JANUARY 15, 2020

A Publication of WWD

As the lines between mass and prestige become ever more blurred, Beauty Inc examines the dynamics of a rapidly changing market. For more, see pages 8 and 9.

PLUS: L’Oréal Paris’ Delphine Viguier-Hovasse and Black Opal’s big comeback.

ISSUE#38

Beauty Bulletin

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JANUARY 15, 2020

THE BUZZ

By the Numbers: Mass Market Beauty, Past and Future 2020 data from IRI points to beauty's bright spots in the year ahead. BY JAMES MANSO

WHILE 2020 PROVED TO BE a nail-biter of a year for the mass market, data from IRI shows that the nail category actually ended up on top.

Data from IRI, ending the week of Dec. 27, showed nail products exhibiting double-digit growth for the year — but other categories were not so lucky.

"If you were a beauty manufacturer in the cosmetics space, it’s been a really, really, rough year," said Lisa Mulyk, senior vice president, at IRI. "Makeup sales are down double-digits, people moving inside aren’t seeing the need to put makeup on, unless they’re on a video conference."

The year ahead contains equal doses of uncertainty and opportunity. "Until everything opens up, you’re going to see the categories ebb and flow," Mulyk said. "Anything related to self care is going to win if you can talk about the benefits of it."

Here, the top 10 mass market categories in beauty, ranked by percent growth.

1. unisex hair coloring: +70.7 percent

2. artificial nails: +40.2 percent

3. nail treatment: +18.6 percent4. nail polish: +14.5 percent

5. facial moisturizers: +14.3 percent

6. home perm kit: +13.9 percent7. depilatories: +10.7 percent

8. eyelash adhesives: +9.8 percent

9. hair conditioner/ creme rinse: +7.5 percent

10. sharpeners: +6.8 percent

TOP 10 MASS-MARKET CATEGORIES

Source: IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm. Time period: 12 months ending the week of

Dec. 27.

Procter & Gamble is phasing in its new chief financial officer. Andre Schulten will fill the role, effective March 1. He succeeds Jon Moeller, who will stay on as vice chairman and chief operating officer of P&G. Schulten is currently the senior vice president of baby care, North America.

“Andre is well equipped to take on this role with a distinguished career in finance and accounting, as well as critical business leadership,” said David Taylor, chairman and chief executive officer of P&G, in a statement.

Schulten will report to Taylor in his new role.

L’Oréal has named Blanca Juti its new chief communications and public affairs officer, starting April 1. She will also join the beauty maker’s executive committee.

Juti succeeds Lucia Dumas after a three-year term. Dumas has left the company in order to pursue her career elsewhere, L’Oréal said in a statement released Tuesday. Juti joins from the Heineken Group, where she had served as chief corporate affairs officer since 2015.

Virginie Courtin-Clarins, a granddaughter of Groupe Clarins founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins, has been appointed deputy chief executive officer and head of corporate social responsibility at the French beauty maker.

“In this new capacity, Virginie will expand and accelerate the brand’s ethical and sustainable commitments and practices, which includes a strategic plan to see Clarins become a certified B Corporation within the next three years,” Groupe Clarins said in a statement.

Courtin-Clarins has held numerous roles within the company. Most recently, she has been focusing on developing the group’s CSR strategy, which involves caring for people and the planet.

Amanda Baldwin, president of Supergoop!, has been named chief executive officer of the brand, effective this month. She succeeds founder Holly Thaggard, who is staying on as chairwoman of the board and will maintain her focus on product development.

“Since she joined the team in 2016, Amanda has been dedicated to this mission alongside me, seeing the company through an unprecedented era of growth. Amanda shares my belief in creating change, investing in a sustainable, long-term vision and the importance of creating a powerful brand and company culture,” Thaggard said in a statement.

Tony Sciortino is also joining the brand as both chief financial officer and chief operations officer. An alumnus of both Coty Inc. and Unilever, he joins from Barnet Product Corp., where he served as CFO.

The brand named Natalia Obolensky its general manager of Asia Pacific, where she will be responsible for driving growth in the region. Obolensky most recently held the same title at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty.

L’Oréal USA selected Stephanie Kramer as the new general manager of SkinCeuticals, effective December. She follows Christina Fair, who was recently named the president of the active cosmetics division, North America.

Kramer most recently served as the global senior vice president of

marketing, product innovation and retail at SkinCeuticals, a team she joined in 2019. Prior to that, Kramer was the vice president of global marketing at Kiehl’s, where she created Made Better, the brand’s sustainability program.

Industry veteran Clare Horner has been named beauty director of Harvey Nichols, with immediate effect.

Horner, whose experience covers sales, buying, marketing, merchandising and operations, succeeds Jo Osborne, and will report to chief executive officer Manju Malhotra, whose promotion was revealed last week.

Malhotra said Horner’s “unique experience makes her ideally positioned to spearhead beauty, and further develop the category across both our online business and physical stores.”

Coty has announced two new board members, giving the board a woman majority.

Effective Dec. 18, Anna Adeola Makanju and Mariasun Aramburuzabala Larregui joined the board of Coty Inc. Makanju is currently the global policy manager for content regulation at Facebook, and previously served as a special adviser for Europe and Eurasia to President-elect (and then Vice President) Joe Biden. Aramburuzabala Larregui is the current president and chief executive officer of Tresalia Capital.

“What makes me particularly excited about their joining our board is that they are also deeply passionate about beauty. For a company like Coty, that aims to become the most product-centric beauty company, this passion is invaluable,” said Sue Nabi, chief executive officer of Coty, in a statement.

Maureen Chiquet, former CEO of Chanel, has joined the board of Credo Beauty.

