Well, it’s ALLLL going with Guinot and L’Oreal! Industrial espionage isn’t something you hear of very often, but that’s the alleged accusation from Guinot towards L’Oreal and their Carita brand. Allegedly, L’Oreal made an attempt to acquire Guinot in 2013, withdrawing the offer some time later (instead they bought Decleor and Carita). However, the point of conflict is that during ‘research visits’ to Guinot, information learned was (allegedly) then used to benefit Carita. There’s an article here that will tell you more, but, I must stress I haven’t ever used this information source before so I can’t vouch for reliability but I have no reason to doubt it. It’s apparently all going through the courts right now. Get your popcorn ready.
Also back at L’Oreal, Decleor has been withdrawn from the US market so they can focus on markets where they do better. Decleor is on a roll right now – they’re everywhere I look with strong marketing to reinvigorate the brand. I expect we’ll see more Decleor spas like their new one in Notting Hill opening over the next few years. It got lost a bit in generic spa-land so stamping their spa credentials with own brand centres makes perfect sense.
Meanwhile, as Decleor leaves the US, the country can look forward to a new skin care brand from Shiseido called WASO. It’s millennial focussed (isn’t everything?!) with texture and colour-change products. The reason to take note is that the strategy is to roll out to other regions over the next couple of years so let us hope it’s here because it looks so good!
The deal is sealed between The Body Shop and Natura – all signed and formalities taken care of. This is going to be an interesting watch over the next few years.
A few brands went early with probiotic skin care that focuses on balancing skin (like probiotics balance your gut). Aurelia’s founder, Claire Vero certainly saw the future because apparently it’s one of the biggest rising categories in skin care (in the US probiotic skin care is popping up all over the place) so we can expect to see more.
Hourglass has been bought by Unilever (Kate Somerville, Murad, Dermalogica and REN). Gosh, who is left? And, speaking of… where is Kate Somerville? I never see it.
Sources: Cosmeticsbusiness.com,
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8 comments
Decleor started pulling counters in department stores last year. Great shame as not everyone wants to go buy from a spa. At the counter you got advice what products and went away with products happy. Yes, I know they still sell online but the face to face chat really works better.
In other beauty news – Nars has decided to go into China. Seems a weird decision to make so late in the game, and they had previously apparently talked up their refusal to sell in china because of animal testing requirements. There’s been quite the backlash on social media. I guess the question is whether their gains in china will make up for their losses in other markets for backflipping…. highly likely one assumes.
I didn’t know this..thanks for the update. Clearly they need more sales – it’s that simple.
Check out the #boycottnars hashtag!
just catching up on it now.. will do a special post next week x
That’s terrible.
Love these snippets Jane. Decleor is one of my faves but the Shiseido looks good too…
Caroline Hirons met up with Kate Somerville last week for the first time, check out her latest vlog, sounds like her products will be sold here soon x