Too Faced Cosmetics Founders Launch Beauty Incubator

The founders of Too Faced Cosmetics, Jarrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson, are back in the beauty business. The duo sold Too Faced to Estée Lauder Cos. for $1.45 billion back in 2016. Now, they expect lightning to strike twice with Toy Box Brands, a Corona del Mar, CA-based beauty incubator.

This month, the startup gets started with a jewelry cleaner called Drunk Diamond. In August, a makeup line called Polite Society will debut in time for Madonna’s world tour—Blandino and Johnson are the Material Girl’s close friends. 

The concept for Toy Box Brands evolved quickly. Under contract with Estée Lauder through June 30, 2022, Blandino was talking trademarks on July 1, 2022.

The 17-member Toy Box team is made up of ex-Too Faced staffers all too eager to get back in the beauty business. That number will climb to 30 when Toy Box really gets going; plans call for launching up to 16 brands during the next decade. Blandino and Johnson are entering a popular category; companies as diverse as Sephonra, Maesa and L'Oréal are already in the incubator business.

But first, Drunk Diamond. The cleaner debuts July 25 on the Toy Box site. There are four fragrance variants; each retails for $75. The Drunk Diamond brand offers ancillary products like cashmere jewelry towels and cleaning concentrate refills. Customers can join a $48 subscription service that ships product every four months.

The second brand, Polite Society makeup, debuts August 27 in 850 Ulta Beauty stores. The line includes lip plumper, mascara and foundation. All of the formulas meet Ulta’s “clean” classification.

What’s next? Maybe hot sauce packaged in bottles that will appeal to women. The Toy Box founders are obviously thinking out of the box.