{"id":66654,"date":"2026-08-18T13:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/66654\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:47:10","slug":"fashion-fair-exited-sephora-now-its-playing-a-longer-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/66654\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion Fair Exited Sephora. Now It’s Playing A Longer Game."},"content":{"rendered":"

Not every throwback has a triumphant comeback, at least not right away.
\nWhen former Johnson Publishing executives Desir\u00e9e Rogers and Cheryl Mayberry McKissack acquired Fashion Fair<\/a> out of bankruptcy in 2019, they set out to revive one of the most important brands in United States beauty history. The reborn brand<\/a> landed at Sephora in 2021 with newly developed formulas, rolling out to 235 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
\nThe Sephora launch put it in front of a new generation of consumers nearly 50 years after it was started by Eunice W. Johnson, wife of Johnson Publishing founder John H. Johnson and the force behind the Ebony Fashion Fair, to cater to Black women overlooked by the beauty industry. But Fashion Fair returned to a very different beauty industry.
\nAs Allure<\/a> observed upon its Sephora debut, \u201cwe\u2019re now living in the post-Fenty Beauty era,\u201d one in which inclusivity, while not universal, had become a much bigger part of the beauty conversation. Younger Sephora consumers had a plethora of choices and didn\u2019t have the familiarity with Fashion Fair that their mothers or grandmothers did. Winning them over proved a heavy lift for the brand.
\nFashion Fair\u2019s Sephora launch came amid a surge of industry and consumer interest in Black-led brands following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Retailers pledged to increase representation on their shelves, with Sephora among those signing the Fifteen Percent Pledge, and capital flowed toward Black beauty businesses.
\nIn the years since, that attention has ebbed, and brands have felt the effects. Fashion Fair has departed Sephora, making it one of the latest in a string of Black-led brands that have entered and exited its assortment, including Ami Col\u00e9<\/a>, Hyper Skin<\/a>, Adwoa Beauty<\/a>, KNC Beauty, Grace Eleyae<\/a> and Sunday II Sunday<\/a>. Ami Col\u00e9 and Adwoa Beauty have shuttered, Hyper Skin<\/a> has paused operations and KNC Beauty is teasing a return. Grace Eleyae and Sunday II Sunday continue to operate.
\nFashion Fair\u2019s Sephora experience prompted a reassessment of what success should look like for the brand. Rather than chasing younger consumers or racing toward $100 million in sales, the brand is reaffirming its focus on 40-plus Black and brown consumers and pursuing slower, more deliberate growth. Events and select distribution partners with strong ties to its core audience are playing a pivotal role in its new strategy.
\nBeauty Independent spoke with Rogers, who also owns mass-market beauty brand Black Opal<\/a> with Mayberry McKissack, the pair having acquired it from Mana Products in 2019, about Fashion Fair\u2019s Sephora departure, why she\u2019s no longer chasing younger consumers, the difficulties facing Black-led brands in beauty specialty retail, how she\u2019s rethinking distribution for Fashion Fair and Black Opal, and her revised ambitions for Fashion Fair.<\/p>\n

Why did Fashion Fair leave Sephora?<\/p>\n

Fashion Fair has always been focused on Black and brown skin. That\u2019s our DNA. We are not a general market brand. Our collection is perfectly suited for every skin tone, but we think of ourselves as the experts in color matching for Black and brown skin. If you had to say, \u201cWhat is Fashion Fair and what\u2019s their niche?\u201d our niche is 40-plus Black and brown consumers.<\/p>\n

We found that there was a bit of a mismatch, and we didn\u2019t find our customer at Sephora. So, we jointly made a decision to move out of Sephora.<\/p>\n

Our customers are used to getting a certain amount of one-on-one service and consultation. They want a look that\u2019s easy to duplicate at home, but they\u2019re not going to be the trendiest makeup people in the universe. They know what they want to look like. They know they want a natural look.<\/p>\n

We found that out together as we explored, \u201cWho really is the Fashion Fair woman? What is she looking for? What does she want?\u201d She\u2019s typically 40-plus, working or maybe volunteering, has children and is very busy. She doesn\u2019t want a 20-step makeup routine. She\u2019s not looking at the latest trends, other than vegan, cruelty-free, natural ingredients, dermatologist-approved. She wants us to be part of her community.<\/p>\n

\"\"Desir\u00e9e Rogers and Cheryl Mayberry McKissack acquired Fashion Fair out of bankruptcy in 2019 and relaunched the historic beauty brand in 2021. Today, they\u2019re pursuing a more focused strategy centered on its core 40-plus Black and brown consumers. Heather Houston<\/p>\n

