Pinterest is diving deeper into social commerce via a new partnership with e.l.f. Cosmetics, a beauty brand popular with Gen Z shoppers.

The companies worked together to launch a new digital tool that lets users upload a photo to receive personalized makeup recommendations. The free experience, now available globally, analyzes skin features and then matches users with customized Pinterest boards. The boards feature shoppable e.l.f. products that are specifically matched to their unique coloring.

E.l.f. Cosmetics ranks No. 662 in the Top 2000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading online retailers by annual web sales. Digital Commerce 360 projects that e.l.f. Cosmetics’ online sales will reach $100.84 million in 2025.

How e.l.f. is working with Pinterest

By collaborating directly with major retailers like e.l.f. Cosmetics, Pinterest is positioning itself as a more personalized shopping destination, where users can discover and purchase products.

“With 1.6 billion makeup-related searches over the past year and a 22x increase in interest around tools like ‘color season analysis,’ it’s clear consumers are craving personalized beauty experiences,” said Katie Dombrowski, Pinterest’s vice president of consumer packaged goods, in the announcement.

The move comes as social media plays an increasingly major role in purchasing decisions, particularly among Gen Z consumers.

According to DHL’s E-Commerce Trends Report 2025, 70% of global shoppers expect to shop primarily through social media by 2030. The report also found that seven in 10 consumers want smarter, AI-powered shopping tools, such as virtual try-ons. As digital expectations rise, shoppers increasingly seek “intuitive, tech-enabled shopping journeys that blend utility with delight,” DHL said.

Pinterest shows off ecommerce role with curated boards

The new e.l.f. experience, dubbed “color e.l.f.nalysis,” is built around seasonal color analysis, a method that categorizes individuals into warm or cool “seasons” based on traits like hue, value, and chroma. Users can upload a photo, and the tool analyzes their features to determine their color season, such as winter or spring.

Based on the results, they’re matched with a custom Pinterest board — in this case, a curated collection of shoppable Pins featuring e.l.f. products that match a user’s color profile.

“This tool, developed with Pinterest and in collaboration with real-life color experts, complements — not replaces — the human touch,” said Patrick O’Keefe, chief integrated marketing communications officer at e.l.f. Beauty, in the release. “It’s a smart, seamless, and fun way for our community to discover what works for them — and find their perfect e.l.f. product matches in just a few taps.”

Insights from the new e.l.f. analysis tool

To bring the experience to life, e.l.f. collaborated with Pinterest’s insights team to map seasonal trends, according to the press announcement. Pinterest analyzed search, save and shopping behavior on the platform to inform product curation for the boards. That included a 23% increase in searches for “true summer makeup” and a 30% increase in “spring color palette analysis,” based on internal data comparing activity from May 2024 to May 2025 with the same period a year earlier.

According to an e.l.f. spokesperson, the experience is available globally through a dedicated microsite, and is intended to be a long-term feature, not a limited-time campaign. E.l.f. also partnered with Movement Strategy, a social-powered creative agency, on the tool. According to e.l.f., the agency “uses real-time insights and platform behavior to build brand strategies, breakthrough content, and influencer partnerships that move culture.”

Creator-driven content and long-term strategy

As part of the broader rollout, e.l.f. said it’s also using Pinterest’s creator partnership packages, which allow influencers to produce Pinterest-first content tailored to the platform’s audience.

The content is promoted through Idea Ads with paid partnerships, which are immersive and multi-page ad formats that resemble organic Pins but offer sponsored reach, according to Pinterest’s website.

The experience also features Pinterest’s newest collages format, which features a dynamic, cutout-style Pin design. Pinterest said collages have become one of its most engaging content types among Gen Z users since launching in 2023.

Earlier this month, Pinterest introduced auto-collages, an AI-powered feature that automatically generates thousands of shoppable collages from advertisers’ product catalogs. In early testing, Pinterest said users saved auto-collages at twice the rate of standard product Pins.

E.l.f. builds on ecommerce momentum

In its fiscal Q4 ended March 31, parent company e.l.f. Beauty reported a 4% year-over-year increase in net sales to $332.6 million. For the full fiscal year, net sales rose 28% to $1.31 billion, driven by growth across both ecommerce and retail channels in the U.S. and internationally.

During the earnings call, CEO Tarang Amin said e.l.f. Cosmetics is now the No. 1 cosmetics brand in the U.S. by unit share and No. 2 by dollar share. The flagship brand is “the fastest-growing among the top 20 cosmetics brands this year by a wide margin,” he said.

E.l.f. Cosmetics has also expanded its lead at major retailers, now accounting for 21% of the cosmetics category at Target and rising from No. 4 to No. 2 in cosmetics at Walmart, he added.

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