Photos show the rise and fall of the influencer-led makeup brand Morphe, from fans waiting hours to shop in its stores to empty shelves
Amanda Krause
- Morphe was previously one of the most successful beauty brands to come out of the influencer space.
- But it's faced challenges in recent years and closed all its US stores at the start of 2023.
Morphe started as a trade-show business in 2008 selling makeup brushes.
Siblings and Morphe cofounders Linda Tawil and Chris Tawil told Look Fantastic in 2019 that they would travel to trade shows across the country in the early 2000s to promote their brand. In doing so, they built a relationship with makeup artists and fans over time.
Social media was also key to their success. They joined Instagram in 2008 and launched the brand's first eye-shadow palette online to massive success, as they told the online publication.
The brand later expanded to offer makeup and opened its first retail location in 2013.
The store was located in Burbank, California, and quickly became "a beauty mecca," as the cofounders told Look Fantastic.
Some makeup artists and beauty fans would even travel to the original location from far destinations to shop there in person.
Influencers helped Morphe grow rapidly.
Much of the brand's growth, both online and at its stores, could largely be credited to beauty YouTubers touting Morphe's brushes and makeup in videos. So it was only natural for Morphe to begin working with influencers more closely.
In 2017, Morphe collaborated with YouTuber Jaclyn Hill on a 35-pan eye-shadow palette. The product was so successful that it was often sold out, and Hill told Insider in 2022 that she remembers "selling hundreds of thousands of palettes in one hour."
That same year, Elevate Brandpartners invested in Morphe with plans to increase the global distribution of its products, create items in new beauty categories, and open more retail locations, as WWD reported at the time.
Internet celebrities were there to help Morphe open stores across the US.
In addition to promoting Morphe products in videos and collaborating with the brand, influencers also developed close relationships with the founders.
Hill, for example, was in attendance when Morphe opened its first Las Vegas, Nevada, store in 2018. She helped cut the grand-opening ribbon during a ceremony and drew a crowd of thousands of fans who wanted to see her.
"I've learned so much through Morphe and Linda — I look up to her so much," Hill told Insider about the Morphe cofounder in 2022. "When it comes to business, she's a female entrepreneur and I love to pick her brain."
At the time, Morphe's small shops were the only place to buy its in-demand products in person.
Many beauty fans were eager to test Morphe's makeup and brushes, which were previously sold exclusively online. But the real draw was seeing viral beauty items in person.
Morphe often displayed influencer-recommended products with photos of internet stars next to them so that shoppers could easily find their favorites. Stars like Hill who had collaborations with Morphe also often had their own sections of the stores.
These grand openings quickly became massive events for beauty fans.
Thousands of fans would typically gather outside new stores — often hours before they opened — to be among the first to shop there.
Morphe typically hired DJs for these events, held giveaways for shoppers, and malls placed security guards outside the stores to ensure safety.
Huge crowds also gathered to see influencers like James Charles at these openings.
Charles famously helped open the Roosevelt Field Mall location in Garden City, New York, on December 1, 2018.
He wore an all-white ensemble with sneakers and a "Sisters" belt — referencing his catchphrase — and sang a Shawn Mendes track for fans in the mall while Morphe employees stood behind him.
His impromptu performance has since become a popular meme.
In other cases, new makeup releases were enough to cause chaos at Morphe stores.
In 2019, Jeffree Star Cosmetics exclusively launched its collaboration line with Shane Dawson online and at Morphe stores. Because it was expected to sell out quickly, fans across the US flocked to their local stores.
Insider visited a New Jersey location on release day that year and found nearly 100 people waiting more than an hour before the store opened for a chance to buy the products.
By the summer of 2019, Morphe was estimated to be worth $2 billion.
In 2019, private-equity firm General Atlantic acquired a majority stake in the company — leading Morphe to be valued at more than $2 billion, according to Reuters.
But as quickly as Morphe shot to fame, the brand also swiftly faced the consequences of working with influencers.
In 2018, Morphe and Hill faced backlash when early reviewers of their collaboration Vault eye-shadow palettes said the makeup was poorly made. The launch was swiftly delayed, and the brand's reputation took a hit.
Problematic behavior from influencers who worked with Morphe was also unearthed and discussed online.
