The beauty industry disruptor that brought clean beauty into the mainstream is back with a shiny new brand concept.
Gregg Renfrew, the entrepreneur behind Beautycounter and Counter, is launching her third beauty brand on September 1 in an effort to reach consumers ages 14 to 30.
The brand is called Beecee and, in a lot of ways, is an iteration of now-defunct Beautycounter. The line will launch direct-to-consumer with lip gloss, skin balm and face mist at premium price points. The company is currently in the midst of a community meet-up tour — hosting events with Renfrew in Nashville, New York, Chicago and Charleston, among other cities — to recruit and mobilize excited young brand advocates who can earn a commission on sales.
But do young people care about clean beauty? “The answer is unequivocally yes,” Renfrew told Glossy. “I’ve actually been really surprised by how many of the young women with whom we’ve been interacting have said that this really matters to them.”
In 2013, Renfrew launched Beautycounter, a first-of-its-kind beauty business built off ingredient transparency, independent sellers and ‘boots on the ground’ industry advocacy in Washington, D.C. The concept struck a nerve and forever shifted the beauty industry toward better transparency.
But Renfrew was very early to the “clean beauty” wave — something that, today, is very much table stakes for new brands. This has presented its own challenges for Renfrew’s ongoing success.
“It’s both a blessing and a curse to be the leader and the disruptor in any industry at any moment in time,” she said. “In some ways, I have the luxury now of coming back in through Counter and Beecee to see all the things I did well and all the things I didn’t do well, of which there were many, and iterate on those models to do them better than I did before.”
Beautycounter officially shuttered in 2024, giving Renfrew the opportunity to buy back her IP from the VC firm The Carlyle Group. Renfrew then parlayed her bestselling formulas and clean beauty mission into Counter, her brand launched DTC in 2025 to serve women 35 and older.
Glossy Beauty podcast host Lexy Lebsack sat down with Renfrew to discuss Beecee, the future of clean beauty, how to best reach Gen Z and why the best days of specialty beauty retail are behind us.
On the ‘first mover curse’
“It’s both a blessing and a curse to be the leader and the disruptor in any industry at any moment in time. I feel that it’s always challenging to figure out, ‘What’s next?’ I do think that, with Beautycounter, we really put clean on the map. We sort of coined the phrase as it is defined today in our offices. We led that movement. We built that movement. And then, of course, everyone claims to be clean 1784191373. Some of whom are, some of whom are not. And so now I’m trying to figure out: How do we, in both brands, reestablish our sense of, ‘How do we become the disruptors once again? How do we help create a standard that everyone understands?’ But it is challenging because, when you’re out in the front, everyone’s trying to follow you and mimic you, and then iterate on the things that you haven’t done as well. And so, in some ways, I have the luxury now of coming back in through Counter and Beecee to see all the things I did well and all the things I didn’t do well, of which there were many, and iterate on those models to do them better than I did before.”
On whether or not Gen Z connects with ‘clean beauty’
“We’ve done a lot of surveying. We have a very active group of people surrounding the brands, and to be honest, they’re all saying they really, really care about this. … They’re starting to become more aware of the fact that there are certain chemicals that are disrupting their hormones. I think that when they think of ‘clean beauty,’ they may not be able to clearly articulate what that is, but I think they are focused on products that do more, that are ethically and responsibly sourced, and that are safer for their health.”
On Beautycounter’s reputation as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company
“Beautycounter was never an MLM. Beautycounter was a direct-to-consumer brand that was powered by people. But you, as a consumer, could always shop Beautycounter anywhere in our stores, online [or] through women. It wasn’t an MLM. [An] MLM really forces you to shop through people. We did not do that. People could shop with us at Ulta, and they could shop with us online. And so, it was a very different business model than, I think, people’s perception of it. [We created] an opportunity for women to be creators or influencers — that was basically what the entire Beautycounter [business was] built on. It was built on predominantly micro-influencers, some macro-influencers, who wanted to share products [and] educate their communities. I think there’s an opportunity to carry some of those tenets of that business into this new model where women are able to participate as sellers, whether they’re creating content [or] actually selling product. And yes, they can earn a commission. But I think, like Beautycounter, it was so much more. It was an ability to learn about business. It was the ability to advocate for more health-protective legislation. It was an ability to connect with other women who were doing important work in the world. And so I think that our collective commerce model at Beecee will allow for young women to participate in this community in the way that makes the most sense to them. And that may be that they want to create content. It may be that they want to be … a college ambassador. There are a lot of ways you can participate in collective commerce. One of the ways in which is that you can earn money.”
