017 - Midweek Mini-Byte: Tuesday, July 22nd.
Are travel sized products cooked, Jergens released a banger, skincare longevity vs anti-aging, smell sensitivities, WHOOP gets a warning, DNA as luxury, Phlur gets acquired, protein has yet to peak...
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⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
Futurism: A staggering proportion of teens say talking to AI is better than real-life Friends. "There's not a perfect plan for parents because they're up against giant corporations who are very invested in getting their kids on these products."
MIT Technology Review: A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data. Personally identifiable information has been found in DataComp CommonPool, one of the largest open-source data sets used to train image generation models.
🇨🇳 Jing Daily: Beauty boom, or bust? 618 soars, but June sales falter
Despite record-breaking 618 sales, China’s cosmetics retail sector dipped 2.3% in June, suggesting early promotions may be cannibalizing monthly growth.
With the TSA potentially announcing a change in the size of liquids allowed in carry-ons are travel-sized products cooked?…I don’t think so.
Just for fun:
How Americans use their time.
😵💫 The New Yorker: The Leaning Tower of New York. How a luxury condo building in Manhattan went sideways…I look at this everyday.
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
🇰🇷 TirTir - skincare and makeup celebrating individuality [Instagram].
🇷🇺 The Act - offering body care, skincare, haircare, and personal care for kids [Instagram].
🇰🇷 Sennok - a personal care brand based around bathhouse culture [Instagram].
🇷🇺 Gotapa - portable skincare for urban adventures [Instagram].
⭐️ I cannot say I have thought much about Jergens in a very very long time, but I came across an interesting launch. Jergens Lotion Bursts, stars and hearts in a solid format that melt into a lotion - sold on TikTok Shop. This is interesting for a few reasons, since I have not seen big CPG successfully really leverage TikTok Shop…and more specifically create a product for this audience, very cool.
BeautyMatter: Skincare recession — understanding beauty's most notable slowdown.
⭐️ Elle: Why is everyone talking about ‘skin longevity’? Anti-aging is canceled. Welcome to the era of the beauty biohack. Right now it feels like a reframing of anti-aging - and sure there are more preventative measures like sunscreen and vitamin c that can slow signs of aging and help to reduce damage, there are also regenerative treatments. However, overall when I look at how the term is being used it is a replacement, the technology is not truly innovative. I am speaking with someone soon about this…so more to come.
👩🦱 Haircare:
Celebrity hair stylist Chris McMillan is launching is own haircare brand at Sephora [WWD; Instagram].
P&G has relaunched its waterless haircare line Gemz [Instagram]. P&G has tried to launch Gemz and its predecessor EC30 before, the positioning and proposition have not been a natural fit- although there have been some rebrands like Ethique that have done it well.
👃 Fragrance:
Coty launched a new fragrance brand called Origen [BusinessWire].
🇫🇷 Interparfums launched their own brand of fragrance Solférino Paris, its first proprietary brand of haute parfume - with 10 different scents [Instagram].
BoF: The fragrance market’s squeezed middle. Fragrance may be booming, but the premium category has cratered compared to high-end niche perfumes and affordable body and hair mists that have become an expansion focus for brands.
⭐️ Wired: The next thing you smell could ruin your life. Millions of people suffer debilitating reactions in the presence of certain scents and chemicals. One scientist has been struggling for decades to understand why—as she battles the condition herself.
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...
PYMNTS: Amazon raises prices on low-cost goods following tariffs - more here from the original reporting by WSJ.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...
Immersive “digital wellness” is the spa world’s latest upgrade blending VR, soundscapes, and biometric feedback to soothe overstimulated minds and rewire how we relax [WSJ].
⭐️ WHOOP received a warning letter from the FDA about its blood pressure insights [MobiHealth].
Anaphylm™* epinephrine sublingual film is the first and only orally delivered film from Aquestive is an alternative to an epi-pen and will receive and FDA decision by January 2026.
Wired: There’s Neuralink—and there’s the mind-reading company that might surpass it. Unlike Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface, Synchron’s doesn't require open-skull surgery, and it has an OpenAI chatbot baked in.
Ultrahuman launches Blood Vision - which will pair biomarker insights with wearable data [Instagram].
⭐️ Dazed: How displaying your DNA became a status symbol. The new beauty ideal isn’t about how you look on the outside anymore, but how good your insides look to the outside.
Dazed: You’ll look so much prettier’ — When your mum makes you get plastic surgery. Framed as care, encouragement or tradition, some parents push their children toward cosmetic surgery, leaving behind lasting emotional scars
Gizmodo: Humans are starting to talk more like ChatGPT, study claims. AI isn’t just getting into your writing. It’s also getting into your mind and then out of your mouth.
⭐️ The Atlantic: The new sun worship. Tanning is back. And this time, it’s not just about looking good.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...
TSG is acquiring Phlur - the masstige scent brand.
🔬RESEARCH
Google is using phone movement to better detect earthquakes [Science].
This meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials (totaling 3,918 participants) found that omega-3 supplementation significantly reduces aggressive behavior across a wide range of populations and settings [Aggression & Violent Behavior].
🧐 REPORTS
BeautyMatter X Market Defense: Amazon Q2 2025 - Top 25 Beauty and Personal Care Products.
⭐️ Bain: Peak Protein? Not Even Close. Consumers—especially the young—still want a protein boost.
An insightful look on the markets where protein is growing and what consumers are seeking.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne