Beauty in Five

Episodes

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  Brussels Clears Kimberly-Clark's $40B Kenvue Deal, With Divestitures 16.10.2026 4m

  The European Commission has approved Kimberly-Clark's forty-billion-dollar acquisition of Kenvue on condition that it divest several feminine hygiene brands, per Global Cosmetics News, and Galderma has signed a one-point-five-billion-dollar agreement to acquire physician-dispensed brand ZO Skin Health. Shiseido subsidiary Beauté Prestige Internationale has filed a 2.6-million-euro unfair competition claim against Shein in France over cosmetics sold outside its authorised network, and Cosmetic Valley links customs clearance delays facing French exporters in China to trade tensions over European fast-fashion restrictions. Also moving: Givaudan's stock surge, Symrise's new Singapore scent centre, Shein's UK revenue up twenty-six percent, and Estée Lauder placing Kilian Paris and Frédéric Malle under Guillaume Gellusseau.
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  Dior Reshuffles Its Board Before the Arnault Restructuring 12.10.2026 4m

  Global Cosmetics News reports Christian Dior has appointed Xavier Musca and Tony Estanguet to its board, replacing two independent directors ahead of a planned restructuring of the Arnault family's holdings in Dior and LVMH. WWD details how Stéphane de La Faverie is delayering Estée Lauder, with more than 10,000 positions eliminated and no Lauder family member in an operational role, against net sales up 5 percent to 15 billion dollars. Also: a deal roundup pointing private equity toward established beauty and wellness assets, and FortuneIndia's argument that distributors, not storefronts, gatekeep India's roughly 23 billion dollar beauty market.
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  Boots Sold for $8.9 Billion 09.10.2026 4m

  Fairfax Financial Holdings and Wittington Investments have agreed to acquire Boots in a deal valued at roughly 8.9 billion US dollars including assumed debt, per Global Cosmetics News. Cosmetics Business reports that Estée Lauder, Elemis, Charlotte Tilbury and Dr. Barbara Sturm are now selling and scaling on Amazon, ending prestige beauty's long standoff with the marketplace, while South Korea sets up a joint government initiative to shield smaller exporters, K-beauty brands included, from overseas counterfeiting and trademark squatting. Also: Merit's second fragrance with Dominique Ropion, a leadership exit at Biologique Recherche, Kiehl's new Carnaby Street flagship, and the death of former Fragrance Foundation president Annette Green at 102.
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  Boots Sold for $8.9B, and South Korea Stamps Its Brands 08.10.2026 4m

  Premium Beauty News reports the sale of Boots is agreed, with Canada's Wittington Investments taking the UK pharmacy and beauty retailer in a deal valued at $8.9 billion alongside Fairfax, as Cosmetics Business names Sycamore Partners and Stefano Pessina as the sellers. South Korea's president announced a K-brand authentication system so shoppers can verify genuine goods, Haus Labs apologised after creator feedback on its new bronzer's shade range, and CeraVe research presented in Vienna found 47% of 6,000 European adults say their skin is more sensitive than five years ago. Also moving: Shein's first-half operating profit down nearly 53%, Superga Beauty's 15 million euro investment in Reims, and Charlotte Tilbury casting Christina Aguilera for Christmas 2026.
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  Korea's $7bn Record, and Travel Retail's Conversion Gap 07.10.2026 4m

  South Korean cosmetics exports hit a record 7 billion dollars in the first half of 2026, up 27.3 percent year on year, with the US up 41.5 percent, per Global Cosmetics News. At the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, new president Sarah Branquinho said travel retail revenue per passenger has fallen more than 20 percent since before the pandemic even as traveller numbers reached an estimated 9.8 billion, per WWD Beauty. Also: Cosmetics Business tallies this year's beauty closures and administrations, Similarweb data puts founder-led and affordable brands atop beauty web traffic growth, Pinterest launches beauty guides, and Clicks Group lifts its ARC Store stake to 61 percent.
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  L'Oréal Hires Restructuring Advisers Over Talc Suits 06.10.2026 4m

  The Wall Street Journal reports L'Oréal has engaged Weil Gotshal and Manges and Ducera Partners over US talc liabilities, with about 760 proceedings pending at the end of June and a possible transfer of tort claims to a separate entity. Sycamore Partners is nearing a roughly nine billion dollar sale of Boots to the Weston family's Canadian arm, and Fortune traces Waldencast from a 1.2 billion dollar platform plan to one remaining brand after the Obagi sale. Also: e.l.f. enters fragrance and body care with e.l.f. POP, Dr.G launches on US TikTok Shop, Anjac builds a GLP-1 support platform, Coty names Kara Langan to lead Consumer Beauty US, and Borletti buys Italian perfumery chain Pinalli.
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  Sephora Opens 100 Doors Inside Marks and Spencer 02.10.2026 5m