“Now more than ever, people are choosing to support companies who are transparent and create products that are safe and align with their values. I’m thrilled to be a part of this clean beauty revolution and to work with a company leading, redefining the beauty industry,” Chiquet said in a statement. She is the fifth woman to join Credo's board, putting the female majority at more than 70 percent.Chiquet began her career in beauty, having worked in marketing at L’Oréal Paris in 1985. She transitioned to fashion in 1988. —WWD Staff

The Latest Beauty Executive Moves

from top left: Andre Schulten;

Blanca Juti; Virginie

Courtin-Clarins; Amanda Baldwin;

Stephanie Kramer; Clare Horner;

Maureen Chiquet

NEW COLLAGEN PEPTIDE24

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4

JANUARY 15, 2020

NEWS FEED

THINGS SEEM TO BE looking up for Cover Girl. 

It’s been a rocky several years for the

legacy mass brand. Following a sale

from Procter & Gamble to Coty, it has

struggled to remain relevant at a time

when young consumers are discovering

new brands on social media and

shopping for makeup outside its core

distribution channels, drugstores and

mass retail. A much-hyped re-brand

in 2018, aimed at drawing Millennials

and Gen Z consumers, was deemed

more or less a flop by Wall Street, and

sales failed to recover. 

But with chief executive officer Sue

Y. Nabi at the helm, it’s a new day at

Coty, and the company is confident

that 2021 will finally be Cover Girl’s

time to shine. Even before Nabi

joined, executives were hard at work

on re-branding the rebrand, a scaled-

back Cover Girl that focuses on easy,

natural makeup looks and “clean”

formulations. 

Here, Andrew Stanleick, Coty’s

executive vice president, Americas,

speaks about his plans for the brand. 

How is Cover Girl doing? Andrew Stanleick: Cover Girl is 60 years old, an absolutely national

treasure. It’s a really loved brand

— we’re still number one with

the part of the brand [targeted at

older consumers], Simply Ageless

foundation. But with this new product

— the Cover Girl Clean Fresh, which

is this range of beautiful, clean, vegan

and cruelty-free foundations — we

launched earlier in the year, we’ve

brought that younger customer into

the brand. We probably hadn’t been

having that dialogue and engaging

with [that consumer] in recent years,

so it’s wonderful to be overindeixing

on Gen Z…and bringing in consumers

of different diverse races and ages.

We just looked at the recent data and

we’re [overindexing] 135 percent on

Hispanics, which is a really important

part of the market. 

We’ve got a wonderful brand, which

perhaps hasn’t been given the right

support and love. What we’ve done

is to really go back. We went back to

our core foundations and DNA of the

brand. That’s really what Clean Fresh

has been — driving the start of the

turnaround and where we’ve seen

growth. 

Cover Girl Clean Fresh is the first

clean, mass, vegan, cruelty-free

[makeup line] at mass scale. When

we [originally] launched Cover Girl

59 years ago, it was the first clean

foundation. Launching Clean Fresh

earlier in the year, [we saw] that

more consumers are looking for

this kind of clean [makeup]. So [it

appealed to our core] and for the first

time in a number of years it’s enabled

us to talk to Gen Z consumers. 

Do you think the future is to turn

the whole product line clean?  A.S.: The whole concept of clean is something which more and more

consumers are seeking and retailers

are requesting it. It’s something you’ll

continue to see innovation on from

Coty. On Cover Girl, specifically, there’s a

lot more coming. In the short term, our

brand won’t be suddenly be [entirely]

clean overnight, but over time we’ll be

bringing in ingredients where possible,

which are clean and sustainable. 

Were there any elements of the

initial relaunch that worked and

that you’ve kept? 

A.S.: We’re going back to basics.

The relaunch after the merger, one

could argue, was rushed. The brand

had been in decline for some time.

The brands that were doing well

and taking off on Instagram were

speaking to a consumer, a trend…that

wasn’t what Cover Girl stood for. We

tried something that we’re not. We

want to go back to producing at scale

clean products that work, as opposed

to offering looks from Instagram that

take 30, 40 products to get right.

People don’t really have time for that,

so we want to get back to providing

solutions. 

The initial relaunch spoke

very overtly about diversity

and inclusivity. How are you

incorporating those elements? 

A.S.: Diversity has always been part of the Cover Girl story. [During] the

relaunch, we added a number of

diverse spokesmodels, who we’re still

proud to have [as members] of the

Cover Girl team. 

Looking at the Nielsen [scanner]

numbers, it looks like every major

mass makeup brand is down. How

problematic is brick-and-mortar

retail for the category right now? 

A.S: The mass channel has been

depressed but is slowly recovering. We

seen tremendous growth online. On

Amazon Prime Day, Amazon grew 60

percent and I think Cover Girl grew 112

percent. We’re seeing the same trend

online with other retailers, particularly

Target — online across all our divisions

and products is really accelerating, and

it’s month-over-month.

Andrew Stanleick on the Future of Cover GirlThe executive says the brand is getting back to growth. BY ELLEN THOMAS

AUSTRALIAN-BASED skin care

brand Ultraceuticals is expanding to the U.S.

The launch was initially set for

early 2020 but was pushed back due

to the health crisis — until now.

“The U.S. market was really

interesting strategically to us for

many reasons,” said Karen Wilkin-

Donachie, chief executive officer. “It’s

very attractive size-wise. It’s also very

competitive. To some degree now, the

space is crowded with a lot of choice.

But where we saw opportunity was

the gap in very few brands, if any,

serving the professional skin channels

with a strong focus in commitment.”

Ultraceuticals, founded in 1998 by

cosmetic physician Geoffrey Heber,

partners with medical spas, beauty spas

and salons to reach consumers. In the

U.S., Ultraceuticals’ products will be sold

through professional retail channels,

as well as direct-to-consumer at

Utraceuticals.com, where online revenue

will be shared with those partners.

To date, Ultraceuticals has signed

on three U.S. distributors and expects

to have four more by June. The brand

anticipates being present in about

150 U.S. locations nationwide by the

end of 2021 with approximately $8

million in retail sales.

Since the impact of COVID-19 hit,

Ultraceuticals has pivoted to focus

on hosting weekly online webinars —

both professional and educational —

and has seen growth as a result.

“We’ve been doing more than we

ever thought we could virtually,”

Wilkin-Donachie said. “When we

do a virtual consultation versus a

guest going online to buy a product

themselves, the sale is more than

double. It reinforces why we feel

the aesthetician is so fundamentally

important in the relationship with

the consumer.

