Reality TV star and serial entrepreneur, Bethenny Frankel, is now adding beauty guru to her resume. The queen of SkinnyGirl margarita is now launching her own SkinnyGirl skin care beauty line. Bethenny has partnered with Lotta Luv, a beauty firm known for its licensed candy lip balms, to develop the line. The company had originally approached Frankel with the concept of scented lip gloss line, but she saw a bigger opportunity for a full-fledged skin and body collection, as she had been developing a line called Honesty by Bethenny. She shelved that prior effort reports WWD.com and last December delved into Skinnygirl Face & Body solutions and Skinnygirl Mommy.
Frankel’s skin care line will ship to select Wal-Mart doors in November for the holiday season. To start, Wal-Mart will stock gift sets, and on December 26, the retailer will feature the entire line – some 30 products in all – on an end-cap display in 1,500 doors, said Steph Fogelson, president and chief executive officer of Lotta Luv. The line will then roll out to broader mass market distribution.
“As I see holes, I fill them,” said Frankel, adding she views her many business ventures as “babies,” which she helps to nurture. “I raise them until they grow up and can live their own. The Margarita and Sangria are now living in apartment somewhere,” she stated, “I’m a baby momma.”
Frankel’s skin care effort could climb at least $18 million in first-year retail sales, said industry sources.
