“After an incredible journey, The Outset has made the decision to wind down operations. We’re so grateful to everyone who welcomed us into their routines and supported us along the way.”
Those two terse sentences, posted last week on the skin care brand’s website, marked the end of an ambitious business venture that actress Scarlett Johansson had spent the past four years trying to build.
The original idea appeared promising: Johansson, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, sought to leverage her popularity to enter the consumer products market with a vegan skin care line.
Although Johansson was the driving force behind the launch, she said from the outset that she did not want the company to depend solely on her celebrity. Instead, she sought to build what she described as an “accessible and authentic” brand. She largely avoided aggressive marketing campaigns centered on her celebrity image — an approach some marketing experts now say was one of the venture’s fundamental mistakes.
The Outset initially sold directly to consumers but within months expanded its reach through distribution agreements with Sephora, Amazon and Nordstrom. Even with access to major retailers, intense competition and the sheer number of skin care brands made it difficult for The Outset to distinguish itself and compete with established beauty companies.
In an interview with the marketing publication Adweek, J.P. Kuehlwein, a professor at Columbia Business School, said 75% of new products fail within three to five years and described skin care as an especially competitive category.
He argued that Johansson’s decision not to put her face at the center of the brand or make it unmistakably synonymous with her contributed to its struggles.
“We’re using that moisturizer in a way to become Scarlett,” Kuehlwein said. “If that’s not credible, if there’s no strong link to that, then the proposition quickly loses interest, which seems like what happened here.”
The Outset by Scarlett Johansson
(Photo: Screengrab)
Behind the scenes, signs of trouble began emerging in April 2025, when co-founder and CEO Kate Foster left the company. Without her, the brand struggled to maintain its position at major beauty retailers.
The biggest setback came when The Outset disappeared from Sephora, one of the beauty industry’s most important retail platforms, after failing to generate the sales and customer loyalty the retailer demanded.
A central problem was the brand’s pricing and positioning strategy. With products priced from $32 to $54, The Outset placed itself in the “accessible luxury” segment. In the crowded beauty market, however, that middle ground proved difficult to occupy.
For younger consumers seeking simple products and clean ingredients, The Outset was expensive compared with mass-market competitors offering similar formulations for as little as $15. For more affluent Sephora shoppers, meanwhile, the brand could appear too basic.
Its minimalist packaging and emphasis on fragrance-free, understated formulations offered little of the glamour associated with luxury beauty products. Some consumers were left with the impression that they were paying a premium largely because of Johansson’s name without receiving the luxury experience or scientific innovation they expected at that price.
Celebrity is no longer enough
The Outset’s closure is not an isolated case. It comes as the celebrity beauty boom faces a more skeptical and increasingly crowded market, with consumers less willing to buy products simply because a famous name is attached to them.
Johansson joins a growing list of stars whose beauty ventures have struggled to maintain momentum. Gwen Stefani’s GXVE Beauty has faced difficulties, while Drew Barrymore recently closed Flower Beauty. Ariana Grande and Millie Bobby Brown have also made significant structural changes to their beauty businesses in efforts to keep them competitive.
The market itself has changed. Innovative Korean beauty products and science-focused clinical brands have become increasingly influential, making celebrity recognition alone less effective as a selling point. Consumers are increasingly demanding demonstrable results rather than simply the promise of looking like a movie star.
For Johansson, the closure is also a personal disappointment. She had repeatedly described The Outset as a project rooted in her own struggles with acne and had sought to establish herself as an entrepreneur beyond her Hollywood career.
Financially, however, the collapse is unlikely to significantly affect her lifestyle or economic standing. Johansson’s fortune is estimated at $165 million, while much of the financial loss from The Outset is expected to fall on investment funds and other business interests that financed the company and helped build its marketing and distribution operations.