“In some markets we’re in double

digit [growth] through this new

way of working, virtually, with our

partners and consumers,” she added.

Dr. Heber, alongside a team of

Australian chemists, creates cruelty-

free, clinically proven skin care, using

“patented delivery systems” and

ingredients like vitamin A, vitamin C

and alpha hydroxy acids. The brand

will launch in the U.S. with a line of

over 30 products; prices range from

$31 to $117.

Australian Skin Care Brand Ultraceuticals Launches in the U.S.The company continues to partner with professionals at medical spas, beauty spas and salons as part of its strategy to reach consumers. BY RYMA CHIKHOUNE

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Ultraceuticals products include its Ultra Protective Antioxidant

Complex ($70), Ultra Energising Mask ($56) and Ultra A Skin

Perfecting Serum ($93).

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6

JANUARY 15, 2020

NEWS FEED

DESIRÉE ROGERS, the former chief executive officer of Fashion Fair

Cosmetics and social secretary under

President Barack Obama, and Cheryl

Mayberry McKissack, formerly the

CEO of Ebony Media, have a plan to

build a world-class beauty company

for women of color. 

The duo are starting with a refresh

for Black Opal, the decades-old beauty

brand they acquired from Mana in

mid-2019. The brand has tapped

actress and singer Ryan Destiny Irons

as its first ambassador. Black Opal is

also releasing a slew of new products

in makeup and skin care that eschew

parabens, mineral oils, phathalates

and other ingredients.

“There are three things we thought

about as we worked on this business

over the past year and a half... a real

understanding of the target customer,

increasing the brand awareness and

growing the sales,” Rogers said. 

For 2021, industry sources expect

Black Opal to have around $10

million in sales.

The brand's new products aim to

build off of Black Opal's historical

expertise in complexion products,

Rogers said.

In makeup, the brand is launching

a Pressed Translucent Powder in

eight shades, Oil Absorbing Pressed

Powder, Colorshine High Shine

Lipgloss, Colorsplurge Matte Lipstick

as well as Creme Lipstick, Precision

Eye Definer, Precision Lip Definer,

six eyeshadow palettes and Lip and

Cheek Tinted Balm. All of the brand's

products will cost less than $20.

In skin care, Black Opal is

launching lip oil, two lip balms and

a brightening skin-care line with

exfoliation and brightening bar

soaps, liquid exfoliating toner and

brightening and plumping serum.

The fragrance-free skin-care line

was developed in partnership with

dermatologist Caroline Robinson.

“We’ll be following up with face

products, oil reduction producing and

then shaving products,” Rogers said.

“What’s important to us, as we

look at color and look at products, is

to make certain that they work on a

variety of skin tones. The lip balm for

example will be closer to women of

colors’ lips — it won’t show up white

or anything like that,” Rogers said. 

All new products are formulated

with Black Opal's new ingredient

standards in mind, and gradually,

existing products will be reformulated

to meet those standards, Rogers said. 

Black Opal's new products will be

on display at new retail partner Ulta

Beauty later this month. The brand

is launching in 100 doors, including

Ulta’s Michigan Avenue flagship

in Chicago, and online, with the

possibility of rolling out into more

stores in the future. 

“Consumers will clearly be able

to see that this is a Black-owned

company. It’s written right on the

gondola,” Rogers said. “That’s what we

proposed to Ulta, and they were very

comfortable with it. When I go into

Ulta today, I don’t see anyone saying,

‘Hey, we’re a Black-owned company

focused on women of color.’” 

In addition to Ulta, Black Opal is

sold at Walmart, CVS and Rite Aid,

where the brand will be featured

in the Store of the Future concept,

Mayberry McKissack said.

Black Opal also plans to ramp up

digital offerings, and has partnered

with Perfect Corp. in order to create

virtual try-on options for customers. 

“We’re bringing out some of that

technology onto our digital platform

so that we can create the experience

also from a digital perspective,

for women of color,” Mayberry

McKissack said. “One of the things

we found is that a lot of the major

cosmetics and skin-care companies

have been using the technology but

we don’t see a lot of the cosmetics

companies that are owned by people

of color — we think that technology

and the opportunity to have that

customer experience really needs to

go to our audience.” The company is

also working with Google to create

makeup try-on options through

there, as well, she noted. 

“One of the things we know that’s

very important for our audience —

we are our audience — is the whole

foundation match,” Rogers said.

Beyond the YouCam and Google

offerings, Black Opal will offer an

option to plug in a foundation shade

from a different brand to learn the

corresponding Black Opal shade,

as well as online consultations with

beauty experts. 

To ramp up marketing

for all these efforts,

Black Opal has hired

Irons, who has 2.6

million followers on

Instagram, as its first

brand ambassador.

“She comes from the

heart of the country,

one of these women

of color communities in Detroit. We

think she’s very relatable,” Rogers said.

When working with the company,

Irons specified that she wanted a

diverse group of people working on

set, and campaign images were shot

by photographer Quil Lemons. There’s

also a charity tie-in, at Irons' request,

with Mercy Education in Detroit.

In a statement, Irons, 26, said she'd

been using Black Opal products since

she was 16, and could always find a

shade the worked for her skin tone.

“Representation matters in beauty,

so I love that this brand is Black

and female-owned. I hope people

can see themselves in me and love

the products that were created with

them in mind,” she said.

“When you think of someone

certainly at that age who has already

defined for themselves what they

want to be and how they want to be

perceived and how they want to give

back — that’s part of our mission as

well,” Mayberry McKissack said. 

Black Opal’s revamp is just one

of the projects that Rogers and

Mayberry McKissack have taken on.

The two are also readying Fashion

Fair for a relaunch in the fall, they

said, and would consider adding

brands into their portfolio. 

“We’re always open to looking at

brands,” Rogers said. “Our collective

really focuses on women of color. Right

now, we are focused on the brands

that we have and making certain we

deliver them correctly and we surprise

and delight and enchant all of our

consumers, but we’re always keeping

our eyes open for other companies that

may fit nicely into the portfolio that we

can manage and direct.”

