Mary van Praag doubled Milani Cosmetics annual sales to $250 million in five years. Now she’s ready to double them again. 

0:07Lexy Lebsack: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Glossy Beauty Podcast, a show about the business of beauty and wellness. I'm your host, Glossy's West Coast correspondent, Lexi Lebsack. In today's episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with an industry veteran with nearly four decades of experience across beauty, personal care, and a little bit of fashion as well. Mary von Praag is the CEO of Milani Cosmetics, and the company is on a sales tear. Milani Cosmetics is a 25-year-old mass beauty brand known best for its baked blush and bronzer, setting spray, and mascara. It sells DTC and through all the big retail players like Ulta Beauty, Target, Walmart, CVS, Amazon, etc.

0:50Lexy Lebsack: Milani is based in Los Angeles and privately held by private equity firm Griffin Investors. Mary's resume includes Revlon, Johnson & Johnson, Cody, Paracone MD Skincare, and many more. She joined Milani Cosmetics as CEO in August of 2020, not an easy time to join a company, and very quickly set the company up on its current sales growth trajectory. Milani Cosmetics just passed$250 million in annual sales while wrapping up its 19th quarter of consecutive growth, something very few beauty companies can claim right now. I invited Mary onto the show to learn how she navigated this growth and how she plans to accomplish another big goal that she's been vocal about.

1:37Lexy Lebsack: Mary plans to double Milani's current sales in the next three years to reach 500 million in annual sales. Let's find out how she's going to accomplish this. Here's my conversation with Maryvonne Prague, CEO of Milani Cosmetics.

1:57Lexy Lebsack: Mary, welcome to the pod. I'm so happy you're here. Thanks for having me, Lexi. It's truly my pleasure to talk with you and talk about this big success that you're having over at Milani, specifically the secret sauce behind all of this growth. So I'm looking at this figure in front of me, 19 consecutive quarters of growth, sales growth, as the company nears a quarter billion dollars in annual sales. and you're up 10 % in 2025. You've been with Milani since August 2020. So I think if my math is right, that's about 24 quarters. And so you really came in as CEO and were very, very quick to put this company on a very significant growth trajectory.

2:39Lexy Lebsack: And I'm sure a lot of our business listeners would love if I started with a question of like, how did you do that? Well, first of all, we're about ready to mark 20 quarters because we actually see our POS week after week. In fact, just this past week, we hit our highest period of POS and sales in the last many, many, many quarters. And so it's about 20 quarters of consecutive growth ahead of category. So we're very, very proud of that. And we believe the momentum is real and will continue. And I think one of the things that we've done is we've, I'd say, weathered the storm of all the changes in the category, you know, post-COVID and maintain this accelerated growth ahead of category.

3:25So we always measure the category health and then particularly our performance versus competition. So we're solidly the only independent in the top 10. We're now the number seven brand. and year to date, calendar year to date, we're the fastest growing lip eye face brand in that top 10. And it's just truly a remarkable marker. You know, I think the way we did it was we set out a clear strategy. We had kind of phases of growth. You know, first there was a reset after COVID, the propel, you know, propel the business, reset the foundation and then catapult. And I'd say we're in the catapult phase now.

4:07And very intentional in terms of our product architecture, our merchandising philosophy, reigniting the brand DNA and what it has always stood for, which is around quality and craftsmanship. And then igniting our team, you know, it's a very entrepreneurial team that's results oriented, but at the same time collaborative. And I always say every person in the company makes a difference and they can ideate from the beginning of a product all the way to its execution. So it's just a very, very dynamic organization that fuels the growth. And I created what I'd say the world-class team and built processes to help enable that growth with the team step by step.

4:53And we are just super proud of what we accomplished and feel like, in all honesty, after 25 years of Milani being in business, we feel like we're just getting started.

5:03Lexy Lebsack: Wow. Well, I know you also have this very big goal to double sales in the next three years. So going from a quarter billion to half a billion dollars. I'm curious as to, you know, what is the goal after that? Sort of like why is like now the right time to try to double? Well, I'd say in the past, you know, it took us in my tenure here about five years to double our sales from when I first joined. And we clearly are setting our sights on the potential of Milani being a top five player in the mass color arena. And we believe that's possible. Essentially, what that means is we would be doubling our share and doubling our sales in order to accomplish that.

5:47And we feel like given our productivity with retailers, how we're resonating with our consumer audience, the fact that we have so much potential in terms of our footprint and space and adjacencies within these key retailers, as well as Amazon and internationally, that that is very possible. We do a, I'll call it three-year long-range plan. And everything that we're planning suggests that we're tracking to that goal. And if the past is any predictor of the future, I'm quite confident we will get there.

