e.l.f. Cosmetics: Joey Shamah. The Dollar Store Formula That Built a Cosmetics Giant
How I Built This with Guy Raz
- Published
- June 29, 2026
- Duration
- 1h 14m
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jun 29, 2026
Discusses In 2004, Joey Shamah and his partner launched a cosmetics company built on an idea that made almost …
Summary
In 2004, Joey Shamah and his partner launched a cosmetics company built on an idea that made almost no sense:Sell high-quality makeup for just $1.At the time, high quality beauty products were supposed to be expensive. The biggest brands spent fortunes on celebrity endorsements, glossy ads, and premium shelf space.And every major retailer told Joey the sa…
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Show notes
In 2004, Joey Shamah and his partner launched a cosmetics company built on an idea that made almost no sense:Sell high-quality makeup for just $1.At the time, high quality beauty products were supposed to be expensive. The biggest brands spent fortunes on celebrity endorsements, glossy ads, and premium shelf space.And every major retailer told Joey the same thing:Your idea will never work.But Joey believed he'd found a wormhole in the beauty business: spend money on the product, not fancy packag