Too Faced is an American prestige cosmetics brand distinguished by its playful packaging, feminine aesthetic, humorous product names, and formulations designed to make makeup application feel enjoyable and empowering. The brand is widely recognised for franchises such as Better Than Sex Mascara, Born This Way complexion products, Lip Injection, and colourful eyeshadow collections. Since December 2016, Too Faced has been part of The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC).1

Too Faced articulates its philosophy around “the power of makeup”, emphasising creativity, confidence, self-expression and enjoyment in beauty routines. The company states that it is cruelty-free.2

Founding — 1998

Too Faced was founded in 1998 by Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson. Prior to establishing the brand, both founders worked behind the counter for Estée Lauder. Their experience in beauty retail helped them identify an opportunity for cosmetics that were less conventional and more playful. According to The Estée Lauder Companies, their combination of makeup artistry and entrepreneurship inspired them to create a brand centred on individuality and joy.1

Rather than positioning makeup purely as a tool for concealing imperfections, Too Faced built its identity around the idea that cosmetics could be creative, emotional and entertaining. This perspective became one of the brand’s defining characteristics.

The core philosophy of Too Faced can be summarised as:

Makeup should make you feel good.

The brand describes makeup as a form of power that gives people the freedom to express themselves and the confidence to take on the world. It combines product performance with deliberately playful branding and packaging.2 This approach distinguishes Too Faced from minimalist or clinical beauty brands.

Its traditional approach combines:

• 💕 Feminine aesthetics
• 🎀 Cute and decorative packaging
• ✨ Glamour
• 💄 Strong makeup performance
• 😘 Playful product names
• 🦋 Romantic imagery
• 🌸 Beauty and fantasy
• 😏 Humour and cheekiness
• 💗 Self-expression

Consequently, the brand’s personality is almost as important as its individual products.

One of Too Faced’s most significant strengths is its distinctive visual identity. Instead of presenting cosmetics as purely functional items, Too Faced often makes the product itself feel like a collectible object. Its packaging has historically incorporated:

• Pink
• Gold
• Pastel colours
• Hearts
• Lace-like details
• Bows
• Peaches
• Floral motifs
• Retro-inspired typography
• Glamorous illustrations

This visual language secures Too Faced a recognisable position within the prestige beauty sector.

The “girly” aesthetic

Too Faced is particularly noted for embracing traditionally feminine visual language rather than avoiding it. The brand essentially turned “girly” into a premium beauty identity, helping to distinguish it from competitors with more minimalist, professional or clinical aesthetics.

Jerrod Blandino

Jerrod Blandino was one of Too Faced’s co-founders and was heavily associated with the brand’s creative direction, product concepts and visual identity. His approach helped establish Too Faced’s reputation for products that combined performance with unusual names, packaging and concepts.

Jeremy Johnson

Jeremy Johnson, the other co-founder, played an important entrepreneurial and business role in building Too Faced. Together, Blandino and Johnson transformed Too Faced from an independent cosmetics company into a major prestige makeup brand.

After approximately 24 years since founding the company, both founders departed Too Faced and The Estée Lauder Companies in June 2022 to pursue other entrepreneurial projects.2

A major milestone in Too Faced’s history occurred in 2016. On December 19, 2016, The Estée Lauder Companies acquired 100% of Too Faced for approximately US$1.5 billion.8

The acquisition was significant because Too Faced had developed an unusually strong connection with younger beauty consumers. At the time of the acquisition, ELC highlighted Too Faced’s:

• Strong social-media presence
• Innovative products
• Specialty retail relationships
• Online strength
• Passionate community
• Appeal among younger consumers

ELC reported that approximately 85% of Too Faced consumers were under 40, making the brand strategically attractive for reaching millennial and emerging Gen Z consumers.8

Today, Too Faced remains part of The Estée Lauder Companies portfolio.141516

Too Faced is primarily a makeup brand, although many of its products incorporate skincare-oriented ingredients or claims. Its major categories include:

Face

• Foundation
• Concealer
• Powder
• Blush
• Bronzer
• Highlighter
• Primer

Eyes

• Mascara
• Eyeliner
• Eyeshadow
• Eyeshadow palettes
• Lash primer
• False lashes

Lips

• Lip gloss
• Lipstick
• Lip liner
• Lip plumper
• Lip oil

Makeup accessories and sets

The brand also sells gift sets, minis, makeup collections and limited-edition products.

