Editors' Top Reads: News from Abel, Made by Mitchell, The Inkey List and more...

Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.beauty team.

How I started in beauty: The Inkey List co-founder Colette Laxton

Many of you will have met Colette Laxton, but if you haven't, let's hope you get the pleasure soon. She is a tour de force and, along with her now-husband Mark Curry, has created one of the most influential beauty brands of the past decade, The Inkey List. The brand launched in 2018 with a mission to democratise science-backed skincare.

Encased in minimalist packaging and priced to suit most budgets (its most expensive moisturizer is £19), The Inkey List has found a dedicated global following. Alongside championing affordable, efficacious products, The Inkey List also commits itself fully to educating and engaging with its community.

Laxton began her career at Boots and, as she says, never intended to get into beauty at all. However, her love of beauty and her understanding of its power (you never see Laxton without her signature red lip) completely consumed her and she learned all about the process of building a brand. She met Curry, and the combination of his scientific background, her business nous, and the unending energy they both possess made for a powerful personal and professional partnership.

In the latest in our new feature series, 'How I Started in Beauty', Laxton tells us about her journey so far, the advice she'd give her younger self, and how she would like to help other brand founders achieve the same success she has enjoyed. It's well worth a read, and you will find it here.

Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.

Made by Mitchell lands at Ulta Beauty in major retail expansion

Made by Mitchell has officially launched at Ulta Beauty, marking a major milestone in its international expansion. Founded by celebrity makeup artist Mitchell Halliday, the UK-born makeup brand has cultivated a global following with its bold colour cosmetics, inclusive ethos, and distinctly social-first approach.

The US launch comes on the heels of the brand’s meteoric success on TikTok Shop, where it became the first beauty brand to surpass $1 million in sales within 24 hours, highlighting the growing influence of social commerce. It has since continued to expand rapidly in the UK, securing listings with Boots and opening its first-ever physical store in Liverpool last year.

Now, the partnership with Ulta Beauty marks a strategic entry into the 'world’s largest beauty market' and reflects the brand’s ambition to make a lasting global impact. I’d say this is a very smart move indeed.

Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.

The Interview: Abel's Frances Shoemack on pioneering natural fragrance and the brand’s next chapter

There’s something quietly compelling about brands that resist the urge to shout, choosing instead to evolve with intention. That’s exactly what Abel is doing.

As the brand enters a new chapter - relaunching direct-to-consumer alongside an exclusive bricks-and-mortar partnership with Liberty London - we sat down with founder Frances Shoemack to reflect on Abel’s journey so far and where it’s headed next.

Abel has been championing 100% natural fragrance since 2013, long before clean beauty became a commercial imperative. Dare I say it was ahead of its time? What stands out is not just how early the brand arrived at this philosophy, but how consistently it has built on it.

Shoemack speaks with refreshing openness about the realities of working exclusively with natural ingredients, from early questions around performance and longevity to Abel’s progressive use of biotechnology to unlock new creative and technical possibilities. As she puts it: "Once I understood how reliant the fragrance industry was on petrochemicals, I couldn’t unsee it."

Creativity, however, remains the beating heart of the brand. From the emotional starting points behind scents like Laundry Day and The Apartment, this interview offers a compelling insight into how modern natural perfumery is crafted. Read the full interview here.

Chloé Burney, Senior News & Features Writer.

The Interview: How self-taught perfumer Richard Saint-Ford turned IGGYWOO into a luxury fragrance contender

Having shaped narratives for global fashion brands as both a marketing brand director and fashion director on the publishing side, Richard Saint-Ford developed a sharp understanding of how storytelling can create desire. But after years of building within other people’s frameworks, the pull to create something entirely his own became impossible to ignore.

Launched in 2024, IGGYWOO marks a decisive shift from fashion into fine fragrance, driven by instinct, imagination and a fiercely protected creative freedom. Self-taught as a perfumer and self-funded from the outset, the brand challenges the conventions of the niche fragrance space through unexpected ingredients, playful narratives and a bold visual identity.

Saint-Ford reflects on the transition from fashion to fragrance, the evolution of IGGYWOO, and the ambition to build a modern brand that values feeling over trends and originality over convention. Read the full interview here.

Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.