When Fashion Fair relaunched at Sephora in 2021, the brand had strong awareness among older consumers, but Sephora\u2019s younger customers didn\u2019t necessarily know its history. How did you think about reaching that younger customer at the time?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve learned a lot. I\u2019m not going to sit here and pretend that we made a perfect decision because we didn\u2019t. At the same time, when you go in, you don\u2019t get all the demographic information of what\u2019s going on with that retailer, but I think over the time that we\u2019ve been there, it got even younger. That didn\u2019t help us. We thought, \u201cWon\u2019t it be great to have this younger audience coupled with our audience?\u201d<\/p>\n

I am perfectly content with Fashion Fair doing 40-plus. I don\u2019t need to try to get the 20-year-olds. That doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m pushing them away. I just finished matching a 25-year-old and her mother who\u2019s 50-something. I love that, but we need to stick to our group. There are billions of dollars in the market of women in that age group. I don\u2019t need to stretch myself.<\/p>\n

The market is so competitive and tough. You really have to pick and conquer a lane and do it really well.<\/p>\n

How is the focus on the 40-plus consumer influencing product development?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re working on a whole skincare line right now. That\u2019s not going to be for somebody who\u2019s 20. It\u2019s going to be for someone that\u2019s 40-plus. The ingredients that we\u2019re choosing to be in our products are different at 40 than they are at 20.<\/p>\n

Everyone says, if they\u2019re 20, they want blurring. Well, blurring is one thing. Making certain that your wrinkles aren\u2019t amplified is another. In darker skin tones, there\u2019s discoloration that happens naturally in the cheek area, around the mouth area and the under-eye area. You don\u2019t necessarily have that when you\u2019re 20, but you do get that about 40.<\/p>\n

I guess the bottom line is we learned a lesson, and we are very comfortable now saying 40-plus. I don\u2019t think I was comfortable in 2021 saying that. I was like, \u201cWe\u2019re for Black and brown skin, and we\u2019re going to grab everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

We found that we didn\u2019t necessarily have the embrace at the store level for this brand either. It\u2019s not the trendiest. It doesn\u2019t have the most glittery shades. We had to really work super hard at the store level. We\u2019re a small company, and we had to make decisions on where we\u2019re going to put capital.<\/p>\n

Fashion Fair is still at Macy\u2019s. Where else do you see it heading with distribution?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking about it in a less traditional way. Everyone in the beauty space is like, \u201cIt\u2019s Ulta, it\u2019s Sephora. These are the big boys. If you\u2019re not there, you can\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look at where Black women shop. It\u2019s extremely fragmented. It\u2019s beauty supply stores. I need to meet people where they are. That is what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Macy\u2019s has traditionally been very strong in the Black community. Not everybody shops there, I get it, but they are very respected in the community, and people will go out of their way to be color matched at a Macy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re thinking through what else we want to do. At one time, we had a big business at Dillard\u2019s, so they could potentially be another candidate, particularly in the South. There have been quite a few requests for Dillard\u2019s from our customers. That\u2019s where they shop, and they have a bigger footprint. They also are very specialized in the beauty space in terms of providing help to consumers.<\/p>\n

Our customers want someone to actually touch them and walk them through color matching. So, we think, how do you get that at scale? One of the things that is very important to us is spending a lot of time at these big conferences where there are 3,000, 5,000 women from across the country.<\/p>\n

The Black and brown space doesn\u2019t fit the traditional model right now. A lot of these customers are wearing brands that are not Black right now, and they\u2019re getting them at department stores. Maybe some are getting them at Sephora or Ulta, but I think the percentages are smaller than what you would think at those locations.<\/p>\n

What we found is that Black women are located in 33 markets across America. We want to double down with our partners in those 33 markets. You may see us do partnerships with a beauty supply store that sells a lot of hair.<\/p>\n

We are going to locate ourselves where there\u2019s a sizable market of people that match our consumer. It\u2019s not going to look like your traditional footprint that we all know.<\/p>\n

How is Fashion Fair performing today compared to when you relaunched it?<\/p>\n

When we launched in Sephora, they bought a lot of product, but buying the product and selling the product are two different things. The lipsticks crossed over. White women were buying the lipstick. Our lipsticks did phenomenal at Sephora, so we\u2019ve got to make up that business. Macy\u2019s, with a third of the stores, is almost doing as much as Sephora.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not in a race. This is a slower build, but I think it\u2019s a build that will last. It\u2019s just different. It took me a while to admit this and think through this. There are tricks up our sleeves that are going to give us the kind of volume that I think we can definitely get. They\u2019re nontraditional contracts that we\u2019re working on, both domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fashion Fair\u2019s current assortment spans foundations, powders, concealers, lip products, blushes and serum, with products priced from $23 to $42 at Macy\u2019s. Bestsellers include Cr\u00e8me to Powder Skin, SkinFlex Stick, Iconic Lipstick and Fabulous Serum.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen a number of Black-owned beauty brands struggle or close in recent years, including Ami Col\u00e9. What did you make of Ami Col\u00e9\u2019s closure given your experience?<\/p>\n

