126 - What I'm Reading: Week of January 5th
Happy New Year! Before the CES madness begins next week...two big beauty scoops close out 2023, longevity & menopause, unlocking hunger, blood type & strokes, sunscreen in arctic snow & more...
👋 Hello everyone.
🔗 More about me.
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⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
Modern Retail: After a bumpy year, consumer investors begin planning for 2024.
Wired: The year the Millennial internet died — From Tumblr to Gawker, the sites and voices that defined the 2010s are gone or changed. There is no happy ending to this story.
Just for fun:
🤠 Good news generator from CNN.
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
YAWN makeup/cosmetics for 3+ year olds. They sell both merch & makeup - the makeup products are very light on color pay-off…and are meant to a ‘non toxic’ solution [Instagram].
Cool as a Cucumber - a new skincare brand targeting adult acne [Instagram; Beauty Independent].
🕷️ ICYMI - Sol de Janeiro - body butter spider drama…its not true.
👩🦱 Haircare:
🇩🇪 niostem, a wearable to aid in hair regrowth, claiming to show results in 6-months.
👃 Fragrance:
🇨🇳 Jing Daily: China fragrance trends 2024, from TCM to unisex scents.
💊 Supplements:
👩🔬 Femtech:
The New York Times: More women who are not pregnant are ordering abortion pills just in case.
A study by Maven Clinic shows how virtual doula care is able to improve birth experiences and reduce C-sections.
⭐️ Bloomberg: The biggest breakthrough in longevity may start with menopause.
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...
🇨🇳 🇰🇷 Chaileedo: Chinese cosmetic exports to South Korea rise 190%.
Retail Dive: Consumers could return $82.1B worth of holiday merchandise, survey finds.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...
Inverse: We are about to enter the golden age of gene therapy.
⭐️ MIT Technology Review: We’ve never understood how hunger works. That might be about to change.
⭐️ The Atlantic: Whatever Happened to Zika? The problem with jumping between emergencies.
The Undark: Advances in mind-decoding technologies raise hopes (and worries) - neurorights has yet to catch up.
🗣 Social Media: News about TikTok, Meta, BeReal, Snapchat, X...
🇬🇧 The Guardian: Almost half of British teens feel addicted to social media, study says.
The Hustle: Teenagers are obsessed with YouTube — and so is everyone else. The platform is well on its way to a 2024 takeover.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...
Unilever acquires K18 - the popular haircare company that made its mark during the pandemic for its bond-repairing leave-in perfect for the slicked backed buns.
Shiseido to acquire Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare [BoF].
OG beauty influencer Jacyln Hill’s makeup brand ‘Jaclyn’ shuttered as part of Forma Brands’ post-bankruptcy restructuring.
Cannuka the CBD/honey personal care startup shutters [Beauty Independent].
🔬RESEARCH
A study found that 13 common chemicals found in personal care products were present arctic snow - this includes common UV filters used in sunscreen and a number of common fragrance compounds used in many personal care products [Science of the Total Environment].
New research shows those with blood-type A at higher risk for early-onset strokes [Neurology].
⭐️ 🐭 GLP-1 for weight-loss is undeniably one of the biggest topics of last year, what is more interesting is the larger research being conducted to understand how and why we gain weight. This research is incredibly important to uncover more long-lasting solutions to metabolic disorders that come with potentially fewer side effects. A new study out of Vanderbilt, conducted on mice, found that mice who received antibiotics at a young age and exposed to a high fat diet, were more susceptible to obesity. The reason, their gut Lactobacillus supply became depleted due to the antibiotics, preventing the production of phenyllactic acid. Phenyllactic acid is able to block fat secretion in intestinal epithelial cells. When the researchers gave mice phenyllactic acid the issues with fat transfer went away. [Cell Host & Microbe].
🧐 REPORTS
⭐️ Dazed Beauty: Beauty trends 2024 — Girlhood-core evolves into New Romantics 2.0
MIT Technology Review: The worst technology failures of 2023.
Creative Bloq: The best and worst new logo designs of 2023.
🇨🇳 Finance China: Xiaohongshu releases 2023 lifestyle trends: listening to advice, citywalk, conspicuous bags.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne