Molly Sims’ journey to beauty brand founder began with melasma.

“I had a problem that wasn’t being met,” she said at WWD’s third annual L.A. Beauty Forum at The Maybourne Beverly Hills in conversation with Jenny B. Fine, executive editor, beauty, WWD and editor in chief of Beauty Inc. “You had either really harsh products you have to go and get prescriptions for, or you would have these amazing, crazy, beautiful brands that didn’t have efficacy. And so where was I in all of this? I wanted really strong clinicals. I wanted something that I could relate to. I wanted something curated. I didn’t want a lot of products.”

The search for the perfect product eventually turned inward.

“I met with a contract manufacturer and that’s how it started,” Sims continued of how her brand Yse Beauty was born. “We were in the basement of my house during COVID-19, and I would be like, ‘I have to do this. It has to have this in. It has to have ectoin. It has to have niacinamide, beta gluconolactone.’ I just started learning, and I was the guinea pig for four years.”

After investing in research and development, she launched Yse Beauty in 2023 with a collection of six products, priced between $45 and $88 on ysebeauty.com, in partnership with Los Angeles-based brand incubator SOS Beauty. In May of this year, the brand entered 361 Sephora stores nationwide, as well as online, with bestsellers including Your Favorite Ex Exfoliating Pads and Skin Glow SPF primer.

As for what she’s learned her target audience of Millennials and Gen Z want, Sims said: “We were talking earlier about high maintenance. But high maintenance is that they want something great. They want it to be effective. They want clinical, but they want it to be good, and they want it now. They don’t want a 15-sku routine that they have to memorize and not know how to do it. So when we develop a product, it’s going to do a lot of different things — just like a mom, a CEO, she can multitask, and that’s what my products do.”

One nonnegotiable for Sims was clinicals. “It cost me a house, probably, but it was one of the best things I ever did. So you don’t have to take my word for it. The proof is in the pudding.”

When Yse Beauty launched, it ended up being a time when the market was becoming crowded with celebrity entrants. But Sims believes hers stands out from the crowd.

“I had gotten pushed six months, and literally, five celebrities had just launched. I hadn’t done media training in 15 years and everybody was worried because it’s a hard question to be asked, ‘do we really need another?’ The truth about it was, it wasn’t,” she said. “It wasn’t just formulas that were bought. This is a problem being solved. That is me doing it. That’s what separated me out. I know my formulas.”

For the business side, it has been a learning curve.  

“I think someone asked me, ‘Would you have started it if you knew where you were today? Would you have done it?’ I don’t know. Really, it’s a lot. I thought, oh my god, if we’re sold out, it’s amazing. Yeah, that’s not great. It means your ops are not good. I didn’t realize the importance of operations and just how it all worked. I know that sounds crazy, but I didn’t realize how do you play catch up there.” 

Last year, she landed an investment from L.A.-based private equity firm Willow Growth Partners, whose other beauty investments include Bubble, Kosas and hair care brands Dae and Jupiter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Her advice when raising funds? “Know your why, know what you’re doing, how, what separates you, what, how can you fit in the market?

On how her launch at Sephora has been, she said: “I got my Sephora numbers today. Those numbers are good. It’s been great.”

Yse Beauty isn’t her only involvement in beauty. Sims also has a podcast called “Lipstick on the Rim,” which she cohosts with best friend Emese Gormley.

“Lipstick on the Rim came because so many women were gate keeping,” Sims said. “If someone would ask me, I would be like, ‘OK, listen, I’ve done shots in my ass. I’ve done this. I do this. I’ve starved for 42 days.’ I would be very honest. And then, certain celebrities are like, ‘Oh, you know, I just, I drank a lot of water. I slept 10 hours.’ So Lipstick on the Rim strategically was to have a place where women could really be open about what people do.”

Now, there’s crossover between the Yse customer and podcast listener. “She wants to be in the know. She doesn’t want to feel like she doesn’t have another chapter. That’s where we come in. We’re like, OK, try this, do this. Never do this. Because it’s literally like listening to two girlfriends talk.”

As for what balance looks like for her, she said: “I can sit here and say, ‘Oh, yeah, work-life balance. F–k it.’ It’s not, it’s not balanced. I mom really hard, and then I work really hard. I’m really scheduled. I keep it tight.”

For Sims, that often means emailing at 3 a.m. “I read a lot between 3 and 5 [a.m.] because I can’t sleep. I’m in perimenopause, but it’s fine. It’s all good. I’ll figure that out soon.”