Morrama: Beauty needs to innovate not iterate before refills can truly take off

Last year, UK industrial design agency Morrama unveiled a paper-based refillable packaging range for beauty, developed in collaboration with Chinese manufacturer PPK. The ’Maya’ range offered palettes, lipsticks, pumps and pots in various outer casing materials that could be customised by beauty brands, made with refills from renewable paper pulp. This year, the two companies were launching aluminium casing designs for the range, with the first aluminium lipstick with paper refill unveiled at Ma...

Element Beauty debuts carbon-captured cosmetics packaging with Caliray

Element Beauty Group partnered with Oco, part of Canadian firm Carbon Upcycling Technologies, to develop the beauty packaging material from captured CO2 and post-consumer recycled material (PCR). Recently launched at Sephora with Californian makeup brand Caliray, the packaging boasted improved strength, durability and recycling potential whilst contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gases because of the captured carbon contained within it.
So, was this merge of waste materials the future for...

DECIEM plans TikTok Shop, pharmacy and flagship store expansion, says Kilner

Founded in 2013, DECIEM – the parent firm behind skin care brands The Ordinary and NIOD – was acquired in full this year by The Estée Lauder Companies, following accumulative stake investments totaling US$1.7 billion between 2017 and 2024. From small Canadian startup to global beauty behemoth, DECIEM was now on a mission to become the number-one skin care brand in the world. Premium Beauty News sat down with Nicola Kilner, CEO and co-founder of DECIEM, to talk about the company’s rise and its gl...

The Latest Gen Alpha Brand, Your Skin Stuff Aims To Kickstart Healthy Skincare Practices

Directed at 8- to 12-year-olds and their parents, the Dublin-based brand is launching next month with six products—Gentle Daily Cleanser, Daily Foam Cleanser, Hydration Station Serum, Skin Hug Serum, Sunshine Drops Serum and Morning Glow SPF—priced from 19.50 and 24.50 euros or roughly $21 to $26 at the current exchange rate. Dermatologically tested, cruelty-free and vegan, they’re housed in colorful packaging and formulated to contain ingredients like salicylic acid, aloe vera and vitamin C in...

Nivea launches Q10 Dual Action serum to bring anti-glycation ’to the masses’

Launched under Beiersdorf’s flagship mega brand Nivea, across Europe and select global markets, the Q10 Dual Action serum was the result of 10+ years of in-house and collaborative research. Made from a blend of Beiersdorf’s existing patented active coenzyme Q10, alongside a newly patented ingredient NAHP, trademarked Glycostop by the company, the serum targets sugar-induced skin ageing and wrinkle formation. Specifically, the formula was designed to prevent protein glycation [1] in the dermis sk...

’Game-changing’: Plant-based microcapsules offer beauty fresh fragrance promise

In January, 2024, Xampla raised US$7 million [EUR6.45 million] enabling it to push ahead with wider development of its next-generation plant-based materials, branded Morro. Made from an array of plant proteins, including pea and potato, the portfolio uses a patented technology to offer natural and fully biodegradable microcapsules, coatings, edible films and soluble films for the beauty, home care, nutrition, food and beverage industries. The microcapsule Morro product, specifically, is designed...

Skincare Brand Reome Marries High Design And Biotechnology

Founded in January 2023 by Joanna Ellner, a beauty journalist and acupuncturist with a degree in traditional Chinese medicine, Reome has two skincare products—serum Active Recovery Broth and cleanser Three Suns Balm—priced at 110 and 75 pounds, respectively, or $140 and $95 for full sizes. A third product, Aerate Face Towel, is 25 pounds or $35. The brand is in the middle of raising a seed funding round for an undisclosed amount to bolster its biotech positioning and drive global expansion.

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Seeking to capture a wider audience, luxury fashion brands enter beauty

In October 2023, global luxury titan Kering – the group behind Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen, among others – closed its acquisition of luxury fragrance house Creed; a deal considered significant in both fashion and beauty because of its scale and the price-tag attached. And transactions like this follow on from other major acquisitions and mergers in the space, such as Spanish fashion major Puig’s majority stake acquisition in British beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury back...

After Landing Investment On "Dragons' Den," Nini Organics Looks To Retail Partnerships

In an appearance on “Dragons’ Den” earlier this month, the British version of the business pitch competition show “Shark Tank,” the skincare brand scored 50,000 pounds or about $65,000 at the current exchange rate from entrepreneurs and investors Peter Jones and Steven Bartlett in exchange for 20% equity. Now, it’s out to achieve big distribution goals.
Within three to five years, co-founder, CEO and formulator Alex Nicolaou says Nini Organics aspires to secure listings at retailers the likes of...

The state of UK beauty retail: “We are inundated with brands” – experts

Last November, beauty brands, investors and consultancy firms met at Beauty Independent’s two-day debut Dealmaker Summit EU/UK in London, UK. Amongst the plethora of trends discussed during event, the future of beauty retail was spotlighted.
“For many brands, retail is very, very important,” said Nader Naeymi-Rad, founder and publisher of Beauty Independent. “...For many, retailers are, especially now, that key accelerant to get them to the next level. D2C [direct-to-consumer] is great but it ca...

Leveraging Manuka Oil’s Therapeutic Benefits For Skincare, New Zealand's ManukaRx Plots US Expansion

“We want to grow steadily, but we have big goals further down the line,” says Rebecca Anne Hunter, marketing director for ManukaRx. “The next three years will be about getting the brand to a place turning over NZ$6 or NZ$7 million [roughly $3.7 million to $4.3 million at the current exchange rate]. After that, we’ve got really good foundations in place, and that’s when we think a lot can happen.” In fiscal year 2022, the brand hit about $1.2 million in sales.
ManukaRx offers a range of natural p...

Dermatologist-Founded Dr Sam's Eyes Retail Expansion As Part Of A 3-Year Plan To Reach $25M In Sales

Established in 2018, dermatologist Sam Bunting started Dr Sam’s with a single cleanser as an offshoot to her skincare clinic on London’s Harley Street. Today, its compact product range is designed to bridge the gap between traditional dermatology and beauty, targeting overall skin health, ageing and acne. Available online on Dr Sam’s website, the range includes Flawless Cleanser, Flawless Moisturizer, Flawless Daily Sunscreen SPF 50, Flawless Brightly Serum and Flawless Neutralising Gel, and fea...

FaceGym founder: ‘We have to give women and men permission to age’

Founded in 2014, FaceGym offered a selection of skin care products and tools alongside its network of 13 global studio locations offering unique face workouts to train, condition and strengthen facial muscles. Working alongside professionals, in the studio or online, consumers had access to signature face workouts based on a variety of exercise techniques.Inge Theron, founder and creative director of FaceGym, said the goal had always been to inspire skin confidence via an effective alternative t...

Unilever files patent on vitamin C + mineral topical for ‘energising glow’

Writing in its international patent​, Unilever said the leave-on composition combined vitamin C in sodium ascorbyl phosphate form with a mineral extract made from olivine that worked synergistically to improve skin tone, skin brightness and mask visible signs of ageing like wrinkles. The formula could be manufactured into a liquid, lotion, cream, foam or stick form but was ideally offered as a serum or essence, the company said.“The present invention relates to a topical composition that provide...

The emergence of Industry 5.0: Beauty set to take a ‘sharp turn’

Tech advances made in recent years across the beauty and personal care space had been phenomenal, from the widespread uptake of virtual try-on technologies and smart in-store scanning tools at consumer level to broad use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in product development phases and production. But as wellbeing and societal concerns were now centre stage, how exactly could tech play into this? And what sort of innovations were on the horizon for beauty as it committed its...