Last month, Ilia Beauty, the Canadian clean beauty brand founded by Sasha Plavsic in 2011, entered the intensifying blush race with the launch of its Soft-Focus Blurring offering — the company’s first standalone powder blush and a notable departure from its signature dual formats.
The debut is part of a growing pipeline under new CEO Paul Schiraldi, who joined in October 2024. Since his arrival, Ilia has expanded into first-time categories with products including its Barrier Boost Skin Protectant (a moisturiser), the Eye Stylus (its first long-wear eyeshadow stick) and a new brown shade of its cult-favourite Limitless Lash Mascara. These moves signal a more structured innovation cadence as the brand aims to double 2024’s $200 million in revenue and scale its global footprint with greater intent.
That’s only the beginning, says Schiraldi, speaking to me from California in his first interview since taking the helm. Schiraldi stepped into the role after former CEO Lynda Berkowitz exited the company to take on an advisory role at Famille C, the Courtin-Clarins family investment firm and Ilia Beauty’s majority owner. With a 25-year background in the more clinical beauty sector, including Murad and L’Oréal, Schiraldi says the move to Ilia Beauty felt personal. “I’ve always been personally interested in the natural clean segment. I’m sensitive to overly fragranced beauty and skincare products; I’d wanted to work in the category eventually,” he says.
Organic affiliation aside, Schiraldi says he has been watching Ilia Beauty grow from afar, and the brand’s increasing momentum in the US market, with retail partners like Sephora and more recently Ulta Beauty, has been “really impressive”. Still, he says there are growth pockets he believes he can plug a fresh wave of thinking into. “There is a real opportunity to build the brand from an international perspective and lean in globally, hence our UK focus right now,” he says. “I want to replicate the success that we’ve had in North America and prioritise product development while growing our consumer base in line with market expansions.”
Here, Schiraldi speaks to the brand’s growth plan as part of its next chapter with him at the helm.
Vogue: What has been your focus since stepping in as Ilia Beauty’s CEO?
My focus has been on building out the next phase of growth with more operational discipline. Ilia Beauty had a strong brand identity and community when I came in. However, like many purpose-driven startups that scale, there was a need to sharpen priorities and bring structure to how we make decisions across product, marketing and international strategy.
We’ve formalised our innovation process, ensuring we’re not just launching newness for the sake of it, but aligning each release with clear performance and category goals. That applies to where we launch as well; we’re looking at global expansion through a lens of brand alignment, not just geographic opportunity.
Vogue: Why are you laser focused on scaling Ilia Beauty in the UK? Where else are you seeing interest?
The UK has become our highest priority international market because of how well the consumer matches our product philosophy. There’s a strong cultural focus and a high expectation around ingredients transparency, and an openness to prestige clean beauty. We didn’t expect the traction to come so quickly, but once we saw consistent double-digit growth in retail and over 50 per cent year-on-year growth on our UK direct-to-consumer site, we knew there was room to scale.
What’s resonating in the UK is the way we build trust, and that’s through community, education and product sampling, so we can get the product in the hands of users. We’re not a heavily paid media brand; we grow through word-of-mouth and genuine usage. Alongside featuring in upcoming branded advent calendars to scale our presence in the UK market this year, Ilia welcomed key tastemakers in London this April as part of its global ‘Art of the Eye’ event series. We are also planning in-person consumer events for 2026 as part of our strategy to hone in on the UK.
The model has translated well to other markets, too. We’re present in France, Mexico, the Middle East, Australia and Canada. However, in France, we’re taking a slower, grassroots approach and building awareness through local voices before ramping up investment. Language also plays a role. As an English-first brand, we naturally connect quicker in English-speaking markets. But over time, we see real potential across Europe and the Middle East, as long as we tailor our approach market by market.
Vogue: The clean beauty space has evolved since Ilia first entered. Where do you see the brand’s opportunity to gain greater market share?
When Ilia started, clean was still a niche, and now it’s a consumer expectation. The difference is, today’s consumer doesn’t want to trade off performance for clean credentials. That’s where we still hope to win. We’ve focused on developing high-performing colour products that meet clean standards without compromising pay-off or wear.
That’s where we’ve really leaned in over the past year, especially in colour. Our recent launches, such as the Eye Stylus [eyeshadow stick] and the Lip Sketch [lip liner], have exceeded our sales performance. Eye Stylus has surpassed projections by a triple-digit percentage and proven there’s still huge demand for clean formulations that don’t sacrifice pay-off, longevity, or sensorial experience. With Eye Stylus, for example, we achieved a waterproof, long-wearing formula that’s safe for sensitive eyes, and it’s something that simply didn’t exist when Sasha started the brand in 2011.
However, there’s still significant white space in complexion and colour categories, especially for formulas that are multitasking, skincare forward and high performance. That’s where we see the biggest upside.
Vogue: In today’s more saturated and scrutinised clean beauty market, how do you maintain Ilia Beauty’s leadership and credibility?
We’ve moved away from simply calling ourselves ‘clean’, and now describe Ilia Beauty as ‘thoughtful beauty’, meaning that we create products with intention, using safely selected ingredients and leading with science, not trend. It reflects how we approach formulation: we choose ingredients with sensitive skin in mind, consult internal and external chemistry and regulatory experts, and avoid unnecessary fragrance, especially in complexion.
We’re not trying to scare consumers or position ourselves as the most natural beauty brand; we’re focused on safety, efficacy and transparency. While clean isn’t a regulated term, we aim to define it by our actions: full ingredient disclosure, rigorous formulation standards and a refusal to compromise performance. That consistency is what builds long-term trust. Even if a campaign doesn’t shout about clean, the standard is baked into every product decision and formula we make.
Vogue: Similarly, with increasing regulatory pressures and evolving definitions of clean, how does Ilia plan to navigate the shifting landscape?
This is a fast-moving space, but Ilia has always stayed ahead of the curve by setting our own internal standards. We’ve never used clean as a marketing checklist, and we view it as an evolving commitment to better formulation and clearer communication.
As stricter requirements around allergen disclosure, ingredients safety and environmental claims roll out, we’re confident in our ability to meet or exceed them. We have robust testing and regulatory reviews built into our development process, and because we’ve always disclosed ingredients fully, we don’t have to backtrack or reframe. That consistency gives us credibility, especially with retailers and global partners who are becoming more stringent about what qualifies as clean.
Vogue: What’s in the pipeline for Ilia Beauty?
We’re doubling down on innovation across colour and complexion, especially where we’ve already seen hero performances from our skin tint and mascara. We’re also exploring more skincare-adjacent launches, using hybrid technology that harks back to our makeup roots but adds greater skin benefits.
What’s coming next reflects what our community wants: more pigment, better textures and smart multitasking. We’re also investing in sampling programmes and loyalty-driven discovery, which continue to be key drivers of conversion, especially in new markets.
Vogue: Finally, what are the brand’s financial goals under your leadership, and what’s the strategy to achieve them?
Ilia Beauty closed 2024 just shy of $200 million in net revenue, and our goal is to double that in the next three to five years. However, we’re not chasing mass distribution; instead, we’re focused on deepening productivity across key doors, building consumer loyalty and releasing purposeful innovation that drives repeat purchases.
We aim to be a top five player in our core categories — mascara, skin tint, eyes — and a top 10 brand across our global retail partners. That means being rigorous about launch cadence, pushing on performance and building repeat rates through quality. We’re also holding the line on price. Despite inflationary pressure, we haven’t raised prices significantly. We know consumers are looking for value, even in prestige, and that value comes from performance, transparency and trust
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