May 2025 was a month with one defining business moment and one defining cultural one. The business moment: e.l.f. Beauty’s announcement on May 28 that it was acquiring Rhode from Hailey Bieber for approximately $1 billion (cash and stock) — the largest celebrity-beauty acquisition of the cycle. The cultural moment: the Met Gala on May 5 with the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, which delivered the most-photographed and most-discussed Met carpet of recent years. Cannes ran from May 13 through 24 and anchored the European red-carpet conversation. Mother’s Day on May 11 closed out the gifting cycle. We were not bored.
e.l.f. acquiring Rhode was the deal of the year
The May 28 announcement that e.l.f. Beauty was acquiring Rhode for around $1 billion ($800M cash plus equity, with an additional earnout) was the biggest single beauty M&A story of 2025. The strategic logic was immediate: e.l.f. brought retail distribution and operational scale; Rhode brought a Gen-Z-defining brand at the price tier above e.l.f.’s core. Hailey Bieber would stay on as Chief Creative Officer and continue to lead the brand. The market reaction was strongly positive — e.l.f.’s stock moved sharply on the news. The takeaway: the celebrity-beauty category was no longer a sequence of one-off vehicles; it was a real M&A asset class, and the strategic acquirers had emerged.
The Met Gala delivered a culturally serious carpet
The Met Gala on May 5 with the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme — built around Monica Miller’s exhibition on Black dandyism — produced the most culturally engaged Met carpet in many years. ASAP Rocky and Pharrell Williams as co-chairs, alongside Colman Domingo and Lewis Hamilton, set the tone for a night that was about real cultural literacy rather than spectacle. Beauty highlights: Rihanna’s continued Fenty Beauty looks, the carpet-defining looks from Tyla, Mona Patel, Ayo Edebiri, and a sustained focus on Black-owned beauty brands. Pat McGrath Labs anchored multiple highest-profile looks. The takeaway: the Met when it commits to a real cultural conversation produces beauty content that compounds for the entire summer, and 2025’s edition had set the standard high.
Cannes anchored the European red-carpet story
The Cannes Film Festival ran May 13-24 and produced its predictable two-week run of nightly carpet content. Chanel, Dior, Guerlain, and Armani Beauty dominated their respective ambassadors’ looks. Carla Bruni, Léa Seydoux, and the French acting roster anchored the home-court advantage; the festival’s American and global guests rounded out the carpet. The takeaway: Cannes had become the European beauty-houses’ answer to the New-York-skewing Met, and the maisons that took the festival seriously got two weeks of disciplined editorial.
Mother’s Day was prestige’s tighter window
Mother’s Day on May 11 used to be the year’s strongest single retail moment for prestige beauty after the holidays. By 2025 the category had matured into something more pragmatic — gift sets, not adventurous launches. Charlotte Tilbury ran a Pillow Talk Mother’s Day capsule. Augustinus Bader sold through on Rich Cream sets. Dyson Airwrap and Supersonic continued as the highest-ticket gifts. The takeaway: customers buying for their mothers stuck with the most-recognized brand names, and the indie beauty category was largely off the gifting radar for this specific occasion.
The summer-skin conversation got organized
By late May the summer-skin content was running at full intensity. Supergoop! Glowscreen and Unseen Sunscreen had been reformulated and refreshed for the season. Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun continued as the gateway Korean SPF for new audiences. ILIA‘s Super Serum Skin Tint with SPF stayed in editorial rotation. The wider summer-skin conversation had matured into a real category with credible products at every price point. The takeaway: the SPF reformulation arms race that started in 2023 had delivered an unambiguously better product landscape, and the customer who wanted to wear sunscreen daily finally had the formulas to make that happen.
What we are watching in June
Pride Month kicks off the summer launch wave. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour wraps in late June with the back-half US dates. We’re watching how the Rhode-into-e.l.f. integration is signaled by both brands publicly through summer; the early signals will tell us whether Rhode stays distinct or starts borrowing e.l.f. product capabilities. We’re watching what Demna’s preview activity at Gucci looks like in the run-up to his first show in the back half of 2025. And we’re watching the SPF-reformulation wave continue. We will see you on the first Tuesday of June.
Shop the edit
- e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter — for a lit-from-within complexion.
- e.l.f. Halo Glow Blush Beauty Wand — an easy soft-petal cheek wash.
- EltaMD UV Clear SPF 46 — the lightweight daily facial sunscreen.
- Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector — pre-summer bond repair.
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