Building a Beauty Empire for Women Of Color, Starting With Black Opal Under new owners Desirée Rogers and Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, Black Opal is launching at Ulta with new products, cleaning up formulations and aiming to be the go-to brand for women of color. BY ALLISON COLLINS

Ryan Destiny for Black Opal.

One of Black Opal's new eye shadow palettes.

Black Opal

lip oil.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT RACHAEL DESANTIS, BEAUTY DIRECTOR AT 203-581-3868 OR RDESANTIS@WWD.COM

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8

JANUARY 15, 2020

DEEP DIVE

LATE LAST YEAR, mass-market

beauty retailers were dealt a one-two

punch. The first blow came from

Ulta Beauty, which in November

announced a deal to open 100 shops-

in-shop in Target Stores; less than a

month later, Sephora unveiled a long-

term deal with Kohl’s that calls for up

to 850 stores over the next three years.

For the other key contenders in the

mass market ring — Walmart, CVS,

Rite Aid and Walgreens among them

— the questions raised by the deal are

many and monumental.

How best to penetrate the elusive

prestige market and meet prevailing

consumer demands? Stay the course

or seek a partner? Compounding the

challenge is another question: Are there

any remaining beauty concepts that can

fit snugly into a mass-market giant?

The latest two blockbuster 

partnerships aren’t expected to be

the final story.

“This a trend that is here to stay

— store within store. Even more

important is partnering up to invent

on behalf of the consumer,” said

Sunny Jain, president of beauty and

personal care at Unilever, during the

Beauty Inc Awards in December.

Forging beauty partnerships

between class and mass is not new

— CVS flexed its muscles with a

partnership with Glamsquad, which

serves as a centerpiece of its Beauty

in Real Life format, while Birchbox

inked a symbiotic deal for stores

under Walgreens’ roofs.

But with Sephora and Ulta Beauty

— the two heaviest hitters in specialty

beauty retail — accounted for, who is

left for other mass marketers to lasso?

“QVC does a phenomenal job in

beauty; they have beautiful brands.

There is an opportunity to bring

it to stores and do shops within a

shop that would make sense and

create a win for consumers,” said

Alexandra McClay, a beauty industry

consultant at Next Level Strategy.

QVC has partnered with Sephora

to promote brands on the channel,

but McClay thinks Walmart could

be a viable option, especially since

the two retailers have different

enough demographics to encourage

incremental sales.

Other ideas bandied about the

industry include reviving the pared-

down Beauty Brands retailer (which

filed Chapter 11 in 2019 and sliced store

count to 22 plus online) and serving

up a physical space for online beauty

e-commerce businesses like Dermstore.

But not everyone is convinced that

large mass retailers need to partner

up to develop a prestige strategy.

“I think it would be interesting

for retailers to develop their own

personalities,” said Stephanie

Wissink, managing director of

Jefferies. “CVS can further develop

a niche as a ‘clean, good for you’

retailer to dovetail with its already

strong skin-care position. Walgreens

can leverage the Boots’ European

reputation in beauty.”

Bruce Teitelbaum, CEO and

founder of RPG, agreed that Walmart

has the most potential out of the

mass retailers that haven’t engaged a

beauty powerhouse, but believes that

the nation’s largest beauty purveyor

can build its own concept.

“Walmart does sell exclusive brands

and can create a self-contained shop

within the store,” Teitelbaum said.

“Its large stores and captive audience

make it ripe for further elevating the

beauty experience.”

Noting that Walmart stores are

visited by 150 million shoppers per

week, he continued, “There is a huge

opportunity to create a beauty space

[rather than team up with a beauty

retailer] and do it in a way that hasn’t

been seen in mass.”

While many pinpoint Walmart as

ripe for a relationship, the chain is

opting to pursue its own path for

now, according to Musab Balbale, vice

president and general manager for

Walmart U.S. Beauty.

“We are focused on expanding

our assortment to offer the trending

products consumers are looking

for,” he said. “Following social media

trends and working directly with our

brand partners, we have been able to

bring our customers great products,

including offerings from The Lip

Bar [now TLB], Wild Primrose and

Hairitage. We’re excited about

Mass Retail Comes Into Focus As the lines between prestige and mass continue to blur, retailers are taking a multipronged approach to reinventing their beauty departments. BY FAYE BROOKMAN

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9

JANUARY 15, 2020

DEEP DIVE

upcoming launches as we focus on

wow-worthy products that we know

our customers want,” he said in a

statement.

Other retailers are looking to

pursue a more health-based approach,

capitalizing on the proximity of the

in-store pharmacy and the boom in

wellness and self-care.

The clinical positioning of mass

doors with pharmacies puts them in

position to benefit from the wellness

boom in particular, noted Tracy

Holland, executive chairman and

cofounder of HatchBeauty Brands.

“Fifty percent of the products we are

launching this year are something

you put in your mouth,” she said.

Rite Aid, the nation’s third largest

drug chain, is doing just that.

“We are doubling down on beauty

in our Store of the Future,” said Erik

Keptner, chief merchandising and

marketing officer.

Rite Aid opened its first Store of

the Future prototype in Newberry

Township, Pa., last October, designed

to interweave wellness and beauty.

Rite Aid currently has three such

stores, with more scheduled this

year as part of a $700 million store

overhaul that was fine-tuned during

the pandemic. The format also serves

as testing ground for concepts that

can be replicated chainwide.

Efforts to elevate the beauty

experience include a high impact

discovery zone in the department, a

bevy of new brands, a “play” table for

sampling (currently limited in scope)

and access to trained beauty advisers.

“What we are doing in beauty ties

directly to our new brand mission

to fuse traditional medicine and

alternative remedies providing people

with products for a healthy mind,

spirit and body,” Keptner said.

Pharmacists have been freed up

to spend more time consulting with

patients — even about personal care.

In beauty, the assortment is focused

on cleaner formulations, vitamins

and supplements, and cosmetics that

help consumer express themselves.

