MCoBeauty is an Australian “luxe for less” beauty brand that has rapidly achieved a $1 billion valuation through a highly successful strategy centered on “duping” popular, high end cosmetic products at a mass market price point. The company was founded by Shelley Sullivan in 2016 and was fully acquired by the DBG Health group, led by billionaire Dennis Bastas, in February 2025.
MCoBeauty’s aggressive market strategy, which relies on fast product development and leveraging social media trends, has made it the fastest growing beauty brand in Australia, commanding approximately 5% of the domestic beauty market. This strategy, however, has led to significant legal challenges, including settled cases with Tarte Cosmetics and Chemcorp, and an ongoing, high profile lawsuit in the United States with Sol de Janeiro over alleged fragrance and packaging infringement.
The brand is the flagship of DBG Health’s expanding beauty division, which also includes Nude by Nature, PONi Cosmetics, and esmi Skin Minerals. This multi brand portfolio positions the parent company to dominate various segments of the mass market beauty channel, from affordable dupes to natural mineral makeup and targeted skincare.
Company Overview and Ownership
MCoBeauty was established in 2016 by entrepreneur Shelley Sullivan, building upon the legacy of her previous brand, ModelCo, which she founded in 2002. The brand’s core mission is to provide high quality, cruelty free, and vegan cosmetics that closely mimic the performance and appearance of luxury products, a concept it openly embraces as “duping”.
The corporate structure is now anchored under DBG Health, a major Australian health and wellness corporation that also owns the pharmaceutical giant Arrotex. DBG Health, under the leadership of Dennis Bastas, acquired the remaining stake in MCoBeauty in early 2025, valuing the company at $1 billion. MCoBeauty now operates as a key component of DBG Health’s beauty and health & wellness division, VidaCorp Consumer Brands.
DBG Health Beauty Brand Portfolio
MCoBeauty is the most prominent brand in a growing portfolio of beauty and personal care companies under the DBG Health umbrella, managed through its VidaCorp Consumer Brands division. This multi brand approach allows the parent company to capture a wider share of the mass market consumer.
| Brand Name | Core Focus/Positioning | Target Market |
| MCoBeauty | Luxe for Less / Dupe Culture (Cosmetics) | Value driven, trend focused, Gen Z consumers. |
| Nude by Nature | Natural Mineral Makeup | Consumers seeking natural, clean, and ethical beauty alternatives. |
| PONi Cosmetics | Targeted Brow and Lash Products | Consumers seeking specialized, high-performance eye makeup. |
| esmi Skin Minerals | Skincare and Mineral Makeup | Consumers looking for a bridge between high-street and clinical skincare. |
| ModelCo | Original Tanning and Innovative Products | Legacy consumers, often positioned for specific product categories (e.g., tanning). |
Business Model: Luxe for Less and Dupe Culture
MCoBeauty has successfully capitalized on the global “dupe culture,” which is amplified by social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. By openly embracing the dupe label, the brand generates significant organic marketing and consumer buzz. Its key market differentiator is the combination of:
1. Price Point: Significantly lower than the prestige brands it mimics.
2. Accessibility: Sold through high traffic mass market retailers (supermarkets and pharmacies), including Woolworths, Big W, and Chemist Warehouse in Australia, and Kroger in the U.S..
3. Speed to Market: The ability to quickly launch products that mirror viral luxury trends, often before competitors can react.
1. Competitor Ranking Methodology (CRM)
To accurately assess the competitive threat to MCoBeauty, the CRM was developed to prioritize brands that directly challenge MCoBeauty’s unique value proposition. The methodology scores each brand on a scale of 1 to 10 across five weighted dimensions.
