Michelle Brett started her career as a travel agent before landing in beauty and working for L'Occitane and Living Proof. She worked her way up the ranks until January 2022, when she was appointed CEO of Ren, a buzzy British skin-care brand hoping to make a bigger splash in the U.S.market. “I had fallen in love with Ren in 2002 in London. Ren has always been a brand that has been differentiated. It’s always had a large niche consumer to serve and such a strong purpose,” Brett said on the latest Glossy Beauty Podcast episode. As a pioneer of clean skin care since its creation in East London in 2000, Ren has catered to sensitive skin. But as that conversation has become more mainstream, Ren sees itself as a leader in the space. In the last four months, Ren jumped from No. 56 to No. 24 in the U.S. skin-care brand earned media chart, according to Brett. Ren has made significant strides on the sustainability front: Last year, it met its 2018zero-waste goal, committing to using recyclable and reusable packaging made out of recycled material. But Brett wants to remind shoppers about how good the product is. "Our job is to show people what sensitive skin is … and how our products can work on sensitive skin, not irritate it, and also deliver benefits," said Brett.
As sustainable products and packaging further cement themselves as top initiatives for beauty companies, luxury French fragrance brand Guerlain, owned by LVMH, is at the forefront of innovation. At the helm of these initiatives is Cécile Lochard, the brand's chief sustainability officer. Lochard joined Guerlain in January 2019 and was quickly promoted to her current role, a first for the brand, in March 2020. That Lochard was not your typical tried-and-true beauty executive -- she came from World Wildlife Fund -- has enabled the heritage brand to be nimble and experimental. "I was working for WWF because I was fond of animals. And I'm so lucky that integrated into Guerlain's purpose is to preserve the bee, the sentinel of the environment and the first pollinator," Lochard said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. Under Lochard's leadership, bee preservation, biodiversity regeneration, climate change, eco-packaging and women's empowerment have been some of the biggest areas of the brand's focus. Alongside UNESCO, the company launchedWomen for Beesin July 2021, a five-year female beekeeping entrepreneurship program. The entrepreneur program is just one of the many ways the brand is sticking true to its mission.
Digiday Media is proud to present The Return, a podcast about what the return to the office can look like as corporate America adapts to the new, not quite post-pandemic normal. The Return follows the staff at one Atlanta-based advertising agency through Covid outbreaks, as well as the highs and lows of transitioning to hybrid work after two years of pandemic lockdown and working remotely. While the future of work is still under construction, employees across the country are forging their own paths to determine what that future looks like amidst parenthood, corporate mandates, long commutes and an ever-looming pandemic. The Return is hosted by Kimeko McCoy, senior marketing reporter at Digiday, and produced by Digiday audio producer Sara Patterson. Listen to The Return on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Bubble Skincare has been one of the most talked-about Gen-Z-focused beauty brands since launching in November 2020. “My passion was always about creating brands that could emotionally connect to consumers,” said founder and CEO Shai Eisenman on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. Eisenman began her entrepreneurial journey at just 21 years old. Out of the gate, Bubble launched its affordable skin-care products with fun packaging through its own direct-to-consumer website, but in June 2021, it went big, launching in 3,900 Walmart stores. While Walmart was seemingly an unusual beauty retailer to partner with, Eisenman said that 42% of U.S. teens shop at Walmart once or twice a month for skin-care products. Since its debut, Bubble has seen week-over-week sales growth in Walmart, and Bubble has been a key pillar of theretailer's larger beauty strategy. Since the very beginning, Bubble has engaged with Gen Z; the company’s first focus groups were comprised of teens who provided feedback on the brand’s initial product lineup and formulations, as well as branding and marketing strategies. Eisenman engaged friends and family members' teens in exchange for Sephora gift cards. Looking ahead, Bubble is focused on further customizing its product offerings to satisfy customers' wants and needs. Additionally, the company is launching over-the-counter products which will enable it to steal more market share from heritage skin-care brands like Clearasil and Neutrogena.
