Melanin-rich skin beauty brand Ami Colé to close
N'Diaye-Mbaye, who founded Ami Colé in 2021, cut her teeth at L'Oréal and Glossier before creating her minimalist makeup brand for "melanin-rich skin."
In the last four years, Ami Colé drew investments from L'Oréal's Bold venture capital arm, True Beauty Ventures, Imaginary Ventures, Greycroft and Debut Capital.
In 2022, the brand inked a milestone retail partnership with LVMH -owned beauty retailer, Sephora, across the U.S. and Canada.
In 2024, at the time of its L'Oréal investment, the brand was said to have grown its revenue 75 percent the previous year, according to a press release.
In a letter written for The Cut, N'Diaye-Mbaye said that part of her company's downfall was competition from more prominent companies that had bigger financial backing.
'I couldn't compete with the deep pockets of corporate brands; at retail stores, prime shelf space comes at a price, and we couldn't afford it," she said.
The entrepreneur went on to thank her fans and investors via her brand's Instagram account.
"After four powerful and soul-stretching years, l've made the hard decision to wind down Ami Colé. What started as a mission to create clean beauty for melanin-rich skin became a movement and a metaphoric home for so many of you (just like what my mother built with her salon). We were a brand rooted in purpose, storytelling, and the bold celebration of who we are," said N'Diaye-Mbaye.
"Let's not forget bomb ass products! This moment is bittersweet. You've witnessed me start from a sketch in my Brooklyn apartment to the shelves of every Sephora in North America in four years. Thank you for everything you've taught me about living your dreams out loud."
The announcement comes after beauty heavyweights Estée Lauder, Coty, and Shiseido Americas announced plans to reduce their workforce, signalling industry-wide headwinds.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
3 days ago
- France 24
Meta to ban political ads in EU due to bloc's 'unworkable' rules
The EU has a bolstered legal armoury to rein in Big Tech, against which Meta has hit out with the support of the US administration under President Donald Trump. "This is a difficult decision -- one we've taken in response to the EU's incoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation," the company said. Political, electoral and social issue advertising will no longer be allowed from October in the bloc, it said, because of "unworkable requirements" under the new rules. "Unfortunately, the TTPA introduces significant, additional obligations to our processes and systems that create an untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU," Meta added. The EU says its political advertising rules seek to increase transparency in online advertising after Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal, which came to light in 2018. Cambridge Analytica was a consulting firm that was found to have improperly accessed personal data from millions of Facebook users for targeted political advertising, particularly during the 2016 US election and Brexit referendum. The change is set to impact Meta's flagship platforms Facebook and Instagram, as well as WhatsApp -- which is largely ad-free but announced in June it would be introducing new advertising features in some parts of the app. Meta said it was "not the only company to have been forced into this position". Google last year announced it would also prevent political advertising in the EU from October 2025 because of the "significant new operational challenges and legal uncertainties". Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been highly critical of European rules, accusing Brussels in January of "censorship" and equating EU fines against the company to tariffs. The latest row between Meta and the EU has been over the firm's "pay or consent" system. The EU imposed a 200-million-euro ($235-million) fine in April after concluding Meta violated rules on the use of personal data on Facebook and Instagram. The company faces additional daily penalties if it does not make changes, with Brussels yet to decide whether Meta has modified the platforms enough to avoid more fines.
Euronews
3 days ago
- Euronews
Meta halts political advertising in the EU due to ‘unworkable' rules
US social media company Meta has said it will stop all advertisement about politics, elections and social issues on its platforms in the EU as of October, due to the incoming legislation on political advertising. Meta – which owns Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Whatsapp – said in a statement that the EU's Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulation (TTPA) 'introduces significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties' and 'unworkable requirements'. The EU's TTPA – aimed at countering information manipulation and foreign interference in elections – entered into force in April 2024, but most of the provisions will become fully applicable on 10 October this year. Under the rules, political ads must carry a transparency label and clearly identify key information such as sponsors, the election to which they are linked, the amounts paid and targeting techniques. Legal uncertainty Meta said that it's had tools in place since 2018 that provide transparency for ads about politics and elections. They required advertisers to complete an authorisation process, and Meta stored this data in its publicly available ad library. However, the new TTPA obligations 'create an untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU,' the company said. It added that because of the restrictions, 'people will be seeing less relevant ads on our platforms.' Meta said people or candidates in the EU can still post and debate politics on its platforms. The tech giant's announcement comes after Google said in November last year it would also ban political ads due to the incoming rules. The changes only apply to Europe. DSA probes The European Commission has introduced several initiatives to counter foreign interference and disinformation in elections. It began, for example, several probes under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which obliges online platforms to address illegal content, related to disinformation. Meta's Facebook and Instagram were hit with formal proceedings in April 2024 on suspected infringements related to their policies and practices on deceptive advertising and political content on its services. The investigation is still ongoing. Several EU elections have been targeted by disinformation. On 6 December, Romania became the first EU country to cancel an election over foreign interference, following reports about information manipulation on video-sharing app TikTok.
AFP
4 days ago
- AFP
Hoax posts about Malaysian cash aid scheme misuse unrelated visuals
The purported news report by online news site Malaysiakini was shared on Facebook on July 19, 2025. "GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE OF RM50,000 FOR ANYONE WHO APPLIES," reads the Malay-language chyron on the report, which features footage of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at various events and a voiceover that repeats the claim about the subsidy. "Please check your eligibility and the application method," the voiceover says. Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 22, 2025, with a red X added by AFP Another version of the claim shared on July 11, 2025 includes a photo of people posing in an office with a mock cheque labelled "Disaster fund Turkey". Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 23, 2025, with a red X added by AFP Other posts on Facebook ask users to get in touch for further details about the purported subsidy. AFP reached out to one of the Facebook accounts and was given an order form asking for personal details, including full name and delivery address. Applicants are also told to prepare a copy of their national identity card and bank statement. Scam posts demanding users' personal information regularly circulate on social media in Malaysia. AFP has previously debunked accounts impersonating government schemes that garnered tens of thousands of followers. However, the government has not announced a 50,000 ringgit cash aid scheme. A spokesperson for the finance ministry told AFP the claim is false, and pointed to a list of all genuine government assistance announced under the 2025 budget instead (archived link). Misused visuals A combination of keyword and reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a similar news clip published by Malaysiakini on its Instagram page on July 15, 2025 (archived link). The original report states Anwar would make a "big announcement" as a tribute to Malaysians (archived link). On July 23, he announced a host of measures to help citizens with cost of living issues, such as a 100 ringgit handout and lowered petrol prices (archived link). A Malaysiakini representative told AFP on July 22 that its logo had been misused. "This is definitely not our video. We have never edited any of our videos to promote government aid," the spokesperson said. The clip shared in the false posts has been altered, including font that does not match Malaysiakini's style and a pink chyron covering the original orange one that reads "Anwar to announce extraordinary tribute to citizens". Image Screenshot comparison between the fabricated clip (left) and a genuine Malaysiakini news video report (right) A separate reverse image search on Google found the photo of people posing with a mock cheque was first posted on the verified X account of the Ambassador of Turkey to Kuala Lumpur on March 3, 2023 (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the original post by the Ambassador of Turkey to Kuala Lumpur (right) The ambassador was thanking the Malaysian Aeon Foundation, a charitable organisation under the Aeon Group of Companies, for donating to victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey in February 2023. A similar photo of the event was also published on the Aeon Credit website (archived link).
