Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Retail Brew

Erin Cabrey

retailbrew.com

How Murad innovates its skincare for TikTok

Leaning into TikTok before-and-afters has lifted Murad’s sales at Sephora and Ulta

How this over 30-year-old skin care brand changed its innovation strategy for the TikTok age

Clean beauty products on a table with plants, leaves, and flowers

Clean and vegan beauty reformulation backlash

Glossier is the latest brand to face backlash with its Balm Dotcom reformulation

More and more beauty brands are reformulating to be clean and vegan, but consumers aren’t always happy about it

Katishi Maake

Outline of US map with skincare products 

Men’s personal care brands carve their space in a growing market

Dr. Squatch released a new line of hand and body lotions last week, expanding the company’s product portfolio geared toward men.

Beauty

Vidhi Choudhary

As beauty brands face pressure to produce more content faster, Estée Lauder’s cosmetics brand Too Faced launched its first fully AI-generated campaign in March for its Ribbon Wrapped Lash Mascara product.

The campaign comes amid swirling rumors of a 

 sale by parent company Estée Lauder. Founded by Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson in 1998, Too Faced was acquired by Estée Lauder in 2016 for $1.45 billion, becoming one of the beauty giant’s younger-skewing brands with cheeky product names like Born This Way foundation.

Warissara Muangsaen, VP and global creative director at Too Faced, spoke with Retail Brew about Too Faced’s new campaign created in beta using Adobe’s AI-powered Firefly Video Model—which creates video content by converting text prompts and still images into visual clips or animation—before the tool’s public release.

In the ad, a ballerina spins in a music box as a black ribbon unfurls, expanding through the room until it wraps around a woman’s eyelashes. The bulk of the ad was created in roughly two weeks, Muangsaen said, adding “AI can be useful to you if you’re an expert in the field you’re using it for.”

In this case, Firefly helped speed up the overall creative workflow. “It makes us faster,” Muangsaen said.

Many of these highly specific, storytelling-driven concepts, Muangsaen explained, don’t exist visually yet. Phase one of the ad involved ideation and prompting, followed by storyboard and frame generation in phase two, video animation in phase three, editing and assembly in phase four, and finally, app testing and functionality checks in phase five.

“The editing takes shorter times,” she said. “We did a holiday shoot this year; it usually takes four days [to edit].” However, with Firefly it took one day, she added.

Too Faced also trained Firefly on its existing product imagery—foundation swatches, mascara textures, glitter finishes—so the AI could accurately replicate the brand’s visual look and feel. This allowed Too Faced to amplify existing creative assets rather than investing in additional content, which freed up budget. “What that means is I could have one extra day shooting a model,” Muangsaen said. Money saved usually gets repurposed on getting, say, a top beauty influencer for Too Faced, she added.

The larger idea was also to get members within her team, including visual merchandisers and photo retouchers, to get excited about a completely new way of working, Muangsaen said. “That was a part of the experiment itself that, ‘Hey, there's no right or wrong. Let’s just jump into it. Let’s see what it can help you [with], and let’s see what it comes out looking like.’”

 “We’ve seen that using AI tools to enhance content, video, and photography is really one of the top use cases for generative AI,” Sky Canaves, eMarkater principal analyst for retail and e-commerce, told Retail Brew. “It’s become pretty advanced.”

“Brands have to be increasingly agile, particularly in this very competitive and trend-driven space like beauty,” she said. “These kinds of tools can really help them to keep their content fresh and appealing to audiences.”

However, Canaves added, there is the risk of creating content that looks generic: “That’s where the human touch really comes in to really refine that content and enhance it and guide the AI tools to get the desired output.”

Estée Lauder’s Too Faced first AI ad campaign with Adobe

AI tools to enhance content, video, and photography are becoming one of the top use cases for generative AI.

How Estée Lauder’s Too Faced created its first AI ad campaign with Adobe

The men behind the Lids turnaround are putting on their thinking caps—or, more aptly, their thinking claw clips—to revitalize tween trinket store Claire’s.

Investment firm Ames Watson, co-founded by Lawrence Berger and Tom Ripley, announced this month it purchased Claire’s for $140 million after the retailer 

 for the second time in August, citing issues like increased competition and lower foot traffic. The firm has become known for turnarounds, 

 Lids in 2019, and more than doubling its store count and revenue, now at $1.4 billion, per the Wall Street Journal. The company also owns sportswear brand Champion, and apparel retailer South Moon Under.

While an athletic hats retailer and tween accessories chain might not 

 like they have a lot in common, Berger told Retail Brew that he and Ripley are prepared to institute a similar playbook for the millennial mall staple’s comeback. He said it’ll take “a full year” to implement changes—which span improved merchandising and marketing, and some store clean-up—but they’re up for the challenge.

