Scott Vincent Borba had an estimated net worth of $3 billion as co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, the budget beauty brand that reshaped the makeup industry. In 2021, he walked away from every dollar. On May 23, 2026, he was ordained as a Catholic priest in his hometown of Visalia, California. The cars, the beach house, the celebrity client list: all gone, donated to charity.
Who Is Scott Vincent Borba?
Scott-Vincent Borba was born on June 23, 1973, in Visalia, California, the youngest of five children. He grew up in the Central Valley, attended junior college locally, and later earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Santa Clara University. Before the billions, there was cystic acne, rosacea, and a young man who struggled with his own skin.
Those struggles led him to esthetics. He became a licensed esthetician and built a career at major cosmetics companies: Hard Candy, Procter & Gamble, Shiseido, and Johnson & Johnson. At Neutrogena, he helped launch the Men’s line. He knew the beauty industry from the inside out.
He also modeled, acted, and sang. By the early 2000s, Borba had become a Hollywood beauty insider, the kind of person celebrities called when they needed to look flawless before a red carpet.
Scott Vincent Borba’s Net Worth and the e.l.f. Empire
Scott Vincent Borba’s net worth of $3 billion traces back to a single decision in 2004. That year, he co-founded e.l.f. Cosmetics (short for Eyes, Lips, Face) with Joseph Shamah. The concept was radical for its time: high-quality makeup at drugstore prices. The line launched with 13 products priced at one dollar each.
The brand caught fire during the 2010s. By 2014, e.l.f. had reached $100 million in annual sales, according to Forbes. The company went public in 2016 and has since recorded 24 consecutive quarters of net sales growth through fiscal 2025. Hailey Bieber sold her Rhode label to e.l.f. for a reported $1 billion in 2025, cementing the company’s dominance in the accessible beauty market.
| Milestone | Year | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Co-founded e.l.f. Cosmetics | 2004 | Launched with 13 products at $1 each |
| Published “Makeup for Dummies” | 2007 | First of three books on skincare and beauty |
| $7,000 Diamond Facial | 2011 | Gave Mila Kunis a ruby-and-diamond facial before the Golden Globes |
| e.l.f. hits $100M in sales | 2014 | Reported by Forbes |
| e.l.f. goes public | 2016 | NYSE listing under ticker ELF |
| Left e.l.f. Cosmetics | 2019 | Began selling inventory, donating proceeds |
| Resigned all business ventures | 2021 | Entered St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park |
| Ordained as Catholic priest | May 23, 2026 | Diocese of Fresno; assigned to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Clovis |
Borba was not just a behind-the-scenes operator. He founded two additional companies, BORBA Inc. and Scott-Vincent Borba Inc., and authored three books. “Makeup for Dummies” came out in 2007, followed by “Skintervention” in 2011 and “Cooking Your Way to Gorgeous” in 2013. BORBA Skin Balance Waters, a line of beauty beverages, landed a distribution deal with Anheuser-Busch.
His celebrity client list included Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. The most famous moment of his esthetics career came in 2011, when he gave actress Mila Kunis a $7,000 HD Diamond and Ruby facial before the Golden Globes. Forbes covered the treatment. The headline number became a cultural shorthand for Hollywood excess, and Borba was at the center of the story.
The Moment Everything Changed
In the mid-2010s, at the height of his commercial success, Borba hit a wall. He was at an industry party, the kind he had attended a hundred times, and felt something he could not shake. Not boredom. Not fatigue. Emptiness.
“I was at a party and I was very, very unhappy,” Borba told OSV News. “I just felt like I was empty and I was empty. I was exhausted. I was burning the candle on both ends.”
The burnout sent him to his knees. He prayed. The words were not measured or polished: “God, if this is life, where all you do is work and party and do that all over again and die, then this is not the life that I think that you have made for me. But I can only change if you help me.”
He was in his 40s. The prayer marked the beginning of a slow, deliberate exit from everything he had built.
From Luxury to the Seminary
Borba did not go quietly. “God called me to give up everything, and I thought that meant just my cars,” he recalled. He sold his Aston Martin convertible and bought himself a truck with part of the money. “He said, ‘Give it all up.'”
So he did. The California beach house, the designer wardrobe, the luxury vehicles. Liquidated. The proceeds went to charity. By 2019, he had left e.l.f. Cosmetics entirely. Two years later, he resigned from all business ventures and entered St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California, as a seminarian for the Diocese of Fresno.
His new living quarters: a small room with a crucifix as the only wall decor. His possessions: a few bits of clothes and a few pairs of shoes. “My life has been culled down to the bare minimum,” he told ABC7. Then, the line reporters have quoted most often since: “I have never been happier in my life.”