Rather than partner with a prestige

retailer to secure brands, Rite Aid is

putting its muscle behind building

brands. One example is Doll Face,

which is a brick-and-mortar exclusive

to Rite Aid.

“Doll Face is aligned with our target

customer,” Keptner said, describing

the retailer’s core consumers as

women 25 to 49 with “children,

parents and pets, who are looking

for attributes such as organic, cruelty

free, fair trade and chemical free.”

Tom Winarick, CEO of Doll Face

Beauty, said Rite Aid has been

proactive in changing the mass

market status quo. “They have

allowed us to break some traditional

chain drug ‘rules’ to offer a truly indie

brand approach to their mix,” he said.

Too often, nascent brands have

been limited to access in chains

because of demands for big

advertising budgets, large orders and

inventory buybacks.

Other brands that are new to Rite

Aid include Arches and Halos, W3ll

People, Ella + Mila, Fleur and Bee,

Essano, Hempz, Clarisma, Purezero

and The Seaweed Bath Co.

“We want to work with brands,

including digitally native ones,

looking for a brick-and-mortar

footprint,” said Keptner, citing the

retailer’s agility — it has roughly 2,500

stores versus more than 9,000 at CVS

or Walgreens — as a key selling point.

CVS continues to elevate its beauty

proposition, too. Beyond an alliance

with Glamsquad and the Beauty Mark

campaign, the retailer has upgraded

its selection with a spotlight on

ingredients, exclusives and service.

“We are ahead of the curve,” said

Andrea Harrison, the new vice

president of beauty and personal

care at CVS. “We’ve been a catalyst of

change with Glamsquad and bringing

a different experience to mass.

We’re pleased with the performance

and we’ve seen growth among

Millennials and Gen Z, even during

the pandemic.”

With a robust prescription

business, CVS has sizable foot traffic,

and the goal of beauty, said Harrison,

is to offer access in a “comfortable

environment to have guilt and stress-

free me time.”

Further leveraging its health

positioning, she said CVS is starting

to marry the concept of the BeautyIRL

format with the HealthHub format,

a total wellness destination with

expanded health clinics, health

screenings and wellness rooms for

seminars or yoga classes along with

access to dietitians and respiratory

specialists. By the end of 2020, CVS

had 122 BeautyIRL stores — 69

were stand-alone and 53 combined

BeautyIRL/HealthHub stores.

“The boundaries between health

and beauty care are blurring. Many

aspects of beauty speak to wellness

and we have the opportunity to bring

that under one roof,” Harrison said.

Skin health has emerged as a huge

category for CVS, which continues

to add derm brands such as the

newly stocked Bioderma. To further

differentiate itself, CVS recently

launched SkinSafe, a data driven

platform developed with the Mayo

Clinic that can tell shoppers what

is in products at CVS, and whether

ingredients are safe based on

personal standards, specific allergens

and physician recommendations.

New “Sensitive Friendly” signage was

also introduced to indicate products

free from the most common allergy-

causing ingredients, reflective of

Mayo Clinic research results.

Meanwhile, Walgreens has taken

a multipronged approach, including

the Birchbox collab, a new loyalty

program, more masstige brands like

Boscia and 30-minute pick up at store

service that includes beauty. The

company did not comment on plans

to build out more Birchbox concepts,

but last year Birchbox CEO Katia

Beauchamp said plans call for 500

small shops.

Whether or not that will come to

fruition is not certain, but one thing

for sure is the continued blurring of

the prestige and mass world.

Rose Fernandez, CEO of Algenist,

believes that the clinical nature

of drugstores, which dispense

vaccinations, could open doors for easy

access to injections of a different kind.

“With drugstores trusted for flu

shots — and perhaps at some point for

COVID-19 immunizations — can they

serve as convenient spots for Restylane

or Botox?” she said. “Imagine you

don’t need an appointment and you

can go into a drugstore with a licensed

staff and be in and out.”

Rather than partner with a retailer,

maybe the next frontier includes an

aesthetic bar like Alchemy 43, which

could conceivably be connected to the

mounting number of medical clinics

in mass doors.

Nicci Levy, the CEO and

founder of Alchemy 43, doesn’t

rule out the possibility. “Since our

microtreatments are so trust-based,

partnering with brands that have

worked hard to cultivate loyalty with

their customers makes sense for us,”

she said.

Sonia Summers, founder and

CEO of Beauty Barrage, said the

often-overlooked grocery industry

including upscale food retailers

and wholesale clubs, might be ripe

for building specialty shops, too,

particularly given the connection

between beauty and food.

“Whole Foods already has a

customer that spends more, and their

beauty department is screaming for

help,” Summers said.

Serving the swelling consumer

demand for wellness could portend

a future for clean beauty retailers

such as The Detox Market or Follain

to team up with a heavy foot-

traffic chain, much like Credo has

collaborated with Ulta Beauty.

But while the potential of such

collaborations makes perfect sense,

hurdles exist. For one, many prestige

brands — clean or conventional —

are loathe to expand to mass market

distribution.

“If we wanted to be in Target, we

don’t need Ulta to help us,” said one

prestige beauty executive.

And then there’s the difficulty of

operating stores-in-store. The Detox

Market partnered with Holt Renfrew

for a clean beauty presentation in

2015. While founder Romain Gaillard

said the concept was successful in

generating greater exposure for the

participating brands at a time when

the sector was in its infancy, the

challenges were considerable.

“Clean beauty needs to be

explained, it is not self-serve,” he said.

“There are also logistical questions

such as who owns the inventory. And,

there is the question of whether the

brands want to be there or not.”

Whether mass merchants build

their own or court specialty retailers

to better reflect the fast-changing

beauty landscape, one thing is

certain: Change is here.

“The big takeaway,” said Alicia

Grande, CEO of Grande Cosmetics,

“is you really have to go where the

consumer is now.” ■

1. Wellness will play a huge role as mass retai lers look to reinvent the in-store beaut y experience. 2. Beauty’s big specialt y players — Sephora and Ulta Beaut y — may be spoken for, but other options exist for mass retai lers looking to ink prestige par tnerships. 3. Big retailers are looking to smaller brands to help elevate their proposit ion, and increasingly making it easier for indies to operate in a big box environment.