6:23Lexy Lebsack: What have been the primary sales drivers? I mean, you're in a lot of retailers. You have a lot of different SKUs. You've got hero SKUs. You've got innovation. What has been the primary driver? I would say, first of all, the composition of our mix. So we dominate in face, meaning complexion, blush, setting spray. And we really, really looked at that architecture. And our setting spray has been a phenomenal growth engine for our business and one that is universally loved and has a high velocity rate. So setting spray has been a major growth lever for us. In addition to one of the things that Milani was best and first at was the quality and craftsmanship of what I call our Italian manufacturers and looking at our baked franchise.

7:17Milani was the first mass baked blush in the marketplace and was always the iconic gateway to the brand. And this past year, in the first half of the year, we relaunched our iconic baked collection and expanded it with a baked setting powder. But we have blush, bronzer, highlighter, and now baked setting powder, all with this quality craftsmanship. And we reignited it through beautiful visuals in a campaign called What's Inside Matters, really differentiating the quality ingredients, the manufacturing process, and helping each individual that uses it to feel this quality inside themselves and expression.

8:01So Baked Blush has been the number one baked blush in the marketplace and has had like a huge resurgence in our portfolio. and I think really has set us apart from what I'll call traditional drugstore product quality. And then probably the other big lever was when I first started, we were not, I wouldn't say, we were a real contender in the mascara business. And mascara has one of the highest velocity rates in color. We really focused on our mascara portfolio, our claims, our quality, really thinking about, we launched one of the first tubing mascaras in mass color. We now have one of the highest velocity.

8:47It's one of our highest velocity products. And we continue to expand off that very successful franchise called Lash Extensions, as well as Highly Rated. So I think those three product categories were a big focus of our innovation pipeline. But not only innovation, but re-supporting our core franchises, expanding our claims, our credentials, and really conveying that to our consumer audience. So that has been like the big, big fuel behind our explosive growth this year.

9:19Lexy Lebsack: I remember 10, 15 years ago, I used to, for consumer publications, reach out to celebrity makeup artists and tell me like, what are the affordable things in your bag right now? Because people are dying for that information. And it was always the Milani blush, just every single time that was always in there. You know, when you think of the business long-term, you know, what is that hero percentage and what is the innovation percentage? Because you seem to be doing so well with the hero stuff. I think I'll start with innovation. I think we try to architect, and the category runs off this same numeric.

9:54It's about 15 % of the total business year on year. There are some years it may be 18, some years it's 12, But we like to say, hey, 15 percent would be fueled by innovation. And that's not to say that we're not innovating on the core products that have been there all the time, because there's many ways to do that. But I would call new product innovation is roughly 15 to 20 percent of our business year on year. And so I think as we're architecting our product portfolio good 18 months out. And so really being choiceful about where do we have the right to win? What are the white spaces in our portfolio?

10:30and what are some innovative trends that would lend themselves to the Malani portfolio. So it's this like perfect composition. And we're ideating with our key partners, our consumers, our audience. And we do, I think, a beautiful job of just elevating what's available in the mass arena and really stand behind this belief that we have the quality and craftsmanship. In fact, our MPS scores demonstrate that the consumer really believes Melania is a standout in terms of what's available in mass. And we have the highest parallel crossover with prestige brands. And so that gives us a lot of confidence that what we stand for is really being recognized, that quality and value that's available and accessible on a day-to-day basis.

11:22So it's very, I would call it strategic and choiceful. And then, as you know, in innovation, sometimes you have your hits and sometimes you have some things that are just, that was OK. You know, we move on. So we're constantly like balancing that and managing the portfolio to give our retailers the most productive assortment that we can, making sure that's paying out in the space that we're offered, as well as on e-commerce that is really driving our business. because obviously content creators want to talk about what's new and it drives the whole flywheel. So if you have a new product hit, which we've had many, it really drives and draws attention to the brand.

12:02I'd say the other thing we're very focused on in terms of growth is driving greater brand awareness. Milani still has an opportunity to grow our awareness and that's through what I'll call consistent marketing, consistency in our brand message. We've, I call it, rehauled the core DNA this past year through not only our launches, our visuals, our PDP pages, some of our displays. Next year, you'll see our shelf sets really emulate that new look and direction. And it's really about what's inside matters, this quality craftsmanship and how we're different and unique. We felt like the mass market demanded a breakthrough.