“We're good at fixing companies,” Berger said.

Claire’s was founded in 1974 and rose to prominence in the late ’90s and early 2000s, reaching a demographic that historically ranges from about ages 3 to 15, but the company has faced more competition in recent years. Amazon, Temu, and Shein now offer similar accessories at a lower price point, while retailers like Sephora have started to attract younger consumers, pulling them away from Claire’s. But Berger believes there’s a chance to reel in those older consumers—and even their kids—once more.

To solve for both issues of straying shoppers, Claire’s merchandise has to become more unique, Berger said. Claire’s will still offer the affordable trinkets it’s known for while adding products that are licensed by or exclusive to the retailer, more higher-priced jewelry options within piercing, and even a few things for moms, Berger said. That exclusivity strategy was also employed for Lids, moving its “stale” inventory to 60%–70% exclusive products today, Berger said.

“We have to have really interesting things for them that only Claire’s has, [that] they can’t buy in other places,” Berger said. “Over the last few years, the company got away from that.”

Part of updating its merchandise is also weeding out the products that are, well, not as cool anymore, to ensure “we aren’t keeping the stuff in the stores that is off-trend and uninteresting,” he said. That means it’s time to do away with all the Stanley-like tumblers (“Anyone who wanted a Stanley cup has got one already…Should we really have a wall of that?” he said) and claw clips (hair bows are selling better, apparently).

Beyond merchandise, Claire’s will up its teammate training to improve the ear piercing and general in-store experience, and aims to make the most of their physical stores by hosting events or birthday parties, Berger said.

Claire’s online store, meanwhile, has been put on pause, per an update on its website. In the near term, its e-commerce site will be used to highlight new products and promotions and allow customers to book piercing appointments, he said, and while there may be more e-commerce investments in the future, Claire’s identity as an “experiential retailer” remains paramount.

Berger said Claire’s plans to document its turnaround efforts on social media—whether it be showcasing the new merchandise or that the freshly cleaned purple carpets are in need of little TLC. Bringing consumers along for the journey will then allow them to give feedback on what they’d like to see in stores, Berger noted.

Beyond that, much of Claire’s marketing strategy will take a page out of Lids’s playbook. Berger noted the hat retailer introduced an Ultimate Hat Collection contest that allowed the winner to design their own hat line and ultimately be featured modeling the products in its marketing.

“We made it really authentic, and we connected to our community,” he said. “We want to do that kind of stuff in the Claire’s stores too.”

Berger said Claire’s aims to deploy both younger shoppers and parents across its marketing. The rapid trend cycle doesn’t make it easy to keep up with Gen Alpha, Berger admitted, but Claire’s overall strategy going forward will be an even mix of talking to customers about what they like and Claire’s team working to get ahead of trends. While Berger just turned 54—and is therefore likely not fluent in 

—he believes the generations aren’t all that different.

“The Labubu trend…is no different than the Cabbage Patch kids trend, right?” Berger said.

How the firm behind the Lids turnaround is executing a Claire’s comeback

Ames Watson, the firm behind the Lids turnaround, is hoping to use a similar playbook to return the tween accessory and ear-piercing destination to prominence. 

Sephora and Vogue publisher Condé Nast are looking to cash in on the power of influencers, both unveiling new creator-led marketplaces to compete with affiliate marketing leaders like LTK and ShopMy.

Speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Tuesday, Sephora President and CEO Artemis Patrick announced the launch of My Sephora storefront, which allows creators and influencers to curate their own shoppable Sephora.com storefront. Patrick said the retailer was inspired to create the platform after receiving 14,000 applications this past year for its content creation program, Sephora Squad, which can only accept 50 annually. The platform, currently in alpha, is set to debut next month, she said.

Condé Nast’s new offering, Vette, also announced this week, allows influencers to operate their own online storefronts filled with products they picked. The platform will use “AI-powered merchandising and marketing tools,” the company said in a statement, which includes recommendations for inventory creators can add to their storefronts, 

. Vette, set to launch in early 2026, will use a revenue share model with creators and brands.

The new platforms are both efforts to get in on the nearly $16 billion 

—used by 40 million monthly shoppers and bringing in $5 billion in annual consumer sales, according to the company—and ShopMy, which scored $77.5 million in funding this year led by investors that previously backed Shopify and Rent the Runway.

Both Condé Nast and Sephora emphasized their new platforms differ from those affiliate marketing competitors because consumers can check out through the platforms themselves, rather than being redirected to the brands’ or retailers’ sites. Patrick said My Sephora is integrated into the retailer’s site on the app, desktop, or mobile devices, creating a “seamless experience,” while Vogue Business reported customers can shop and check out directly via Vette. The platforms more closely align with Amazon’s Storefront, which allows shoppers to convert sales directly though Amazon.

