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E.l.f. Beauty exceeded expectations for its fiscal year 2026 sales, but foresees slower growth for 2027, the company announced in its earnings on Wednesday afternoon.
Net sales for the 12-month period ending in March reached $1.64 billion, surpassing its high-end projection of $1.61 billion. Hailey Bieber’s Rhode continued to accelerate past predictions, with nearly 80 percent growth for the fiscal year, reaching $390 million in net sales for the 12 months including before and after its acquisition. This boosted E.l.f. Beauty’s growth rate to 25 percent for the fiscal year and 35 percent for its fourth quarter. But the company projects growth of 12 to 14 percent, or $1.84 billion to $1.87 billion, in net sales in the coming year.
“We have strength across the entire portfolio. We’re the rare company where every one of our brands is growing,” E.l.f. Beauty chief executive Tarang Amin told The Business of Beauty. The company’s namesake E.l.f. Cosmetics, meanwhile, saw low single-digit growth. Keys Soulcare, which the brand launched in 2020, also left the portfolio in May 2026, in order to allow the company to focus on its five largest brands, said Amin.
“We’ve transferred ownership of Keys Soulcare to Alicia to help her pursue her continued vision,” he stated.
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Since Rhode’s acquisition was finalised in August 2025, the skincare brand has become E.l.f. Beauty’s main growth engine as fiscal year net sales blew past its projection of $360 million. Total annual growth also accelerated from an already rapid 70 percent increase reported for the year-to-date in the previous quarter’s earnings report. Rhode continues to dominate the beauty hype cycle, remaining the top-selling brand not only at Sephora North America but at new retailers including Mecca in Australia and Sephora UK. The label has been expanding aggressively worldwide, with further expansion into Europe through Sephora on the way.
“Eventually, you’ll see Rhode everywhere, in terms of geographic footprint, but right now our real focus is on Europe,” said Amin.
The Long Tail of Tariffs
E.l.f. Beauty was one of a few beauty brands to announce it would raise its prices in response to tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump in 2025. Its most recent earnings report noted a continued hit to margins due to tariffs, with a decrease of 50 basis points to 71 percent. Price increases only “partially offset” the dent to margins, according to the report.
But with the US Supreme Court’s ruling and upcoming tariff refunds, a new pricing strategy is in the works. Amin said the company expects $55 million in tariff refunds. E.l.f. Cosmetics has already been lowering prices, reducing its Halo Glow Liquid Filter from $18 to $14, driving a 40 percent sales lift.
Amin said the company is using tariff refunds to “strategically invest value.” Following the sales boost from the Halo Glow reductions, the brand plans on “testing some other families” of products in terms of price decreases.
“We take our responsibility of delivering superior consumer value seriously, and so we’re really aiming to do that to drive even stronger unit growth than we’ve seen,” said Amin.
Regarding the lower projected growth rate, Amin said, “We always take a balanced view with all of the macro uncertainty around us.” He expects roughly nine points of that growth to come from a full year of Rhode ownership, with the rest from existing portfolio brands.
“We usually finish higher than what our initial guidance is,” he said.
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