12:49Like, if you think about it, if you've been shopping in a drugstore or mass market retailer, everybody kind of looks the same. They were shouting the same thing. Content creators were kind of taking over the messaging for brands. And we wanted to have a distinct position. I call the competitive, compelling advantage versus the rest and stand out apart. And I think you're seeing the fruits of that paying off in our year-to-date performance. And very much as we get the cohesive nature of that all culminating next year, I think you're going to see some more breakout growth for Milani and really what sets us apart.

13:29Lexy Lebsack: Wow. I was in a Walgreens recently and just kind of going down the aisles. And And one thing about Milani's setup that really struck me is that you have on the gondolas, like made in Italy, for example, on a product. So you're really leaning into that. And that, I mean, I feel like, do people care? I mean, this must be something that's important to people if you're putting it on there. We actually have. And I think that's been an interesting thing because obviously we have things that are made not only in Italy. We look for the best formulators and the best formulas, like South Korea is a place that we've infused things.

14:04Italy is known for its quality and craftsmanship. And, you know, it's like the fashion capital of Europe. It's also the powder capital of cosmetics. And really, we get some great pigment and payoff in the manufacturing and the powders are phenomenal. So we always are sourcing from the best of the best. And I think consumers are just more knowledgeable than we give them credit for. They're doing a lot of research on ingredients, payoff, country of origin, manufacturing, you know, it's whether it's clean or vegan, et cetera. And I think that's something that is more unique and differentiated about Milani, because we're actually producing in the same places that the prestige counterparts are and feel like the consumer recognizes and understands that.

14:56Lexy Lebsack: We talked in July and you mentioned that you work closely with retailers to make sure that they're getting what they want and that, you know, people are shopping and finding newness. And what does that look like specifically when you work with retailers ahead of developing a product or ahead of releasing it? You know, I've always, my whole career has been based on what I call joint business collaborative partnerships with my key partners. in retail. Like I, that's the hallmark of my career. And I, I feel like that is such an important part of how we bring our brand to life is through these retail partnerships.

15:37Obviously, we don't have our own stores. So the retailer collaboration is critical and they have a purview to not only their unique shopper base, but obviously the competition. And we're ideating on ideas relative to our core capabilities. Milani, we're not going to change our brand just for a retailer. But I think the magic happens when you can ideate long range on your product portfolio, your promotional plans, your pricing architecture, like really having them have a seat at the table. It doesn't mean that everything they might ask for or recommend actually happens. It has to go through our brand lens and make sure it's a fit.

16:21But I find that when you collaborate in these, we call them in the kitchen meetings, it's a common terminology that's used in beauty, that we tend to get the best outcomes because we have everybody from all facets of the business participating in what that growth strategy looks like. Like, largely it's focused on product, but obviously the four Ps are an important component of that. And I just think those partnerships then lead to common goals and then measurements of success, celebration of success, and more success after that. And to me, that's the most rewarding thing when you can have a true partnership with a customer.

17:01And I think that's been one of our keys to success. And I think, you know, I feel as though the messages I get back from our partnership with our key retailers is always very positive. And I hear things like best in class. We use Melania as an example. It's a, you know, a privilege. You know, we really enjoy those partnerships. And I would say likewise with our key supplier partners. You know, it's very few and concentrated. and I feel like it's the same way with those manufacturers. And I believe the best outcomes come from that mutual partnership.

17:39Lexy Lebsack: I mean, that makes sense. It's like everybody's got a stake in the game at that point. Like they want your product to do well because they helped you, you know, position it or come up with it or something. For sure. For sure. I think, you know, it's like a joint ambition and we can celebrate success together as well. Yeah. Yeah. Mary, who is the Milani customer today and how has that evolved since you joined the company? Oh, I'm so glad you asked that. We've been working on, I'm going to grab something real quick because we haven't like launched it, but this is my internal language, what we call the persona of Milani.

18:17And we call her, we'll give her her name in a moment, but she's discerning. She's a very discerning individual and she's very educated in a category and she loves to use a variety of products, but we're naming her Sophia for the moment. And she's not a trend. She's not a label, but she wants something in makeup that will reveal who she is personally, but not redefine herself. So she takes inspiration from a lot of different places. She wants true substance and she doesn't want any compromises or very few. But if I had to say who she is, like to describing her, she's 37. So she's young at heart.

18:59So she's like core in the millennial. She's usually probably living in the city or has that city-like life. She's family focused and she's feeling fortunate, right? So she is a professional. She has a job. She, you know, index is slightly higher than the average. And she's spending a lot of money on beauty, but not just to try. And our secondary audience is what we call this person that's more changing out and trying everything that's new. We believe we resonate most with this person that has this edited expression and really sticks to a brand and loves it for its quality and craftsmanship. So that's who she is.

