Sephora

Beauty experts like Mary Phillips, Chris McMillan and Alli Webb have specific qualifications that not all new brand founders possess, making the retailer more willing to bet big on their success.

Against a cooling market and a competitive online landscape, brands are doubling down on their professional credentials to stand out. Leveraging hair stylist support takes consultative work and planning.

As online marketplaces grow, speciality and mass retailers face mounting pressure. With assortments blending and channels blurring, standing out is only getting harder.

Fragrance may be booming, but the premium category has cratered compared to high-end niche perfumes and affordable body and hair mists that have become an expansion focus for brands.

From ‘Smurfs’ to ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’, big-budget films are an increasingly popular marketing tie-in for beauty companies — especially when their founder is also a star.

The US retailer’s surprise buyout of the London-based upmarket chain is in line with its recent business overall, which puts global expansion at the core of future growth.

From Seoul to Melbourne, new cities are emerging as frontrunners in the beauty start-up space. The independent brands created in these hubs are fast becoming hot acquisition targets, but understanding the limits of their global appeal is key.

The luxury goods maker is reeling from a sharp downturn in the €364 billion industry — and questions about succession are growing louder.

Executives and founders from companies such as L’Oréal, Pattern Beauty, Dermalogica, Citi, E.l.f. Beauty, Glossier, Olaplex, Tatcha and Isamaya Beauty gathered for an intimate lunch at Stanly Ranch, hosted by Sephora, to celebrate the Global Forum community.

When growth plateaus, beauty companies may remix their logos, colour schemes and even products in the hopes of appealing to a wider audience or re-engaging their core. But finding a new brand identity can sometimes mean upsetting fans of the old one.