Each week, I unpack the critical movements that are transforming the global beauty and wellness industries. Subscribe to it here.
Hi guys,
Remember me? It’s been a minute since I’ve written my weekly column for The Business of Beauty. Straight off of returning from my maternity leave this spring, I rushed into planning our annual Global Forum and Global Awards at Stanly Ranch in Napa Valley and introduced our second annual BoF’s The State of Fashion: Beauty Report, in partnership with McKinsey & Company. Though I got to break some news here and there — E.l.f.’s acquisition of Rhode, TSG’s purchase of Phlur and a slew of comeback founders and executives launching fragrance line Lore — I haven’t been able to write as much as I’d like, and I am a writer.
So allow me to stage a comeback of my own — or, rather, of my column. Face Value is a weekly newsletter where I’ll give my honest take on what’s happening in the global beauty and wellness industries. I’m thinking of it a little like an old school reporter’s notebook; one filled with news, analysis, scoops, Q&As, opinions and doodles. I like to doodle! Look out for the first edition on Sept. 18, and every Thursday after that.
I grew up far from the centre of the beauty universe in Laredo, Texas, a Mexican border town where the most exciting makeup attraction was a pared-down MAC counter. I may not have been a “beauty person,” but I did understand how personal beauty can be. I remember getting my makeup done for prom at the Clinique counter and looking like the WB Teen characters I aspired to resemble rather than myself; I remember how Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturiser made me feel like a grown up when I moved to New York at 23; and my frozen shoulder definitely remembers how much time, to say nothing of the money, I’ve spent blow drying my hair. (Shark Flexstyle and T3 Airebrush are really doing wonders now.)
I spent the first half of my journalism career writing fashion features for magazines like W, Town & Country, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair. They were great gigs while they lasted. (I came to journalism at the end of magazines’ glory days.) And in all of those jobs I had the opportunity to write stories about skincare and wellness and more.
For the last decade, I’ve written almost exclusively about beauty, and I’ve learned how to thoughtfully approach the topic by being willing to ask questions that others won’t and connect topics to a larger narrative. Beauty reporting is about culture, whether we’re talking about 50 shades of foundation, access to reasonably priced products or how we see ourselves in the mirror. It took me a long time to like my face, and my relationship with products very much informs how I see the beauty business and who I think the beauty business is for.
Why write about the business of beauty, though? People underestimate how large the industry is — $441 billion globally, according to The State of Fashion: Beauty Report. I like how fast it moves, with new brands, founders, retail channels, campaigns and products launching constantly.
Since I arrived at BoF three years ago, The Business of Beauty has become the source for all things global beauty and wellness. We cover everything from notable new founders and the specialty retail wars to the unwinding of conglomerates. One of my favourite parts of the job is breaking the news of M&A deals, always with our signature BoF analysis.
With Face Value, you’re going to get my unfettered thoughts on everything: Sephora’s plans for global domination, why more people need to be paying attention to the battle between Nykaa and Tira, the real troubles at Coty and the Estée Lauder Companies, who should get that Glossier CEO job (and does it matter?), what I heard about that Byoma and Bansk deal and why colour cosmetics brands have sat out the beauty M&A boom.
It’s going to be fun for me to write, and for you to read. Please email your thoughts, scoops and doodles to Priya.Rao@businessoffashion.com, and subscribe here to Face Value. See you on the 18th.
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