What Happened To YouthForia After Shark Tank?
The world of beauty is full of conflicting opinions, but if there's one thing that most people can agree on it's that regularly sleeping with your makeup on is a terrible idea. However, Fiona Co Chan set out to challenge this notion through her better-for-your-skin makeup brand Youthforia. As the ambitious entrepreneur explained on "CBS Mornings," her business idea was inspired by her own struggles constantly dealing with bad skin after falling asleep with makeup on during long-haul flights to Asia for her former tech job.
So, Chan decided to take matters into her own hands but she soon realized that coming up with a great formulation was no easy feat. "It was really difficult because, you know, you always thought that makeup was on one side and skincare was on the other side," Chan acknowledged. "But what we do differently is we combine really nice texturing ingredients of the makeup and then skincare ingredients that are functional so that you can get the best of both worlds."
The intrepid businesswoman also revealed that her team slept with their products on for a couple of months to really put them to the test. During Chan's appearance on "Shark Tank" in 2023, she declared that her products were crafted using "bio-based" ingredients that were easy on the skin and the environment. Youthforia's hero product was the BYO color-changing blush that adapted to an individual's skin to give them a more "natural flush."
Youthforia caught the eye of a Shark who had never partnered with a beauty brand before
Fiona Co Chan offered the Sharks a 5% stake in Youthforia for $400,000, imputing an $8 million valuation. The fearless business owner was proud to confirm that she had raked in an impressive $2 million in sales in less than a year and a half. Any Sharks that didn't come swimming at that number were attracted by the fact that her best-sellers cost around $4 to $6 to make and were sold for $26 to $38 — an incredible markup for sure. Kevin O'Leary was the first to make a deal, offering up $100,000 for 20% with a $300,000 loan and a 20-cent distribution royalty. Meanwhile, Robert Herjavec bowed out because he couldn't really understand the product, and Lori Greiner followed suit by confessing that she wasn't a huge fan of oil-based blushes in general.
In an attempt to reel the Sharks back in, Chan pointed out that Youthforia was working to develop non-color-changing blushes to cater to customer demand. However, the revelation only confused Barbara Corcoran because she felt it muddled her selling point. Mark Cuban was in the same boat and strongly advised Chan against releasing regular old blushes because it would turn the spotlight away from her most unique product. The Shark with the highest net worth further reasoned that he couldn't shell out $400,000 because he wasn't familiar with the beauty category at all. However, as Chan negotiated with O'Leary, Cuban swooped in and offered her $400,000 for 8% after proclaiming that his wife and daughters would adore Youthforia, and she accepted.
Youthforia's sales significantly increased after their appearance on Shark Tank
During Fiona Co Chan's appearance on "Shark Tank," she disclosed that Youthforia was all set to enter major retail stores like JCPenney and Ulta Beauty after primarily selling online. As promised, the makeup brand made its way to 53 Ulta stores in 2022, per Retail Dive. After Chan's episode aired, Youthforia's TikTok page was blessed with over 20 million views, and their BYO color-changing blush went insanely viral. Of course, the increased popularity also brought increased sales. The company informed Retail Drive that they saw a 200% sales boost in 2023, while their blush sold three times more than it had in previous years. So, it's unsurprising that they expanded into over 500 Ulta Beauty stores the following year. During an official update segment of "Shark Tank," Chan proudly asserted that their lifetime sales had grown from $2 million to $8 million since their episode aired.
Although Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban strongly cautioned the entrepreneur against releasing standard blushes, she ultimately went with her gut and did it anyway. Later, Youthforia posted a YouTube short to proudly share that their regular blushes were flying off the shelves at Ulta too. In another YouTube short, Chan noted that her mother had modeled for one of their primer displays at Ulta. Youthforia has also amassed a following of over 100,000 people on TikTok and Instagram to date. Although theirs didn't crack the list of the most successful "Shark Tank" products, the company has undoubtedly accomplished tons since appearing on the hit show.
The makeup brand also garnered tons of backlash
In 2023, TikTok creator Golloria George posted a video where she tried out Youthforia's Date Night foundation's darkest shade. Immediately, George spotted that the shade she ordered wasn't nearly as dark as the one they advertised on their website. Nonetheless, the creator tried it on and found it way too light for her skin tone. She criticized Youthforia for not being inclusive enough. As the video caught traction, Chan took to Youthforia's own TikTok page to clarify, in a since-deleted video, that their initial release was a "proof of concept" to ensure the launch would be successful, per NBC News. She also reassured followers that they were working on darker shades.
In March 2024, Youthforia released ten supposedly inclusive shades of their foundation. George once again tried the darkest shade and, unfortunately, the content creator labeled it "tar in a bottle." To give some perspective on just how dark it was, George put black face paint on one side of her face and the Youthforia foundation on the other, and they shockingly appeared almost indistinguishable from each other.
@golloria the darkest shade of the youthforia date night foundation.
She suggested, "Take the browns that you have made, create undertones and do what you need to do in the lab so it's a darker shade of brown." After the video went viral and gained tons of backlash in its own right, Chan posted another TikTok video to reiterate that inclusivity was a core value of her business, promising to do better in future and committing to hiring a new director of product development too.