NielsenIQ loosely defines indie beauty brands as brands not owned by conglomerates that are primarily the sole focus on their parent company. Dr. Squatch, Thrive Causemetics, Peach & Lily, Dieux, Dossier, Dime and Milani are brands it considers indie beauty brands.

“There’s a lot of positive momentum for indie brands. If you look at the big conglomerates, they are developing new brands in-house less and less. They are watching to see which indies blow up, and they are acquiring them to bring into their portfolios,” says Anna Mayo, VP of the beauty vertical at NielsenIQ. “Especially with how social media and TikTok is moving right now, if you have the right founder with the right story, you can make a viral moment to get attention.”

With its positive momentum, indie beauty is expected to continue to grab market share from legacy players. However, it’s never been an easy path for indie beauty brands to go up against larger competitors—and today is no exception. Indie beauty brands are contending with elevated customer acquisition and retail costs, economic uncertainty, an early-stage funding squeeze and a myriad of other factors complicating business.

To get a better sense of the health of the segment, for the the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked 24 brand founders the following question: What’s your take on the state of indie beauty?