They created this darling and then all of a sudden the darling was gone, but other Black-owned beauty brands shut down or got sold. What I make of it is the model that we\u2019re going to need to be successful is just different, although not for everybody. There are a couple that have crossed over. The question for brands is, do you want to cross over?<\/p>\n

If you want to be successful in these mega chains, the economics don\u2019t work unless you cross over. They just don\u2019t work. Once you understand that, the question is, OK, what are you going to do? If you make a decision not to cross over, then what\u2019s your strategy?<\/p>\n

What about the funding challenges facing Black-led beauty brands?<\/p>\n

We need funding that is going to be there for the longer term. This is not going to be a play where all of a sudden this thing is $100 million. It\u2019s going to be much more strategic and much slower, which I\u2019m OK with.<\/p>\n

I had to talk to myself about this, but I\u2019m OK with this as long as we\u2019re able to build something that\u2019s sustainable and that is moving in the right direction. I\u2019m OK with something that\u2019s healthy and smaller that\u2019s benefiting my community rather than some big mega monster where we\u2019re having to compromise who we are.<\/p>\n

How are you thinking about Black Opal\u2019s retail strategy?<\/p>\n

Black Opal is in Target, Walmart, CVS, J.C. Penney and Ulta. After working those relationships on the mass side of the house, what we\u2019re finding is many of them are leaning into what we represent. We\u2019re finding out things that are really going to be beneficial to the partnerships that we didn\u2019t know five years ago.<\/p>\n

Even post-George Floyd, I think organizations are making decisions about who they think is good for the long term and who maybe is not good for the long term for their business. There are ways these organizations can flex to help the little guy. You just have to be smart about it. Six years ago, I didn\u2019t even know these things existed. Today I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat? We can do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

When you talk to Black women today about what they want from a beauty brand, what do they tell you?<\/p>\n

The consumers that we are identifying want simple solutions to their beauty needs that they can duplicate at home quickly. They want products that are good for their skin and help to alleviate some of the issues they are identifying.<\/p>\n

They also want to understand the use of various products based on the look they are trying to achieve, not some romanticized version of themselves. When we are out in the field, I see many Black women who are still not matched perfectly and are mixing several shades together.<\/p>\n

They also do not feel that they are getting the help they need on the ground and struggle to find someone who understands what they want, that they trust and are comfortable getting advice from.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mass-market beauty brand Black Opal, also known as BLK\/OPL, is sold at Target, Walmart, CVS, J.C. Penney and Ulta Beauty. All of its products are priced under $20.<\/p>\n

You said you\u2019re comfortable with Fashion Fair not rapidly becoming a $100 million brand. What are your growth goals for it?<\/p>\n

We are patient. We would like to see 5% to 7% growth each year. Most importantly, we want partners that supplement what we are doing and that our consumers are interested in experiencing.<\/p>\n

We are also investing in our digital footprint. We expect to offer subscriptions later this month as well as an MUA loyalty program.<\/p>\n

If you could rewind five years and make different decisions around the relaunch, what would those decisions have been and why?<\/p>\n

We would launch in less retailers. It is difficult for a small company to \u201cplease\u201d multiple retailers given the various demands that are made. Go deep with the retailers that we have and build those relationships. Expand slower.<\/p>\n

I think we would have also been more focused on the strengths of both brands versus getting caught up in beauty trends. Don\u2019t launch two beauty brands during the pandemic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not every throwback has a triumphant comeback, at least not right away. When former Johnson Publishing executives Desir\u00e9e…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12718],"tags":[10661,41331,41332,41333,35799,41334,41335,41336,41337,24709,4955,1581,15617,41338,12733],"class_list":["post-66654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sephora","tag-black","tag-black-beauty","tag-black-consumers","tag-black-opal","tag-black-women","tag-cheryl-mayberry-mckissack","tag-desiree-rogers","tag-eunice-johnson","tag-fashion-fair","tag-johnson","tag-lvmh","tag-makeup","tag-makeup-brand","tag-people-of-color","tag-sephora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}