KJH Brand, the direct-to-consumer color cosmetics brand from celebrity makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, is in discussion with the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned retailer to launch in stores next year. Hughes, who launched the brand in 2023, discussed its likely move into Sephora during an Oct. 10 appearance on the “Gloss Angeles” podcast, where she divulged it was considering whether to launch as part of the chain’s Next Big Thing assortment focused on emerging brands or in another display.

She said, “Big decision because it’s a big difference in cost, and I self-funded the brand. We haven’t raised any financing, so we will need to raise to launch on a one bay.”

To support a wide launch at Sephora, founders told The Business of Fashion inventory costs can easily be $500,000, with an additional $1 million to $3 million for fixtures, sampling and other expenses. Typically, brands will try to nail down institutional capital to help pay for a Sephora rollout. Roz, Hanni, Hung Vanngo Beauty, Messy, Iris&Romeo and Crown Affair are among the brands that have secured institutional funding to finance their Sephora business.

KJH Brand’s impending Sephora entry reinforces the brand’s strategic emphasis on beauty authorities, a positioning that distinguishes it from Amazon, TikTok Shop and Ulta Beauty. In recent months, it’s exclusively launched a number of expert-led brands, including M.ph by Mary Phillips, Hung Vanngo Beauty and Chris McMillan. These new names join a cadre of brands at Sephora from beauty professionals such as Charlotte Tilbury, Makeup by Mario, Danessa Myricks Beauty, Westman Atelier, Ciele Cosmetics, Sofie Pavitte Face and Patrick Ta. Several of the brands were highlighted in a fall campaign spotlighting expert-led brands at Sephora.

“That consumer is looking to them for what is the next artistry brand. When you think of artistry brands that are working today and still doing a lot of volume at Sephora, it’s Makeup by Mario, Patrick Ta, Charlotte Tilbury and now Mary Phillips,” says Lisa Motzko, co-founder of beauty retail consultancy firm Breakthru Beauty and former VP of prestige cosmetics at Ulta. “We know that Amazon and TikTok Shop are doing a lot of volume and that’s a big piece of the beauty share. They’re [Sephora] thinking through the lens of how do we pivot to be a part of that market share and that change in the consumer shopping journey.”

Sephora’s strategies seem to be working as competition in the beauty retail landscape ramps up to a fevered pitch. LVMH called the retailer’s performance “remarkable” in its recent third-quarter earnings as its Selective Retailing division, which houses Sephora, Le Bon Marche and DFS Group, grew revenues 7%, far outpacing growth in other divisions. The results counter softer performance earlier this year, when LVMH informed investors that Sephora “faced very challenging comps after growing double-digit last year” as the retailer’s American e-commerce sales lagged due to Amazon’s aggressive positioning.

Sephora’s 2024 global sales are estimated at 16.4 billion euros or approximately $19 billion, according to a recent LinkedIn post from Alexis Amann, head of data strategy and business insights at Luxurynsight. The amount represents almost 90% of the revenue generated from LVMH’s Selective Retailing division last year. The beauty specialty retailer multiplied its global sales 2.6X between 2015 and 2024.

Collectively, Charlotte Tilbury, Makeup by Mario, Danessa Myricks Beauty, Westman Atelier, Patrick Ta, One/Size and Ciele Cosmetics, brands in the fall campaign, account for about 19.6% of Sephora’s total online makeup sales year to date compared to 2024, according to beauty e-commerce agency Navigo Marketing. The figure represents a 30% year-over-year increase.

Despite the campaign, paid media for the group has dipped by about 9% for the year so far, but organic visibility for it has increased over 30%. Makeup by Mario, Danessa Myricks and One/Size have expanded their share of sales the most this year from the aforementioned group. According to data insights firm YipitData, One/Size’s $34 On ‘Til Dawn Waterproof Setting Spray was the No. 1 selling makeup product in the country from January through June.

Early online sales of M.ph, which launched on Sephora’s website on Aug. 15 before entering around 650 of the retailer’s doors, are showing promise. Per Navigo, they were up about 132% over the past month versus the previous four weeks without participating in any paid sponsorship on the retailer’s site.

At Sephora, KJH Brand will have to stand out from the makeup artist-founded crowds. The brand aims to educate shoppers on the playfulness of makeup through multi-use color products and tools and is an extension of Hughes’ digital footprint, where she’s a go-to for relatable makeup education. She has over 2 million followers across Instagram and TikTok. An early proponent of natural, dewy makeup, Hughes’ celebrity client list includes Hailey Bieber, Dua Lipa, Lily Allen, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Ashley Graham.

This year, KJH Brand graduated from Bridge Mentorship, a joint program from Beauty Independent and early-stage beauty investment firm True Beauty Ventures, to prepare for its next phase of growth. Bridge equips emerging brands with education on the ins and outs of fundraising and scaling. Timed with the end of the program, Tarek Gamal Eldin, who runs operations, logistics and finance for KJH Brand and is married to Hughes, told Beauty Independent in May, the brand “wasn’t just to kind of create more product. Katie wanted to create products that allowed for playing, for having fun, for experimentation.”

KJH Brand’s current assortment has three products: $75 Hyper Shine Kit contains a brush, cream highlighter and shine serum, $24 Smudge Stick Lip & Cheek and $24 Precision Sculpture Stylo, a contour wand that can be used on the face, lips and eyes. Single products are priced from $24 to $26.

The brand is accelerating product releases in advance of its retail debut. Eight product launches are scheduled through 2027. On “Gloss Angeles,” Hughes teased that Nano Brow Set will come out by the end of this month or early November. “If I had a tagline for this product, it would just be a damn good brow gel,” she said. “It lifts the brow, it holds the brow, but it’s not a lamination brow gel by any means because I think that’s a trend that’s come and gone.”