The Biggest Trends In The Beauty
Industry
The beauty industry has been on a tear for years. There are some
submarkets that are exceptions, like the mass beauty markets, but overall
the business of beauty continues to defy gravity. Even multibrand stores,
which in other consumer sectors have a questionable future, are
performing. Stefano Curti, global president of Markwins Beauty Brands,
pointed out to me that half the growth in beauty is online. But that implies
that half the growth is in stores. It’s hard to find another market segment
where that’s true.
There are three unique circumstances that continue to prop up the beauty
industry:
1. Consumers, mostly women, are on a journey of exploration.
They are enjoying new products and finding new brands. This
is part of a larger generational shift of younger consumers
rejecting the large brands their parents preferred and seeking
out locally-made, artisanal, natural products in all consumer
categories. The need to be Instagrammable at all times also
helps.
2. Young, independent brands (great examples are listed below)
are supporting a surge in creativity. It seems like every day
there is a new brand with a new idea about how to become or
remain beautiful. Entrepreneurship is boiling over in the
beauty industry. These young brands are supported by the
physical retail beauty channel.
3. Acquisitions by the major beauty companies of ever-smaller
companies at very high values are drawing in more founders
and driving more creativity every day. The acquisitions are
taking place because the big beauty brands are threatened by
the young, independent brands that consumers want now.
This set of circumstances, or something close to it, has happened before in
other consumer sectors. It never goes on forever. It’s been running for a
long time in the beauty industry and while it is certain to end at some
point, there’s no telling what will make the bottom fall out or when that
will happen.
I caught up with Jennifer Hessel, an industry consultant and L’Oreal
alumna, who told me there are four major trends that the fastest-growing,
young brands are taking advantage of now:
The Instant Fix: This refers to the age-old desire for instant
gratification, focused on the skincare segment. Products that
allow a consumer to see immediate improvement in bags or
lines or brightening are often in this class.
The Doll Look: Using heavy makeup or surgery to create a
look is more porcelain-like, smooth and perfect. It doesn’t
aspire to be natural-looking — it’s about flawlessness and it’s
taken deep root in the makeup and hair businesses. Most
recently, L’Oreal acquired my firm’s client, Pulp Riot Hair, in
a perfect example of the trend.
Skin Care From The Earth: The skin category continues
to explode with more natural, clean and even food-standard
products. There is a perception that skin and mind are linked
and there's a connection between skin care and wellness. It’s
the opposite direction from where makeup is going.
Customization and Personalization: Using data and
customer input to create products for a universe of one is a
new form of luxury.
There’s a conference in New York at the end of this month called Beauty &
Money that crystallizes all of the above trends. Beauty & Money puts
investors and young beauty companies together. In advance of the
conference, the organizers ran a competition with a panel of beauty
industry experts to choose 12 startup stars. All those companies fit into
the above trends. Here they are:
1. Hello Ava: The idea is Stitch Fix for your face. You pay $10 (usable as a
credit for purchases), answer questions, and the company use human
intelligence and data science to find the best products for you. Right now,
it only sells other people’s brands but over time it is planning to
develop its own. Hello Ava refer to itself as “the brains behind your
beauty.”
2.Patchology: It took the patch technology that’s used by big pharma for
transdermal drug delivery and applied it to skin care. Its CEO told me
it can “deliver millions more molecules per centimeter than creams or
lotions.” That is resonating with consumers. The company is in Neiman-
Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks, Blue Mercury, Urban Outfitters, Madewell,
Sephora (EU and Russia), Harvey Nichols (U.K. and Hong Kong) and
many others. Plus, it has over 65,000 Instagram followers.
3.EirNYC: Eir (the name is the Norse god of healing) makes unisex
skincare products for people with an active lifestyle who want clean,
natural, sustainable products that also alleviate inflammation and pain.
Eir believes there are no other products that address the markets of both
beauty, wellness and pain relief simultaneously. It is produced in
Brooklyn, New York.
4.Olive + M: I met Mariska Nicholson, the founder of Olive+M, at
the Indie Beauty Expo. She has a culinary school degree and thought
about beauty products the way most people think about food, wanting to
create a line that was "simple and effective." She told me, "Olive + M
wanted to be born and she just chose me as her person." Olive+M makes
all-natural, olive oil-based skin and body products she calls “food for your
skin.” The products are targeted at all users and the brand has plans to
introduce a men’s line and mommy-baby products as well.
