Our financial investment master Anne Ashworth makes YOU money by searching the stock market for the finest funds and shares. She exposes how you can cash in on cosmetics ...

Looking excellent can be expensive. Lotions, potions, cosmetics and creams: they are all costly. But for financiers, they can also be highly profitable.

The target of among this summertime's most talked-about takeover deals is a cosmetics organization developed just 3 years back by an American design who's married to a pop idol.

This company's items, a big success among Gen Z, include a 'glazed-doughnut effect' lip treatment.

The $6.41 bn e.l.f. Beauty group, celebrated for its discount 'dupe' - or copycat - creams and make up, is paying $1bn in shares and money for Rhode, a charm business whose sales in the year to March were $212m.

Rhode is led by Hailey Rhode Bieber, a business owner and influencer with 55.1 m Instagram followers, an important in a market being interrupted by social networks. She is the partner of vocalist Justin and daughter of star Stephen Baldwin, bro of Alec.

The enjoyment around the deal suggests that, if your portfolio needs a glow-up, possibly you ought to want to the worldwide charm organization, whose sales are anticipated to reach $600bn by 2028.

Rhode, a beauty business owned by design Hailey Bieber, is being gotten by e.l.f. Beauty (listed below) for $1bn

New research from Barclays shows that the 'lipstick index', still uses.

Under this theory, in difficult times women will continue to treat themselves to a small extravagance such as a lipstick - or these days, a peptide lip treatment.

Gerrit Smit of fund supervisor Stonehage Fleming believes the human desire to look better will always be with us - and therefore guarantees returns for investors.

'Beauty is a sector with indefinite sustainable development, as the desire for charm is a forever aspect. Everyone is growing older and would like to look good doing so.'

Smit highlights the sector's innovation, with its focus on evolving creams and cosmetics for various markets, ranging from 'tweens', the 13-year-olds with complicated skin cleaning regimes, to older ladies combating the consequences of ageing.

Such was the excitement about Rhode's possible to attract any ages that there was a 24pc bounce in it shares.

The purchase of Rhode will also allow e.l.f. (the name stands for eyes, lips, face) to diversify its supply chain. The business, which makes 75pc of its varieties in China, is currently subject to 30pc tariffs in the US, and has actually already been required to raise prices.

News of the Rhode acquisition was accompanied by the statement of 28pc increase in e.l.f.'s sales for 2025 to $1.3 bn. This seems like an impressive increase. But sales jumped by 77pc in 2024.

Ms Bieber and e.l.f. Beauty chairman and CEO Tarang Amin

The slower development highlights the industry's various obstacles - such as Chinese consumers' reluctance to spend.

This disinclination to splash the cash has struck the shares of the appeal power homes: Coty, Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, Shiseido and Puig, the Spanish owner of Charlotte Tilbury.

Estee Lauder shares reached $365 in December 2021. They are now back down at $68, partially due to management and other issues - however also since 26pc of its profits come from China.

Other forces are likewise bringing change, as Will McIntosh Whyte, fund manager at Rathbones, points out: 'Brand loyalty is on the decrease, because social networks makes it possible for start-up brands to reach large audiences and grow rapidly.'

But e.l.f.'s move to snap up Rhode could show confidence is returning and there is an opportunity for financiers to profit.

A minimum of one influential and hard-headed US financier seems convinced this the case.

Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager whose bet in 2008 on mortgage-backed securities was illustrated in the movie The Big Short, is backing revival at Estee Lauder.

His Scion Asset Management fund now holds a $13.3 m stake in Estee Lauder, owner of brand names like Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Jo Malone London and Le Labo.

Who understands if Burry is a routine user of Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum? But there can be some benefit to committing a few of your investment budget plan to the business that make the things you love. This familiarity provides you additional insight. Here are your choices.

THE BEAUTY PARADE

Among L'Oreal brands are CeraVe, Garnier, Maybelline and the more upmarket Aesop and Lancome

L'Oreal, a EUR200bn Paris-based service, is the titan of the industry. The starting family, the Bettencourt Meyers dynasty, have a 35pc stake.

Among L'Oreal brands are CeraVe, Garnier, Maybelline and the more upmarket Aesop and Lancome. Demand for these pricey lines assisted first-quarter sales to rise by 3.5 pc to EUR11.73 bn.

Smit lists L'Oreal's strengths. 'Its success is based on extreme research: it invests about EUR1bn a year. Its gross revenue margins can be as high as 70pc on some items