Key Takeaways

Inside a revamped Rite Aid.

10

JANUARY 15, 2020

MASTER CLASS

HAD SOMEONE TOLD Délphine

Viguier-Hovasse during her university

years that one day she would run

L’Oréal Paris, the world’s largest

beauty brand, the executive would

likely have been extremely surprised.

“My background is a scientific one: I am an engineer in agronomy,” said

Viguier-Hovasse, who graduated from

the Institut National Agronomique

Paris-Grignon with a specialty in the

genetics of plants and vegetables.

“My passion is biology in general, and

it started very early in childhood.”

Studies took her to various tropical

and emerging countries, but then

she was drawn by L’Oréal’s focus on

science, and research and innovation

for a career. So Viguier-Hovasse sent

her résumé to the group’s laboratories,

hoping to land a job there.

“A guy from human resources told

me: ‘No, you have to do marketing. I’m

pretty sure you’re good for marketing,’”

said Viguier-Hovasse, who took a bit of

persuading before acquiescing.

That was in 1997, when she joined

the group and spent six months in

sales. There were stints at L’Oréal

Paris cosmetics, Gemey-Maybelline

and Gemey-Maybelline Garnier

in France. She served as general

manager of LaScad for four years,

during which time Cadum was

purchased and integrated.

Viguier-Hovasse was president of

Carita and Decléor International,

and Garnier’s global brand president

for more than four years, while

repositioning it in the natural space.

She became general manager of

L’Oréal Paris in June 2019, marking

the first time a woman held the role.

Here, the executive discusses the

mass market, key goals and what she

loves best about the beauty business.

L’Oréal Paris returned to growth

in 2020, despite the sluggish

makeup segment. How is each

product category performing now?

The brand is beating the market this

year, clearly, and accelerated in the

second semester. Hair color has really

been the driver, followed by skin

care and hair care. The only category

which remains difficult is makeup.

For me, it has been a wake-up call

to see how much consumers are

attached to the hair-color category.

We are starting to develop a lot of

digital tools to explain how to use

hair color at home. The market took

off extremely quickly. It has been a

fantastic digital transformation.

We stay on a very good trend in

hair care and skin care, especially in

China, the U.S. and Brazil. Of course,

we struggle on makeup. You wear a

mask, stay at home, and so put less

makeup on. I hope to turn makeup

very quickly back to growth again.

How are you seeing the mass-

market channel evolving for

beauty overall?

The mass market will stay very

dynamic because having accessible

beauty products is a right for everyone.

We have a lot to do in the emerging

and developed world. We will

transform the consumer experience

with more online plus offline. Very

often, the consumer, even before

buying a product in brick-and-

mortar, is searching, Googling, trying

the products with virtual try-on tools.

So we have to make an experience

which is much more integrated.

What does the huge acceleration of

e-commerce due to the pandemic

portend for mass-market beauty

overall looking ahead?

There’s a practical reason you buy

your beauty at the same time you buy

your food in brick-and-mortar stores,

so it will last. And I think we have

many opportunities to make a better

experience there.

I often compare that to the music

industry. Sometimes you hear

[prerecorded] music and sometimes

you go to a concert. When you go to

a concert, you have a 3D experience,

which is very different and you never

forget. For a consumer that has a

physical experience with a brand

it’s something she’s more likely to

remember.

We have to make e-comm more

sustainable, making sure that we

group consumer purchases in one box,

made with sustainable packaging,

delivered with electric transportation.

There’s a premiumization of mass

in the U.S., like with the deal

between Ulta Beauty and Target.

What are the ramifications of this

for mass-market beauty players?

We are observing a valorization of the

U.S. market with specific lines that

are more expensive because they are

more concentrate or professional, or

differently formulated — like sulfate-

free. We are seeing a kind of stretch in

the price scale of the U.S. beauty market.

The U.S. is a very expert,

competitive market. Women there

are super aware of what’s happening.

There is a need and a demand from

the consumer to have efficient and

very specific products in the mass

market, but they are at an accessible

price compared to the other channels.

E-commerce globally has

blurred the lines. You used to have

consumers buying only in selective

or professional channels for hair

care, for example. With e-commerce,

everything is a bit mixed — on

Amazon, some Ulta e-comm

platforms or even in Ulta brick-and-

mortar — consumers also discover

new brands that could be more

accessible or expensive.

We have seen the consumer is

circulating much more from one

channel to another. The mass

retailers saw that, so they are also

wanting to have different brands —

more expensive — to really animate

that and follow this trend.

What are your top three priorities

for L’Oréal Paris in 2021?

The brand’s mission: women’s

empowerment — that we aid women

to achieve their goals — is for me the

number-one priority of the brand.

The pandemic has been very difficult

for many women on the planet.

My number-two priority is skin

care. In this pandemic moment,

restoring the skin barrier, making

sure you have skin in the best

condition possible, is very important

for the consumer.

And then hair color, hair care

and returning makeup to growth.

But I’d rather say I will create

strong, innovative products in every

category. More than thinking about

categories themselves, I’d rather

think about the big star products

that can be bestsellers in e-commerce

and brick-and-mortar. The consumer

is not buying a brand, she’s buying

products she loves within a brand.

What do you love best about the

business of beauty?

The power you are giving to the

consumer. You are giving women

armor. My mission is to give them

products to make them stronger.

How do you relax?

I’m afraid I don’t relax so much. I

read a lot, do a lot of sports. I have

the chance to have a great family —

great kids. I don’t know if I “relax”

with them, but for sure, they give me

energy, youth and courage. And my

husband, of course.

What is your favorite question to

ask during an interview?

I like to ask: “What have been your

difficulties, and how did you face them?”

Délphine Viguier-Hovasse L’Oréal Paris’ global brand president on the evolution of mass-market beauty, key goals for 2021 and what she loves best about the business. BY JENNIFER WEIL

DIRECT CONNECT: @lorealparis

#WorthIt

Experience the video:

lorealparisusa

You’re worth it. Three words we have all heard, at least a thousand times. Right?You’re worth it. But do you really understand what that means?