In 1989, the six co-founders of beauty brand Lush created the now-iconic bath bomb. From there, they haven’t looked back. Lush was officially founded in 1995 as an ethical beauty brand, which now has nearly 1,000 global stores, 210 stores of which are in the U.S. Its bath, skin and hair products are sold via its DTC website and owned brick-and-mortar stores. Amid today's common need among beauty brands for wholesale distribution, Lush has managed to remain independent, setting its own agenda. “We're trying to create a cosmetic revolution and trying to get people [on board],” said Rowena Bird, one of the co-founders, on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast. From the start, Lush has always favored minimalism and activism. Early on, with a small budget, the company’s co-founders decided to minimize excess packaging. It is a part of the brand's DNA that has been maintained to this day; now nearly 60% of Lush’s products are sold without any packaging and are referred to as "naked." Its revolutionary agenda also extends to social justice campaigns. Lush uses in-store campaigns, like a 2015 "Gay is OK" U.K.-focused campaign, as a form of social justice education for consumers. In 2015, Lush used its retail stores as billboards when launching the limited edition Love Soap, with 100% of every sale going to the Love Fund that supports the LGBTQ+ community. It raised nearly $400,000 then and recently brought the special soap back in May to inform consumers of the "Don’t Say Gay" bill in Florida. In 2021, the company also took a bold stance regarding social media, after studies demonstrated the harm of social media to young people. Globally, Lush left Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook. When someone goes to the brand's Lush Instagram page, they are confronted with nine posts forming the phrase "Be somewhere else." Despite this stance negatively impacting sales and brand awareness, Bird said, “You have to look at your ethics rather than your bank balance, and think [about] what's right to do.” Since its inception, Lush has always been ahead of the curve, and still, many innovative plans are in the pipeline. The company is continuing to reduce packaging, developself-preserving productsto protect product freshness and become a carbon-positive company.
When indie makeup brand Lime Crime appointed Andrea Blieden as CEO in May 2020, her first order of business was to chart a more transparent and vocal era for the business. Despite being one of the first digitally-native indie makeup brands, Lime Crime was plagued by a series of controversial incidents in the2010s. In 2018, Lime Crime was acquired by Tengram Capital Partners. “It was time to start humanizing the brand and being transparent, because [our internal team works] transparently. I want us to operate with our customers in that same regard,” Blieden said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. Blieden is also focused oncontinuing Lime Crime’s legacy of never putting a price on creativity. As comparable beauty brands increase price due to supply chain and inflation, Lime Crime has dropped its prices. Its Glimmering Skin Stick went from $25 to $15, for example. Lime Crime’s recent expansion into Walmart, Target and Sally Beauty has helped offset the price drop strategy, she said.
Tina Bou-Saba didn't anticipate becoming a dedicated beauty investor, but the path become clearer once she started investing in indie brands. "A few years into investing as an individual, founders started telling me, 'Tina, you've been our best investor. Could you lead our next round?'" Bou-Saba said on the latest Glossy Beauty Podcast. Bou-Saba started her career in investment banking before transitioning to angel investing. As an angel investor, she was early to makeup brands like Kosas. "As a small individual investor, that was certainly not something that I could do, but it highlighted the opportunity for a specialist investor that could lead deals at the early stage and truly be a value-add," she said. In 2021, she co-founded Verity Venture Partners, a consumer-focused firm. The firm's focus is on female-founded beauty and wellness brands, and its portfolio brands include August, Dae and Noto. Bou-Saba said, "Independent beauty has been an incredible vehicle for female entrepreneurship. For me personally, that was something I was excited to get behind." Bou-Saba's said that, as an early-stage investor, she has to push herself and brands to think of what comes next and where consumers and the beauty industry are headed. "What I found, which gives me confidence, is that I have developed an informed perspective on the needs of [beauty and wellness] companies. I see the same questions coming up again and again," said Bou-Saba.
