Meet the twentysomething nepo baby who built a $1bn beauty brand
It certainly puts paid to any of Bieber's naysayers and cements her status as a future businesswoman to watch. As Elf chairman and chief executive officer Tarang Amin told WWD: 'In less than three years, going from zero to $212 million of net sales, direct-to-consumer only, with just 10 products – I would never believe that if somebody told me.'
Raised in New York, Bieber is the youngest daughter of the actor Stephen Baldwin (best known for playing Barney Rubble in The Flintstones movies) and graphic designer Kennya Deodato. The Baldwins of course, are one of the most famous acting families in Hollywood, with Hailey's uncle Alec being the most well-known.
After a few appearances in various projects alongside her family, Bieber started modelling in 2014, starring in high-profile campaigns for the likes of H&M, Guess and UGG. Coinciding with the rise in popularity of Instagram, Bieber was part of a new wave of models whose star power (and bankability) was intrinsically linked to their follower count, with other examples including her friend, Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid.
Yet it was her relationship with the Canadian pop star Justin Bieber that truly propelled her into the A-list. The two first dated in 2015, before splitting, reconciling (and quickly becoming engaged and married) in 2018. Their romance has been particularly notable for the ire it inspires in certain corners of the internet – and specifically, Justin fandom – with online trolls accusing Hailey of plotting to steal the singer from his ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez. All in all, she's undoubtedly proved the detractors wrong – not least because the couple are now parents to a nine-month-old boy, Jack Blues.
Much like when Kylie Jenner launched her lip kits back in 2015 (her brand Kylie Cosmetics is now also valued at $1 billion), Bieber clearly recognised that the key to a successful beauty brand would be to give the fans what they wanted – i.e. the products that would enable them to look like her. In January 2022, she kickstarted the 'glazed doughnut skin' trend, a few months ahead of Rhode's launch, which included not only the aforementioned peptide lip gloss but also the peptide glazing fluid and the barrier restore cream.
Since then, she has kickstarted a series of ingestible trends on social media tied to product launches, often featuring new flavours of her peptide lip treatment, including 'cinnamon cookie girl', 'brownie-glazed lips', and 'vanilla girl'. 'Strawberry girl', meanwhile, a trend that saw her applying blusher to her nose as well as her cheeks that she popularised in the summer of 2023, led to the launch of her 'blush stick'. Perhaps her most famous – and genius – launch has been her sell-out lip gloss phone cases, which capitalise on how your phone is in your selfie.
As well as being her brand's best ambassador, Bieber has also crucially listened when she's gotten things wrong. Case in point was her blush sticks, which some complained did not show up well on darker skin tones. Keen to be inclusive, Bieber invited black creatives to help her finesse the formulation in the lab, leading to a popular relaunch.
For Elf Beauty, too, there is much to gain. Not only is Rhode's growth impressive, but Bieber's star is still very much on the rise, especially after being a recent American Vogue cover star. Soon to be sold in Sephora in the UK, the market is only going to get bigger too.
'In an industry that's complicated and over-saturated, Rhode never steps out of its brand's core DNA, which are minimalist cool-girl essentials that are simple to understand and true to the founder, Hailey Bieber's, understated, polished aesthetic,' explains The Telegraph's beauty editor-at-large Annabel Jones. 'Whether it's the original peptide lip treatment, the pocket blush or the barrier butter, Bieber's fingerprints are all over it. Moreover, every single product formula works as well for boomers as it does for alphas and gen-Zers. No harsh active ingredients or overcomplicated messaging, Rhode taps into how real women want to look – fresh and vital. And how they actually get ready – quickly and without fuss.'