Arguably Too Faced’s most famous product is Better Than Sex Mascara.3 The product became an important part of the brand’s identity because it combined:

1. A provocative name
2. Distinctive packaging
3. A recognisable hourglass-shaped brush
4. Dramatic-volume positioning
5. Strong social-media visibility

Too Faced currently describes the collection as offering volumising, lengthening and waterproof mascaras, along with lash primer and eyeliners.3 The brand also describes the original Better Than Sex Mascara as an iconic product that lifts, lengthens, separates and curls lashes while emphasising volume.4

Why it became important

Better Than Sex is more than simply a mascara within the Too Faced portfolio; it became a brand-defining product. Many consumers encountering Too Faced for the first time did so through this mascara, which helped establish the company’s reputation for combining performance, humour, glamour and memorable branding.

Another major Too Faced franchise is Born This Way.5 This line focuses primarily on complexion and natural-looking makeup. The concept is essentially:

Makeup that enhances your natural appearance rather than making you look heavily made-up.

The current collection includes:

• Foundation
• Concealer
• Setting powder
• Highlighter
• Eyeshadow palettes
• Other complexion products

Too Faced currently offers both Natural Finish and Soft Matte foundation formulations. The brand describes the former as medium-to-full coverage with a natural finish,6 while the latter provides medium-to-full coverage with a soft-matte finish.12 The collection is also positioned as cruelty-free.59

Lip Injection is another famous Too Faced franchise. It is associated with lip-plumping glosses and treatments, making it one of the brand’s signature lip categories. The idea fits naturally with Too Faced’s broader identity: taking a familiar beauty category and giving it a more dramatic, playful personality. Alongside Better Than Sex, Lip Injection helped establish Too Faced as a brand comfortable using provocative or humorous product concepts.

Too Faced has historically been particularly successful with eyeshadow palettes. Its palettes frequently combine:

• Coordinated colour stories
• Multiple finishes
• Decorative packaging
• Themed collections
• Strong fragrance/visual associations
• Giftable presentation

These palettes helped Too Faced compete not only as a functional cosmetics company but also as a lifestyle-oriented beauty brand, where the product itself becomes part of the consumer’s experience.

Another characteristic historically associated with Too Faced is its use of sensory experiences, particularly fragrance. Some Too Faced products and collections have been designed around recognisable scents such as:

• Chocolate
• Peach
• Coconut
• Vanilla
• Sweet/fruity notes

This strategy is effective because it creates a connection between makeup and emotion. For example, the chocolate-themed products associated with the brand became recognisable not only because of their colours but also because of their sensory identity.

Too Faced currently states that it is cruelty-free and describes this commitment as part of its brand philosophy.13 Its product pages likewise identify various collections and products as cruelty-free.11 It is worth distinguishing this from terms such as vegan, which refer to different criteria. Individual Too Faced products can have different formulation claims, so “cruelty-free” should not automatically be interpreted as meaning that every product is vegan.11

Too Faced’s marketing strategy has historically been unusually personality-driven. Rather than simply stating “Here is a high-performance mascara,” the brand might communicate: “Here is an incredibly glamorous mascara with a memorable, cheeky identity.” This gives the products talkability.

Major elements of the strategy

1. Memorable names
Names such as Better Than Sex immediately attract attention.

2. Instagram-friendly packaging
The products are designed to photograph well and become recognisable social-media objects.

3. Strong product heroes
Instead of having an anonymous portfolio, Too Faced has several products that consumers can immediately associate with the brand.

4. Emotional branding
The company emphasises confidence, fun, creativity and self-expression.

5. Younger consumers
The brand’s digital and social-media orientation has historically made it particularly relevant to younger beauty consumers. ELC specifically identified Too Faced’s strong social-media community and younger customer base as important strategic assets.14

Social media has been particularly important to Too Faced’s growth. The brand emerged during the transformation of beauty marketing from traditional magazine advertising toward platforms and formats such as:

• Instagram
• YouTube
• Beauty bloggers
• Influencers
• Tutorials
• User-generated content
• Online reviews

This shift was particularly valuable for a brand whose products are highly visual. A Too Faced palette or mascara can be recognised from its packaging even before someone reads the product name, making the brand well suited to image-driven platforms.1718

Historically, Too Faced has appealed particularly strongly to consumers who enjoy expressive, glamorous and playful makeup. Its target audience broadly includes:

• Makeup enthusiasts
• Prestige beauty shoppers
• Younger consumers
• Millennials
• Gen Z beauty consumers
• Consumers interested in cute or collectible packaging
• Consumers who enjoy dramatic makeup
• Consumers who want makeup to feel fun rather than clinical

However, the brand is not limited to one age group. Its product portfolio ranges from natural complexion products to highly dramatic eye and lip products.

