Beneath the Surface
Beauty’s New Value Equation: Price Sensitivity Shifts To Performance Sensitivity
Despite ongoing economic pressure, beauty ended 2025 with mass and prestige sales growing within a single percentage point of each other, a convergence that indicates a new consumer definition of value. According to market research firm Circana,...
K-Beauty’s Resurgence Has Been Remarkable. Now, J-Beauty Seeks Its Own.
K-Beauty’s resurgent second wave is creating a ripple effect across the global beauty industry. In neighboring Japan, several cosmetic, skincare and haircare brands are making moves into the United States, attracting consumers as well as retailers and...
Beauty’s New Transparency Isn’t About Ingredients. It’s About Money.
In a TikTok post from Dec. 24, founder Chelsea Branch reveals her hair tools brand Kōv Essentials reached a six-figure revenue milestone in its first month and crossed $1 million in first-year sales, all without spending...
Dua By AB Science And The High-Stakes Gamble Of Diffusion Brands
Economic fragility, changing generational spending patterns and a deepening consumer belief that higher-priced beauty products don’t deliver meaningfully better performance than cheaper alternatives are pushing beauty companies to experiment with secondary brands to expand their market presence while...
Indie Brands Break Into Conglomerate-Dominated Professional Beauty Channel
For every brand that makes it on the shelf of a coveted retailer, there are hundreds vying for its spot, and in a fiercely competitive market, where failure at a retailer can cause permanent damage and...
Could The Spending Bill’s Hemp Provision Upend The U.S. CBD Industry?
A provision tucked into the federal spending bill passed on Nov. 12 to end the United States’ longest government shutdown could effectively ban most products containing cannabidiol, including gummies, tinctures, patches and salves that have flooded...