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Daily Mail
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Justin Bieber takes his $200K electric G-Wagon for a spin as wife Hailey is brutally mocked by fans
Justin Bieber looked stern behind the wheel of his $200K electric Mercedes G-Wagon as he cruised through the streets of Los Angeles on Fourth of July. The Peaches hitmaker, 31 - who recently enjoyed a solo outing to a Russian bathhouse - donned a printed white shirt and black shades while heading to his next destination. The music artist rolled down the windows to the luxurious vehicle and causally rested his left arm out of the driver's side. It comes not long after his wife Hailey was brutally mocked by fans over a new Rhode product - as the couple continue to be embroiled in speculation of relationship trouble. Earlier this week, the two stars were seen going on a number of separate outings - with Justin spotted leaving a Russian-inspired spa called Voda on Thursday. That same day, the model was seen cruising through the streets in a sleek vehicle in the bustling city. At one point, she was spotted glancing down at her phone in her hand. And just one day earlier on Wednesday, the two stars were also spotted on solo outings once again. The media personality - whose brand Rhode was recently acquired by E.l.f. Cosmetics for a major $1 billion deal - enjoyed a bite to eat at celebrity hotspot Sushi Park alongside Leonardo DiCaprio's ex Camila Morrone. Bieber flashed her toned figure in a semi-sheer, black lace top as well as a pair of chic black trousers. Meanwhile, the Baby singer gave a glimpse at his workout routine by taking to his Instagram stories. He uploaded a photo of himself going shirtless at the gym and was also joined by pal and fellow music artist Gunna. Despite their recent solo outings, Justin and Hailey put on an united front while attending DJ Martin Garrix's headlining gig in L.A. over the past weekend on Sunday. In a short reel uploaded by a fan on TikTok, Bieber could be seen backstage with Hailey. The couple - who tied the knot in 2018 - stood next to each other as Justin draped his arm over his wife's shoulders. The two stars were later seen grooving to the DJ's set in a VIP section and at one point, the singer removed his shirt as he stood behind Hailey. Despite their recent solo outings, Justin and Hailey put on an united front while attending DJ Martin Garrix's headlining gig in L.A. over the past weekend on Sunday; seen in 2022 in Las Vegas And on Saturday, Justin jumped to his main Instagram page to share a series of snaps which also featured his wife Hailey. The pictures were taken to show the star inside a music studio surrounded by Hailey and other pals. Bieber donned a shirt that had 'I have time for nothing except being cute' printed on the back as he stood next to recording equipment. Hailey kept it casual in a short-sleeved, striped shirt as well as white shorts as she supported her husband. It came amid swirling rumors of relationship woes between the pair - and a source talked to Us Weekly last week about their 'tense' marriage. 'Things aren't great right now,' the insider stated, and added Bieber's erratic behavior has caused 'a lot of stress' for Hailey. 'Family issues have clouded her success. Justin's going through a difficult time, and Hailey is giving him room to get himself back on track. He's doing his best, but it's tough.' But late last week, Justin seemingly dropped a major hint about his relationship with Hailey when he shared an Instagram post that included photos of both his wife and baby son Jack Blues. A few days earlier, Hailey was brutally mocked after debuting her latest Rhode beauty accessory for the Peptide Lip Treatment. When she came out with the Rhode Lip Case in February - a phone case with a built-in holder for the lip tint and other lip gloss - fans swarmed to buy it. But a new launch in the Rhode line may have damaged those accolades. Along with a new 'Lemontini' Peptide Lip Tint, Hailey debuted a Rhode Belly Chain - a waist chain meant to hold her lip tints - on her Instagram feed. The chain was shown in a series of promotional photos of Hailey that included the starlet in a black tube top and matching shorts. Hailey captioned the photo dump 'lemontini ballerini' followed by a lemon emoji and martini emoji. But aside from the lip tint itself, fans focused their attention on the 'belly chain.' Waist beads have origins in ancient Egypt and West Africa, while waist chains can be traced to the Indian subcontinent. Many people, knowing this, claimed that Hailey's new product was a form of cultural appropriation. Even aside from that, fans criticized the Rhode belly chain for being an unnecessary (and impractical) cash grab - and made less than complimentary comparisons. 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'What, did you think that was just some rotten tomatoes journey? The cool part of it is she's super smart, smart in business.' Baldwin continued, 'Succeeded as a model prior to everything she's doing now. But the cool part was she actually had an offer to do something pretty big and cool in the cosmetics a couple years ago and didn't. 'The reason its succeeding is people are responding to it. It actually works as hydration and all of that.'
Finextra
an hour ago
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Deep Dive: Stripe vs. Adyen – Comparing Product Stacks and Pricing: By Sam Boboev
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Adyen, founded in 2006, took almost the opposite approach – a top-down focus on large enterprises and global retailers. Adyen built a single unified platform for 'unified commerce' (online, in-app, and in-store payments all in one), directly connecting to card networks and local payment methods. This made Adyen the go-to for many big multichannel merchants (think Uber, Spotify, Microsoft, McDonald's, H&M and the like), while Stripe became synonymous with the startup economy and SaaS world. Today, however, their offerings overlap significantly. Stripe now serves 50% of the Fortune 100 companies in some capacity, and Adyen is expanding its reach to mid-sized clients and platforms. Both are truly global – Stripe is used in 195+ countries with support for 135+ currencies, and Adyen similarly supports transactions worldwide (150+ currencies and dozens of local methods). 