Last month, I mentioned that the rumour mill was churning with the news that SpaceNK (owned by Manzanita Capital) was going up for sale. The update is that Raymond James (bankers) have been chosen to oversee an auction later this year. SpaceNK is expected to fetch over £300m. Since neither party have made comment yet, Sky has speculated about whether the entire business will be sold or controlling or minority stakes.
While it’s not currently affecting the UK, beauty brands are nervous over the new EU legislation controlling the amounts of retinol that can appear in skin care products. Beginning at the end of this year, new regulations state a maximum of 0.5% retinol in body products and 0.3% in face and hand products. Labelling must say ‘contains Vitamin A related compounds, which contribute to your daily intake of Vitamin A’. And that’s the issue – that your skin products may help you exceed your daily limit of Vitamin A with potential health implications. Dermatologists will still be able to prescribe higher strength. We are not in the EU so for now, it doesn’t have any implications for our skin care but brands whose markets are stronger in the EU than in the UK may well feel it’s not worth the effort to have different strengths just for us. It’s also worth noting that if the entire EU have made these changes, there may well be good reason.
Currently, TikTok is up in arms about a foundation shade created by US brand Youthforia. Launched in 2021, Youthforia focuses on ‘green’ chemistry forgoing microplastics and fossil fuels. However, in a clunky, didn’t-think-this-though moment, having come under fire for not enough inclusive foundation shades, Youthforia created a completely black foundation using only a black pigment and a small amount of white pigment. They conducted a model search for the person to represent that shade, but as plenty of TikTokkers pointed out, melanin is brown, not black, and pitch black is not a skin tone. Nobody with a ‘black’ skin tone showed up for the search. Make-up artists, however, say it would be useful to help them tone match, and even fine artists have pitched in saying that when blended with oils the black liquid could look brown. I’m telling you, everyone has a view!
Kiko, owned by the Italian Percassi family, has sold a majority stake to US private equity firm, L Catterton (previous investments include Frederik Fekkai, Bliss, Function of Beauty and Tula to name a few). Kiko’s latest creation is a Bridgerton collaboration.
Class Action time! Back in 2022, a class action against Unilever owned deodorant brand Suave was brought for exposing customers to potentially harmful chemical, benzene. Without admitting any wrong-doing, Unilever has agreed to a $2 million settlement. Consumers who were part of the action will receive a full refund while those without proof of purchase will receive $3.29. I’m thinking it’s only the lawyers that are winning here.
It’s all going in self-tan world! PZ Cussons (Carex, Charles Worthington, Childs Farm) is offloading St Tropez apparently. The firm bought St Tropez in 2010 for £62.5 million but, as they are up against a £94.2 million loss for the 6 months to December 2023 thanks to economic conditions in Africa, you can see why. They’ll more than likely cover their losses but I’m curious to see who buys it.
Speaking of buyers, Alyson Hogg, founder of Vita Liberata and founder of recently launched Jimmy Coco Tan, sold the VL brand to Crown Laboratories in 2018. She has just bought it back for ‘less than $12 million’ having sold it for $30 million. Nobody understands the luxury tan market better than Alyson so expect to see a Vita Liberata revival soon.
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