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E.l.f.

cosmetics company

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ5422801
Source-derived summary

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. is an American cosmetics brand based in Oakland, California. It was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba in 2004. The company sells bath and skin-care products, mineral-based makeup, professional tools, eyeliners, lipstick, glosses, blushes, bronzers, brushes and mascara. Its products are sold in 18 countries and in several stores, including Target, CVS, Sephora, and Walmart. Over half the company's sales come from its website, which is also as a social networking site with over two million members.

History and operations

e.l.f. (short for Eyes Lips Face) Cosmetics was founded by Joseph Shamah and businessman Scott-Vincent Borba in June 2004, with the assistance of Shamah's father, Alan.

On February 3, 2014, TPG Growth bought a majority stake in e.l.f.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “E.l.f.” as cosmetics company. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2004, 2014—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2004-06. The account is most persuasive where cosmetics and company can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as cosmetics company. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5422801. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004 and 2014.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “E.l.f.”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow E.l.f. primary sources, E.l.f. archive and cosmetics research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “E.l.f.”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from E.l.f.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.