012 - Midweek Mini-Byte: Tuesday, June 10th.
McKinsey X BoF on the state of beauty, cold plunge benefits in question, a smart dental floss detecting cortisol levels, analyzing kid's skincare routines on TikTok, hypebeast toothpaste. & much more.
👋 Hello everyone.
🔗 More about me.
Thank you for reading The Juicy Byte! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.
⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
Fast Company: CVS is giving its healthcare products a glow-up to lure you away from brand names. The pharmacy brand redesigned its packaging so customers can understand the products at a glance. The redesign still is keeping with using the same colors, shapes, tones as the leading brand in that category (which has been something CVS does masterfully).
Just for fun:
Underwater rugby is a growing sport, and I will step aside to give everyone else a chance…
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
🇰🇷 Moonseal - a brand based on moonlight - with earth conscious products [Instagram].
🇰🇷 Klapp - a Korean skincare brand manufactured in Germany [Instagram].
⭐️ 🇨🇳 Jing Daily: Have China’s beauty brands found their holy grail ingredient?
Tranexamic acid goes from bleeding medication to beauty superstar promising gentle brightening and dark spot fading. But can it dethrone niacinamide?
Tranexamic acid is a great alternative, in fact for those sensitive to niacinamide (which is pretty common) this is a wonderful alternative & it works for well on stubborn hyperpigmentation…so gold stars all around.
👩🦱 Haircare:
Messy by Alli Webb - founder of Drybar - is launching a new hair care brand at Sephora backed by Unilever Ventures [WWD; Instagram].
Bananal — High-sensitivity fragrance cosmetic brand, Banana [Instagram].
👃 Fragrance:
An interesting article in Beauty Independent by Rachel Brown on the rise of decanting websites - creating an accessible model for younger consumers to try out pricey fragrances…and also a smart way to try before you buy (if you cannot get your hands on a sample).
🧺 Homecare:
⭐️ 🇰🇷 Living Workshop - offering homecare items (laundry, dishsoap, dishwasher detergent, dehumidifying garment holders - and much more) and fragranced handwash. Something I’ve never seen before - there is an option to shop for single person household - very very smart, would be great even for non-singles living in more cramped situations [Instagram].
🦷 Oral Care:
🇰🇷 SALTRAIN - probably the coolest looking hypebeast oral care brand I have ever seen…they also have hand cream, apparel, and other small good [Instagram].
💊 Supplements:
👶 🥜 GrowHappy, co-founded by world-renowned pediatric allergists, has launched Allergen ImmunoButters™—real food-based spreads designed to help parents introduce allergens Early & Often™ in line with LEAP research, supporting immune training, food freedom, and healthy gut development in babies starting as young as 4 months [Instagram].
🐕 Pet Care:
Interesting - the company Signs has created pheromones for dogs, cats, and bunnies to cue safety at home. Perhaps it is also something that would be good when travelling with a pet to help with adapting to a new environment.
👩🔬 Femtech:
Independent: Menopause treatment linked to longer survival in breast cancer patients. A study has found that estrogen creams may improve survival rates, despite previous fears they could stimulate cancer cell growth.
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...
Wired: Walmart goes big with drone delivery expansion. Walmart, with its partner Wing, plans to bring drone delivery to 100 new stores in five new US cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa.
⭐️ 404 Media: TSA working on haptic tech to 'feel' your body in virtual reality. The tech would "detect the contour of a target (a person and/or an object) at a distance, optionally penetrating through clothing" and transmit it to a haptic feedback glove.
⭐️ Muskat - a new platform showcasing the up & coming Korean beauty brands [Beauty Independent; Instagram]. If you are interested in discovering K-Beauty brands and in NYC (and online) - check out senti senti [Instagram].
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...
Vox: We’re secretly winning the war on cancer. The quiet revolutions that have prevented millions of cancer deaths.
⭐️ 💜 MIT Technology Review: Why doctors should look for ways to prescribe hope. Positive thinking is linked to better health outcomes. Hopefulness seems especially important. I love this, the importance of mindset - and believing the outcomes will work out is crucial.
🇨🇳 Jing Daily: China’s wellness renaissance. Health becomes the new luxury. From boutique fitness studios to tech-based biometrics, Chinese consumers are investing in health like never before.
♻️ Sustainability: Sustainable Design🇨🇭 🍄 Empa researchers developed a living, biodegradable material from split-gill mushroom mycelium and its natural extracellular matrix—offering strong, edible, and tunable properties that could revolutionize sustainable packaging by enabling compostable films, active waste-degrading bags, and smart humidity-reactive wraps.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...
It is official L’oreal Groupe to acquire a majority stake in Medik8.
🔬RESEARCH
🥶 For all the cold-plungers out there, a new study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, suggests while cold plunges may reduce inflammation, new research suggests the recovery benefits could be outweighed by reduced muscle blood flow and protein synthesis—meaning you might be chilling your gains.
🦷 A new smart dental floss uses thread-based microfluidics and graphene sensors to detect salivary cortisol in real time—offering a precise, noninvasive way to monitor daily stress as a wellness metric [Biological and Medical Applications of Materials and Interfaces].
New research reveals CD4⁺ T cells—best known for their role in HIV—can infiltrate the brain during emotional memory recall, triggering anxiety and depression-like symptoms and redefining the immune system’s role in mood regulation [Nature Communcations].
⭐️ A new study analyzing TikTok skincare videos by users under 18 found that many regimens averaging $168 and 6 products each rarely include sunscreen and often expose children as young as 7 to ingredients linked to irritation, allergic reactions, and sun sensitivity, despite offering little benefit for young skin [Pediatrics].
🧬 New research debunks the taurine-aging link, levels do not decline with age and vary so widely between individuals that taurine likely isn’t a reliable biomarker for aging after all [Science].
🧐 REPORTS
⭐️ BoF X McKinsey: The State of Fashion — Beauty Volume 2. 💄
Beauty is booming—and it’s not slowing down. The global beauty market is expected to hit $580B by 2027, outpacing both fashion and luxury. The report highlights three major shifts defining the future:
Science as Status: With 56% of shoppers researching ingredients before purchase, brands are being pushed to prove efficacy with real science—not just story.
Social Commerce > Sephora: Nearly 50% of Gen Z beauty shoppers are buying directly through TikTok and Instagram, reshaping the path to purchase around speed, virality, and trust.
Mass x Prestige Is the New Normal: 63 percent of consumers do
not think premium beauty products are higher-performing than mass beauty ones.
🇨🇳 🐶 Daxue Consulting: China’s Pet Economy 2025.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne
oof that tiktok study - sunscreen is really one of the only things someone under 18 years old needs on their face!