202 - What I'm Reading: Week of June 27th.

Consumer confidence dips, GenAI dominates beauty, RFK Jr. pushes wearables, Red Antler's State of Brand, recyclability tops packaging priorities, EGF based skincare, dermo-active beauty & more.

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⭐️ = What excites me most this week.

💥 Quick Hits

1. 📉 Consumer confidence dips while Korean optimism soars.

2. 🧠 Red Antler says: history > hype in 2025 brand building.

3. 🧴 L’Oréal, Estée, and Unilever go all-in on GenAI — is regulation next?

4. 📦 Recyclability reigns as the most valued packaging trait worldwide.

5. ⌚️ RFK Jr. wants every American in a wearable by 2029.

6. 🧬 Biotech beauty booms: EGF serums, skin microbiome launches, and upcycled actives.

7. 💡 New tech drops: from AI-powered perfumes to plastic-into-acetaminophen E. coli.What you are missing…

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🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS

• WSJ: Survey Shows U.S. Consumer Confidence Worsened in June. The Conference Board’s consumer-confidence index fell to 93, from 98.4 in May. The fall was a surprise to analysts.

• Fast Company: These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2025, according to the World Economic Forum. From AI watermarking to battery composites, here’s what could be on the path to a breakthrough this year.

• Jing Daily: Why L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Unilever are going all in on GenAI. Beauty giants are racing to embed generative AI across marketing, R&D, and retail, juggling innovation with regulation, IP risk, and ROI.

• Kyle Leahy, the current CEO of Glossier is stepping down, and Rachel Strugatz has the scoop.

• BoF X McKinsey: The end of the founder-led era. Over the last decade, an avalanche of brands with public-facing founders emerged. While a prominent founder can propel growth, customers use other factors to assess whether a brand is suited to their needs, according The State of Fashion: Beauty Volume 2.

  • Just for fun:

    • 🐳 New body size database for marine animals is a “library of life”.

    • Apparently it has never been a better time to be a cruise a line.

    • Ikea is dropping prices on its food menu…so I guess if you are a fan of Swedish Meatballs…you are in luck.

🧴 Skin / Personal Care:

• Mumuk - a new skincare line based around a higher standard in regenerative skincare made with EGF (epidermal growth factors) in the form of sh-Oligopeptide-1 [Instagram].

• Good+Daily - maker of ‘the last lip balm’ [Instagram].

• 🇫🇷 CÉNÉE, a ‘dermo-active’ active makeup brand where actives are included in the products. The line launched with nail polish, mascara, and a lipstick. “Isaw an opportunity to create a line with high pigmentation and elevated concentrations of actives—like hyaluronic acid and peptides—comparable to those found in facial serums” Nassim Hamek in Formes de Luxe [Instagram].

• Naisture “born from the vision of bringing the spa experience directly into your home”. There are three brands including Naisture, BeBare, and Weekend You [Instagram].

• Patrick Starr launched his extremely popular and effective setting spray with SPF…and I am here for it [Instagram].

  onesize

  

  A post shared by @onesize

• CHROMAT Skincare - a line of skincare made with Chroma Peptides [that] “bond to skin cells to bring moisture at the cellular level and to help increase skin’s production of its own 40+ proteins, plus collagen, elastin and antioxidants” [Instagram].

• 🇰🇷 liv.reome skincare for the skin microbiome, designed with ‘smart simplicty’ [Instagram]

• Puck is reporting that The Gap is launching a beauty line, oh the 90s nostalgia…

• Beauty Independent: Biotech firm Cellugy scores $9.25M grant to replace petrochemicals in beauty products.

👃 Fragrance:

• BROWN Girl Jane - fragrances that evoke destinations [Instagram].

• The Verge: How AI infiltrated perfume. AI is rapidly changing how fragrance is created — and who gets credit. Some say it’s innovation. Others call it erasure.

  • AI is rapidly reshaping the fragrance industry, from speeding up scent creation to redefining who gets credit. Startups like Osmo can deliver custom perfumes in just 48 hours using AI-driven scent compounding, challenging the traditional artisanal process that takes months. While industry giants like Givaudan and Firmenich already use AI to optimize formulation, critics argue that the soul and craft of perfumery are being lost in the rush toward automation.

• WWD: Fragrance dupe brand Dossier is opening stores. The viral, 2019-founded brand, best known for its "Impressions" line of designer- and niche-inspired perfumes, is betting on stand-alone retail.

🧺 Homecare: 

• Maison Croyez — plug in diffusers with high end fragrance [Instagram].

💊 Supplements:

• A new face is joining David Beckham’s IM8 supplement brand. Aryna Sabalenka, the current women’s No.1 in tennis, is the newest ambassador and shareholder in Prenetics (the parent company) [Global Newswire].

  • “Since its launch in December 2024, IM8 has experienced extraordinary growth, achieving US$50m+ Annual Recurring Revenue and serving more than 60,000 customers and delivering over 5 million servings of its premium supplements. This remarkable trajectory places IM8 among the fastest growing supplement brands globally. Industry analysts have noted that IM8's revenue velocity in its first six months exceeds typical benchmarks for successful supplement launches by 500%.”