Sarah Watt

Big brand movements this week ⤵️ 🌸 Boots UK is opening its first fragrance-only boutique in London’s Broadgate Central this autumn, stocking over 400 luxury and niche scents plus personalised consultations and premium concierge services. 🛫 Marks and Spencer has launched its first-ever airside food store at Heathrow T5, featuring the “Food on the Move” range where shoppers can pick up favourites like Percy Pigs, biscuit tins and Big Daddy chocolate bars. 👟 Clarks teased its new Pace trainer; the brand's first walking-first shoe is set to launch 1st August, designed to bridge comfort and performance with cushioning, arch support and shock‑absorbing soles. 💄Nicole Kidman is the new global face of Clé de Peau Beauté, helping elevate the luxury skincare brand’s international presence. 💗 Harry Styles’ Pleasing brand has broken into sexual wellness with “Pleasing Yourself”, featuring two new gender-inclusive products along with content around Planned Parenthood. 🚫 Marks and Spencer had an ad banned by the ASA for featuring a model who appeared “unhealthily thin”, an image it has since removed amid growing scrutiny of body image in fashion marketing. ➕ Follow me for weekly brand updates 📩 Subscribe to my brand new Substack: https://lnkd.in/dsGTnNqF

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REPORTING LIVE FROM BEANSTALK: BANSK GROUP TO BUY MAJORITY STAKE IN BYOMA FROM YELLOWWOOD PARTNERS Byoma, a brand founded on products that boost the skin's barrier with simple and effective formulations, is being acquired by Bansk Group, after being controlled by Yellow Wood Partners since 2020 Both of these PE groups are operating out of similar sized funds; with Yellow Wood’s most recent fund coming in at $750m in 2022, and Bansk at $800m in 2023. Bansk also owns beauty brands Amika, Ethique, and Eva NYC. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Byoma is reported to do around $300m in global retail sales and was asking 13-15x EBITDA. Unsurprisingly, Raymond James advised on the transaction. Beauty M&A was quiet for a period after Aesop ($2.5B, L’Oreal) and K18 (undisclosed, Unilever) Hero ($630m, Church & Dwight) and others traded in 2022 but has been back with a vengeance in 2025: - Medik8 (L’Oreal): $1B (8x sales) - Dr. Squatch (Unilever): $1.5B (rumored) - Rhode (E.L.F.) $1B (4.7x sales) - Touchland (Church & Dwight): $880m - Wild (Unilever): $286m (4.9x sales) Other beauty brands on M&A watch include: Prose, Bubble Skincare

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From Matcha’s mindful minimalism to Chocolate’s cozy nostalgia, flavour has become one of beauty’s most powerful storytelling tools — blending sensory cues with cultural signals. Last week I shared the 5 most popular flavours for lip treatments and here I share the 5 more niche flavours that are gaining popularity and have seen increased use in the last year. Some brands featured are: Glossier, Inc., Summer Fridays, LANOLIPS, NATURIUM, Laneige, Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, OLEHENRIKSEN, Marin Skincare, indē wild and more! Read the full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/dbjWYVxe This analysis is based on Mintoiro’s Lip Treatment Market Overview Report 2025, covering 43 product lines, 40 brands, and 304 SKUs. The full report explores how flavour strategy connects to packaging, pricing, retail positioning, and category growth. #BeautyTrends #LipCare #MarketResearch #BeautyIndustry #Mintoiro #BeautyStrategy #FlavourTrends

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🔥🧠FLAME DIGEST : GEN Z TEENS ARE REDEFINING BEAUTY (BCG REPORT) with FRAGRANCES OVERCAPTURING BOYS 🧠🔥 A new BCG study reveals a silent revolution: Gen Z teens are becoming the #1 growth engine of the beauty industry. 💄✨ Key insights you can’t ignore: • 💸 +45% growth in beauty spend vs. past generations – today’s teen girls spend $430/year on prestige beauty. • 👶 Record early entry: as young as 11.5 years old, teens start using skincare and fragrance. • 🌍 Teens already account for ~10% of the US beauty market = $1.7B fragrance, $1.7B skincare, $1.5B makeup. • 🌸 Fragrance is the new status symbol: • 75% of teens use fragrance regularly by age 13 • 60% of boys choose prestige fragrance (vs. 25% of girls) • Top teen fragrance brands: Sol de Janeiro, Dior, Juicy Couture, Bath & Body Works • Boys lean more prestige (Dior, Versace, Chanel) vs. girls who favor a mix of mass & prestige • 📲 70% consume beauty content daily on TikTok & Instagram – fragrance is now discovered on socials, not magazines. • 🛍️ Omnichannel shoppers: 95% shop beauty as a social activity with parents & friends, yet 40% distrust in-store sales associates. • 🤝 Trust rules: Teens trust parents 4.4x more and friends 2x more than influencers. 75% don’t fully trust influencers, citing paid promotion as the #1 reason. 💡 Key takeaway: Fragrance is no longer a finishing touch – for teens, it’s identity, self-expression, and social currency. The category is booming and driving premiumization across genders.

