Upsetting absolutely everybody at the moment is Urban Decay who allegedly pulled a fast one on their All Nighter Setting Spray maker and supplier, Skindinavia, by reformulating and relaunching with their own formulation. The key to Skindinavia’s setting success is a patented cooling element in the formula that can’t be replicated in exactly the same way, but Urban Decay are declaring the new in-house formula to be better than the original being ‘longer lasting’, ‘finer and more breathable’ and a ‘new fragrance’. Which is not only a cold shoulder to Skindivinia but an insult too.
Worse still, Urban Decay implied the changes were requested by customers – this is an old chestnut that never rings true because since when did a brand actually listen to customers? Not one single customer asked for a setting spray lacking a key patented element – that I will put money on. You can buy the original from Skindinavia HERE.
Rumours abound that LVHM is actively looking to offload Marc Jacobs in a portfolio streamlining exercise. The Marc Jacobs fragrance and cosmetic line licence belongs to Coty, who is reportedly exploring the sale of its luxury and consumer beauty divisions, so what will happen to the launching-this-year beauty come-back that Marc Jacobs has been working on? I know that there is a strong skin care element to the new collection but that aside, new events place some uncertainty around it. The saving grace for Marc Jacobs Beauty will be Sue Nabi, not only a co-founder of the skin care house that Jacobs has been working with (Maison Orveda), but also CEO of Coty, who is unlikely to let a side-investment disappear. The natural successor for the Marc Jacobs beauty licence would have been LVMH to have both arms under one roof but with the surprise announcement of a potential offload, it’s not going to happen. There is still no clear indication of who will buy Coty’s fragrance and beauty brands – a mix of private equity and parent companies of the luxury licences such as Kering for Gucci. Interparfums (developer, manufacturer and distributor) already holds some Coty licences so it’s possible they could be in the mix.
Several years ago I consulted at a workshop in which a (global) brand was looking for ways to develop waterless beauty products – it was a pooling of ideas kind of a situation. All brands, with sustainability and less impact on resources in mind have been looking at it so it’s been a race to finish line since then and it’s so interesting to see what is making it across. The newest that I can find is P&G’s individual water activated hair care shapes, Gemz. They’re highly concentrated, hexagonal shaped, dissolvable shampoos (so, less water needed in the production) with no fillers (less wasteful ingredients). Obviously, Gemz cut down on bathroom clutter because – no bottles! And, no waste. Genius.
Beauty brand REFY, founded by Jenna Meek and Jess Hunt, has displayed best in class at how to recall a product. Their Face Trio comprises a cleanser, SPF and a moisturiser but a separation fault was found with the SPF which is notoriously difficult to formulate anyway. Instead of going quiet, REFY founders instead used complete transparency, even sharing the SPF test results. They immediately paused sales and offered full refunds. There’s actually a government website that documents recalls HERE – currently there is nothing this month for beauty but past recalls for 2025 include Amika Mirrorball High Shine + Protect Antioxidant Shampoo (quality issue), La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo (a voluntary recall for concerns about benzene contamination) and Boots Allergy Eye Mist (contamination concern) and I didn’t know about any of those. A special mention though for Villeroy & Bosch whose glass toddler tumblers have been recalled for ‘safety’. Glass for toddlers? Come on.
Indie fragrance brand Phlur has been acquired by investment company TSG Consumer Partners who also have stakes in It Cosmetics, Perricone MD, e.l.f. and Smashbox, to name but a few. I find it interesting that none of the bigger brands wanted it (I mean, maybe they did and didn’t get it). There was a huge round of fragrance acquisitions a few years back when Lauder took on By Killian, Le Labo and Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle to sit by Jo Malone London and Aerin Beauty (but they also offloaded DKNY, Aramis and I can’t remember who else). ELC has just made a major investment in Exuud’s patented fragrance delivery system that uses plant based polymer blends to absorb and release fragrance and a method of controlling fragrance release without heat or aerosols. Maybe Phlur is still too small for them despite being in the top ten brands for SpaceNK.
Youthforia, the indie beauty brand founded in 2021, and whose hit with their BYO Blush which secured them investment from USA Shark Tank, has announced their closure. In 2023, as well as the Shark Tank investment from Mark Cuban, Youthforia secured further funding and rolled out to Ulta and Amazon. However, in 2024, the brand made a huge mis-step by releasing foundation in a very limited selection of shades with little for deeper tones and compounded the mistake by extending the line using what seemed to be a pure black pigment which of course, because nobody’s skin is just black, suited no tones at all. They never truly recovered from that and suffered from not investing in diversity hires where the lived experience lies – various retailers refused to stock them so once the remaining skus have sold out, Youthforia will be no more.
Look out for Trouble Maker – the new brand co-founded by Sally Minto and ex-Revolution founder, Adam Minto – launching into Superdrug by the end of the month. It’s aimed at teens to draw them away from the expensive aisles of Sephora and towards products that are more playful and affordable. I’ve had a preview – it’s quirky and fun.
Look out too for the launch of La Beauté Louis Vuitton also towards the end of the month. 55 lipsticks, 10 balms and eight eye shadow quads. It’s going to be as high end (and expensive, no doubt) as beauty products can go and in keeping with the Louis Vuitton leather heritage will have accessories to house the products in. Pat McGrath is the creative director on this – according to Vogue, she had full access to the Louis Vuitton archives from which to draw inspiration.
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