A reignited beauty M&A landscape in 2025 is widely expected to continue into the new year, as strategics continue assessing their portfolios and private equity eyes new opportunities.
“Portfolio optimization efforts will likely accelerate acquisition activity among public strategics as companies turn to the buy-side after trimming noncore brands, positioning the beauty M&A market for a healthier 2026,” wrote Capstone Partners in its Beauty M&A Update from December 2025.
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Laurent Droin, a partner at Felix Capital, also believes there should be a robust number of deals closing this year, after consumer confidence volatility impacted everyone in 2025.
“A lot of processes, young companies’ raising, had been put on hold because of that, [due to] so much uncertainty,” he said, adding many of them will likely come back to the market in 2026, when the macro situation should be better. “You have a pretty strong pipe coming. There is no lack of interest from the consumer. We should have a kind of catch-up effect in ’26.”
Among the strategics that could make moves — as buyers and/or sellers in the U.S. and Europe — is the Estée Lauder Cos. After implementing a new strategy to turn around the beauty company’s fortunes, chief executive officer Stéphane de La Faverie revealed he is assessing the group’s portfolio.
While the Estée Lauder Cos. is yet to say anything official, industry sources told WWD that its California-based brands are most likely to be put up for sale. They include color cosmetics brands Smashbox and Too Faced. It’s unclear what will happen to skin care brand Glamglow, whose e-commerce capabilities and content have been removed from its website.
There have been reports, as well, that the Estée Lauder Cos. could look for a buyer for Korean skin care brand Dr. Jart, which it has owned since 2019.
Industry watchers speculate that 2026 could be the year that de La Faverie will want to make his mark by acquiring an asset.
Coty Inc., which began the new year with a new CEO, Markus Strobel, is carrying out a strategic review of its mass color cosmetics business, plus of its operations in Brazil, as announced in September. That will focus on Coty’s $1.2 billion revenue mass color cosmetics business, including brands such as CoverGirl, Rimmel, Sally Hansen and Max Factor, and its $400 million revenue Brazil business, composed of domestic brands. The review, being carried out by Citi, is assessing a full range of alternatives, including partnerships, divestitures and spin-offs.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has reportedly been exploring a sale of its 50 percent share of Fenty Beauty. That and the sale of KVD Beauty to Windsong Global in September 2025 has raised questions in the industry regarding whether other beauty brands launched with LVMH’s incubator Kendo Brands, including Lip Lab and Ole Henriksen, might be on the block soon.
Questions continue to swirl, too, about whether Kimberly-Clark will want to keep all of Kenvue Inc.’s Health and Beauty unit, especially the underperforming assets, once its $48.7 billion acquisition of Kenvue closes.
Unilever, meanwhile, is leaning heavily into its beauty and personal care business, and is expected to make upcoming acquisitions focused solely on the U.S. and India. Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez said during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference in September that he expects two-thirds of company sales to come from the beauty and personal care activity in the medium term, versus the approximately 51 percent it rings up today.
L’Oréal, which was highly acquisitive in 2025, with deals to purchase Kering Beauty, Medik8 and ColorWow, as well as an additional 10 percent stake in Galderma, among other transactions, no doubt will continue enriching its portfolio in the new year.
L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said in November 2025, during the 2025 WWD Beauty Inc Awards, that “sometimes you have to know what you don’t know; making acquisitions through BOLD [or Bold Opportunities for L’Oréal Development, the company’s venture fund] is a way for us to learn and to grow.”
“We’re talking about beauty technology, about dermatology, about new types of consumers. I don’t know if Elon Musk is right to say we’re going to be on Mars someday, but I’m sure if the Martians want to look great, we’ll be there for them,” laughed Hieronimus. “That’s the impact we want to make at L’Oréal.”
As for buyers’ targets overall, sources said masstige brands will continue to be one of beauty’s hottest commodities. A big part of the attraction is that many of the masstige brands are hitting the $100 million sales milestone faster than their prestige counterparts.
“We’re going to see more activity in the masstige world,” one source said. “I think brands that have real value proposition but actually have efficacy, and deliver at the right price point will get traction in this market.”
Other categories remain hot also.
“Everybody wants fragrance,” one industry source said. “Everybody wants to be in this business — those people who are in fragrance and those people who are not.”
Another source believes 2026 will also be the year of hair care as far as M&A is concerned. “My sense is it’s going to be a bigger hair care year. Hopefully, they have a better outcome or better success than color cosmetics brands,” the source said.
A number of failed processes last year, especially in the U.S., could come back in 2026, including Makeup by Mario. Other brands, which saw strong growth in 2025, could be prime candidates for transactions, too.
The latest brands exploring their options include Parfums de Marly, with its parent Advent International reportedly in early talks to sell the group that includes the Initio Parfums Privés brand, in a deal that might value the activity at more than $2 billion.
There are Bubble Skincare and Salt & Stone, as well. Bubble, which has tapped Centerview Partners, was among the first skin care brands to target Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers. Sources put its sales at between $100 million and $150 million. Salt & Stone, the Los Angeles-based body care brand founded in 2017 by former pro snowboarder Nima Jalali, is working with Raymond James, and its sales are said to be around $150 million.
Another potential sale the industry will be watching closely is Dame Pat McGrath’s eponymous makeup brand Pat McGrath Labs. WWD reported in mid-December 2025 that its assets are being marketed for sale, with Hilco Global managing the process. A sale would include pledged collateral by Pat McGrath Cosmetics LLC and Patricia McGrath.
This new year is gearing up to be a busy one.
“Dealmaking appetite has remained strong among private strategics, while public companies have increasingly returned to the M&A market as trade volatility and market uncertainty have tempered,” Capstone wrote. “Coupled with pervasive catalysts for an influx of PE dealmaking, Capstone expects beauty M&A to accelerate in 2026, as the sector remains target-rich and resilient.”