1.1. Core Evaluation Dimensions
| Dimension | Weight | Description |
| Strategic Dupe Alignment | 30% | The extent to which the brand openly or implicitly utilizes a “luxe for less” or “dupe” strategy to mirror prestige beauty products. |
| Market Reach & Accessibility | 25% | Presence in mass market retail channels (supermarkets, drugstores) and global distribution footprint (e.g., Walmart, Target, Ulta, Chemist Warehouse). |
| Price Point Compatibility | 20% | The degree of overlap with MCoBeauty’s pricing tiers (typically $10 to $40 range). |
| Viral & Social Influence | 15% | Strength of social media engagement, TikTok virality, and influencer led demand generation. |
| Innovation & Speed to Market | 10% | Ability to rapidly develop and launch products that respond to viral trends or high end releases . |
2. Top 10 MCoBeauty Competitors
The following table presents the scoring and final ranking of the top 10 competitors, ordered by their Total Competitiveness Score (TCS).
| Rank | Competitor Brand | Dupe Alignment (30%) | Reach (25%) | Price (20%) | Viral (15%) | Speed (10%) | Total Competitiveness Score (TCS) |
| 1 | e.l.f. Cosmetics | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9.75 |
| 2 | Revolution Beauty | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9.15 |
| 3 | Essence Cosmetics | 8 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8.75 |
| 4 | NYX Professional Makeup | 6 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8.25 |
| 5 | ColourPop | 8 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8.15 |
| 6 | Catrice Cosmetics | 7 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7.75 |
| 7 | Milani Cosmetics | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6.55 |
| 8 | Wet n Wild | 4 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 6.45 |
| 9 | Morphe | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6.05 |
| 10 | Flower Beauty | 3 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4.85 |
3. Analysis of Key Competitors
1. Rank 1: e.l.f. Cosmetics
e.l.f. Cosmetics is the most formidable competitor, scoring a near perfect TCS of 9.75. The brand is the established global leader in the mass market dupe space, with a massive revenue base (over $1.3 billion in FY2025) and a dominant presence in the U.S. market. e.l.f. excels in both Dupe Alignment and Market Reach, effectively mirroring high end products while maintaining a highly accessible price point and leveraging a sophisticated, trend driven social media strategy. MCoBeauty’s primary challenge against e.l.f. is its relative lack of global scale and brand recognition outside of Australia.
2. Rank 2: Revolution Beauty
Revolution Beauty (including its flagship brand, Makeup Revolution) is a close second, scoring 9.15. This UK-based brand is known for its extreme Speed to Market and vast product catalog, often launching products that dupe high end releases within weeks. Its perfect score in Price Point Compatibility and high score in Dupe Alignment make it a direct, aggressive competitor. Revolution’s slightly lower score in Market Reach reflects its less entrenched position in some key global markets compared to e.l.f.
3. Rank 3: Essence Cosmetics
Essence Cosmetics is a major threat due to its ultra low price point and high accessibility. Scoring a perfect 10 in Price Point Compatibility, Essence targets the most budget conscious consumers, particularly Gen Z. While its dupe strategy is less explicit than MCoBeauty’s, its high quality, affordable basics and viral products (e.g., mascara, lip gloss) make it a strong alternative for consumers seeking value over prestige mimicry.
4. Rank 4: NYX Professional Makeup
NYX occupies a similar price band to MCoBeauty in many markets and is widely stocked across Target, Ulta, and international drugstores. Review content regularly positions NYX as a “dupe” or lower priced alternative to prestige formulas (for example, highlighters compared with Rare Beauty), a space that overlaps with MCoBeauty’s “luxe for less” promise.
5. Rank 5: ColourPop
ColourPop built its reputation on fast turnaround, affordable collections and collaborations, often seen as dupes for prestige palettes and lip products. Influencer discussions routinely mention ColourPop alongside MCoBeauty, e.l.f., NYX, and Revolution when building a “full face on a budget,” indicating they are interchangeable options for many consumers. Direct to consumer drops, strong social media collaborations, and mid drugstore pricing make ColourPop a strong competitor for younger, online native beauty shoppers.