5.SiO Beauty: SiO uses medical grade silicon to create wrinkle-
smoothing patches that stay on your skin comfortably as you sleep; when
morning comes your skin is smoother, firmer and more hydrated. SiO is
in a subsector of the burgeoning mask market and its product is primarily
under $2 to use per day. Sales reportedly tripled in 2017 and tripled again
so far in 2018. SiO markets primarily through social media and micro-
influencers (under 100,000 followers) who post about the product
because of its efficacy. Its Instagram following has doubled since January.
6.Urban Skin Rx was previously profiled on Forbes.com and is the first
company to win the Beauty & Money Spotlight Award twice. Founder
Rachel Roff opened a spa in Charlotte, North Carolina 12 years ago and
found that although 50% of the women in the south are African-
American, Roff could not find products that provided adequate skin care
for women with darker skin. Over time she developed a skincare
technology she calls Cleartone Advanced Technology and eventually
created her own line of products with her unique ingredients. Although
she still operates the spa, that business is dwarfed by the skincare
business, which continues to grow very rapidly. Most of its sales are
on from its website but the product is also available at Target and other
retailers.
7.Kreyol Essence: This company works with farmers in Haiti to produce
natural beauty products for dry hair and skin. Kreyol Essence’s signature
products are Haitian Black Castor Oil and Moringa Oil and they have
hired over 350 farmers in Haiti so far, with almost all their employees
being women and 98% of their products being exported. Conscious
Company Media called the founder one of the Top Conscious Global
Business Leaders of 2018. I think of this company as “farm to hair-and-
skin.”
8.SA.AL & Co. is pronounced Sahl and makes skincare products for men.
The CEO told me, “it’s masculine like a Porsche but not like a Dodge
Viper, which is overly masculine.” Selling men’s skin care is different than
women’s in many important ways, not the least of which is how it’s sold.
Retailers who sell men’s fashion don’t sell much skin care and the big
beauty retailers don’t sell a lot of men’s products. Instagram is also not
effective for men’s skin care. So the company has had its initial success in
Europe and is now contemplating a U.S. entry and developing its strategy.
9.Doll 10: The founder of Doll 10, a former Mrs. America, told me, “We
marry skin care with cosmetics products and take the intimidation factor
out of makeup…[we allow women to] get dolled up in ten minutes or less,
with clinically proven beauty solutions.” It does it by producing products
that multitask, one product performs skin care and acts as a primer,
foundation and setting powder all in one. Importantly, of all the Spotlight
Award winners, Doll 10 is the most proven out: It has been in business
longer than the others and have demonstrated growth and longevity in
multiple channels, including QVC. Doll 10 has about 140,000 Instagram
followers.
10.Recess: Recess makes single-use, disposable body, face and deodorant
wipes and hair blotters. The products combine clean ingredients,
biodegradability and convenience and are suitable for sensitive skin. Body
wipes like Recess' are very popular in Asia. Because so many Asian beauty
trends have become popular in the U.S., Recess is attempting to get in
front of a coming trend. Right now the products are only sold online by
Recess direct-to-consumer.
11.PROVEN: PROVEN Skin Care calls itself “beauty with brains” and its
CEO told me, “we are…a data and technology company more than a
skincare company.” Consumers answer a questionnaire and PROVEN
uses artificial intelligence to compare answers to one of the largest
databases in the industry that has over eight million testimonials and
reviews from over 4,000 scientific journal articles about more than a
100,000 products and 20,000 skincare and beauty ingredients. PROVEN
formulates proprietary products relevant to a customer’s genetic
background, age, local climate and environmental quality, ethnicity and
skin issues and adapt the product as the customer ages and changes. It
will be launching in early October.
12.Vendome Beaute France: The founder of this makeup and skincare
line told me she was tired of “monolithic, corporate beauty brands that
are boring and interchangeable.” She wanted “poetry, uniqueness and
charm,” and on a trip to France was intrigued by the “unapologetic
femininity” of French women. She believes that consumers are saying,
“I’m paying a lot of money for you, I want you to charm me and romance
me.” Thus was born Vendome Beaute France. The products have been
sold on the company’s site and, not surprisingly, are now getting traction
in French department stores and retailers. The products all use
aromacology, as the founder says, ”elevating your mood, relaxing you,
making you feel better.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2018/09/09/beauty-industry-biggest-trends-
skin-care-loreal-shiseido-lauder/#12b51baa6982. Consultado 28-08-19
