Beautycounter Reviews

Cons

Have to be a self starter

Cons

If your idea of career fulfillment and growth looks like a hellish Groundhog’s Day experience where you attempt to climb a hill during a toxic mudslide with zombies on the attack, Beautycounter may be a good workplace fit. If you are a competent, sane, and hard-working individual who values competency, sanity, integrity, and ethical leadership, think thrice before joining this “company.” Good news is, you’ll probably never have the opportunity because judging from the ever-ending promotion cycles and constant, ill-planned layoffs, the company will be lucky to survive through 2024. Beautycounter’s products are the self-proclaimed cleanest in the industry (and they are decent products to the credit of the R&D and product development teams), but its culture is as toxic as it comes. Working here feels like a dystopian version of The Office meets The Hunger Games, where a cult of mean girls in positions of power or nepo friends of the founder desperately swirl, spin, cling, and claw onto anything they can do to help save this flailing and failing not-MLM-MLM at any cost. For the past few years, it’s been a revolving door of mostly freshman C-Suite executives who attempt to turn the business around, only to fail miserably due to political roadblocks or their own ego and ineptitude, leaving a confusing mess in their wake for the brand and its employees. The culture is the ugliest intersection between cutthroat corporate antics and the wild startup west. Everyone in leadership wants power and control, and no one wants to take any ownership or accountability. The bright light is there is/was a small cohort of amazing and well-liked VPs and Directors who brought legitimate experience, fresh energy, and strategic thinking to the business, only to be blocked by their vertical’s C-Suite sponsor at every chance, creating a negative trickle-down effect. Almost all the aforementioned middle-senior management got laid off because they challenged the system or left on their own accord because they had enough. Noting that while all companies have problems and it’s tough to be in the C-Suite, there have been four C-Suite turnovers since the start of the pandemic, and with the exception of the current CTO, a 100% C-Suite turnover since May of 2023. You don’t need to be a math major to know those stats are not great. But worse became worst when the board and ex-CEO, Marc Rey, decided to part ways in May, and they appointed an interim CEO who has an HR background, came from the board of directors, and is a former employee of The Carlyle Group (the private equity firm that acquired Beautycounter in 2021). Holy conflict of interest, Batman! She is an unseasoned, delulu nepo-friend-of-the-founder executive who thinks that love is going to save the business and has made the short-sided, desperate decision to bring back the megalomaniac, one-hit-wonder founder to help bring this brand to its mid-2000s glory along with a slurry of ex-employees who were instrumental in creating the foundational problems that plague this company to date. Seems like her rose-colored glasses are too thick to see the world has changed. After a multi-million dollar company all-in in Santa Monica, she ruthlessly made the decision to have two rounds of layoffs in a three-month period, including many super smart, engaged, and talented folks and ascending and promoting the worst offenders and performers. The problematic fire-and-ice duo that was the CMO and CCO both mysteriously “stepped down” from their roles shortly after. I can only imagine there will be a fourth layoff round of the year once a few high-profile tech projects get off the ground. All in all, this place might have an admirable mission on paper, but they are not a legitimate business. It’s a scary sorority of unserious privileged people cosplaying professionals. Everyone else will churn or be kicked out as soon as possible.

Cons

They literally do not care about people. The current interim CEO preaches about love, but under her regime we have seen some of the most cold-hearted moves made yet. Some Associates who have been constantly asked to give management grace during business changes were let go in a mass fashion last week. Business they say. WE DO NOT HAVE A PEOPLE TEAM. We haven't had People Team management since May of this year, but it's been a mess for quite some time. We have no resources. We have no empathy. We have nowhere to go without fear of retaliation or getting on someone's bad side. B-Corporations especially should not be able to act this way. Good intentioned people beware...they only care about what you can produce. Even when you do, you may wake up to a pink slip due to business being down...right after a multi-million dollar company conference.

Cons

Sometimes disorganized with promotional materials like sales and dates

Cons

In the tumultuous world of Beautycounter, a disoriented CEO seems to have lost their way, struggling to steer the company in the right direction. Despite the invaluable insights of their dedicated employees, their reluctance to listen has compounded the company's problems. Adding to this chaos, a founder who is a narcissist places her personal image above the sinking ship that is Beautycounter. As the company's fortunes plummet, their priorities remain askew. It's important to note that reverting to the 2017 team won't serve as a silver bullet, as they too played a role in the company's downfall. This is a lamentable tale of Beautycounter's challenges, one that requires thoughtful introspection and meaningful change to rescue this beauty brand from its current woes.

Cons

There are too many cons to list. The company is crumbling. Last month they had a friends and family sale that achieved half of the normal sales and hit 60% of their goal. They continue month after month to sink further and further. Beautycounter already hit its peak and it's downhill from here. The leadership is beyond bad. Former CEO was canned. He was clueless, but still better than original CEO. So now new interim CEO, new CFO (how many have they had now?) and new head of the board of directors. The leadership team left at HQ are NOT quality leaders. They are scrambling to save what is there. The internal environment is not positive both at HQ and in the field. Field leaders are terrified, turning on each other and trying to keep their paychecks in place (and will do ANYTHING to keep their paychecks including lying to their downline telling them all is okay). With the products now being sold at Ulta, the field's role is probably coming to an end especially with sales in the tank. It may not be soon, but it's coming. Run far far away from this company.

Cons

The leadership and management styles are some of the worst I have ever experienced. It’s unfortunate because the values of the company on paper are admirable and it seemed likes a great place to work at first. The culture is toxic and many great people, especially women of color end up leaving the company or get fired. There is no clear vision from the leadership, and management is highly inefficient, most people are over worked because of these inefficiencies. To put it bluntly, it’s a passive aggressive, mean and disempowering environment. Down to the facilities manager and all the way up to the CMO and the CEO. Additionally, there is very little room for growth and the wrong people get promoted.

Cons

There has always been a difficult time branding the company. There are so many elements to BC's business model and too many opinions on best approaches. It that often leads to a very confused brand identity and watered down ideas that lose intention in their strategy. One of the bigger struggles of this company has always been how vastly different HQ associates are from BC's primary audience. It often caused friction and a less refined brand–it has definitely halted progress and newness over the years. During my 2+ years there, I witnessed MANY leadership changes and it has often led to a more confused brand strategy, layoffs, and mediocre creative executions. This is not on the team executing at all, but solely on leadership. I initially joined the company because of the mission, like many others but over time it has proven to be only a "selling point" and less about the well-being of people.

Cons

If you want to grow a team, you need to be comfortable with recruiting and ok hearing the word no.

Cons

Very pricey and everyone thinks it's an MLM