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Both companies now can offer very high uptime (Stripe boasts 99.999% historical uptime, and Adyen is known for reliability as well) and the ability to settle funds in a currency of the merchant's choosing. Adyen explicitly lets merchants 'choose when and in which currency' to receive payouts, a flexibility important for international businesses. Stripe is almost universally lauded for its developer-friendly APIs and documentation. It provides client libraries in every popular programming language and famously simple code snippets. For a small business or product team, Stripe's developer tools can shorten integration time dramatically. (As an example, Stripe's drop-in checkout or pre-built UI components – Stripe Elements and Checkout – let you start accepting cards with minimal coding.) Adyen's platform is also robust, but the common refrain is that Adyen is not as 'plug-and-play' for small merchants. Adyen often requires a bit more initial setup and understanding of payment flows. That said, Adyen offers comprehensive APIs and SDKs too, along with client-side components (its Drop-in UI and Components for web/mobile) to handle payment method selection and encryption. The gap in ease has narrowed over time, but Stripe's polish in developer experience and documentation remains a strong differentiator. For a startup with a lean engineering team, Stripe's 'it just works' approach can be very attractive – everything from the initial integration to handling webhooks for events is well-supported. Adyen tends to shine for merchants that need fine-grained control and are willing to invest in a more bespoke integration. Transaction Performance: Both Stripe and Adyen invest heavily in optimizing payment success rates. Adyen's advantage of direct network connections means it can sometimes get slightly better authorization rates, especially in regions where local processing matters (for instance, processing European cards with a European acquiring license to avoid cross-border inefficiencies). Stripe has countered by developing its own smart routing and 'adaptive acceptance' algorithms, and by working with card issuers. Stripe even formed an Enhanced Issuer Network program to share data with card issuers, reportedly reducing fraud and boosting authorizations by 1–2% on eligible volume. In practice, both processors are top-tier in transaction quality; large merchants often run A/B tests between providers and find both Stripe and Adyen to be high performers, with differences depending on specific geographies or banks. It's not unusual for an enterprise to use multiple PSPs in active-active mode and route traffic between Stripe, Adyen, and others to optimize costs and uptime. Both companies understand this and continually roll out improvements (for example, Stripe has machine learning to retry failed payments at optimal times and auto-update saved card details, while Adyen recently introduced an AI-powered tool called Adyen Uplift to improve payment conversion by an average 6%). On core payment processing capabilities, both Stripe and Adyen offer a full-spectrum, global solution. Stripe wins praise for ease and developer tooling; Adyen wins praise for technical robustness and global unified infrastructure. For most standard online payments use cases (accepting card payments on a website or app), either will get the job done with high standards. The differences emerge more clearly when we expand into other aspects: in-person payments, platform payments, and value-added services. Source: Stripe vs. Adyen 2024 performance and strategy highlights NerdWallet on ideal customer profiles for Adyen vs Stripe Stripe Newsroom: Amazon expanding use of Stripe (enterprise win) Stripe Enterprise documentation (custom pricing options) Adyen official pricing page (interchange++ transparency) Codelevate 2025 PSP comparison (product features & pricing details) Fintech Wrap Up deep dive (TPV and product developments in 2024) Adyen website ('One platform' omnichannel messaging) Codelevate on strengths/drawbacks of each platform FXCintel analysis on Adyen's 2023 results (North America focus) Disclaimer: Fintech Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a "Source: [Name]" attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. For questions or concerns, please contact us at
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The absurd reason a single bucket of popcorn will hit $80 on your next trip to the movies
Popcorn markups have long been a gripe for movie theatre goers, but the latest hit to their wallets will be the container it is served in. Over the last few years a new phenomenon has taken over cinemas across America: specially designed popcorn buckets to accompany blockbuster releases. The bucket due to be released alongside Marvel's 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' is set to cost $80, the Wall Street Journal reported. It will feature a replica of the head of the film's villain Galactus, complete with glowing LED eyes and removable purple horns. It may also need its own seat at the movie theatre, as the enormous bowl is able to hold up to 361 ounces of popcorn, more than twice that of a typical large popcorn serving. Other recent custom popcorn buckets include a Daily Planet newspaper box for 'Superman,' a martial art board bucket top for 'Karate Kid: Legends' and a vault with a special key for the latest 'Mission: Impossible.' These popcorn buckets have tended to cost in the region of $25 to $50. Both film producers and cinema chains are eager to produce a bucket they hope will help generate revenue and excitement about an upcoming film. 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' popcorn bucket is set to cost $80 'It's very accretive and complementary to what we're doing at the box office and concession sales,' John Curry, senior vice president of commercial at Regal, told the Journal. In 2023, Swifties went wild for the Eras Tour film bucket with the popstar blazoned on the side. The craze took off even more after the release of the popcorn holder for 'Dune: Part Two' last year. The custom container from AMC was designed to resemble one of the giant sandworms from the film. However, fans soon suggested the mouth was sexually suggestive and turned the buckets into a viral sensation. 'Saturday Night Live' even created a skit about a teenager losing their virginity to the bucket. The bucket was designed by Zinc Group, who said sexual innuendo 'was definitely not the intent.' However, the publicity led to more demand and 'now everybody wants to do a popcorn bucket and everyone wants to make it into something that will be iconic,' Rod Mason, vice president of business development at Zinc, told the Journal. A custom popcorn container for upcoming release 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' In 2023 Swifties went wild for the Eras Tour film bucket with the popstar blazoned on the side The martial art board bucket top for 'Karate Kid: Legends' Zinc licenses the rights to make its collectible buckets from studios and then movie theatres order them to sell to consumers. Chains such as AMC and Cinemark tend to order between 20,000 and 100,000 of each bucket design. Sometimes the buckets are an instant hit and sell out before being resold by consumers on eBay for hundreds of dollars. Other designs that flop, often along with the films themselves, end up being sold by the movie theatres at a discount online.
