Lauder vs L’Oreal: A very interesting article here on Businessoffashion.com about the behind the scenes race to acquire new brands. You would think that being acquired by L’Oreal is a sure thing – but two acquisition have proved tough for them. One is Clarisonic (because when you’ve got one, you don’t really need another) and the other is a brand I don’t know, Magic Holdings which is a Chinese mass brand. However, the biggest point of interest is with Estee Lauder’s Estee Edit, designed to attract millennials. Everything I’ve heard so far says that this has been an out and out success, however, all it appears to have done for the Estee Lauder brand is stop the decline in sales, rather than boost overall. It continues, as a brand, to struggle to sell its skincare in previous quantities. The feature is HERE and very well worth a read. You’d think though, that continually walking into the same wall would leave a bruise that you’d notice – brands like EL need to nurture what they have much, much more effectively and stop trying to convert a disinterested audience.
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L’Oreal Matrix Law Suit. Hot on the heels of the Sunday Riley law suit, filed by two individuals who state that the brand has over-claimed what the products can do for skin, comes another two women taking on L’Oreal. L’Oréal’s Matrix Biolage Keratindose Pro-Keratin + Silk Shampoo, Pro-Keratin + Silk Conditioner or Pro-Keratin Renewal Spray are the products in question, and Brandi Price and Christine Chadwick claim there is no keratin in the products and therefore they are not capable of producing the implied results. This new ‘individual vs brand’ law suit must have lawyers rubbing their hands with glee. There will be more…and more… and more. At the end of last year, two individuals also filed against L’Oreal claiming that Amla Legend Hair Relaxer had caused burns. Seeing a pattern?
Kat Von D x Too Faced. How is it that nobody is asking questions over this collaboration, based on Kat Von D’s very strong stance on veganism? Too Faced has some vegan products but is not solely vegan and yet, somehow this is overlooked. The Too Faced half of the collaborative palette has Carmine (C175470) listed as an ingredient and all my research tells me that this is emphatically not vegan because it’s taken from crushed insects. “I have a platform and this, to me, is the number one most important issue on this planet,” is just of Kat’s many quotes on veganism. Just sayin.
Cosmetic Surgeon Dr Jesper Sorensen vs Mumsnet: Anonymous Mumsnetters who took the time to trash the work of the cosmetic surgeon, Dr Jesper Sorensen, are finding themselves in hot water because a high court order is forcing Mumsnet to reveal the users’ real identities so that he can pursue them legally. Anyone who’s faced the extreme negativity that can occur on forum sites will find it helpful to know that if needs be, a legal recourse is not so difficult to obtain. I think knowing that you don’t just have to sit and take it, especially if it is damaging to your business, will open the doors for many others to hold anonymous forum users to account.
Sephora News: So, the latest updates on will-they-won’t-they come to the UK is that … brace yourselves.. they won’t. It’s very hard to know quite how this story began but at a certain point Sephora were definitely sounding out brands about stocking in the UK. Sephora is zero on communication so getting a definitive answer about their plans is a hopeless task. I reckon they were seriously looking at it and lost their nerve. In fact, I think it’s way too late for them. However, as a little sliver of hope, Sephora concessions opened up in JC Penney across the US in 2015 – there can’t NOT have been discussions for this model in the UK.
Sources: Businessoffashion.com, Cosmeticsbusiness.com, Law360.com
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All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.
10 comments
Sephora’s UK website has been coming to the UK since last century. Rumours, then no it will be new stores. I will be on a zimmer frame by the time they do if ever open a UK website or actually open stores.
Very interesting article! Kat Von D’s Metal Matte palette contains carmine too ( the lavender shade), so all this animal rights stuff she keeps on defending goes out of the window, what a shame
Unless it’s some kind of vegan carmine?? I tried really hard to see if there’s an alternative in case I’m wrong but the ingredient just keeps coming up as insect related. just find it really strange.
Although I’ve just read an interiew from 2016 saying she is in the process of making it all vegan.. so maybe she didnt’ get to that yet.
Ulta. And Bath & Bodyworks. Tell me when they’re coming here so I can form an orderly queue.
The JC Penney concessions are so grim, messy and low end however I’m really never going to be interested.
Bath & Body Works are unlikely to reopen stores in UK. They made a loss with their Blue Water store a decade ago.
Although Sephora made a loss back then, their popularity & influence in Europe has soared. Bath & Body Works haven’t had the same international publicity.
That Lauder vs L’Oreal article was interesting.
I wonder if one of the other factors for letting new independent brands in to the mix is that they no longer need a physical space to sell in if they send samples to bloggers. Bloggers will swatch for them and I know if I want to buy something from Colourpop that I can just Google the shade and find enough images online to have a good idea if it is a colour I want. Obviously, this business model is easier at Colourpop prices.
Pretty upset that it doesn’t look as though we will be getting a Sephora 🙁
I’ve found the Sephora France website easy to use and have made some fabulous purchases. About £10 for shipping, though.
Don’t forget, there are Sephora stores just over the channel at Calais and Boulogne. You can fill your boots!
I love your beauty news posts. Interesting article on Lauder and L’oreal. I’m not surprised that Lauder is struggling. Estee Lauder, Clinique and Bobbi Brown all seem stuck in a rut and Clinique has over the years discontinued a lot of products I liked. I’ve started buying Lancome after many years of ignoring them because of Lisa Eldridge. The aftermath of the economic crash in 2008 meant I had to use cheaper alternatives for skincare and seemed to coincide with the French pharmacy brands arriving in the UK which I have stuck with as they give good results. I’m buying less because I am researching on the web before I buy but enjoying what I buy more because I’m not making so many wrong purchases.
I am such an antique that I can recall visting Sephora at Merryhill shopping centre, it closed around 2005. What was striking about it was the variety of products and the carpet must have had about 4 inches of underlay under it because it was really soft to walk on. The big beauty halls have caught up and I think in the same format it would struggle against the online discounters and major players loyalty cards.
Estee Lauder is one of those brands that I just never think of buying, like Clarins or Lancome. They seem to market to a much older audience. I don’t tend to buy skincare from cosmetics companies, its always so expensive and with minimal active ingredients.