My morning was definitely spiced up by the news of William Lauder (executive chairman of ELC) being a sh*t by trying to evict his ex-lover and child from their home because their teenage daughter referred to her parents as ‘divorced’. It apparently violates the strict confidentiality terms of on-going support. This child is 13.
Shiseido is halting their entry level Waso brand in Japan to ‘re-focus’ on their premium lines. Although Waso will for now continue to be sold in other markets, this seems an interesting move and can only be financially motivated because brands don’t stop selling things that sell well. So, for me this brings up lots of questions around other brands, such as Clarins My Clarins, designed to bring in the younger consumer. I don’t hear anything from Clarins these days but never really see anything about My Clarins. In fact, Clarins in general is quiet and has just replaced their female Executive Vice President and GM of Clarins USA with a male one.
Similar to this
Medik8 has taken on investment (to be correct, the company that owns Medik8, Pangaea, has) from Inflexion, a private equity group that also has stakes in Jack Wills and YuMove, amongst many others. Inflexion has taken a majority stake with suggestions that Pangaea is valued at £150 million +.
Also in beauty brand shopping, Manzanita Capital has offloaded Eve Lom to Yatsen, named by Forbes as a ‘Chinese cosmetics unicorn’ founded in 2016 and parent of make-up brand, Perfect Diary, seen in main picture, a best-seller in China (and one to watch). Actually, something I think I missed at the time, last year, Manzanita also off-loaded Lipstick Queen to Forma Brands (Morphe, Jaclyn Cosmetics), retaining just a small stake. Yatsen is itself funded by Hillhouse Capital.
IT Cosmetics conducted a three year study into women’s confidence, finding British women see confident women as being self-assured (50%) and courageous (56%) but only 14% and 18% see themselves as having those qualities. Their research is thorough and global so you will see women from other countries with much higher self-esteem – we are near the bottom, if not at the very bottom on this particular topic. They’re putting their money where their mouth is and funding several confidence initiatives because the main upshot from the research is that everything is better with support networks. You can see their findings HERE but it’s notable that attitudes are so different around the world. I find it weird that IT Cosmetics places such value on confidence and yet their brand messaging is that looking younger and more beautiful is the key to everything. It’s a mixed message that gives with one hand and takes with the other. “IT Cosmetics believes that confidence comes from the inside and is cultivated when women have the self-assuredness and community networks to lift them up”. As far as I’m aware, nobody has questioned the messaging.
In a similar vein, Unilever has embarked upon a new Positive Beauty strategy, beginning with removing the word ‘normal’ from their packaging and advertising. They say, ‘We believe in Positive Beauty. A vision of beauty that’s equitable, inclusive and sustainable, with brands that only do less harm but also do more good for people and the planet. With more than 1 billion people using our beauty and personal care products every day, and even more seeing our advertising, we know our brands have the power to make a positive impact.’ Excellent, so now let’s remove the myriad of derogatory terms to describe women’s faces across their skin care brands. We could start with wrinkling, sagging and age-spots which are indeed the narrow beauty ideals they are committed to challenging. The Positive Beauty Strategy only seems to apply to their Personal Care brands such as Simple, Ponds and Dove (all doing a great job by the way) and not their Luxury Brands such as REN, Dermalogica or Hourglass, etc. It’s more mixed messaging and they’re right that their brands can make positive change – so let’s do it. Beauty is not one thing, it’s many things and you have your beauty all of your life. It’s not a thing that gets lost, it just changes with you.
Meanwhile, over in Class Action Land, Clinique has a case pending over their Redness Solution Skin Care whose marketing apparently claims to contain ‘probiotic technology’ but no actual probiotics.
Sources: Truthinadvertising, Forbes.com , Globalcosmeticsnews, PRNewswire, TheTimes.
Transparency Disclosure
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.
24 comments
Excellent stuff Jane, thanks.
I was (almost) amused when I saw elsewhere that ‘normal’ in a skin context was now verboten. Such a category is still necessary, you’d think, so it’ll just be replaced with a mealymouthed euphemism, I expect.
As for ageing, REN lost my allegiance when they named a very good serum ‘Keep Young and a Beautiful’, and squirmed around, claiming it was only a song reference. Yeah, a song with a message not that welcome to anyone in her 60s!
Clarins are in a weird spot these days, apparently concentrating on bringing out a new foundation every few months! They’ve discontinued their utterly gorgeous chamomile toner, which is grim news.
Ach, it’s a very dodgy industry indeed, and thank gawd for warriors like yourself. x
Thanks Cal! Personally, although I really have a lot of time for many of the brands including REN because their formulas are good, I’m questioning how a core value can run through one arm and not another. It doesn’t make sense to me. I should say that when I’ve worked with them, they are happy to let me
use my own messaging that is appropriate to the site and my readers and not many brands will do that.
