It is impossible not to recognise the impact Pat McGrath Labs has had on the beauty industry through standard-setting products, championing inclusivity and its continued cultural relevance.
The decade-old make-up brand’s core formula remains a recipe for success, which makes its decision to place its assets up for sale, after swirling rumours last year, all the more confusing.
These assets, including collateral pledged by Pat McGrath Cosmetics, LLC and founder Patricia McGrath (aka Dame Pat McGrath), will all be available to acquire at a public auction on 27 January 2026.
And with its eponymous founder now heading up luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton’s newly launched make-up line La Beauté, where exactly is the future of this darling brand headed?
A powerhouse beauty brand with rocky foundations
Pat McGrath Labs did not arrive at the auction house because it lost its cultural relevance or creative credibility, but because the business “never fully caught up with the brand”, Shannaz Schopfer, founder and CEO of brand strategy firm The Beauty Architects, told Cosmetics Business.
“This was a company built on instinct, artistry and founder energy, all powerful forces early on, but ones that become fragile without structure,” said Schopfer.
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