Weekly Roundup: Revlon emerges from bankruptcy, Duradry uses ChatGPT to formulate deodorant

06 Apr 2023 --- This week, Revlon revealed progress on its emergence out of bankruptcy, set for late April. In other highlights, new product launches involved the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to craft unique functionalities for hygiene solutions. Skincare innovations merged well-being with skin health, while animal-free testing initiatives were in the spotlight.

New product launches
Victoria’s Secret unveiled the Heavenly Eau de Parfum fragrance campaign with brand ambassador Adriana Lima. This fragrance campaign marks her return to the brand, with more collaborations to come throughout the year. Captured by visionary photographer Sølve Sundsbø, the imagery evokes a light and airy ambiance, a nod to the fresh and sophisticated notes within the perfume. The reimagined bottle was designed to complement the timeless radiance of the fragrance. This Eau de Parfum opens with a hint of effervescent fruits, and transitions into a bouquet of romantic white florals at its heart: freesia, lotus and jasmine. It is enveloped in gold musk, creamy sandalwood and bourbon vanilla.

Auria officially launched its line of professional-grade skincare products comprising microdermabrasion, kinetic toning and pore extraction (Image credit: Auria).Duradry, a deodorant and antiperspirant solutions brand, is harnessing AI to formulate beauty products. By leveraging ChatGPT, Duradry created a new formula for its popular Duradry AM antiperspirant stick, in a move to raise its effectiveness. Duradry’s new formula is designed to offer high protection against sweat and odor. In addition, it mainly comprises natural ingredients for a more natural gentle, and effective antiperspirant solution.

Clariant Actives and Natural Origins created two formulations to promote inner wellness. The Feel-Good Magic Stick and Forget-It-All Relaxing Mask are formulations developed as part of Clariant’s new “The Joyologist” concept, focused on delivering a multi-sensory experience to consumers for mood enhancement and relaxation. The Feel-Good Magic Stick is a water-based facial skin stick that provides a relaxing, fresh effect. Aqueous gels provide cooling sensations to the skin thanks to their water-based formulation and the gel in the “Feel-Good Magic Stick” has a lightweight, non-greasy texture that absorbs quickly into the skin, leaving it feeling soft and hydrated. The formulation is based on Clariant’s new active ingredient Rootness Mood+ that reproduces the natural benefits of light to revitalize the skin and enhance the mood. As an ideal complement to the Feel-Good Magic Stick, the “Forget-It-All Relaxing Mask” is applied to the skin at the end of the day. Offered in a multi-sensorial relaxation set, which includes a scented candle and relaxing playlist, the facial care mask has a soft texture that leaves skin feeling relaxed and soothed. Its key active ingredient is Beracare CBA, a complex blend in which copaiba oil’s tremendous potential is boosted by passion fruit oil. It is sourced responsibly from renewable resources in the Amazon, and is an alternative to CBD, soothing sensitive skin by targeting the skin’s endocannabinoid system.

Coty revealed its latest product innovation, the Dose of Wisdom bouncy skin reactivating serum, which is approved by the Cruelty Free International Leaping Bunny Programme. It is the first product under the new dose of Wisdom franchise. This daily facial serum acts as a jumpstart for the skin, reactivating and restoring healthy bounce through in-depth hydration and collagen support. Essential actives – molecule grafted vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, plus philosophy’s patented vitality booster – are expertly delivered to optimize their benefits in a gentle way for all skin types, including sensitive.

Beauty and wellness brand, Auria, officially launched with a line of powerful, professional-grade skincare products that deliver transformative moments that can fit into your existing routine. Auria’s new product offerings include the Vita Trio, a portable, three-in-one skin care treatment device. They also include three treatment-enhancing serums – Renew, Brighten and Refine. Using an innovative smart tip detection technology, the Vita Trio enables single-button operation and “seamless switching” between the three treatment modes: microdermabrasion, kinetic toning and pore extraction.

Skincare brand Perricone MD revealed the latest addition to its Essential Fx Acyl-Glutathione Collection, the Essential Fx Acyl-Glutathione Chia Body Oil. The product is the brand’s first introduction of an oil for the body. This fast-absorbing dry body oil immediately conditions elbows, knees and ankles with essential moisture and intense nourishment. Essential Fx Acyl-Glutathione Chia Body Oil is formulated with the brand’s patented Acyl-Glutathione, a “master antioxidant” that reduces wrinkles and replenishes thin, fragile skin. It works in tandem with an omega-rich vitamin F blend of chia, flax and macadamia seed oils that intensely moisturize and improve the skin's moisture barrier, leading to increased suppleness and improved skin elasticity.