Even the comments on Beauty Business News contain news. Totally by accident I managed to stock up on Clarins chamomile toner before the formula changed and had not realised Clarins had kept the yellow colour and ditched the chamomile. It was perfect as it was. Clarins have cancelled a lot of things I liked including the sensitive night cream and Instant Light lip balms. The latest blushers got very poor reviews and it put me off trying them. As for their My Clarins range, have you seen the make up? As a teenager I wanted something a bit edgy and daring in the way of makeup. The My Clarins offering seems aimed at the my little pony market. Also for some weird reason when I looked at it I thought Father Ted and Father Dougall had helped with the marketing?
The trouble with a lot of the older brands is that they’ve followed a trend with a sense of nervousness rather than trusting their gut that the best way to bring in new consumers is to keep the existing ones very, very happy. Business have changed beyond recognition – new beauty companies make no bones about not investing for longevity, instead existing on viral hits that, unless you are plugged into Instagram or TikTok, will go completely un-noticed by the mid life consumer. That’s where existing brands can step in and fill a void with communications that really speak to us and let us in turn do the marketing by recommendation. I mean, it isn’t rocket science.
There’s a toner with chamomile in the updated cleansing range and I have also seen there is a new product range aimed at sensitive skin on the way (including an oil, can’t wait to see that one) so I can’t really see them doing anything else than what most brands often do – continuesly updating their products. They have done that with the Double serum too for instance with the product getting only better.
Their marketing is odd though. Or perhaps all over the place. If you look at the various Instagram accounts you can see different strategies for different countries. In the US they seem to go very much by using influencers, in the U.K. they use staff members, in some other countries they go with celebrities. Meanwhile there’s no news on the makeup for spring and new products seem to drop randomly. It’s very odd.
Interesting to know their strategies across the world – I really hadn’t thought to look so I’ve learned something here!
I really didn’t like that new toner! Not a patch on the original.
If they fiddle with my beloved Blue Orchid face oil, I’m joining the Foreign Legion!
REN is indeed fantastic stuff, I agree. I owe the brand a lot after all, for the way my skin was transformed about 15 years ago.
I guess it’s ludicrous of me to get so agitated about all this, since all these brands are after all in business, rather than specifically set up to appease me!
You’re the customer so you can do what you like! If they’re not pleasing you, there’s no reason why any brand should have your cash 🙂 There are several brands that I won’t go near with a barge pole but other people love… but it’s based on bad experiences such as your aversion to a name that is clunky and that’s ok!
Interesting, thanks Jane. Agreed re: Ren ‘keep young & beautiful’ just so easy to avoid such messaging that excludes and makes people feel awkward. I used to be a Ren devotee because there are several products that are just great and I want to use cruelty-free. But over the past two years I’ve been slowly but surely replacing Ren products with ones from Beauty Pie – IME the quality is comparable but the cost is c.25% of the Ren pricing. Don’t think I’ll be returning. Marcia Kilgore really is clever!
It certainly seems that Beauty Pie is standing the test of time – I’m still sceptical but less so now.
Definitely sceptical about the RRP on Beauty Pie but by testing out products with quite an objective point of view (no branding/fancy packaging to get swayed by) I’ve found brilliant skincare that has earned a place in my bathroom cabinet.
Which is great – it’s exactly the RRP thing that bothers me … as well as the pick and pack charge if that still exists.
Out of curiosity, what words do you prefer brands use instead of wrinkle, age-spots, etc.? I personally have no problems with these words. I want to lessen my wrinkles, so I will use a product that is targeted at wrinkles. And the same goes for any other concerns that I may be trying to address. Do I think I look less beautiful because I have some wrinkles? No, I don’t, but if there’s a product that can soften their look or delay their formation, then sure, I will happily use it. Otherwise, what’s the point of using skincare other than to keep it moist?
Also, how will I know the cream is for my skin-type if it’s not labelled as for dry skin, normal skin, or oily skin. Moisture can mean a lot of things, as oily skin can need moisture too. But I certainly wouldn’t expect someone with oily skin to use the same cream as someone with dry skin like myself. They can, of course, but it doesn’t mean that it would be appropriate for their skin type. I don’t think removing the word “normal” is helpful to the consumer at all. If anything, it just makes things more confusing and means the consumer has to scan ingredients to know what they’re buying: a cream, a gel cream, a lotion, etc.