Lisa Aiken, Vogue’s executive fashion director and Condé Nast’s SVP of commerce, said in a statement that Vette will serve as a destination “where influence, distribution, and community come together in one place,” while Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch said it “sets a new standard for what the future of commerce can be.”

Condé Nast Vette creator commerce storefront

Sephora, Condé Nast announce new creator-led storefronts

The storefronts, which let consumers checkout directly on the platforms themselves, will compete with LTK and ShopMy as well as Amazon Storefront. 

Jeena Sharma

While many retailers are hiking prices to cope with tariffs and the end of de minimis, Apothékary is taking a contrarian route: thinking about lowering prices.

Shizu Okusa, founder and CEO of the Japanese-inspired wellness brand, told Retail Brew that she’s more concerned with “consumer perception and sentiment/fragility” than with passing costs along.

“We’re, frankly, absorbing a lot of the price impact that’s happening in our supply chain,” she said. “We’re not actually planning to raise any prices, but we are changing how we merchandise.”

 $20 million in revenue by November 2024 and was on track to hit $35 million by early 2025, has leaned on bundling as its primary response to rising costs. When tariffs first hit, acquisition costs jumped 30% “overnight,” according to Okusa.

“It was pretty dramatic, and we actually ended up pulling back our marketing spend by 40% in July and August,” she said.

With a “new year, back-to-school” consumer mindset in September, Apothékary pivoted again, eliminating free shipping for orders under $99 as the brand was losing money every time someone bought a single product, Okusa said. The new threshold pushed shoppers toward buying at least three items, boosting average order value (AOV) without raising per-product prices.

“Customers weren’t net-paying more per product; they were actually paying less per product, because they were getting savings as a [result of buying more], but we were saving on both shipping costs and [being] able to pass that value downstream,” she said.

She added that since offering products in value sets and mini trios, the retailer has seen elevated interest from new customers on TikTok Shop first launched in August, with 90% of its new customers coming through the platform.

Okusa said she believes tariffs played a big role in pushing a lot of brands onto TikTok as “people were all trying to find ways to make money themselves, and becoming TikTok creators, so you saw this large shift of consumers spending more time on TikTok.”

But while bundling has proved invaluable for Apothékary, gifting is another incentive that has gone hand in hand for the brand in helping retain and acquire new customers.

“When you check out on our website…there’s various sorts of incentives to get a higher AOV, and the higher the AOV you actually unlock, you get free shipping,” Okusa said, adding that the second thing it unlocks is a free spoon.

“The free spoon is $10 in the customer’s mind, but for us, it costs us 50 cents, so we’re able to give that value to the customer,” she said, explaining that it accounts for $10 of an increase in the AOV that made up for the increase in tariff costs.

“We may actually end up being more profitable based on all the things that we’re doing,” Okusa said.

Wellness retailer Apothékary is lowering prices

Shizu Okusa, founder and CEO, told Retail Brew that bundling and offering free gifts have proven to be invaluable strategies for the brand amid a challenging trade climate.

As tariffs heat up, wellness retailer Apothékary is lowering prices

 and two years into its turnaround effort led by president and CEO Richard Dickson, Gap Inc. is charting more paths for growth.

The retail group, owner of Gap, Old Navy, Athleta, and Banana Republic, announced this week it’s expanding into beauty and accessories. The beauty effort will start at its Old Navy stores this fall, adding a curated beauty and personal care section to 150 stores, with select stores operating shop-in-shops staffed by beauty associates. It plans to scale further with Old Navy and other portfolio brands in 2026.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Annual Global Retailing Conference today, Dickson said beauty is “one of the fastest growing and most resilient categories in the US,” noting the high-margin business, along with accessories, will serve as a “traffic driver” and help the company “go after attracting a new generation” of younger shoppers.

Old Navy and Gap stores previously featured a limited beauty selection, with third-party brands like e.l.f. Cosmetics sold at Old Navy and an in-house fragrance line at Gap. It’s also offered accessories, but Dickson said the company hasn’t previously “gone after it with intent.” The 

, largely priced below $25, will include skincare, makeup, hair, and nail products, per the Wall Street Journal. As part of its accessories push, Old Navy this week debuted its 

, spearheaded by Gap Inc. Creative Director Zac Posen.