19:45She's very dynamic. And we're trying to use that as a more representative of the target that we really need to go out, that we can really win with. And she's very discerning.

19:58Lexy Lebsack: Wow. That's so interesting. How has Sophia or how has the customer sort of evolved? Like, what was the customer that you guys were targeting when you joined? Well, when I think the brand first started out, you know, it actually started as a multicultural cultural brand. And it still is to that day. It's just who we are. But I won't call it a niche. We have appealed to a broad audience. We have a lot of, being that we're in business for 25 years, we actually have probably the mother, the daughter, and, you know, she's grown up with the brand. Like a lot of times, when I first got here, it's like, oh, I tried that in high school, but I left.

20:34We've brought in a lot of new people. And I think the brand, you know, has signified its quality, its craftsmanship, its price, and elevate it. I go back and look at what the brand looked like, you know, just six years ago to what it looks like now. We're more resonant and relevant than we've ever been. And we're not chasing fads. You know, we're more of, you know, a refined brand that wants to withstand the test of time and will be here for the next 25 plus years. And I truly believe that there are a lot of brands that enter the category and exit. They don't have the wherewithal or the audience, we've been, you know, consistently growing year over year over year.

21:14And I think there's just a tremendous opportunity for what we stand for in the marketplace today.

21:20Lexy Lebsack: Yeah. That's so interesting because, you know, you think about drugstore, well, not you, but I think people often think about drugstore brands or mass brands today sort of chasing those fads, like kind of trying to be the next one to get that product that the consumer doesn't want to pay prestige pricing, but they want that category. But I feel like that hasn't worked so well for a lot of them. We've already talked about some of your best sellers, setting spray, mascara, blush. Are you seeing any signals in the wider market that the consumer might be ready to go back to those less purchased categories over the last few years?

22:01Lexy Lebsack: The eyeliner and eyeshadow, bold lip. Are you seeing any signals that we're heading back to that? I think so. We've done a lot of color theory work. In fact, I told my team, we've got to go back to like, not everybody in a mass environment knows what shades look best on them. So we've done a lot of color theory work. Go back to like, I call it circa 1980 when you'd say color me beautiful. It's now like color analysis where you're draping people with what their season is and your undertones and what's going to make you look best. So we have a big launch coming up that is totally aligned with the color seasons and helping consumers understand what will look best because they may, they've been kind of caught in that, I'll call it a nude regime.

22:50And that's great. There's always a nude look, but sometimes you want a bold pop of something. And I think we're looking at Pantone colors. We look at the fashion trends and everything indicates on runways that color is coming back. Obviously, it's seasonal and we're excited about it. Right. Because, yes, you're going to have your no makeup look on certain days, but then you're going to have special events where you're going to want to pop or you maybe you started a new job or there's just a lot of things that will people are losing weight. They want a new look to accompany how they are feeling.

23:26And we're very, very excited about color kind of coming back to the forefront.

23:32Lexy Lebsack: I totally understand that positioning because I have been deep in the color theory, color season algorithm on social media. And I have become like a little bit very into it, I would say. It's like it feels slightly prescriptive, like sort of the 90s, 2000s vibes. But it's tough navigating because there's so much stuff out there. It's like, how are you meant to go and select something? I don't know. Well, and I think maybe people have been wearing the wrong color and all of a sudden they try something new and people are like, boy, you look great today. Your eyes are brighter. You know, that looks great on you.

24:09And whether it's hair color or your outfit or your pop-up lip color, it can just brighten you up.

24:15Lexy Lebsack: Yeah, so true. Mary, I've got one more question for you. So let's flash forward three years. You hit half a billion dollars in annual sales. What happens then? Oh, wow. I'm the kind of person that always loves to look ahead and say, kind of recreate back and achieve that. You know what? There's no stopping. Okay, let's go to number three next. What will it take to be number one someday? I don't know. My hope is that, you know, I always say we can catapult forward and there's nothing stopping this brand from, you know, future growth. I feel like I have the right team, capabilities, and brand. It's a very exciting time to be working on it.

24:59And I think everybody in the company feels like they're making a difference. And that is what's so exciting to us, the potential for Milani to be more of a household name. Yeah.

25:12Lexy Lebsack: Mary, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule. I know you're so busy and coming on the podcast. Thanks, Lexi. Good to talk to you.

25:25Lexy Lebsack: And thank you for listening to this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. If you enjoyed it, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. And for even more coverage on the beauty industry and more, please visit glossy.co slash beauty.

25:53Thank you.