Chris, this is such a massive question! But, here goes. I use words like skin creasing if I use anything at all to address wrinkles, and terms such as dark spots rather than bring age into it. I prefer to focus on other things such as luminosity and softness – both lovely at every age. I’ve worked in beauty for a really long time – as a journalist before blogger – and if one thing is clear it’s that older women are considered to have ‘lost’ their beauty and younger women for their entire lives are taught to consider themselves decaying unless they take action. It’s just not a message I want to pass on to anyone, including my daughter, that she is fighting to keep something that inevitably will disappear – we have enough on our plates without being signalled that we are in a perpetual state of decay. Beauty, in my book, is not something that gets lost – you will always have it – but it changes as you do. If it’s not something that bothers you then that’s great, but it does bother a great deal of women – signified perhaps by the amount of anti-ageing products sold (billions) – ageing affects people differently… some people, like you, take it with a pinch of salt, but others feel diminished and less as a result of it. If I can persuade just one women to consider her face less cruelly (because we are never kind to ourselves when we look in the mirror) then it’s a job well done. I’m not anti beauty products or procedures or anything that allows people to feel comfortable in their skin if needs be – I’m not immune myself – but I don’t want this site to be a place where you’re assumed less beautiful because you have wrinkles because that is the case everywhere else. We can celebrate a lot of things about our faces rather than look to focus on the inevitabilities in a disparaging way. So, I hope I’ve explained where I stand. I actually think you’ll have no problem picking out a cream that is right for you without the word normal – you sound smart and thoughtful – oily, dry, neither oily nor dry… it will quickly look ..I’m going to say it.. ‘normal’ :-))
Hi Jane. Thank you so much for your kind response. I realized as I reread my original message that it came off sounding harsh and snarky, which wasn’t my intention at all.
I am one of your younger readers who hasn’t experienced significant changes in my skin yet, so that might be why I failed to understand at first. I probably still don’t understand! I do know that the industry paints aging as an undesirable thing, so fighting to change that is of course never a bad thing. And your message of self love at any age is really encouraging. I may think I am not bothered by the wrinkles that are starting to form, but deep down, I probably am bothered by them; otherwise, I wouldn’t try to prevent them. :/
Don’t worry at all – it really wasn’t taken as such. It’s just this is my space to try and reduce negativity around ageing – I don’t care what anyone does – I have profhilo to keep my skin plump and botox to keep my lids up (because I’ve been clear from the get-go that I’ll use technology to lengthen my eye shadow wearing years!) and have dabbled with all kinds of procedures in my years as a journalist and blogger. Really, it’s about changing language and attitude so that the ageing process is seen more positively – how ever you choose to deal with it. Most of us feel bothered much as we’d like not to, but that’s years and years and years of negative processing and this is my space not to bring that into the beauty equation. Most of the bands I work with are happy to let me use my own language (Kate Somerville a good example) because they themselves know they have to change how they speak to the older woman. Anyway, I won’t bang on any more… but thank you so much for your considered response and comments.xx
Morning Jane and Chris,
Just picking up your remark re your eyelids, Jane.
I have to concur…disappearing eyelids is the thing that has saddened me, for precisely the same reason: diminishing fun with eyeshadow! (I’ve even toyed with the notion of trying those tiny silicone adhesive strips you apply to the crease, but still haven’t done so. At the moment I’m trying to convince myself I’m Charlotte Rampling of the hooded eyes.)
Whatever you’re doing certainly looks fabulous, and completely natural.
I’ve tried them – they’re quite fun but not a long term prospect. I don’t want anything age-denying – I don’t see the point at all.
Oh me neither, that’s emphatically my own position.
No, it’s just about eye makeup opportunities just like you mention, since I’d be far too cowardly for Botox etc. I’m confident that nobody else gives a damn about my eyelids, or even sees them, but I rather miss having the space for artistic experimenting!
But everything else is actually pretty interesting, as changes slowly occur, and by god, you have to be over 50 anyway before you really see what a luscious moisturiser can do!
Haha that is SOOOO true re the moisturiser!
Very well said, Jane.
As a 65-year old skincare devotee, I don’t care about my own lines and sagging, as I’m just so thrilled to still be here at all, but the relentless anti-ageing stuff harms very much younger women than me, and that’s what freaks me out. (Having said which, my skincare does a great job in optimising my skin’s appearance, which is nice!)
Women in their twenties so often view ageing as the most appalling prospect, as though it will erase their whole value. (Fillers for young faces are seen as basic maintenance in many quarters!)
This isn’t so much a beauty issue as a feminist one, and it needs assiduous attention. Any beauty writer who rejects this powerful undermining of our self worth is doing essential work, I feel.
(Meanwhile, my preference across the board would be just ‘Skin plumping/moisturising/nourishing’….it’s what all these potions do anyway, so let’s just keep it simple, honest, and non-accusatory.)
Thanks Cal. I understand that the anti-ageing messaging is hard nut to crack and it’s my preference to use my own messaging. I don’t care if anyone wants
to look the way they want to look.. it’s personal choice and preference, but there’s a big message about why we feel the need to reverse or not show our age. If it had never been mentioned as an undesirable quality, the wrinkle would be more or less ignored!