Puny prices.

If there's a cosmetic or skincare project in the offing, chances are Scott Vincent Borba could be in on the action.

Borba, founder of Woodland Hills-based nutraceuticals company Borba LLC, is also the creative director of the cosmetic brand e.l.f., which stands for eyes, lips, face. While Borba the company sells its healthy skin drinks and snacks at places like Sephora, Borba the man is busy pushing e.l.f, products into Target Corp. stores.

The concept behind e.l.f, is make-up at a reasonable price: $1 for every item, to be exact. That idea led Borba and Joey Shamah, the company's chief executive, to pitch the products to 99 cent stores, but they weren't interested and chose instead to rely on the stuff they'd been vending for years.

Borba and Shamah didn't give up and turned to their Web site for sales to prove to retailers that consumers supported e.l.f., which was established in L.A. and is now owned by New York-based JA Cosmetics. In 2004, the Web site was launched and has since served 150,000 customers and has a repeat customer rate of more than 20 percent, according to Borba.

Those results helped e.l.f, appeal to Target, where the brand began selling in the travel bins last year. This year, the products are in around 200 stores and are beginning to be available not just in the bins, but on the walls, where they are placed near items by Bonne Bell Inc. and New York Color, a subsidiary of Del Laboratories Inc.

Going forward, Shamah said the company is looking to put its products in grocery stores and other chains where inexpensive make-up can find a willing customer. It's also developing other items--including a compact that users can pack with fillers of their preference--to lure consumers who might otherwise be hesitant to buy an inexpensive make-up product.

Borba and Shamah admit that one of the biggest hurdles to growth is skepticism about low-cost products. But they insist their product has the quality of a premium cosmetic, and they can still make money even with the basement prices by buying massive quantities of components to keep production expenses at bay.

Little by little, Borba said the skepticism is ebbing as customers realize that e.l.f, products are packaged like premium brands, and they're not embarrassed to carry the make-up in their purses. This year, the company expects to increase sales by 20 percent over last year.

Staff reporter Rachel Brown can be reached at [phone], ext. 224, or at [e-mail].