It is a beautiful reminder to us all that we have worth.

You have reason and rarity. There is value in each and every one of us. Including you. That is precious, and even on the days you might not feel it,

you never depreciate in value. Those words are there to remind you. Even if the harshest words are the ones you say to yourself.

Do not doubt yourself, and this time, tell yourself: I’m worth it! And I know you will always say it like you mean it.

I’m. Worth. It.

Because you are. And always will be. Got that?

“

“

-Viola Davis

https://bit.ly/39r4xFi

12

JANUARY 15, 2020

LAUNCH PAD

AFTER A tumultuous 10 months of holding back on new launches, the

mass market’s biggest players are

preparing an influx of product debuts

to heighten consumer interest.

Consumer behavior — and how

quickly it will evolve — hinges

upon the coronavirus pandemic, as

consumers continue to don masks

and spend more time indoors.

“Consumer behavior depends on

how long we're in lockdown,” said Lisa

Mulyk, senior vice president, strategic

solutions group at IRI. “If it sticks,

you're still going to see a lot of the same

trends that we saw over the last year.”

Whether it's a D.I.Y. approach to

hair care, consumer interest and

education around skin-care, or

traction with long-wear cosmetics,

the mass market is hedging its bets

on consumer behavior sticking to the

COVID-19-caused trends — at least

for the first half of 2021.

Shampoo, conditioner and coloring,

which have grown 1.3 percent, 7.5

percent and 7.2 percent according

to IRI, are a top focus for Unilever,

who has new hair launches in Shea

Moisture, Dove, Nexxus, Tresemmé

and Suave. “We have a lot of

innovations in the hair category,”

said Esi Eggleston Bracey, executive

vice president and chief operating

officer, beauty and personal care,

North America at Unilever. “This has

been an enormous shift, especially

for Black women, who averaged more

than seven salon visits per year before

COVID-19. Black women have started

new hair-care and styling routines at

home as they look for products and

resources to help solve hair needs.”

In the same solution-oriented

fashion, SheaMoisture’s Wig &

Weave Tea Tree and Borage Seed

Oil line launches this month with

seven stockkeeping units. The

products, which include a shampoo,

conditioner and detangler, bonding

glue, mousse, oil spray, bond release

spray and scalp soother, range in

price from $7.99 to $9.99.

At Dove, the focus is on moisture

and repair. Dove’s new Hair Therapy

range targets hydration, breakage

and dry scalp with shampoos

and conditioners focusing on

each concern, alongside leave-in

treatments for scalp and breakage

concerns. “With limited access to self-

care outside of our homes, our brands

are innovating with technology

advancements that are typically

more prevalent in premium skin-care

products. Dove Hair Therapy, which

just launched, provides hair care with

potent moisturizers and ingredients

that lean into the skinification of

hair,” Bracey said. “The collection

features ingredients like vitamin B3

and hyaluronic acid.”

Unilever isn’t the only company

leveraging the skinification of hair — 

at Johnson & Johnson, Neutrogena’s

skin-care line, Hydro Boost, now has

treatment counterparts in the hair

category. “We wanted to bring the

skinification of hair in, and we have a

big Neutrogena launch this year that’s

bringing skin-care ingredients to hair

care,” said Hanan Wajih, director of

marketing for Vogue International,

the J&J segment responsible for

distributing hair-care products.

“We’re also encouraging consumers

to be able to do what they would do

in the salon but at home on their

own.” Neutrogena’s Hydro Boost Deep

Treatment Mask with Hyaluronic

Acid will launch for $11.99.

Over in skin care, consumers are

expected to remain engaged with their

at-home skin care regimens as well.

“Skin care is something people have

put a lot of time and effort into and

they’re doing a lot more of it at home,”

Mulyk said. The category itself grew 2.8

percent year-over-year, according to IRI.

Retailers have also taken notice

of consumers’ growing awareness of

ingredients. “One of the things we are

excited about continuing to build out

this year is the idea of skin health,”

said Andrea Harrison, vice president

of beauty and personal care at CVS.

“As a retailer who's in health overall,

we're also always looking at bringing

the best of health and beauty. We

know that the customer sees those

things as very closely aligned.”

Ingredient callouts have been a

winning strategy for L’Oréal Paris,

given the popularity of its Derm

Intensives line. Nathalie Gerschtein,

president of the consumer products

division at L’Oréal USA, expects

consumers to stay invested in their

skin. “Last year, L’Oréal Paris had

really high rates of engagement, and

I’m expecting it to continue into this

year,” she said. “Our Derm Intensives

line, and each of the specific

ingredients we’ve been bringing to

the mass market have been very

successful.” To that end, the brand

is launching its Revitalift Derm

Intensives 0.3% Pure Retinol Serum

later this month for $36.99.

Ingredient callouts have become

part of Olay’s go-to-market strategy as

well. “A behavior we’ve noted this year

is the increase in search on skin-care

ingredients, like collagen and retinol,”

said Eric Gruen, vice president of Olay

North America. “Olay’s new Collagen

Peptide 24 skin-care line answers

our consumers’ search queries for

ingredients with a product that has

been formulated with our highest

concentration of collagen peptides

and niacinamide.” The Collagen

Peptide 24 line, which includes a

cleanser, moisturizer, serum and eye

cream, debuted earlier this month,

ranging in price from $7.12 to $28.99.

Color cosmetics leaders are also

seeing growing interest in ingredients,

but consumers remain more focused

on what's left out of the formulas.

“It's certainly becoming more of

an expectation around the mid- to

premium price points within mass,

which is where we play, and that is

why it's important for us to continue

to drive ‘clean,’” said Kevin Shapiro,

senior vice president of U.S. marketing,

consumer beauty at Coty Inc. Cover

Girl's latest play in the clean space is

LashBlast Clean Mascara, which is

vegan, cruelty-free and priced at $7.99.