The transformation was not just financial. In 2022, he spent the summer working with the homeless alongside the Missionaries of Charity in San Francisco. The man who once charged $7,000 for a single facial was now serving people who had nothing.
How the Internet Reacted to the Billionaire Priest
When news of Borba’s ordination broke in May 2026, the story of Scott Vincent Borba’s net worth disappearing into charity spread across Reddit with unusual speed. A man worth $3 billion voluntarily choosing poverty is not the kind of story social media encounters every day.
“e.l.f. Cosmetics co-founder to be ordained as a Catholic priest after giving up fortune”
— r/news, 9,888 upvotes, 497 comments (May 2026), source
The r/news thread became one of the platform’s most engaged discussions that week. On r/Catholicism, where the story drew 440 upvotes and 23 comments, the tone shifted from shock to something closer to reverence. The faithful saw a modern-day prodigal son.
The r/BeautyGuruChatter community, more familiar with e.l.f.’s $6 concealers than the spiritual life of its co-founder, reacted with a mix of disbelief and grudging respect. Most commenters had no idea the brand’s co-founder was still alive, let alone entering the priesthood at age 52.
The Ordination and Life as Father Borba
On May 23, 2026, at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia, Borba knelt before Bishop Joseph V. Brennan. The church seats 3,200 people, making it the largest Catholic parish church in the United States. It was at capacity. Some attendees drove hours to witness the bilingual ordination Mass.
Bishop Brennan assigned Father Scott Borba as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Clovis, California, starting June 27. Two other deacons were ordained alongside him, each dispatched to different parishes across the Central Valley.
It takes about seven years on average to become a Catholic priest. The median age for new ordinands is 30. Borba was ordained a month before his 53rd birthday. Only 3% of the 2026 class of seminarians in the United States were 51 or older, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Borba’s mother had planted the seed decades earlier. During Mass in third grade, she asked him to look up at the altar and consider whether he wanted to be the man in the robes. The priest’s vestments shimmered. Borba felt the pull. He said no and spent the next 40 years building one of the biggest beauty brands on earth before finally saying yes.
“I know that our Blessed Mother has brought me into this vocation because of her love for me and for her Son,” he said, reflecting on a childhood prayer to Mary that by his account was finally answered.
Frequently Asked Questions About Scott Vincent Borba
What is Scott Vincent Borba’s net worth?
Scott Vincent Borba’s net worth was estimated at $3 billion at its peak, derived primarily from his stake in e.l.f. Cosmetics, which he co-founded in 2004. He donated his entire fortune to charity after leaving the company and entering the priesthood. As of 2026, his personal net worth is effectively zero. He lives in a small seminary room with few possessions.
Why did Scott Borba leave e.l.f. Cosmetics?
Borba experienced a spiritual crisis at the height of his business success. At an industry party in the mid-2010s, he felt overwhelming emptiness, which led him to prayer and a conviction that his life needed to change. He left e.l.f. in 2019, sold off inventory to fund charitable donations, and formally resigned from all business ventures in 2021 to enter seminary.
Is Scott Vincent Borba a priest now?
Yes. Scott Vincent Borba was ordained as a Catholic priest on May 23, 2026, by Bishop Joseph V. Brennan in the Diocese of Fresno. The ordination took place at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia, California. He now serves as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Clovis, California.
How did Scott Borba make his money?
Borba made his fortune as co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, the budget beauty brand he launched with Joseph Shamah in 2004. The company disrupted the cosmetics industry with high-quality products at drugstore prices, reaching $100 million in annual sales by 2014 and going public in 2016. He also earned income from his three published books, his BORBA skincare line, and high-end celebrity esthetics services.
What happened to Scott Borba’s money?
Borba donated his entire fortune to charity. This included cash holdings, his Aston Martin convertible, and his California beach house. He sold the assets methodically over several years. The donations were framed as an act of religious devotion, a complete renunciation of material wealth in pursuit of his vocation to the priesthood.
How old is Scott Vincent Borba?
Scott Vincent Borba was born on June 23, 1973, making him 52 years old at the time of his priestly ordination in May 2026. He turned 53 in June 2026.
Few people walk away from $3 billion. Fewer still trade a mansion for a seminary dorm room, or an Aston Martin for a parish rectory in California’s Central Valley. Scott Vincent Borba did all three. Would you? The story of Scott Vincent Borba’s net worth resonates not because it is common. It resonates because it asks a question most people never have to answer: what would you give up if you already had everything?