  TheStreet reports Sephora and Marks and Spencer have agreed a shop-in-shop partnership launching in spring 2027, with plans to scale to 100 UK stores. Global Cosmetics News reports nine members of Congress have written to Revlon's chief executive after an FDA warning over quality-control deficiencies at its Oxford, North Carolina plant, and that Amorepacific has partnered with biotech firm Junevity on skin-ageing cosmetics. Also moving: Coty names Kara Langan US consumer beauty chief, rhode debuts in over 500 European Sephora stores, Vyrao is acquired by Tresalis, Fable and Mane names Cécile Budge CEO, and Tate McRae's first fragrance reaches Ulta in October.
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  Rhode Lands 500 Sephora Doors; P&G Pulls Braun Claims 01.10.2026 4m

  Rhode went on sale across continental Europe Wednesday, live in 19 new countries and more than 500 Sephora doors, per WWD Beauty and the company, a year after e.l.f. Beauty bought the brand for one billion dollars. Procter and Gamble withdrew its Braun Skin i-Expert hair-removal claims after Italy's competition authority accepted commitments, Cosmetics Business reports, and The Outset, co-founded by Scarlett Johansson, told customers it is winding down with no reason given. Also moving: Borletti Group is taking over Italian retailer Pinalli, Jo Malone London launches at Space NK, and Kiehl's brings a European flagship to London's Carnaby Street.
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  Sephora Lands 100 M&S Doors 30.09.2026 5m

  WWD Beauty reports Sephora and Marks and Spencer have agreed a shop-in-shop partnership, Sephora at M and S, launching spring 2027 online and in up to 100 UK stores, with Modaes noting LVMH used the same route in Spain. Global Cosmetics News reports the US and China agreed to cut tariffs on roughly 30 billion dollars of bilateral trade, with cosmetics on China's cut list and no effective date given. Also: WWD Beauty argues celebrity no longer decides a beauty brand, citing Circana figures and this year's wind-downs, plus its August ranking of the top ten beauty brands on Amazon.
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  L'Oréal Cleared for India, Shinsegae Lands in New York 28.09.2026 4m

  India's competition regulator has approved L'Oréal India's purchase of Onesto Labs, parent of Innovist, putting the June deal on track to close in the coming months, per Personal Care Insights. WWD reports Korean retailer Shinsegae will run a monthslong New York pop-up under its Hyper Ground banner with more than thirty K-beauty brands, most new to U.S. retail, while Cosmetics Business examines whether Drunk Elephant's shift toward adult consumers is working. Also: fragrance is sixty-five percent of Latin American beauty sales per Circana, Chanel names Lucia Pieroni creative makeup director, and Skin Rocks plans a European move.
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  Sephora Tests TikTok Shop, and a 2027 Silicone Clock 24.09.2026 5m

  Glossy reports Sephora is testing a TikTok Shop presence, with the trade split on whether social video is a channel incumbents must join or one whose sales credit gets reassigned to search and marketplaces. Cosmetics Business reports EU limits on the silicones D5 and D6 take effect on 6 June 2027, capping both at 0.1 percent in leave-on products and hitting foundation hardest, while India's competition regulator cleared L'Oreal India's full acquisition of Onesto Labs and new packaging rules mandate vegetarian and non-vegetarian origin marks on cosmetics. Also moving: Novo Nordisk weighing hair loss as a category, Interparfums taking the Puma fragrance license, and Extravaganza Beauty acquiring Roja London.
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  Puma's Ten-Year Fragrance Bet, and a Formula Published in Full 23.09.2026 5m

  Interparfums has signed a ten-year global fragrance license with Puma, with the line not launching until 2027, per WWD Beauty. Macquarie's private equity arm is acquiring Korean manufacturers Hwasung Cosmetics and Nowcos for about 300 billion won, roughly 216.6 million dollars, and Henkel has named Christoph Kaul to lead Olaplex, succeeding Amanda Baldwin, per Global Cosmetics News. Cosmetics Business reports exclusively that Nip + Fab is publishing complete recipes, ingredient quantities, testing reports and cost breakdowns for a new three-product line called The Fix.
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  Olaplex Names Henkel's Kaul CEO 22.09.2026 5m

  Cosmetics Business reports Olaplex has named Henkel veteran Christoph Kaul chief executive, succeeding Amanda Baldwin, the first CEO appointed since Henkel's 1.4 billion dollar acquisition in March. Also per Cosmetics Business, Dermatica is permanently closing its US business on December 16 after five years, and Interparfums and Marquee Brands extended their Roberto Cavalli fragrance licence by 20 years through 2046. Glossy reports Ulta Beauty is launching telehealth company Midi Health, bringing GLP-1 and cortisol supplements into its growing wellness assortment.
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  Roja London Sells to the Gulf 21.09.2026 5m

