084 - What I'm Reading: Week of March 3rd.
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⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
💭 This week: Toilet paper & forever chemicals, a gum for canker sore relief, menstrual pads on a roll, a personalized concept for menopause symptom relief, a vibrating pill for constipation, gut microbiota’s connection to dementia & cancer treatment, a deep dive into men’s skincare and more…
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
The winners of the 2023 Gizmodo Science Fair.
Inverse Daily: The 7 most futuristic concept devices from MWC 2023.
🧻 Fast Company: Your toilet paper is full of forever chemicals - well that is great.
Just for fun:
🧱 Amos Sweets launched a gummy in the style of building blocks (they resemble Legos) - the pieces actually fit together - merging fun & food.
🦷 💰 Axios: Tooth Fairy pulled by inflation
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
🇮🇳 Namaskar Ayurved - Mumbai based Ayurvedic based solutions for skin, hair, & body with topicals and supplements [Instagram].
🇦🇺 Remi - a sustainable skincare brand from Australia - selling moisturizing stones for day & night [Instagram].
🇦🇺 🤰 Mere Botanicals a natural skincare line designed for pregnancy preparation and postpartum - spotted on Thingtesting [Instagram].]
Macrene Actives - the clean / clinical skincare line from dermatologist Dr. Macrene Alexiades is launching a Sephora exclusive line called the “Skin+Earth Collection”. Her formula philosophy is based on clean and high quality ingredients and the line-up of products is down to five SKUs ranging from $95-$225. As an investor and someone in the business, this is a weird point of pride: “My tinted moisturizer lasts six months; my clients could have gone through 10 other bottles of another product by now… that’s the generosity and height of excellent craftsmanship.”
🦶 Bare August - a startup dedicated to foot care.
Just Ingredients launched a full-body deodorant cream.
1Saves20 is a new personal care brand for body & hair based on water saving - offering out of the shower cleansing solutions [Beauty Independent].
Cotrini, is a new premium skincare line from Everbrands launching next week [Instagram].
CNBC: Those Il Makiage makeup ads are everywhere — here’s the story behind them.
Beauty Independent: Kind To Biome, a tester And certifier of microbiome-friendly products, grows client roster - a look at different skin microbiome certification companies.
👩🦱 Haircare:
BeautyMatter: The hair trends set to take over in 2023.
🦷 Oral Care:
⭐️ Zinbi - canker sore relief chewing gum.
🇮🇳 Live-a-bit - a look at India’s first environmentally conscious oral care brand [YourStory].
💊 Supplements:
🔊 Sound - a military approved bar formed with ‘ultrasonic energy’.
👃 Fragrance:
Maesa launched a new home care fragrance brand at Dollar General called Kōze Place. The line includes: scented candles, wax melts, diffuser oils and air & fabric refresher sprays.
👩🔬 Femtech:
Joi - a women’s telehealth company founded by Josh and Katy Whalen launched in the U.S. It offers menopause, sexual health, weight loss, & anti-aging/longevity support through labs, online consultations, and prescription medication. For weight loss, they are offering the popular Ozempic class of drugs.
⭐️ Egal, a period equity startup, is launching a pads on a roll concept. It is kind of genius.
⭐️ A cool concept from Morrama called Luna - offering tailor-made menopause solutions based on AI and 3D printing.
Rural hospitals are closing contributing to the rise of maternity deserts [NYT].
🇪🇸 👏 Spain became the first country in Europe to offer paid menstrual leave.
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more.
⭐️ 🇬🇧 Sourcerie - founded by Kristin Cardwell and Alex Beyer (formerly of L’Oreal & Palantir) - is a personalized beauty marketplace - selling skincare, bodycare, and haircare. Users can shop based on quiz results or by ‘need’ [Instagram].
🎯 PYMNTS: Target sees ‘explosive’ growth of private label sweets amid inflation.
Retail Brew: Amazon is leaning into virtual influencers to engage younger consumers.
🇰🇷 Daxue Consulting: South Korea’s live commerce market is thriving due to rising demand for “ontact” services.
Forbes: Despite the pandemic and inflation, luxury brands are once again showing their resilient.
CNBC: Target bets on e-commerce by investing $100 million in hubs to speed up delivery.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and More...🧊 NEO.LIFE: Palm cooling comes of age - some see it as an unlock to athletic performance.
🧠 MIT Technology Review: How your brain data could be used against you.
Pew Research Center: 60% of Americans would be uncomfortable with provider relying on AI in their own health care.
STAT: The FDA plans to regulate far more AI tools as devices. The industry won’t go down without a fight.
🏄♀️ Sportico - Americans are more active post-COVID.
Crunchbase News: Special series - black-founded startups attract funding by filling gaps in health care equity.
⭐️ Vibrant is developing solutions - in the form of a vibrating pill to help ease the pain of chronic constipation.
Morning Consult: The public’s use of health apps and wearables has increased in recent years. But digital health still has room to grow.
🗣 Social Media: News about TikTok, Meta, BeReal, Snapchat, Twitter...
Fast Company: Brands have an Instagram engagement problem, and it’s getting worse.
Snapchat is getting in on the ChatGPT game with an AI powered chatbot called “My AI”.
Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At - Social media is dying.
♻️ Sustainability: Sustainable DesignNYT: How climate change is making tampons (and lots of other stuff) more expensive.
The Atlantic: The world is finally cracking down on ‘greenwashing’.
🔬RESEARCH
Artificial sweetener have been linked to blood clot formation and strokes/heart attacks in mice [Nature Medicine].
🇯🇵 Researchers in Japan identified three gut microbiota found in those who have Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). This could be very helpful for earlier diagnosis and prevention [Nature].
🧌 A link between childhood nightmares as predictor of cognitive impairment and/or Parkinson’s disease later in life [eClinicalMedicine].
New findings suggest gut microbiota may play in an important role in the efficacy of cancer treatments - a potential breakthrough for pancreatic cancer treatment [Nature].
🧐 REPORTS
🇨🇳 Euromonitor International: Quality, Timing, and E-commerce - How C-Beauty is Winning with Chinese Consumers.
🇨🇳 Daxue Consulting: Shifting perceptions of money among Chinese millennials.
Spate: Spate Face Serum Trends Report.
Thingtesting: These men's skincare brands want to convince men to invest in their skincare routines.
eMarketer: How the beauty category is faring in 5 charts.
Visual Capitalist: Consumer Price Inflation, by Type of Good or Service (2000-2022).
Selva Ventures: State of the Venture Market in CPG.
eMarketer: Global Retail Ecommerce Forecast - Welcome to the Slower-Growth New Normal.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne