Brennan Kilbane, Business of Fashion (BOF) Journalist Profile

Articles

Violet Grey Launches Perfume Label With $1,100 Fragrance

1 day ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

Violet Grey, the Los Angeles-related known for its high-gloss creative, has quietly debuted a fragrance label called Madame Grey, offering a $100 hair perfume and limited-edition $1,100 Extrait de Parfum. The Extrait, nosed by perfumer Jérôme Epinette, is housed in a limited run of 1100 “handcrafted” glass flagons, according to its description on Madame Grey’s direct to consumer website, which quietly appeared this month.
Drunk Elephant Was Never for Kids

2 days ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

Drunk Elephant has learned the hard way not to play with tweens. On Monday, Japanese beauty conglomerate Shiseido released its first quarter 2025 earnings and revealed that sales at the pastel-hued clean beauty brand it acquired had declined by a staggering 65 percent.
Charlotte Tilbury Launches in Mexico

4 days ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

A little over a decade after her eponymous brand first arrived in North America, Charlotte Tilbury is crossing the pond again. Tilbury’s full collection of makeup, skincare and fragrance will launch in Sephora Mexico on May 14, the brand announced on Monday morning, alongside plans to expand into two El Palacio de Hierro locations and a travel retail concession over the summer.
How Far Can Body Care Go?

1 week ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

Roger Ein’s idea occurred to him in the shower, as they often do. Ein, a consumer goods entrepreneur and interior designer in Los Angeles, was rinsing off with a lover, who he watched apply a luxurious facial moisturiser to the skin on his butt — the moment that inspired his bodycare brand Buttface, which officially launches on Tuesday morning. The line will be sold directly on Buttface.com and will advertise on Pornhub.
Black Beauty Excellence Was the Star of the Met Gala

1 week ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

The first Monday in May did not begin beautifully. A wooly gray sky stretched over the puddle-pocked streets of Manhattan, as the 2025 Met Gala, which celebrated the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” rolled out its red carpet, which was blue and printed with daffodils. Beauty arrived later that afternoon, in fits and starts.
Inside the Met Gala’s Many Facial Suites

1 week ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

It was the week before the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual gala and the facialist Athena Hewitt, in town from California for the event, had no confirmed appointments. For facialists, the Met Gala is on par with the SuperBowl — a globally televised event wrapped in an irresistible marketing opportunity, especially for fashion brands, increasingly for beauty ones.
Caroline Hirons’ Skin Rocks Lands First Growth Investment

2 weeks ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

Skin Rocks, the UK-based skincare brand founded by writer and esthetician Caroline Hirons, has received a growth investment to help fund its international expansion and the development of its professional line, the company announced on Tuesday. The round was led by UK-based firms Redrice Ventures and Jamjar Investments, with participation from Saffie Investments.
Foreign Sunscreens Battle It Out in the Biggest SPF Market in the World

2 weeks ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

At retailers across the US, it’s a battle of the sunscreens. In one corner is Naked Sundays, whose lavender-tinted tubes arrived in 700 Ulta Beauty last month (and whose SPF50 “glow mist” and “priming lotion” have already sold out). Founded in 2021 by the author and TV news host Samantha Brett, it was the first Australian prestige skincare-suncare brand to launch into the great wide US beauty market this year, and it also wasn’t the last.
How Nara Smith Chose Her First Beauty Campaign

3 weeks ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

Nara Smith, the American model-turned-influencer who rose to fame with her TikTok videos showcasing aspirational housewifedom, has landed her first beauty campaign — and not for a product she made in her kitchen. Smith stars alongside dermatologist Dr. Camille Howard in “From Scratch to Soothe,” a campaign intended to reboot and reintroduce Galderma-owned Cetaphil’s eczema line Restoraderm, the brand announced Monday. Smith, who is 23, will be a familiar face to young consumers.
How Trendmood Gets the Scoop

1 month ago | businessoffashion.com | Brennan Kilbane

When Amy Liu, the founder of Tower28, was strategising her skin-friendly beauty brand’s latest launch — a powdered blush, called Getset — she considered all the standard launch options; a days-long festival of programming? An influencer trip, a Vogue advertorial or both? Liu decided to take a simpler, but equally — if not more — effective approach. “We’ll just send it to Trendmood,” she recalled thinking.