1 – Testing the waters: Lack of in-store testers fuelling the sales of cosmetics on second-hand marketplaces – new survey
A new joint survey conducted by Japanese companies Mercari and istyle Inc has found that Japanese beauty consumers are turning to second-hand marketplaces as a means to try products before committing to a full purchase.
Mercari is a Japanese firm behind a marketplace app that allows users to buy and sell used items. In February 2020, the firm announced a business alliance with istyle, the operator of @cosme, to link product data between the two platforms.
The joint investigation tapped into the @cosme membership database and reached out to 13,800 women aged 15 to 69 via a web survey.
More than half (53.6%) of the respondents reported utilising second-hand marketplaces such as Mercari, Rakuman and Yahoo! Auction. Among this group, 53.8% said that they had purchased cosmetics on the second-hand marketplaces.
2 – Simple and multifunctional: Biologi’s latest powdered exfoliant geared towards helping consumer ‘strip back’ on beauty
Australian clean cosmeceutical brand Biologi has launched a powdered exfoliant that taps into the ‘skinimalism’ trend and allows consumer to personalise it according to their needs.
Biologi’s Bx Reveal Exfoliant is a powdered exfoliant that contains only two ingredients: Australian Kakadu plum and rice powder. The product is activated by mixing it with a cleanser.
The latest launch taps into the minimalism skin care trend which has spawned practices such as skin fasting.
“Gone are the Kardashian-esque contouring regimes and in its place is fresh and natural-looking skin without all the layers. We love that these trends are focusing on your skin itself and working towards being comfortable showing off any perceived flaws and not hiding behind layers of make-up,” Ross Macdougald, founder of Biologi told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.
3 – WATCH – Oral refresh: Lovebyt and Vedix on why the oral care routine is ripe and ready for disruption
In the latest episode of the Beauty Broadcast, our guests from Lovebyt and Vedix explain how the oral care sector is progressing from meeting basic health needs to becoming a beauty and lifestyle essential.
Today, oral care brands are mirroring their skin care and hair care counterparts in terms of branding, packaging and formulation trends.
As a result, they are transforming toothpaste, dental floss, and mouthwash from perfunctory health products into a chic beauty and lifestyle essential.
Tash Schutts, founder and CEO of Australian oral care brand Lovebyt, believes this push for oral care is happening now because “teeth are becoming an object of beauty”.
4 – Vegan boost: LG H&H’s first vegan make-up brand completes line-up with seven new product launches
LG Household & Health Care’s has completed the product line-up of its first-ever vegan make-up brand, Belif x VDL, with the addition of seven more products to the existing line-up.
LG Household & Health Care (LG H&H) is a South Korean personal care conglomerate that owns a host of international beauty brands including History of Whoo, The Face Shop and Su:m37.
Belif x VDL is the company’s first vegan make-up brand that made its debut in August this year.
The brand was billed as a special collaboration between the firm’s skin care brand Belif, and make-up brand VDL that focuses on sustainable beauty with ‘clean’ ingredients.
5 – ‘Substantial shrinkage’: Kao reports skin care sales dip as hand hygiene demand falls
Japanese firm Kao Corporation has recorded a sales decline in skin care in the third quarter as the demand for hand soaps and sanitisers tumbled.
The firm’s health and beauty division saw sales decrease 4.8% on a like-for-like basis to JPY261.2bn (U$2,29bn) in the third quarter of its financial year while operating profit dropped JPY6.1bn (U$53.6m) to JPY41.3bn (U$490m) in the nine months ending September 30.
It attributed the slump to the falling demand for hygiene-related products.
Sales of hygiene products grew tremendously last year due to the heightened awareness of hygiene triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
