Intimate Care is currently a growing category – it’s taken literally decades for this to be the case not least because nobody found resonating language to convey the brand missions. Luna Daily has taken an all-body approach that incorporates intimate care rather than being fully about just that one thing. No wonder that Unilever Ventures (the venture capital arm of Unilever) has led a new round of funding for Luna Daily. In fact, Luna Daily has many funders including angel investors and has been funded to the tune of £4.7 million after declaring a 1000% year on year increase in 2023. Luna Daily was founded in 2019 by Katy Cottam, ex brand marketing director for Charlotte Tilbury – if you can do that job, you can do anything 😉
Sephora has reportedly cut 3% of its Chinese employees (about 120 jobs) which reflects the general economic slowdown of the area. It’s really only a couple of years back that every beauty brand was trying to get themselves into China (remember all the hoo-ha about the mandatory animal testing?). They’re not the only brand that hasn’t experienced the supposed magic effect of China – ELC, Coty and L’Oreal have also struggled to bring in the expected sales.
A couple of BBNs back, I talked about Beauty Bakerie suddenly shutting up shop in April this year and its founder, Cashmere Nicole leaving a mysterious, partly religious message on Instagram by way of announcement. Beauty Bakerie had several financial backers, including Unilever Investments and New Voices Fund. The brand has now been sold to VC company, West Lane (who also bought Mented Cosmetics, famed for bringing nude lipsticks shade appropriate to women of colour). Apparently, Nicole remains in a ‘consultancy’ role won’t be involved in the day to day operations.
It looks as though The Body Shop is emerging from administration after The Aurea Group (venture capital), which is based in France, agreed to buy it out of insolvency. Nothing is completed as yet but the Group currently has investment in Dcypher, Herbivore and Scandinavian Biolabs.
Indie Lee, the ‘natural’ brand owned by ex-SpaceNK founder, Nikki Kinnaird’s investment company, Ancora, has been sold to the American Exchange Company which owns personal care brands Naturewell, Txtur and Found Active – all bought last year. What it means for the brand is expansion and a ticket into a new distribution network. Founder, Indi Lee, has recently recovered from surgery.
The FT has reported that THG is restructuring (again) with employee cuts across several divisions, including beauty and nutrition. In April, THG reported a pre-tax loss of £252m (ending Dec 2023) which is actually less than the year before. As well as cutting their staffing to the bone, THG is also insisting on employees in office five days a week citing detriment to their culture and ‘inconsistent adherence’. This is a topic cropping up across all business sectors and a five day in office week is becoming a requirement again. THG has recently announced a long term partnership with Frasers Group (Flannels, House of Fraser), selling their luxury brands (Coggles, MyBag and Allsole) to Frasers but continuing to support through tech and fulfilment.
SK:N Clinics – one of the UK’s biggest cosmetic surgery businesses (with over 70 UK branches) has ceased trading. This happened almost overnight, leaving customers turning up for appointments that no longer existed and deposits already paid. In existence since 1990, much of its work involved non-surgical procedures such as injectables. So far, no solid reason has been given for the sudden closure but its thought that the inability to secure further funding to stay viable. Given than every VC in the land is still aching for a share of the beauty market, not being able to secure funding speaks of other factors at play behind the scenes. Still, many employees find themselves without a job as the SK:N Clinics Group also included The Harley Medical Group, Skinbrands, ABC Medical and The Skin Experts.
Urban Decay have deployed a neat little marketing trick recently – a limited edition run of the original Naked Palette that first launched in 2010. I remember it clearly – and, like many others, still have it. Turns out it’s one of those palettes you just can’t bear to part with it. Urban Decay, owned by L’Oreal, has had a choppy time – a law suit in California regarding palettes containing titanium dioxide with ‘airborne, unbound particles of respirable size’, the closure of the UK Urban Decay website in 2023 and dwindling appeal, this limited edition re-release for Ulta customers has put Urban Decay back in the spotlight. A quick look on Reddit for consumer thoughts on Urban Decay found discontinuing products and lack of quality as top reasons for not buying the brand. Given that the original Naked palette sold over 30 million units, it seems inconceivable that they discontinued it at all, despite the various iterations that followed. Many Reddit commenters also still had their original palette which also tells you the story of why palettes are less popular than they were – you just don’t ever finish them up!
The recently announced bankruptcy of Avon Products, filed in Delaware, is a bit of a tangle. Avon Products is a subsidiary of Natura & Co (yes, the same company that bought then sold The Body Shop and also sold Aesop to L’Oreal) and is the holding company for Avon so while some activities in the US and UK will be affected, it’s business as usual for consumers. The Chapter 11 filing is to strategically off-load over $1bn debt, in part caused by the number of personal injury claims and settlements pertaining to talc in Avon products. First talc claim came in 2010 and the most recent claim for health problems relating to talc exposure saw the brand paying out $24.4 million. However, the talc claims are the catchy head-line – it’s the pandemic, a decline in recruitment of Avon representatives and increased competition that have all built to this.
Brand to know : Flower Knows is a Chinese make up brand making footprints into USA retail with a partnership with Urban Outfitters. It’s highly decorative with rococo inspired embossing on products and lavish packaging. A shade expansion plan tells us that Flower Knows is a brand ready to emerge from China – typically, Chinese make up shades are more subtle than other parts of the world – and, while there are no plans immediately to come to the UK, we can bet it’s on the to-do list.