6. Rank 6: Catrice Cosmetics
Catrice, often mentioned in the same breath as Essence, focuses on affordable, European developed formulas with prices similar to or slightly above Essence but below many U.S. mass brands. Creators frequently pit Catrice against e.l.f. and MCoBeauty as alternatives for primers, foundations, and complexion products. For shoppers who want elevated packaging and textures without leaving the under $10 bracket, Catrice occupies the sweet spot that MCoBeauty is also chasing.
7. Rank 7: Milani Cosmetics
Milani plays in the same mass plus space as MCoBeauty, with hero SKUs like primers at around $6.99 and complexion products that punch above their price. Beauty reviewers often compare Milani directly with Essence and e.l.f. in “best of drugstore” line ups, suggesting it’s part of the same consideration set for budget conscious consumers. Strong reputation for pigment and complexion performance means Milani is a logical alternative when shoppers can’t access or don’t trust a newer entrant like MCoBeauty.
8. Wet n Wild
Wet n Wild has long been a go to for ultra budget cosmetics and remains a staple in almost every “affordable full face” comparison, including direct comparisons with MCoBeauty, NYX, Revolution, and e.l.f.. Its pricing, often in the $2–7 band, undercuts many newer brands while still delivering viral hits (e.g., mega‑glow highlighters). Massive distribution and decades of price first positioning make Wet n Wild a constant reference point for “cheapest decent option,” which is exactly the consumer logic MCoBeauty leans on.
9. Rank 9: Morphe
Morphe moved from pro brush brand to full range color label, known for big palettes and creator collabs at mid drugstore price points. In 2025 drugstore roundups, Morphe appears alongside MCoBeauty, ColourPop, NYX, e.l.f., and Revolution as part of a shared pool of “affordable but social media driven” brands. Despite restructuring, Morphe still commands strong awareness and competes directly for the same Instagram native, tutorial driven audience that MCoBeauty courts.
10. Rank 10: Flower Beauty
Flower Beauty, founded by Drew Barrymore, sits in a similar price and positioning band: accessible, cruelty free, and often stocked in mass retail like Walmart in the U.S.. While not as explicitly dupe driven as MCoBeauty, Flower is frequently included in “best affordable brands” lists and budget tutorials, placing it squarely in the same competitive arena. Celebrity storytelling plus mid drugstore price points give Flower an emotional narrative advantage, especially for shoppers who prefer a more “wholesome” brand image than the aggressive dupe framing.
Legal Issues: The Strategy of “Legal Duping”
MCoBeauty’s business model is inherently linked to the concept of beauty dupes, which involves creating products that are functionally and aesthetically similar to established, often luxury, items. The company’s defense of this practice is that it operates within the bounds of intellectual property law, a strategy often referred to as “legal duping”. Despite this, the brand has faced several significant legal challenges:
| Case | Year | Alleged Infringement | Outcome |
| Tarte Cosmetics | 2021 | Trademark infringement over the chevron pattern on the reflective gold lid of the “Shape Tape” concealer dupe. | Settled on confidential terms. MCoBeauty changed the lid design to its circular logo. |
| Chemcorp (1000Hour) | 2021 | Trademark infringement over the product name “2000Hours” for a lash/brow dye kit, which was deemed too similar to Chemcorp’s “1000Hour” brand. | Settled on confidential terms. MCoBeauty rebranded the product. |
| Sol de Janeiro | 2024-2025 | Major U.S. lawsuit alleging trademark and trade dress infringement, specifically targeting fragrance and packaging dupes of popular products like the Bum Bum Cream. | Ongoing. The lawsuit was expanded in late 2025 to include claims of false marketing, such as using phrases like “smells exactly like”. |
These cases highlight the inherent risk in MCoBeauty’s strategy, particularly as it expands into the more litigious U.S. market, where legal concepts like “trade dress” are more aggressively enforced. The company relies on its legal team to vet products, ensuring they do not cross the line into counterfeit or deceptive conduct that would confuse the average consumer, a standard often tested by the “wonderment test” in Australian law.