Shiseido will open the Shiseido Beauty Planet, a facility that will offer factory tours, within the premises of its Fukuoka Kurume Factory on May 10 (Image credit: Shiseido).Business developments
Givaudan completed the acquisition of a major cosmetic ingredients portfolio from Amyris. Givaudan announced that it had reached an agreement for this transaction in February 2023. Amyris is a biotechnology company accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable consumption through its Lab-to-Market technology platform in beauty, health and flavors and fragrances markets. The companies will leverage Amyris’ technology platform for designing, scaling and manufacturing bio-fermented ingredients.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York confirmed Revlon’s Plan of Reorganization, which positions the company to emerge from bankruptcy in late April – consistent with the timeline announced at the beginning of the restructuring. As a result of the restructuring process and the Plan, Revlon is expected to emerge with approximately US$285 million of liquidity, to be funded through an equity rights offering, a new money senior secured credit facility, and new asset-based loans. Upon its emergence from bankruptcy, the company will eliminate more than US$2.7 billion in debt from its balance sheet, with approximately US$1.5 billion of debt outstanding.

Bed Bath & Beyond launched a vendor consignment program with ReStore Capital, a Hilco Global investment management company. Under this new, third-party agreement, ReStore Capital will purchase up to US$120 million, on a revolving basis at any given time, of pre-arranged merchandise from the Bed Bath & Beyond’s key suppliers to supplement inventory levels already sold at Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy BABY. Bed Bath & Beyond has been struggling to stock its shelves after its vendors tightened their credit terms, cut limits and required prepayments before agreeing to fulfill orders, the company previously shared. In a court filing submitted last February, the group admitted it has been financially struggling with “significant net losses since 2018.”

Digital transformation
Accenture, Microsoft and Unilever completed “one of the largest and most complex cloud migrations” in the consumer goods industry. The migration has helped Unilever – whose 400+ brands are used by 3.4 billion people daily – become a cloud-only enterprise, the company details. With Azure as its primary cloud platform, Unilever expects to accelerate product launches, enhance customer service and improve operational efficiency. Additionally, the move to Azure aligns with Unilever’s sustainability commitment by helping the company to build on the progress it’s making towards curbing carbon emissions, states the conglomerate.

Kao has selected Xceede Solutions, a boutique consulting firm, to implement its Americas region digital transformation program aimed at strengthening customer relationships. As part of the Customer Relationship Management Program, Xceede Solutions designed and implemented solutions that enabled the sales, marketing and education teams across the region to focus on the customers’ needs, provide management with increased visibility into customer relationships, and enable advanced use of automation and analytics to inform business decisions.

Essential Fx Acyl-Glutathione Chia Body Oil by Perricone MD (Image credit: Perricone MD).Miscellaneous highlights
Global luxury beauty brand Sulwhasoo hosted a celebration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, kicking off its partnership with the Museum, co-hosted by Sulwhasoo’s global ambassadors K-pop icon Rosé from Blackpink, Academy Award-winning actress Yuh-jung Youn, and Chinese actress Jia Song. Upon arrival at the Museum, guests traveled through the amber-lit Great Hall and into the Temple of Dendur, which was transformed into an intimate lounge complete with a dining area, DJ booth, dance floor and photo moments. The dining experience for the evening was designed to reinterpret Korean heritage in a modern way, featuring ginseng-infused cocktails from Award-winning mixologist Leo Seo and a custom dinner menu designed by Atomix Michelin-starred Chef, Junghyun Park.

Shiseido will open the Shiseido Beauty Planet, a facility that will offer factory tours, within the premises of its Fukuoka Kurume Factory on May 10. Aiming to create a hub for Shiseido users, Shiseido will communicate its brand value and commitment to quality to people around the world through Shiseido Beauty Planet activities. The factory tour will offer a variety of attractions, including a tour of the manufacturing site that incorporates the advanced IoT technologies and hands-on activities so that visitors can learn about the manufacturing of cosmetics.

The Canadian government confirmed its commitment to ban cosmetics animal testing and trade in its 2023 federal budget. It proposes to amend the Food and Drugs Act to ban cosmetic animal testing on animals. These amendments would prohibit testing cosmetics on animals in Canada; selling cosmetics that rely on animal testing data to establish the product’s safety, with some exceptions; and false or misleading labeling pertaining to the testing of cosmetics on animals. A 2019 online poll conducted by SurveyUSA for Cruelty Free International revealed that 88% of Canadian respondents would support a federal law to prohibit cosmetics tests on animals. Strong consumer support was also demonstrated in 2018, when Cruelty Free International and The Body Shop Canada handed in the largest petition delivered to Parliament in over 70 years, with over 630,000 Canadian signatures supporting a ban on testing cosmetics on animals.

By Benjamin Ferrer