211 - What I'm Reading: Week of August 29th.
Tariffs hit imports, Nigeria halts shea exports, peptides move from clinic to bathroom, biotech beauty heats up, Violet Grey expands, and AI robots cheer up aging populations.
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⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
🎆 Happy end of summer. This week’s issue free. Enjoy!
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
Starting August 29th the de minmis exemption expires packages from Korea are already being suspended. r/Asian Beauty is already in mourning.
⭐️ 🇳🇬 AP: Nigeria bans exports of raw shea nuts used for cosmetic products to help grow local economy…fyi Ghana is the largest exporter in the world of raw shea, followed by Nigeria…it will be interesting to see how this could impact raw material pricing…on top of tariffs.
⭐️ Dazed: So you want to try DIY peptide injections? We’re seeing a rise in people peptide stacking and peptide-maxxing at home, but many black-market products aren’t what they seem.
Just for fun:
⌨️ What every key on your keyboard does.
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
Range Beauty - a new line of makeup for acne and eczema prone skin founded by Alicia Scott [Instagram].
gróa a new brand featuring brow and lash serums [Instagram].
🇦🇪 Yurself - PDRN serum in an packaging that resembles an injector [Instagram].
Neuglo - another tallow skincare brand - launching an oil with Bakuchiol and Astaxanthin [Instagram].
BeautyMatter: The reformulation countdown - EU’s new retinol safety rules rapidly approach.
Wired: Pro by Déesse Pro. If LED masks are supposed to make skin care easier, this one makes it feel like a chore.
eMarketer: Gen Zers, Millennials consider beauty products essential.
🇮🇳 Vogue Business: Can Katrina Kaif take her Kay Beauty brand global? The Bollywood actress is launching her brand in the UK after entering the Middle East last year, tapping into a diaspora that still feels underserved by the beauty industry.
Fashion Network: Biotech beauty company Debut raises $20 million. Biotech beauty firm Debut announced on Tuesday it has inked $20 million in investment to expand its AI-based ingredient discovery platform and scale its formulation business in the U.S. and Asia.
👃 Fragrance:
🦷 Oral Care:
⭐️ Selahatin, known for their high end oral care products…has come out with a breath freshener, they have positioned as fragrance for your mouth, called Eau d’Extrait Oral…so high end Binaca?…mouth perfume is just very try-hard. (Also if you have every accidentally inhaled with your mouth open while putting your perfume on (or been behind someone who is applying perfume)…you know that taste). Points for creativity…but please please please mouth perfume is not a thing.
💊 Supplements:
Evident - supplement sticks for “Metabolism Booster, Skin Rejuvenation & Ageless Energy” [Instagram].
Liquid+ offering Liquid Salad “world’s first real food supplement packed with 13 vegetables + fruits, 11 essential vitamins and 8g of prebiotic fiber for gut health” [Instagram]…the most
coded product…
🐕 Pet Care:
👩🔬 Femtech:
BeautyMatter: Global femtech futures - where the innovation is (and isn't).
British Vogue: As someone with Endometriosis, menstrual leave sounds positive. But it’s far from enough.
The Mira Ultra 4 measures four key female hormones in one device (FSH, LH, E3G, and PdG) [Instagram].
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...
Retail Brew: How can millennial mall stores become cool again? The recent bankruptcies of millennial mall favorites Claire’s and Forever 21 prove youth-centric mall stores need to evolve with their clientele—or reinvent themselves for a new one.
🇰🇷 SUKOSHI, an Asian beauty retailer, opened a store in NYC on the Upper East Side [PR Newswire].
🇬🇧 Boots splits off from Walgreens after private equity takeover…I feel like this has been going on for years.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...
🇰🇷 rest of world: AI robots are helping South Korea’s seniors feel less alone. A ChatGPT-powered robotic companion called Hyodol is taking over some work from overburdened caregivers, much to the delight of seniors who treat them like grandchildren.
ZD Net: The Oura Ring is the Department of Defense's not-so-secret weapon. Oura is deepening its relationship with the Department of Defense by expanding manufacturing in Texas.
⭐️ 🐎 Garmin launched a tracker for horses, check out the comments on their Instagram:
🗣 Social Media: News about TikTok, Meta, BeReal, Snapchat, X...
TechCrunch: Instagram’s new feature helps college students connect with others on campus…I just feel like brands will figure out a way to infiltrate this.
♻️ Sustainability: Sustainable DesignIt turns out trees, like humans have individual (unique) microbiomes [NYT].
TechCrunch: Hyundai is working with a startup on plant-based leather that smells like the real thing.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...
BoF: Olaplex acquires biotech firm Purvala. In its first-ever acquisition, the hair care brand has purchased a biotechnology laboratory founded by an MIT professor to further its research and development capabilities.
⭐️ WWD: Violet Grey is snapping up Cos Bar, Detox Market - Sources
Sources told WWD that the retailer acquired The Detox Market quietly earlier this year, and that a transaction with Cos Bar is imminent.
🇨🇦 BoF: Ssense to file for bankruptcy protection after creditors push for sale. The Canadian luxury e-tailer told employees on Thursday that the filing was necessary as tariffs took an unexpected toll on the business, and to preempt a forced sale by lenders, BoF has learned.
🔬RESEARCH
⭐️ New findings suggest that stress in mothers can reprogrammed fetal skin mast cells and nearby sensory neurons that can lead to eczema in babies [Nature].
As we age, our gut bacteria shift in ways that change how our bodies process fats. In mice, older guts produced more lipid-related metabolites—especially from linoleic acid (a common dietary fat)—which are linked to fat storage, inflammation, and weight gain. When researchers removed the microbiome, these age-related changes largely disappeared, showing that gut bacteria help drive the “obesity-like” metabolic signature of aging [npj - biolfilms and microbiomes].
🧐 REPORTS
🇨🇳 Daxue Consulting: Light medical beauty in China - A new era of aesthetics.
Bain & Co.: Where Private Label Has Truly Hit the Mainstream in Grocery. The countries, consumers, and categories making own-brand products a rising force.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne