022 - Midweek Mini-Byte: Tuesday, August 26th.

Aug 26, 2025

👋 Hello everyone.

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⭐️ = What excites me most this week.

I first learned of Sharon Chuter’s death (founder of Uoma and known for leading the Pull Up For Change initiative through Kirbie Johnson’s substack. It is definitely alarming and upsetting.
On Friday I posted about Ultra Violette’s Lean Screen Matte SPF recall, and of course the drama continues (on Reddit). As a result many are pointing to other products manufactured by the same supplier (Naked Sunday’s SPF - has now been pulled from Mecca shelves (not at Ulta yet - as of posting). A bunch of other brands are listed as well. Many are saying that Ultra Violette’s ‘voluntary recall’ on Friday was to preempt an inevitable recall by the TGA’s (the equivalent of the FDA in the US) recall. Additionally if you follow the Australian skincare subreddit - there is a growing discussion now about the efficacy of mineral sunscreens, due to the Choice testing fallout (I doubt this will really trickle over the US market, most people do not seem that in-tune but I will be watching this closely).
- Just for fun:
  - For some web-design inspo, this made me nostalgic for my CD-RW.
  - 🎂 The Birthday Simulator.
  - 🧃 Quanta Magazine: What does it mean to be thirsty?
  - Melissa & Doug released a beauty vending machine…get them young.
  - 🦖 New dinosaur alert.

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🧴 Skin / Personal Care:

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👩‍🦱 Haircare:

Beyonce’s Cecred launched a protection collection:
cecred
A post shared by @cecred

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👃 Fragrance:

Lore - a new fragrance brand from Melanie Bender, Rhode’s former chief executive, Youth to the People’s Joe Cloyes and Greg Gonzalez and Milk Makeup’s Mazdack Rassi. [BoF; Instagram].

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🦷 Oral Care:

⭐️ Fitt Insider: Lura Health scales invisible saliva sensors. Funding forgettable wearables.
⭐️ The Atlantic: Modern dentistry is a microplastic minefield. Dentists and orthodontists depend heavily on plastics and are beginning to weigh the tradeoffs.

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😅 Deodorant:

I went to Sephora the other day, and saw that Donna Karan is launching a mini of their popular Cashmere Mist anti-perspirant ($22)…seems smart to get through their regular size takes a very long time.

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💊 Supplements:

Tandy is Eric Ryan’s (Founder of Method, Olly, and Welly) newest venture, functional candy - and now launching essentially protein whoppers [Instagram].

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👩‍🔬 Femtech:

Iris Nutrition - a new hormonal support beverage co-founded by Demi Schweers, an influencer known for her own challenges with infertility post getting off of birth control [Instagram].
⭐️ Slate: New Speculum, who’s this? The most hated thing in your doctor’s office just got a much-needed glow-up.
Business Insider: The business of C-sections. Experts say hundreds of thousands of women each year undergo surgery they don't need — and the system rewards it.
- Not surprisingly this is like much of the U.S. healthcare system where a procedure pays out more significantly through insurance than other preventative or non-invasive approaches.
AP News: Doctors want women to know the nuanced reality of hormone therapy for menopause.

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🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...

Retail Brew: Premium and mass beauty are ‘converging’ as consumers seek value. Both segments saw sales lifts in H1 as fragrance and hair remain beauty standouts.
⭐️ WSJ: Walmart wins over more shoppers as tariffs push prices higher. Retail giant misses its earnings target but reports that U.S. comparable sales rose 4.6% in the latest quarter

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🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...

🧬 MIT Technology Review: I gave the police access to my DNA—and maybe some of yours. My relatives didn’t get a vote when I added my genetic profile to a crime-fighting database.
The Economist: The discovery of a gene for chronic pain could herald new treatments. Even diet might have an effect.
⭐️ Longevity startup Superpower is cutting prices by 60% [Endpoints News].
🧑‍🚀 Vox: Living on Mars would suck. The billionaire space race is a dangerous fantasy.
MIT Technology Review: Longevity enthusiasts want to create their own independent state. They’re eyeing Rhode Island. Zuzalu, a pop-up city in Montenegro has provided a temporary home for people who plan to set up a new jurisdiction to encourage biohacking and fast-track drugs that slow or reverse aging.
🥵 New York Times: In a hotter world, some people age faster, researchers find. Exposure to heat waves over just two years could add up to 12 extra days of age-related health damage.

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♻️ Sustainability: Sustainable Design

🪥 Fast Company: Most toothpaste tubes are recyclable. So why is nobody recycling them? Nearly every toothpaste on the market now uses recyclable packaging, but the system hasn’t caught up.
⭐️ The Established: How beauty industry greenwashing went from refillables to Instagram props. With charms and merchandise emerging as heroes, sustainability has been pushed to the fringes. Does this shift show a new face of the beauty industry’s greenwashing? (I just think they don’t care anymore…and consumers don’t really pay that close attention - and sales are sales).
🇮🇳 rest of world: Inside India’s billion-dollar e-waste empire. The informal recycling economy is turning global e-waste into profit — at a steep human and environmental cost.

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💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...

For those who used Makeup Alley - it is officially shutting down
realmakeupalley
A post shared by @realmakeupalley

Stressomic is the first wearable capable of continuously and simultaneously tracking cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in sweat, opening new doors for personalized stress monitoring and deeper insights into human stress biology [Science Advances].

Pinterest Predicts: The 2025 Pinterest Autumn Trend Report.
Bain: US Consumer Health Update. Consumer Health Indexes: Souring mood among US consumers across income spectrum threatens a potential negative inflection point ahead for demand.

💡 Enjoy,

-Anne

The Juicy Byte