Cheryl Wischhover

Beauty experts like Mary Phillips, Chris McMillan and Alli Webb have specific qualifications that not all new brand founders possess, making the retailer more willing to bet big on their success.

Holding companies and well-financed new Amazon aggregators alike are snapping up beauty and wellness sold exclusively on the platform. But growing them within and beyond the Amazon ecosystem will be challenging.

Seasoned entrepreneurs like Urban Decay’s Wende Zomnir and Bobbi Brown are hoping they can make lightning strike twice, launching new beauty brands into a vastly different consumer and retail environment.

The American prestige beauty giant’s purchase of the company, best known for $6 serums, is a sign of the increasing blur between drugstore and luxury.