Beauty fans uncovered racist tweets from YouTuber Laura Lee months after Hill's palette drama, and Morphe quietly removed Lee's products from store shelves — though the brand never publicly commented on the scandal and did not respond to Insider's request for comment on the matter at the time. Lee posted a tearful apology video to YouTube in August 2018, in which she said she was sorry for disappointing fans and hurting people as a result of her tweets.
Even influencers who seemed to thrive in the face of controversy, like Jeffree Star, couldn't keep Morphe afloat.
When Insider visited a New Jersey location in February 2020 for the launch of Star's Blood Lust collection, it was a drastically different scene than the influencer's previous launches there. At that point, Star had publicly faced accusations of racism — which he apologized for in a 2017 YouTube video — as well as backlash for public feuds with other popular influencers and stars, including Kat Von D.
The Morphe store had seemingly prepared for huge crowds with line markers and security, but less than 30 people were in line an hour before the store opened.
The New York Times reported on the phenomenon in 2022, saying the retailer had fallen from grace with Gen Z because of its relationship with controversial influencers and a shifting cultural interest in skin care over makeup.
As influencers found themselves embroiled in big controversies, Morphe started to tweak its business model.
Morphe never stopped working with influencers, but it did change its tactics.
Instead of focusing on two or three of the biggest influencer names in the industry as it had in the past, Morphe began collaborating with smaller influencers like Ashley Strong, celebrities like Saweetie, and even cereal brands like Lucky Charms.
The beauty brand also launched Morphe 2 — a second makeup line that incorporates skin care and provides lighter coverage aimed at Gen Z audiences — in the summer of 2022, and started selling its products at stores like Ulta Beauty and Target.
During the pandemic, Morphe employees started noticing major discounts on items in stores.
Former Morphe employee Dani Garza, whose employment has been verified by Insider, said she noticed major sales as soon as she started working there in August 2021.
She told Insider that over time, the discounts increased drastically. Sales started at 60% off and later increased up to 80% off select makeup.
But as Garza says she learned from a colleague, discounts at Morphe weren't the norm prior to the pandemic.
Shelves also became sparse between 2021 and 2022 — even as new brands and products were introduced.
Insider visited a Morphe location in August 2022 shortly after Ariana Grande's brand r.e.m. beauty was launched in stores.
Most Morphe products were heavily discounted and moved toward the back of the store, while new items like those from Grande's brand were regularly priced and placed up front.
Still, there wasn't a full selection available. Many r.e.m. beauty items had yet to be stocked, and the brand's displays weren't complete.
As Garza told Insider, the store she worked at would usually receive product shipments every week or two weeks depending on the season. But in December 2022, Garza noticed that the shipments had stopped coming.
"I had actually called my district manager freaking out about it because we were completely out of eye-shadow palettes, which is what Morphe is known for," Garza told Insider. "We were out of brush sets — which are a very giftable item — while we're in the holiday season."
At the end of December 2022, employees said they found empty stores when they went to work and were laid off hours later.
According to Garza, she was reassured by her district manager on December 22 that a shipment was on the way. But the following day, she said, she learned that she'd be without a job as of December 26.
As Garza and others claiming to be Morphe employees documented on TikTok, they said they were left to work in empty stores with little to no inventory.
Insider visited a New Jersey location on January 4 and found that to be true. Though the Morphe store was still open for business, there were no shoppers at the time of the visit and the only products remaining were those not on sale.
Morphe confirmed on Thursday that it's shuttered all brick-and-mortar stores in the US.
In a tweet posted to the brand's account Thursday, Morphe thanked employees, described the closures as a "difficult decision," and said its non-US stores in the UK, the Netherlands, and Australia will remain open.
A spokesperson for Morphe's parent company, FORMA Brands, also told Insider in an email that it "made the strategic decision" to focus on wholesale and e-commerce operations "following a careful evaluation of all aspects" of its business.
"We believe this shift will position Morphe to better compete in the broader beauty landscape and more efficiently reach our customers where and how they shop," the statement said. "Connecting with consumers around the world through beauty stands at the center of everything we do, and while we have loved welcoming customers into our stores, we look forward to focusing on the foundational areas of our business, including our wholesale partnerships, robust e-commerce footprint and innovative brand marketing strategy."
Many beauty fans have since responded to the announcement, saying they're not entirely surprised to see Morphe stores closing.
The company, on the other hand, has continued to post as normal on Instagram.
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