Facing increased competition in the retail sphere, department store stalwarts Macy’s and Nordstrom are doubling down on their beauty footprint with an increased emphasis on services and expanded brand offerings.

This week, I checked in on the strategy behind the fragrance brand By Rosie Jane’s Smell Good Saturdays pop-up series. Additionally, L’Oréal announces new leaders to its hair-care brands, and Target gets in on the ChatGPT shopping trend. 

According to Traackr’s 2025 Holiday Shopping Report, the brands that are poised to succeed, when it comes to holiday social media campaigns, are those that have been engaging their social audiences all year long.

This week, I checked in on how the demand for high-performing fragrances is driving new technologies and product categories. Additionally, both L’Oréal and The Estée Lauder Companies made global investments, and Hourglass founder Carisa Janes introduced a new beauty line. 

In 2025, gauging social media impact goes far beyond tracking a straightforward follower count or number of likes. With the introduction of its new proprietary metric known as the Total Social Impact metric, the social media management platform hopes to offer a more holistic view of a brand’s social reach.

In October, Rakuten welcomed Sephora as the exclusive beauty partner to its invite-only Rakuten+ member tier. Perks like cash back offer a valuable tool to keep Sephora customers loyal at a time when platforms like Amazon and ChatGPT might be driving beauty shoppers elsewhere.

This week, I checked in on Ulta Beauty’s expansion into the Middle East, where it's making a play for the region’s fragrance connoisseurs. Additionally, Shay Mitchell’s newest beauty launch has earned criticism for targeting children, and Coty throws a wrench into the Gucci beauty license deal. 

With the opening of its new High Performance model, Life Time joins other fitness and wellness companies that aim to offer a more intangible benefit than what’s usually found at the gym: community.

Getting into Sephora is the gold standard for many beauty brands. But getting there — and staying there — is far from easy. Speaking at Day 2 of Glossy’s Beauty & Wellness Summit in Newport Beach, InnBeauty Project’s co-founder Alisa Metzger led a working group to highlight her skin-care brand’s...