Following buzz on TikTok and a rush to declare the influencer brand dead, Selfless by Hyram is announcing its next move after exiting Sephora. Hyram Yarbro, one of the original Gen-Z skinfluencers, has exclusively confirmed to Glossy that the brand is neither shuttering nor slowing down, but rather moving to Target — with newly, lowered prices.
The news earlier this month of the brand’s exit from Sephora was largely lumped together with reports that Item Beauty by fellow influencer Addison Rae was steeply discounted on Sephora’s site. At the same time, Item’s entire DTC site was marked 40% off. Addison Rae has yet to address the brand’s apparent removal from Sephora. She was last seen using the brand on her TikTok in November.
Selfless by Hyram can no longer be found on Sephora’s site, where its products were sold for $16-$30. Sephora was its exclusive retail partner. It will become available on Target’s website and in Target’s stores on February 5, with products selling for $13-$24.
“The industry is changing so drastically. With different brands closing down and the way that people consume influencer content around beauty [changing], I can’t blame people for having [these] discussions and commenting on what they’re seeing. It’s definitely easy for them to lump Selfless in with everything else. … But on my end, I’ve just been waiting until we can announce [the Target partnership] and wanting to tell everyone, ‘Hold on! We’re almost there. We have some really exciting news coming!'”
Regarding the state of the company, he said, “We’re still charging full speed ahead.”
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“Target represents what I’ve always wanted the brand to be, which is more accessible. [And it enables Selfless to] get in the hands of people where they’re really shopping,” he said.
Yarbro said he’s always recommended drugstore beauty, as that’s where many of his followers are shopping. He has 6.5 million followers on TikTok, 4.55 million on YouTube and 976,000 on Instagram. “Once people see that we’re at Target, it’ll add a little bit more clarity and understanding around where the brand is going in the future.” Target has increasingly become a hotspot for beauty. It launched 100 Ulta shop-in-shops in 2021, since expanding Ulta to more than 300 doors. It also carries a number of buzzy brands including Naturium, ColourPop and Olive & June.
Yarbro first launched Selfless by Hyram in 2021, in partnership with The Inkey List founders Colette Laxton and Mark Curry. Brand messaging describes Selfless as being “powered by” The Inkey List.
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In its social posts and brand positioning, Selfless aims to appeal to ingredient-savvy Gen Zers, sometimes called “skintellectuals,” who have likely learned about the skin barrier and retinol from #DermTok. Its commitment to social impact also aligns it with young shoppers. It gives back with the purchase of every product.
When the brand launched with Sephora, it launched globally. Yarbro said he is grateful for the reach it gave him. In addition, he noted that Laxton and Curry’s pre-existing relationship with Sephora meant launching there made sense. The Inkey List has been sold at Sephora since 2019.
But Target is a better fit moving forward, Yarbro said. “It was awesome to connect with [Target’s] team.” Yarbro initiated contact with the retailer. “There was familiarity with my content and my channel, which was a great foot in the door,” he said. The brand is launching across 775 Target locations in all 50 states.
Of the new retail partner, Laxton and Curry said in a statement, “We are very excited to be launching Selfless with Target. The accessibility this allows us means reaching even more customers to be a force for good whilst delivering high efficacy products with the Hyram magic touch.”
Yarbro is aware of the changing tides of both the financial economy and the creator economy. “People’s relationship with creators online is evolving,” he said. “TikTok has democratized [who is] recommending and speaking to products, and there are a lot more people posting content and reviewing beauty products. The industry doesn’t look as much to the main influencers for recommendations; they are able to see everyday people review products, as well as beauty experts like dermatologists and specialists who have worked in the industry in different capacities.”
He add that Covid accelerated the “speed” at which people consume beauty content. As result, there is “collective exhaustion,” he said.
He obviously doesn’t believe influencer brands are dead. But he said he knows first-hand the great amount of work needed to sustain them.
“Every influencer doesn’t need to launch a brand, particularly within the beauty space. It’s completely different than the world of content creation,” he said. “I went about it the hard way. I wanted to know about every tiny little [detail] of every product we were developing, and be a part of every part of the brand creation. But it’s the right thing to do.”