  Cosmetics Business reports Roja London has been acquired by Middle Eastern conglomerate Extravaganza Beauty, with terms undisclosed, chief executive Audrey Minard staying on and founder Roja Dove moving to a consultancy role. Premium Beauty News reports Interparfums extended its worldwide Roberto Cavalli and Just Cavalli fragrance licence with Marquee Brands by 20 years, through the end of 2046, and Supergoop! has hired Coty's Jamie Parker into a newly created chief commercial officer role. Also: a Cosmetics Business analysis on whether Sephora and Ulta can win on TikTok Shop, a Series A for Half Magic Beauty, Coty's payments to former finance chief Laurent Mercier, and Lumson's US and Asia acquisitions.
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  L'Oréal Passes LVMH, Neutrogena Brings Bemotrizinol to Mass 18.09.2026 5m

  L'Oréal closed Tuesday as France's most valuable listed company, edging LVMH on LSEG data, the first non-luxury company to hold the spot at the close since 2017, per Reuters reporting carried by NEWS.am STYLE. Cosmetics Business reports Neutrogena has launched two bemotrizinol sunscreens in the US, and Premium Beauty News reports Puig is buying out Esteve's 50 percent stake in ISDIN after fifty years of joint ownership. Also: e.l.f. lands in Brazil exclusively with Sephora, Shiseido China sues Aldi China over primer packaging, Canada's prestige beauty market grows six percent, Colgate-Palmolive reportedly explores a personal care sale, and Kimberly-Clark readies EU concessions on Kenvue.
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  CVC weighs $2B sale of Dr. Teal's owner Arthea 11.09.2026 4m

  CVC Capital Partners is exploring a sale of Arthea, the personal-care platform behind Dr. Teal's and Cantu, at a valuation near two billion dollars, with Moelis and William Blair advising and talks at an early stage, Global Cosmetics News reports. Belle Brands acquires hair wellness brand Vegamour, Highstock closes a thirty million dollar Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz for its surplus beauty inventory marketplace, and Sephora expands its Quiet Hours program across Europe, per WWD. Also moving: Cécred's first fragrance product, Hindustan Unilever's capex increase, a New York flagship from Hourglass founder Carisa Janes, and MakeUp in New York on September sixteenth and seventeenth.
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  Estée Lauder Puts Numbers On Its Turnaround 10.09.2026 5m

  Estée Lauder gave investors a fiscal 2026 scorecard and 2027 guidance at the Barclays Global Consumer Conference, with its CFO saying the full restructuring benefit will not land until 2028, per Investing.com. Japan replaces point-of-sale tax exemption with a refund model from November 1, and Yatsen's second-quarter revenue rose 5.1 percent on skincare growth of 40.4 percent, both per Global Cosmetics News. e.l.f. Beauty's Naturium is entering Sephora Mexico exclusively and expanding across Sephora Canada, per company announcements carried by the Montreal Gazette and Financial Post.
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  Kenvue's Australian Carve-Out, and Beauty's Shared Shelves 09.09.2026 5m

  Australia's competition regulator has cleared Kimberly-Clark's 40 billion dollar bid for Kenvue on condition that Carefree and Stayfree are divested locally, per Global Cosmetics News. WWD Beauty reads Sephora's TikTok Shop launch as part of rivals selling through each other, while Glossy reports the Estee Lauder Companies moving major brands onto Shopify. Also: Europe Real Estate on Rituals, Douglas and Sephora spending into stores, L'Oreal on a polarised fragrance market, MAC's We All Wear MAC campaign, and Biologique Recherche's first New York flagship.
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  Prestige and Mass Beauty Both Up 7%, Sephora at Kohl's Slips 08.09.2026 5m

  Circana puts US prestige beauty at 17.1 billion dollars in the first half, up 7 percent, with mass-market beauty growing at the same rate and fragrance and skincare leading. Sephora at Kohl's sales fell 4 percent in the second quarter, which CEO Michael Bender tied to expanded distribution for key brands, and Natura has named former chief executive Alessandro Carlucci to return as leader from October 1. Dior launches Dioriginals on October 1, thirteen archive scents reworked by Francis Kurkdjian.
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  Sephora Drops Launches on TikTok First 07.09.2026 5m

  Sephora is piloting a monthly Sephora Drop Shop on TikTok Shop from September 19, with featured products launching exclusively there before reaching Sephora.com, stores or retail partners, per Digital Commerce 360 and Personal Care Insights. Premium Beauty News reports Estee Lauder is reshuffling luxury brand leadership ahead of Sandra Main's retirement, while Personal Care Insights argues K-beauty is shifting from trend supplier to a formulation model, citing record South Korean cosmetics exports of 11.4 billion dollars. Also covered: Philips adding voice coaching to its Lumea IPL line, Ulta's second-quarter net sales of 3.04 billion dollars and raised guidance, and Jo Malone's move into pet grooming.