Too Faced occupies the prestige makeup segment. That places it conceptually between mass-market cosmetics and ultra-luxury beauty. Its competitive environment includes brands such as:

• Benefit Cosmetics
• MAC
• NARS
• Urban Decay
• Tarte
• Make Up For Ever
• Anastasia Beverly Hills
• Charlotte Tilbury
• Clinique
• Rare Beauty

However, Too Faced’s positioning is relatively distinctive because its identity is built so strongly around playfulness and fantasy.

Too Faced is part of a much larger corporate beauty ecosystem through The Estée Lauder Companies. ELC’s portfolio includes numerous prestige beauty brands, and the company operates internationally across approximately 150 countries and territories.15

For Too Faced, belonging to ELC provides access to:

• Global distribution
• International retail
• Corporate resources
• Supply-chain infrastructure
• Marketing expertise
• Prestige beauty networks
• Research and development capabilities

At the same time, Too Faced retains a distinctive identity rather than being marketed simply as another Estée Lauder product line.

Following the founders’ departure in 2022, Tara Simon became Global Brand President of Too Faced, effective July 1, 2022. Before joining ELC, she had held senior merchandising leadership positions at Ulta Beauty.2 This marked an important transition from a founder-led company toward a brand operated within the larger Estée Lauder corporate structure.

As of 2026, Too Faced continues to operate as a major prestige makeup brand under The Estée Lauder Companies. Its current product strategy continues to centre around recognisable franchises such as:

Better Than Sex

Mascara and eye products.

Born This Way

Foundation, concealer, powder and complexion products.

Lip Injection

Lip-plumping products.

The company is also continuing to introduce new products and seasonal collections. Its current website highlights 2026 launches including Born This Way Super Glow, a Burgundy Better Than Sex Mascara, and Kissing Jelly Lip Oil Gloss.710

Reduced to its fundamental characteristics, Too Faced can be understood through five pillars:

This combination is what separates Too Faced from more minimalist or clinical cosmetics brands.

Too Faced’s history can roughly be divided into several phases:

1998–early 2000s — Independent niche brand
The founders established a distinctive alternative to conventional prestige makeup.

2000s–2010s — Expansion and cult products
The company developed recognisable products, packaging and themed collections.

2010s — Social-media acceleration
Too Faced became increasingly influential among younger digital beauty consumers.

2016 — Estée Lauder acquisition
ELC acquired the company for approximately $1.5 billion.8

2016–2022 — Founder + corporate growth period
The founders remained involved while Too Faced expanded within ELC.

2022 onward — Post-founder era
Blandino and Johnson departed, with Tara Simon taking over as Global Brand President.2

2026 — Continued franchise development
The brand continues building around Better Than Sex, Born This Way, Lip Injection and newer complexion/lip products.10

1. About Us | Learn More About Too Faced Cosmetics
2. The Estée Lauder Companies Announces Leadership Updates for Too Faced – The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
3. Better Than Sex Collection | Mascara, Lash Primer & Eyeliner
4. Mascara – Cruelty-Free | Better Than Sex & Damn Girl!
5. Born This Way Collection | Cruelty-Free Makeup
6. Cruelty-Free Foundation Makeup | Natural & Matte Formulas
7. New Makeup Collections & New Products | Too Faced
8. sec.gov
9. Born This Way Collection | Cruelty-Free Makeup
10. Demo – Content Blocks page | TooFaced
11. Vegan Makeup: Vegan & Cruelty Free Makeup & Brushes | TooFaced
12. Born This Way Soft Matte Foundation | Too Faced
13. FAQ | TooFaced
14. Too Faced – The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
15. Too Faced – The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
16. Too Faced – Las Empresas Estée Lauder Inc.
17. Too Faced Cosmetics | LinkedIn
18. Too Faced Cosmetics | LinkedIn