Do you ever wonder what the heck goes on at Avon that it seems to plough through CEOs more than any other beauty company I can think of? It’s just been bought by Natura, same Brazilian company that owns The Body Shop, so perhaps that will offer some stability. So far, Natura seems to be doing a great job with TBS – including banishing face wipes from their shelves – if they can offer the same for Avon maybe it can turn its fortunes. Despite the fact that Avon rarely enters my beauty world it’s been sold for $2bn so clearly it doesn’t do so badly in sales.
There is a lot of beauty brand shopping going on right now. One of my favourite hair brands, Christophe Robin, has been bought by The Hut Group. My heart sank a little because some brands in Hut ownership don’t get the love they deserve – Mio is one, Illamasqua is another. THG also owns Espa and Glossybox, as well as several online beauty retailers such as Mankind, Beauty Expert and Look Fantastic.
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Bad news for MUFE fans – it’s gone. This is surprise news but thinking about it, despite Make Up For Ever being one of the most coveted brands while it wasn’t here, it never lived up to expectations when it was. Personally, I think it arrived at exactly the wrong time – there was too much competition and without the right support, MUFE just didn’t shine in the marketplace.
ThisWorks has also been snapped up recently – by a Canadian CBD (cannabis) company, Canopy. This makes perfect sense as a ready-built brand ideal for conversion to the CBD market which is set to rocket. Pretty soon it won’t be lavender pillow spray sending you to sleep…
Goop’s Wellness Summit arrives in London – at £1000 for a day ticket. If you’re gulping at that, the ‘weekender’ ticket is £4500. That’s a lot for tips on how to steam your vagina.
Boots is set to close up to 200 stores – I’m no fan of Boots but this is awful news for many employees and for rural communities where Boots is the only reliable place to get a prescription cashed. Although, it’s slightly odd that they’ve invested heavily in taking Fenty on and have revamped their beauty offerings across many stores. CYO, their fairly recently launched own-brand MUA and MUR competitor brand looks scheduled to go.
Beauty product recalls seem set to rise as going as ‘clean’ as possible poses plenty of formulation problems especially when you start messing with the preservative angle. While it appears on the surface that getting rid of parabens (and similar) is a great idea, the more you cut out, without the right formulas, the more you risk. Herbivore Botanicals had a recall in March of their Pink Cloud Cream which grew mold, and most recently, a US styling gel (La Belle) failed testing for safety. If you’re using ‘clean’ skin care, bear in mind that it needs more home care than most if it doesn’t contain the right preservatives to prevent bacteria forming – keep it cool, well out of sun, and use it up within the time stated.
Trend watch: Menopause Beauty Marketing. Waiting for the slew of brands hopping on this trend to ensure that if you’re actually welcoming the menopause and looking at the positives you won’t be for much longer. Despite the ‘findings’ of dermatologists that menopausal skin – wait for it – DOES need special products (I’m absolutely unconvinced), please remind yourselves that there isn’t anything needed that isn’t already available without the meno tag.
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12 comments
Sad news about Boots and as you say it will probably be some of the most needed stores that will close.
Boots reminds me of what happened to Tesco a few years ago – thought it was too dominant to falter, rested on its laurels, took high profit margins for granted, failed to innovate… then all of a sudden the market shifts and it’s a dinosaur struggling to keep up.
I wrote a few years back on the topic of preservatives and I said at the time that people were more aware and concerned about any potential side effects of the preservatives themselves than they were of an improperly preserved product and I stand by that statement. The two recalls you highlighted are fundamentally different though. The La Bella styling gel does in fact contain methyl paraben and a few chemists I have seen commenting on the matter seem to be pointing the finger at a failure in the GMP rather than the preservative system, so I am not sure it is fair to lump both cases in together.
I really hope Natura can turn Avon around too. There are some very keenly priced products to be found, though their ranges can be a little confusing and availability wasn’t great a few years back.
The Goop summit is certainly not in my diary. Does that lofty fee include a goody bag / vouchers for various interesting treatments / products..?!
My flashy menopausal skin is enjoying skin potions stored in the fridge for coolness (that’s the normal not mini beauty one). So far I’ve not managed to apply any fruit yoghurt by mistake and I’m not succumbing to yet another skincare category concept.
Have a great weekend and love, love, love these beauty business news articles Jane!
xx
Ugh, so they’ve stopped ignoring women over thirty because they’ve finally figured they can sell us menopause bollocks. Marvellous.
I’m worried about Christophe Robin! THG is very much the other end of the market to where they’re (were?) placed. I bought the rose shampoo and conditioner recently after your review, and I love them!
So does Natura now own Liz Earle?
I’m a big Boots fan and feel that they could do so much more to improve the offering in their smaller stores. Just filling the dispalys with products would help.
Love a bit of beauty news on a Friday.
As far as I’m aware, Boots still owns (or rather, Boots/Walgreens) Liz Earle.
MUFE? I am shocked yet not. I never understood its marketing when it first came out into the US in the 90’s. It was a theatrical line but catered to the consumer via department stores here in the US and it was a high price compared to other theatrical lines. It would be similar to Ben Nye trying to become a “cosmetic” line which BN would never do. When Sephora bought it, I thought the marketing was better but something still did not click.
Now with all these brands, true pro makeup brands are more of niche brand since social media tends to promote all the brands that have a celeb behind/influencer behind them or some huge PR budget.
I think MUFE should just concentrate on being a pro brand by using better quality pigments and consistent coloring of their products.
Loving your news round up, as usual! Is that MUFE leaving the UK entirely, or just Debenhams counters? Their full cover concealer has been a game changer in covering up some of my rosacea, so just wondering if I should be stocking up…! x
I don’t know the full extent of their leaving… it might still be available in pro stores.
Interesting debate about menopause marketing. Not to kick it off again (sorry Jane!), but I think if brands are going to bring the menopause into the open and get us talking about it positively, then that’s a good thing. If you’re referring to the new brand Pause-Well, I like that the founder (ex Erno Lazslo CEO I believe) is opposed to ‘anti-ageing’ language. I’m not *there* yet regarding menopause products so don’t know if I would use the items from her brand but it might be a case of her building a community around a shared interest before expanding the product range more broadly further down the line.
Brands are only bringing it out in the open to sell us products we (probably) don’t need – it’s $39 for a face spray – you can get one at Boots for £3.99. I’m hugely not understanding why anyone thinks that skin requires something special that doesn’t already exist – watch for a huge play on ‘red’ skin and ‘dry’ skin. Neither are specific to the menopause although it can exacerbate either condition. Redness from hot flushes is caused by the widening of blood vessels which then contract again a few minutes later. Putting cream on that won’t change it and more moisture in skin? That’s always been a thing for older skins. People do talk openly about the menopause (ask any women’s group from bingo to book clubs) and I agree that if it gets the conversation going that’s a good thing, but I’m so suspicious of bringing a commercial entity to this particular life-stage disguised as a conversation about women’s issues. I do think the Pause web site is good though – lots of useful information. In my view it’s another way to tap into the older women marketing now that we won’t put up with being told to look younger.
I can’t believe Makeup Forever are going. I love them!!
Though not surprised about Boots – Superdrug are far superior in shopping experience and prices – I am confused as to why they are acquiring the new beauty brands to sell. Seems strange, as you say.