Alcohol is an acquired taste, and unfortunately for Shiseido, tweens and teens never got more than buzzed on Drunk Elephant. The “clean” skincare brand best known for its colorful packaging and irreverent branding was once a status symbol among kids, tweens, and teens who eagerly showed off their Drunk Elephant collection on TikTok. A year later, Japanese beauty conglomerate Shiseido released its Q1 2025 earnings, showing that sales of Drunk Elephant declined nearly 65% year over year.It’s a staggering downturn for a brand considered to be the crown jewel of Shiseido’s portfolio following its $845 million acquisition in 2019. So, what happened to Drunk Elephant, and can it recover from its Gen Alpha hangover? Drunk Elephant’s sharp decline came after more than a decade of explosive growth. Founded in 2013 by Tiffany Masterson, Drunk Elephant was one of the early pioneers of the “clean yet clinical” skincare movement. The brand set out to prove that effective products could be formulated without using essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical screens, fragrance/dyes, and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), which Masterson dubbed the "suspicious six.”Drunk Elephant initially launched direct-to-consumer (DTC), but it wasn’t long before the brand caught the attention of Sephora. In July 2014, Drunk Elephant participated in the Discover Beauty program at Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas. This curated section of the trade show is designed to connect emerging beauty brands with key retailers. During the event, Sephora representatives visited the Drunk Elephant booth multiple times.