Cover Girl isn't the only brand to

focus on eyes. In fact, Mulyk said

its one of the areas with the most

opportunity. “We anticipate an ongoing

focus on eye for at least the first half

of the year, depending on how long

it takes for people to feel safe to not

wear a mask,” she said. “From a color

standpoint, we're also expecting

heavy emphasis on long wear and

foundations and face products that are

a little bit more resilient, so they can

withstand being under a mask.”

Longwear complexion products

have helped E.l.f. Beauty, which

tracked growth in 2020, despite facial

cosmetics falling 20.9 percent, per

IRI. “I'm bullish on the category,” said

Tarang Amin, chief executive officer of

E.l.f. Beauty. “We've seen real strength

across our lineup, especially in our

complexion business. So whether you

wear a mask, whether you're caught

on Zoom, things like our Poreless

Putty Primers or Camo Concealers,

these are products that you can use

every day,” he said. E.l.f. is taking the

aforementioned concealer into the

foundation category with Camo CC

Cream, which launched for $14.

Although Amin is all-in on

complexion, he's confident in a strong

return for the rest of the category.

“At some point, there will be enough

vaccines, people will be able to get

around to their normal lives. When

that happens, I do think there'll be a

pent-up desire to express yourself.”

Mass Market's Biggest Launches In the First Quarter Clean beauty, hair care and long-wear color: where the mass market is hedging its bets in 2021. BY JAMES MANSO

The beauty section inside a CVS.

13

JANUARY 15, 2020

LAUNCH PAD

Shea Moisture Wig & Weave 2-in-1

Conditioner & Detangler, $9.99

This multitasking product from Shea Moisture's new

line plays to the DIY beauty trend of the past year.

E.l.f. Holy Hydration Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm,

$10

E.l.f. is making the most out of its Holy Hydration cream successes with a cleansing

line extension.

Garnier Whole Blends Sulfate-Free Remedy Coconut Oil & Cocoa

Butter Shampoo & Conditioner, $8.49 each

Garnier's new reparative line of products protect against heat and styling

with sustainably sourced ingredients.

L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Derm Intensives 0.3% Pure Retinol Serum,

$36.99

Retinol is the latest ingredient addition to L'Oréal Paris' popular Derm Intensives line.

Olay Collagen Peptide 24 Collection, $28.99

Olay's latest collection

hopes to cash in on its buzzy, consumer-

researched hero ingredient —collagen.

Dove Hair Therapy Breakage Remedy

Leave-On Treatment, $6.99

Having heard the consumer demand around for salon-style treatments, Dove's answer boosts hair fiber

strength.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Healthy

Scalp Deep Treatment Mask, $11.99

Neutrogena's Healthy Scalp

launch capitalizes on the skinification of hair with

hyaluronic acid as its hero ingredient.

Thayers Radiance Boosting

Serum, $10.99

New parent L'Oréal is boosting Thayers with this new serum which features

1 percent vitamin C.

E.l.f. Camo CC Cream, $14

E.l.f.’s taking the success of its camo concealer into the

foundation category.

Cover Girl LashBlast Clean Mascara,

$7.99

Cover Girl is amping up its clean offerings with a vegan

alternative to its classic Lashblast mascara.

NYX Professional Makeup Total Control Pro Drops

Foundation, $15

NYX Professional Makeup's vegan complexion launch offers buildable coverage.

Physician’s Formula Matte Monoi Butter

Bronzer, $15.99

Physician's Formula's new bronzer boasts a

matte finish and skin-care ingredients.

Revlon So Fierce Chrome Ink Liquid Liner, $10.99

Given mask wear, Revlon

makes a long-wear appeal to the interest in eyes.

Color Cosmetics

Skin Care

Hair Care

Pacifica Glow Baby Brightening

Peel Pads, $14

Pacifica is bringing an exfoliating counterpart to

its bestselling serum to market.

Aveeno Sunflower Oil Blend

Shampoo & Conditioner, $8.99 each

Aveeno's latest launch plays

to heightened consumer interest in hair repair with its

signature oat formulation, boosted with sunflower oil.

14

JANUARY 15, 2020

LAST CALL

In Pursuit of Wellness Designer Norma Kamali chronicles her lifelong journey with wellness in her new book, “I Am Invincible.”

BY JAMES MANSO

WHEN NORMA KAMALI FIRST became invested in her own wellbeing in the wake of the AIDS crisis, yoga classes weren’t a typical form of exercise and green juice was far from ubiquitous. “I felt uncomfortable talking about it because when I did, people just said, 'Oh she's a cuckoo bird,’” Kamali said. “Eventually, I realized the more I talked about the power of confidence and self-esteem, which comes from a healthy lifestyle, you can really have a fulfilled life.”

Several decades later, Kamali is

sharing her wellness secrets. Her new

book, “I Am Invincible,” serves as a

manual with health and wellbeing

wisdom for women of all ages. “At

75, I know my purpose is to share

this information,” Kamali said. “The

book is a handbook for women, men,

obviously can use it too. It takes

women from their 20s into their 80s.

Women have specific issues they deal

with that they haven't been able to

really communicate about openly

until the last, maybe 10 to 15 years.”

Although Kamali makes the

case for a plant-based diet,

intermittent fasting and rigorous

supplementation, she said the

building blocks for wellbeing are

much more straightforward. “The

three pillars of a healthy lifestyle

are sleep, diet, exercise and that's it.

There is no makeup, there's no dress,

there's nothing that will be more

important,” Kamali said. “I think

about sleep as restored exercise that

we do every night to help restore the

stress and the excitement of the day

we just experienced so that we're

ready to take on the next day. There's

nothing better than getting nutrition

through diet and eating healthy food.”

Having seen wellness' trajectory,

Kamali thinks the category will

take a turn for the technological. “I

know people who are very involved

in [artificial intelligence] and it is

just staggering to see the data and

the information that we each can

have individually about our genetic

composition, what will be good for

us, and the things we individually

can benefit from,” Kamali said. “It's

going to be a huge driver for the

pharmaceutical industry.”

Norma Kamali's new book, "I Am Invincible," comes out on Feb 2.