The Honey Pot is still only an 8-year-old indie brand, but co-founder, CEO and chief innovation officer Bea Dixon has seen her fair share of ups and downs. After a preservative system reformulation this year, the sexual wellness and feminine health brand has been involved in controversy since May. Customerstook to social mediato question the reformulated ingredient list, which now features the preservative phenoxyethanol and new emulsifiers. Rumors were even spreading that the company had been sold and was no longer Black-owned. In the latest Glossy beauty podcast, Dixon shares the pitfalls of going "viral." "We admitted to the fact that we could have communicated better," said Dixon. "You work so hard to do something, and when people feel like there's an opposite communication happening, you want so badly to prove that that's not the case. Sometimes it can almost be worse to do that because it looks like you're being reactive and like you're defending something. [I] try to find the fine line between not being defensive, but [rather] owning up, being vulnerable and being responsible.” However, Dixon states that the company's investors and retail partners have remained supportive throughout. "[They] understand the good preservative system, they understand things change, and they understand the complexity of social media," she said.Still, Dixon emphasized how important her customer's journey is, as the products came to life from a very personal experience.After suffering from bacterial vaginosis for eight months in 2014, Dixon woke up from a visionary dream from her grandmother with a list of ingredients to heal her condition. That led Dixon, who was then working as a buyer at Whole Foods, to found the brand as a plant-derived vaginal wellness brand. Glossy's Priya Rao spoke to Dixon about The Honey Pot’s founding story, growing list of retail partners and reformulation challenges that led to the recent social media backlash.
After becoming a mother in 2017, Sarah Paiji Yoo cut out all single-use plastics from her life for the sake of her family. In 2019, she took that practice a step further by creatingBlueland, a brand offering sustainable home goods and hygiene products. Blueland sellshand soaps,home cleaners,dish soapsandlaundry products, made with respective plant-based formulas. And all products come in a reusable bottle and are shipped in recyclable cardboard. Its newest product,body wash, released in May, further expands the brand into beauty. "Blueland tackles the bulkiest products people use in the personal care and beauty space," Yoo said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. In February 2022, Prelude Growth Partners, a female-founded growth equity firm, led Blueland’s fundraising round of $20 million. Blueland has raised a total of$35 millionto date from investors including pop star Justin Timberlake; Nicolas Jammet, CEO of Sweetgreen; and Jennifer Fleiss, co-founder of Rent the Runway.
After 15 years in the beauty industry holding various positions, Alisa Metzger founded Innbeauty Project in 2019. This clean beauty brand, which is aimed at Gen-Z consumers through an accessible pricing strategy, sells its products in major retailers like Sephora and Credo, as well as on its direct-to-consumer site. "If you think about the average [skin-care] product price and even the average [skin-care] routine being $100 and up, and then you match that with the average U.S. salary being less than $45,000 a year, it became really evident that clean skin-care was not something that most Americans can afford," Metzger said on the latest Glossy Beauty Podcast. Metzger worked with Jen Shane, co-founder of Innbeauty, at Tula when they noticed, “The wellness movement had taken over [beauty],” Metzer said. The early pioneers of clean beauty were at the forefront of the industry because the ingredient messaging resonated with consumers within the wellness movement. However, Metzger and Shane said they noticed that clean products at an accessible price point seemed nonexistent. The two were passionate about democratizing clean beauty.Innbeauty's prices range from $15 for a single lip oil to $120 for a 6-piece kit, which is still more affordable than the prices of individual products from some competitors. “We wanted to create a brand that spoke to [Gen Z] that didn’t exist. This industry is driven by innovation, which comes in many forms, including creating something that doesn't exist for an audience that's starving to consume," Metzger said. Metzer spoke to Glossy about the clean beauty industry, Gen-Z skin-care marketing and Innbeauty's future goals for further innovation in the beauty space.