News is very scanty at the moment – everyone is on holiday! So, this is a very quick round up in brief of just a few things of note.

Estee Lauder Companies comes in at No. 21 in the Best Companies To Work For In The Fortune 500 list. It’s ironic that they scooped that as they’re making redundancies left, right and centre to focus their budgets on marketing. Which is, as we all know, exactly what we want more of as consumers. Not.

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The most important story of the week is that micro beads – or micro plastics – will be banned in the UK from January 1st, 2018. Although this is being hailed as a strong ban, it only covers wash off products (face washes, exfoliators, toothpaste), and not leave on products such as sunscreen and some make-up. If you want to avoid microbeads in leave on products, look out for Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and Nylon (PA).

Sephora is always ahead of the trends – talking to Gen Z and to some degree Millennials with environmentally friendly and sustainable beauty products by stocking natural brand, Antonym Cosmetics. It’s organic (Eco Cert) and packaging is sustainable using bamboo, for one. In the past, organic make up just hasn’t lived up to the quality and pigment level that’s expected and needed by consumers, but this one, apparently is ticking all the boxes.

Coty has been pulled up on their Sally Hansen Claim that their Miracle Gel Nail Polish gives up to 14 days of colour and shine by the National Advertising Review Board. The brand has also been advised to drop the claims of ‘gel without the light’. This is weird because I’ve been looking very closely at the Essie Gel Couture range and in particular the Top Coat for a ‘gel-like’ shine. It also claims colour last that is longer than usual. However, all the juice is in the top coat, and not, as far as I can tell the Couture formulas, which are £2 more expensive than regular Essie. A top coat like this is boosted by acrylates copolymers with a thicker than average consistency to give a high shine. That doesn’t make it a gel and I am certain you can use it over any polish at all to make it last longer.

For National Lipstick Day (29th), in the UK MAC are giving away a free lipstick (at counters) with a spend of over £40 (EU50) from a selection of six shades. In the US, MAC counters are giving away a free lipstick, full stop. No spend. I can’t quite work out why the offer is so ungenerous this side of the pond compared to the other, but at least you know it’s an option if you have MAC to stock up on.

There’s much confusion over Pat McGrath Labs stock over on Net A Porter. I can only imagine the buyer with her (or his) head in her hands. While the Pat McGrath kits ARE in stock currently (tempting but oh so expensive HERE) Net A Porter shows a video from the brand of lipsticks. There is a big Pat McGrath Labs Matte Trance lipstick launch at Sephora in the US tomorrow (29th) but the lipsticks won’t, according to one BBB reader who has been in contact with the site, be stocked at Net. It also seems that none of the Pat McGrath Labs products are available on Net A Porter USA – presumably because Sephora has insisted on the exclusive. What a mess.

Sources: cosmeticsbusiness.com, happi.com, globalcosmeticsnews.com, popsugar.com

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