Unilever to Acquire Paula’s Choice

Unilever to Acquire Paula's Choice

The latest cruelty-free company set to be acquired is Paula’s Choice. Known for making effective skincare, and recently launched in Sephora, it was just announced that Unilever, which is not cruelty-free, is set to acquire the brand later this year. Having been around since 1995, Paula’s Choice is probably most well known for the Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant.

Whenever a company is acquired it can be tough for the cruelty-free community. Many brands get acquired to help meet consumer demand, to be able to avoid increasing costs, or so that they can be more accessible to more consumers. Paula’s Choice is expected to stay cruelty-free, but I will be keeping tabs on it as the acquisition comes closer later this year. Should anything change about the cruelty-free status of Paula’s Choice, that will be posted here on Logical Harmony.

Some of the most popular Paula’s Choice vegan products are:

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links. I only recommend products and brands that align with my values and that I genuinely believe in. Your support through these links helps me to be able to create valuable content for you. Thank you for your support!

Currently you can find Paula’s Choice products at Dermstore, Nordstrom, and Sephora.

Published by Unilever on June 14, 2021 in a press release

Unilever to acquire Paula’s Choice skincare

London – Unilever today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire leading digital-led skin care brand Paula’s Choice from TA Associates. Paula’s Choice is a pioneer of science-backed products and direct to consumer (DTC) e-commerce.

Founded by Paula Begoun in 1995, the brand is famous for its industry-leading innovation, accessible jargon-free science, high performing ingredients and cruelty-free products.

Paula’s Choice offers powerful content and digital tools to demystify the science behind skin care, including an extensive “Ingredient Dictionary” that breaks down the research behind nearly 4,000 ingredients, and Expert Advice, a curated online hub of skin care and ingredient knowledge.

Vasiliki Petrou, Unilever EVP and CEO Prestige, said: “We are thrilled that Paula’s Choice will join our Unilever Prestige family. Paula’s Choice is a true pioneer in the digital space for beauty and has created a mission-based brand rooted in truth and transparency. We can’t wait to introduce the brand and its iconic products to an even bigger audience.”

Paula Begoun, Founder, said “I am so excited that Unilever and Paula’s Choice are joining forces, and I want to thank Vasiliki and the Unilever team for believing in us, our mission and our values. With Unilever we can build on our work and vision spanning 26 years of creating brilliant products, and by giving people the self-confidence that comes from knowing they are taking the best care of their skin possible.”

Sunny Jain, Unilever Beauty & Personal Care President, said: “Developing Unilever’s portfolio in the high growth premium skin care segment is one of our strategic priorities and I’m excited that Paula’s Choice is joining us on this journey.”

Jeffrey Barber, Managing Director at TA, said “We are proud to have played a part in Paula’s Choice’s growth story where it has become a leading direct-to-consumer global skin care brand. We are excited to see what the company can accomplish in partnership with Unilever.”

The brand is distributed through global DTC and select prestige retailers in North America, Europe and Asia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2021.

When it comes to cruelty-free brands owned by parent companies that test on animals, I personally think we all have to pick what’s best for ourselves and our own situations. When mentioning these brands I include a disclosure for this reason. Everyone has access to different brands and I think any steps towards going cruelty-free are worth taking and worth supporting. I also think it’s always important to let the brand know if this impacts your decision to purchase from them going forward. It’s helpful for big companies, like Unilever, to hear that cruelty-free is important to consumers. But if you’re put purchasing their cruelty-free options until Unilever stops testing on animals, definitely let them know.

Will this change impact your choice in buying Paula’s Choice products? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Other cruelty-free brands owned by Unilever are Schmidt’s, Tatcha, Seventh Generation, Dermalogica, Ren Skincare, and Murad to name a few.

Here on Logical Harmony, you can find a full list of cruelty-free brands as well as shopping guides to help you find the cruelty-free brands at Dermstore, Ulta, Nordstrom, Sephora, Beauty Bay, Beautylish, Cult Beauty, and tons more. There are also lots of vegan product lists for cruelty-free brands too.

Some of the most popular Paula’s Choice vegan products are:

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links. I only recommend products and brands that align with my values and that I genuinely believe in. Your support through these links helps me to be able to create valuable content for you. Thank you for your support!

6 Comments

  1. Definitely not supporting them. Because logically speaking, you are supporting Unilever by buying Paula’s Choice now. And unfortunately, no matter how many people only buy from Unilever’s cruelty-free subsidiaries, it won’t convince them to get rid of their non cruelty-free companies. Why? Cuz no matter how many people buy from their cruelty free lines, it won’t be more than all of China. (That’s where the major animal-testing market is). It’s like giving money to Unilever’s right hand rather than their left. They will still be laughing their way to the bank, knowing they captured “all” markets. I think the only way to get the message across is to dry up the money entirely. They won’t care otherwise. But I like the idea of mailing them and explaining decisions. Both Paula’s Choice and Unilever. I’m definitely disappointed though. Luckily there are many (completely) cruelty-free companies now with great products, so we don’t suffer for choice 🙂

    1. Thankfully it’s through the Leaping Bunny pilot program, which Cruelty-Free International monitors extremely closely. It’s the only way currently to actually sell in stores there and avoid animal testing.

  2. As always, supporting CF companies owned by non CF parent companies is a personal decision, but I do. It is so very important to let non CF companies know the support there is for CF products. So, I will be emailing Unilver to say how happy I am that they are expanding their CF portfolio and Paula’s choice to let them know I will continue to be a customer. I also emailed Garnier a while back to let them know I was returning as a customer now they are CF. I am sure one lone voice makes little difference, so it would be great if a lot of us could find 5 mins to let Paula’s and Unilver that we are still a customer or leaving as one and why. The CF message is clear either way.

  3. When I chatted with a rep at Paula’s Choice today, she said there are no plans to sell the products in mainland China. But on their Twitter earlier this morning their social media team were defending post-consumer testing. Just a point of data to help people make their decisions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.