How expensive can sunscreen get? Brands like Augustinus Bader and U Beauty have taken what was a utilitarian good and transformed it into a luxury beauty product whose pricing is in line with buzzy serums and face creams. But justifying a sunscreen that costs as much as a serum means promising as stellar results as...
Beauty brands are benefiting from offering Amazon’s Buy with Prime to direct-to-consumer shoppers The owner of Bare Minerals and Laura Mercier said Amazon’s DTC fulfillment program has been a boon for conversion and revenue. And rather than compete against Amazon’s shipping dominance, brands can now take advantage of it for themselves.
‘A 10% cost breaks me’: How independent perfumers are navigating Trump’s tariffs A single bottle of perfume may source ingredients and materials like essential oils and plastic caps from up to 30 different countries. The closing of the de minimis loophole and new tariffs will add additional costs to each of those materials. And for independent perfumers operating at a small scale,...
‘We’re the next step in the journey’: How Stéle is enchanting New York’s niche fragrance community For fragrance consumers that don't want to smell just another Glossier You and Santal 33 dupe, Stéle's Nolita and Williamsburg boutiques offer the next step down the perfume rabbit hole.
The Estée Lauder Companies will lay off thousands of employees amid double-digit sale decline The conglomerate is on a mission to restore sales growth, but faces challenges in a softening beauty market and uncertainty amid tariffs.
Il Makiage owner Oddity believes it can withstand tariff uncertainty The owner of Il Makiage and Spoiled Child reported a 27% increase in net revenue for the first quarter of 2025. Despite volatile tariffs, the company adjusted its full-year outlook to expect at least 22% year-over-year growth.
Meet Marc-Antoine Barrois, the couturier making critically-acclaimed fragrances In 2016, Marc-Antoine Barrois made a few hundred perfume bottles expecting to sell them over the course of 10 years. Now fragrance is 90% of his business, but he would like his consumers to buy less, not more of his creations.
Boy Smells debuted a rebrand. PerfumeTok is not happy Ten-year-old fragrance brand Boy Smells unveiled "Boy Smells 2.0," a rebranding of its packaging and scents. But existing fans feel the update has erased the indie roots and queer identity that made them love the brand to begin with.
‘Let’s get absurd’: Why some brands are leaning into tariff price increases The sudden and seemingly volatile institution of tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. from countries like China has put many businesses in a bind on how to manage their supply chains. Some brands have chosen to go forth with increasing pricing as a result of tariffs. But calculating and...