Ami Colé
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Ami Colé was a Black-owned clean beauty brand founded in 2021 by Senegalese-born Diarrha N'Diaye-Mbaye. It made minimalist, melanin-rich makeup designed for deeper skin tones, best known for its skin-enhancing tints and lip treatment oils. The brand launched into Sephora in 2022, expanding to more than 600 stores, earned over 80 industry awards, and landed a spot on Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Things list. It raised more than $3 million in venture capital, including a minority investment from BOLD, L'Oréal's venture fund, in late 2024.
02 / Ami Colé FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Scaling brought operational overreach: the brand ramped up production to meet potential demand without knowing how the market would respond, leading to volatile sales cycles — selling out one week, overstocked the next — and unpredictable inventory. Investor expectations clashed with the founder's vision around retail growth. The brand could not match the spending power of corporate giants: premium shelf space at retailers came at a price it could not afford, despite heavy marketing investment. Meanwhile the post-2020 wave of DEI-focused investment that had lifted Black-founded brands receded, with venture funding for Black founders falling to multi-year lows, tightening the capital the brand needed to keep competing. The company explored a sale before opting to close.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product or service closed
Founder Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye wrote in The Cut on 17 Jul 2025 that Ami Colé would close in September; The Cut reported on 3 Nov 2025 that the brand officially closed its website on 30 Sep 2025.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In late 2024, BOLD, L'Oréal's venture capital fund, made a minority investment in Ami Colé — the brand's final financing.
- 02
After exploring a sale, the founder announced in July 2025 that Ami Colé would cease operations in September 2025.
- 03
The brand shut down in September 2025 as planned, ending a four-year run.
- 04
Founder Diarrha N'Diaye-Mbaye joined Skims in November 2025 as Executive Vice President of Beauty and Fragrance.