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Trying out some new video content on Linked in - let me know if you like it!! This vid explains the reason we created PÄRLA - Certified B Corp 🦷💙🌎 back in 2019 - just 3 Dentists from the UK on a mission to radically disrupt the outdated oral care market with science backed, clean ingredients in 100% plastic free packaging. Our mission at PÄRLA is simple: eradicate plastic from oral care. Think about this for a second - EVERY single tube of toothpaste you’ve ever used still exists somewhere on the planet. Plastic tubes take 500 years to break down. In the meantime, microplastics are entering our oceans and our ecosystems, our bloodstreams… even our breast milk(if you look at the recent research), being passed on to the next generation. And it’s not just the packaging. Most big-brand toothpastes are packed with cheap unnecessary ingredients, often purely commercially focused and not designed for the health of your mouth or body. We’re talking things like: Sodium Lauryl Sulphate - a harsh foaming agent usually derived from palm oil. Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891) - included purely to make the paste look white, but linked to concerns around genotoxicity (DNA damage). Artificial flavours and sweeteners. At PÄRLA, we take a different approach. Every ingredient has to fight for its place. If it isn't 100% necessary for delivering the absolute best product for your health and smile it doesn’t go in. What remains is the cleanest base formula with the right active ingredients, at the right dose - nothing unnecessary. So if you’re someone who already cares about what you put on your skin, the food you eat, or the products you use in your home… maybe it’s time to rethink what’s in your toothpaste too. It might be the simplest swap you make this year - and one of the most impactful. 🌎🦷💙

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Ami Colé just closed and Freck shuttered but it’s hard to understand why… These were beloved beauty brands with cult followings, Sephora placement, founder buzz, and passionate communities. It’s hard to accept that the beauty boom as we knew it is over, and the market is correcting hard. Here's what's really happening: 1️⃣ Strategics stopped buying Major beauty groups are cutting brands from their portfolios instead of collecting new ones. When you have too many underperforming assets, turnaround becomes more valuable than acquisition. 2️⃣ Color cosmetics economics are brutal Inclusive shade ranges add massive complexity. You need 40+ SKUs just to serve everyone properly. That means inventory investment, slower velocity, and capital requirements most indie brands can't sustain. 3️⃣ The margin vs. moodboard problem Pretty packaging and viral marketing don't equal profitability. Without a hero product that people repurchase religiously, brands burn through funding trying to create the next viral moment. 4️⃣ The patience economy disappeared Investors and retailers want results in 12-18 months, not 3-5 years. The days of building slowly and sustainably are gone. What this means for beauty: The brands surviving will be the ones that operate lean, build actual repurchase behavior, and know exactly who they're for. At Fazit , this reality shaped everything from our streamlined SKU strategy to our focus on one hero product category to our emphasis on functional performance and rely less heavily on an unknown viral POP. Tolerance for brands without clear economics is shrinking. Which beauty brands do you think have the fundamentals to survive this correction?

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Isn’t it interesting how we put on our best for external meetings, but often overlook the people right next to us? One thing I’ve learned over time is this, don’t take internal stakeholder relationships lightly. It’s easy to focus on the client, the board, or the partner outside the business, but the people you work with every day often carry the biggest load. And you never really know whose help you’ll need tomorrow. That’s why maintaining strong relationships across teams is essential. You may think someone’s role doesn’t directly affect your work, until you're stuck and they’re the one with the solution you need. That’s why support, respect, and consideration must go both ways. One way you can show that is by keeping people informed especially when you’ll be working together. Involve them early. Align on the goal. Let them prepare. You’ll avoid last minute pressure, reduce friction, and build better collaboration. But life isn’t always tidy. There are moments when a task drops in without warning, and you need all hands on deck. When that happens, you lead with clarity and humility. Don’t assume people will just fall in line. Communicate the urgency, explain the situation, and show that you trust their ability to handle it. Because in the long run, it’s not just about the work getting done. It’s about how people felt doing it. That’s what determines whether they’ll show up the next time with the same energy or even better. Nasser Ntege Stuart Birungi

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