In general, beauty is not happy. Almost across the board, sales are down and brands, such as ELC, who invested heavily in China are not getting the returns they hoped for. Is it that we just all have enough make up now? Who knows, but the decline is across both luxury and high street and it’s crossing cosmetics, skin care and hair care. Those who said that the fall-out from Covid would last for years and years were correct, whether it’s home-working that just isn’t working or ingredient sourcing – things are still very much affected. However, beauty goes through peaks and troughs just like any other business sector so I expect any minute now we’ll see ‘beauty bounces back’ type headlines that we can collectively roll our eyes at.
Let’s kick off with the departure from MAC of Drew Elliott, global creative director, which is being noted by those in the know as a ‘surprise exit’. Holding the creative helm at MAC since 2019, he resigned to take on the creative directorship of Kiko Milano. Not only has Drew exited right but also Sam Cheow, senior vice president of corporate innovation and product development, has gone – it will be very interesting to see where he pops up next.
At last, some US beauty legislation that makes sense – in California, a state legislator is suggesting a bill to restrict sales of anti-ageing products to children. You’ll have seen in recent months that tweenagers are flocking to the aisles of Sephora to stock up on wildly inappropriate products, including retinols and AHAs and favouring brands such as Drunk Elephant. Given that this trend is set to stay, all beauty brands should be voluntarily carrying an over 18 warning for strong actives. I hope this legislation does go through because it will show brands that they need to take some responsibility and not just see sales. A ‘la la la I’m not listening’ approach isn’t going to work, especially in the litigious USA, where it can only be a matter of moments before class actions for ruined teen skin start accumulating.
It looks like all is not well in the world of Pat McGrath. The brand’s latest CEO, Rabih Hamdan, lasted 7 months before walking and rumours abound regarding lay-offs. Not only that, there are on-going rumblings about late payments and missed deadlines. Puck News describe his departure as ‘messy’ and his resignation email ‘unhinged’. My god, I’d love to see that email. The latest launch from the brand is a collaboration with Candy Crush – all I can say is, WHY?
Huda Beauty is selling its share in the fragrance brand, Kayali, to VC General Atlantic who have investments in Etsy, Shein and Vuori. The Kayali brand will be owned jointly by Mona Kattan (Huda’s sister) and General Atlantic.
I’ve written many times about B Corp which over the past few years has been hailed as certification that guarantees high standards of social and environmental performance. Companies are evaluated on how they reduce environmental impact and contribute to the economic and social well-being of their communities. B Corp certifications should mean that the business is a force for good, prioritizing stakeholders (employees, community members) over shareholders. But, the backlash begins with this very much sought after certification. Dr Bronner has decided to drop its B Corp Certification, citing the integrity of the certification as being compromised. What prompted this? Both Nestle and Unilever have been granted certification and according to Dr Bronner, they cannot be compliant. As an example, according Greenpeace, Nestle’s palm oil is often sourced from suppliers linked to deforestation. Nestle has also been named as one the world’s top plastic polluters and in 2018 had failed to meet a voluntary requirement to double its recycling rate. The Dr Bronner statement reads, ‘Sharing the same logo and messaging regarding being of ‘benefit’ to the world with large multinational CPG companies with a history of serious ecological and labor issues, and no comprehensive or credible eco-social certification of supply chains, is unacceptable to us.’
Speaking of Unilever, there are strong rumours that they’re on the cusp of agreeing to acquire Wild (refillable deodorants). Wild was founded in 2019 and is selling, apparently, for approx. £230 million. On the topic of deodorants, look out for the surge in ‘whole body’ deodorants – Sure, Lynx and Native amongst others but it’s a marketing dream to use far more product than actually necessary.
Kirsten Kjaer Weis announced recently that she is leaving her self-named, organic make up brand. She sold a majority stake in 2021 to VC Waldencast Ventures (Waldencast are investors in Milk Make Up and Obagi, while Waldencast Ventures have Whind, Glaze and the very cool Portuguese brand, Contem1g). It sounds like a cold departure – Kirsten declines to comment on the reasons for leaving, while Waldencaste Ventures offers up, ‘We wish Kirsten all the best in her future endeavours,’ while using the good wish message to explain that Waldencast Ventures and Waldencast plc are two separate ventures.
If you ever wondered what happened to Nikki Kinnaird MBE after she sold SpaceNK, other than investing in Indie Lee and becoming a business consultant, she’s popped up on the board of Philip Kingsley as a non-executive director. Philip Kingsley has somewhat lost its edge amongst the sea of new hair care brands – I’m going to guess that this is not exactly a crisis appointment but perhaps a crisis prevention one.
After all the dramas of leaked emails and ‘family tensions’ that led to a major reshuffle at the Estee Lauder Companies that I highlighted in the January BBN, there is still no good news. In the ELC ‘Beauty Reimagined’ strategy (to restore sustainable sales growth and achieve stronger profitability), they’ve only got rid of 7000 staff to date. The few brands keeping their financial ends up include Le Labo and Clinique, and Clinique only because of their TikTok viral Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. I mean, there are a lot of words in the Beauty Reimagined statement but 7000 staff? Where did they fire them from because there’s never anyone at ELC UK – it’s tumbleweed over there.
Afghanistan born make-up artist, Fara Homidi, now New York based has secured investors for her two year old make-up collection. Fara now has the same investors (Sandbridge) as Ilia and Youth To The People. In a similar vein to Isamaya Ffrench and Gucci Westman, Fara has entered the beauty market like a lion with curated and expensive – oh my, so expensive – products that sit firmly in the luxury market. Make-up artists were kept firmly behind the scenes in the past, and I love how they’re now owning their space and placing themselves centre stage without going down the accessible route. They’re gold and they know it.
Speaking of luxury products, Joonbyrd, from dermatologist Dr Alexis Granite, has gone as far away from a traditional ‘derm’ brand as it’s possible to go with her body care brand. Mixing actives with botanicals and quirky, joyful, mainly gourmand based fragrances, products such as Sunday Sofa Body Butter and Moon Swim Body Wash are surely attracting investors? Watch this space.
Prai Beauty has acquired by The Dodo Group VC (Youngblood Cosmetics) and Luxury Brands LLC (developer and manufacturer of personal care products) with the aim of focusing on R&D. Prai is known best for neck and decolette products.