The expansion decision came after “a lot of rigor and research,” including insights from thousands of consumers about launching products under its own brand, Dickson said, noting beauty represents a “significant growth opportunity” for Gap Inc. While consumers remain cautious, the beauty category continues to grow, with 

 2% and 4%, respectively, in the first half of the year. Also speaking at the Goldman Sachs conference, Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman said the beauty retailer “hasn’t seen much change” in consumer behavior, noting “beauty isn’t recession proof, but I would say it’s recession resistant.”

, Dickson has been leading Gap’s turnaround focusing on growing cultural relevance particularly in the activewear, kids and baby, and denim categories. The latter grabbed headlines with a viral ad starring girl group Katseye, which Dickson said has garnered 8 billion impressions since launching two weeks ago.

The outside of an Old Navy store in a strip mall

Beauty, accessories will help brand in ‘attracting a new generation’

With momentum from its latest viral denim ad and successful turnaround efforts, the retail group is eyeing further growth. 

Gap CEO: Beauty, accessories will help brand in ‘attracting a new generation’

US beauty sales across mass and prestige hit $50.6 billion in the first half of 2025, and the two segments are “

” as consumers opt for premiumized mass products and lower-priced prestige ones, according to Circana.

Prestige sales rose 2% to $16 billion, while mass jumped 4% to $34.6 billion in the first six months of the year. Both channels were buoyed by the continued success of fragrance and hair products.

The mass market’s biggest H1 success was fragrance, with sales soaring 17%. Prestige scents saw a 6% increase, with sales picking up in Q2, and new product launches accounting for a third of total dollar gains. Value-seeking prestige shoppers opted for mini and travel sizes, with units up 15%.

Prestige hair got a 6% bump, with unit sales also rising. Mass hair product sales rose 4%, though unit sales were flat. Prestige saw growth for all segments, including shampoos and conditioners and styling products.

Makeup sales in prestige inched up 1%, though units sold were flat. Mass makeup sales also slightly dipped as dollar and unit sales dropped. Lip products were a strong sales driver among both channels, serving as the only makeup segment with sales growth in mass. Prestige lip liner and mascara both experienced sales bumps.

Mass skin care sales (+4%) outperformed prestige (-1%). Masstige skin care products secured double-digit growth. A drop in facial skin care sales at brick-and-mortar stores drove prestige skin care’s struggles, though prestige body care was a bright spot.

Larissa Jensen, global beauty industry advisor at Circana, said the H1 results show consumers are “focused on efficacy and elevated value,” and that “adaptability and strategic agility are essential for success in 2025.”

 L’Oréal reported in July that it, too, saw the strongest growth from fragrance and hair care in H1, with its prestige and mass segments notching growth. This week,

Estée Lauder said it gained share within prestige beauty in fiscal 2025 in the US, thanks to The Ordinary, Clinique, and its eponymous brand, though it reported a “modest loss” in Q4. Fragrance was its only category that didn’t see net sales declines. And E.l.f. this month 

 two straight quarters of slowing sales. Ulta Beauty is set to announce its second-quarter earnings next week.

Premium and mass beauty are ‘converging’ as consumers seek value

Both segments saw sales lifts in H1 as fragrance and hair remain beauty standouts.

 in their partnership earlier this year, Target and Ulta Beauty are officially pulling the plug on their shop-in-shop deal.

The two retailers announced today they’ve “mutually agreed” to end the partnership when their current agreement expires in August 2026, but will continue operating online and in stores until then.

Rick Gomez, Target’s EVP and chief commercial officer, said in a statement that the retailer is “proud of our shared success” with Ulta, and that it “remains committed to offering the beauty experience consumers have come to expect from Target.”

The partnership’s end comes after Ulta’s president and CEO, Kecia Steelman, said at a conference in April that the two would “

” the shop-in-shops’ expansion, looking to “leverage the learnings” and create “even greater value” for the partnership.

Weeks before that announcement, Target employees had taken to Reddit to share red flags with the tie-up—pointing to shoplifting, understaffing, foot traffic cannibalization, and an underwhelming customer experience. Following today’s news, Redditors in r/Ulta and r/Target, many claiming to be former and current employees, echoed similar sentiments. One poster who said they’d worked at a shop-in-shop for three years said they were “not surprised at all” the partnership was ending.

Target has opened 610 Ulta shop-in-shops since the partnership was announced in 2021 as a way to grow Ulta’s reach and expand Target’s merchandise into prestige cosmetics.

Target has been focused on growing its beauty assortment beyond its Ulta shops, launching 2,000 products and 50 new brands in February. It also added beauty items to its front-of-store Bullseye’s Playground this summer, Gomez said in May.

But the partnership’s end appears to be yet another blow to Target, which has seen 

 of foot traffic declines since backtracking on DEI efforts in January. Ulta, meanwhile, has seen a sales boost since initiating its 