care products while advocating for tighter regulation of ingredients used in cosmetics. Beautycounter developed its own "Never List" of more than 1,800 ingredients it excluded from its formulations and combined its direct-selling business with e-commerce, company stores, and retail partnerships. By 2021, the company had more than 65,000 independent sellers across North America and more than 100 products.

Beautycounter used a genuine multilevel compensation plan. Independent Consultants earned retail commissions on personal customer sales and could recruit additional Consultants and receive commissions from the resulting downline organization. A historical company compensation plan paid a base retail commission of approximately 25%, increasing to as much as 35% based on sales, while team overrides extended through multiple levels. Leadership ranks included Consultant, Senior Consultant, Manager, Senior Manager, Director, Senior Director, Executive Director, and Managing Director, with additional generation overrides and frontline development bonuses available at higher ranks.

Beautycounter became particularly valuable during the growth of the clean-beauty category. In April 2021, private-equity firm The Carlyle Group agreed to acquire a majority stake in Counter Brands, LLC at a $1 billion valuation. At the time, the company hoped to expand beyond its consultant network and accelerate conventional retail and e-commerce growth. Carlyle subsequently pushed Beautycounter further into traditional retail, including a national relationship with Ulta Beauty, while changes to the consultant compensation program strained relations with parts of the field organization. Carlyle ultimately invested roughly $700 million in the business before surrendering it to lenders in March 2024.