Editors' Top Reads: News from Make Waves, Cymbiotika, TGIN and more...
Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.beauty team.
The beauty advent calendars of 2026
This year’s beauty advent calendars have arrived and every year it seems to start a little earlier! As ever, our round-up is getting ahead of the rush, with updates planned over the coming months as more of the 2026 beauty advent calendar launches are revealed.
It comes as brands and retailers are pulling out all the stops to capture early festive demand, with higher-value assortments, an increasing number of full-size products and collectable packaging. As the category continues to raise the bar, these calendars are becoming bigger, better and more exciting with every season.
This year’s launches span everything from expansive beauty edits and cult-favourite collections to specialist fragrance and wellbeing calendars. Our round-up is already spotlighting some of the names we’re most excited about, including Liberty, Cult Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Lush, John Lewis and more.
Keep checking back as we continue to update our guide with the key beauty advent calendars to know for the 2026 festive season.
Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.
The Interview: TGIN CEO Aris Singleton on legacy, leadership and the future of textured haircare
TGIN, short for Thank God It’s Natural, is a Black-owned, female-founded hair and skincare brand specialising in textured hair, with a particular focus on curly, coily and natural hair.
Founded in 2009 by Chris-Tia Donaldson, a Harvard-trained lawyer who turned her passion for natural hair into a successful beauty business, TGIN was built around a mission to celebrate and serve the textured-hair community. Following her diagnosis with breast cancer, Donaldson passed away in November 2021, but her legacy continues through TGIN and the work of its team.
Today, TGIN is led by Donaldson’s niece, CEO Aris Singleton, who worked alongside Donaldson during the brand’s launch and returned to the company in 2017. Under Singleton’s leadership, TGIN continues to build on Donaldson’s vision by creating high-quality products for textured hair while championing natural beauty and supporting the communities the brand was created to serve.
Singleton tells TheIndustry.beauty about the early days of the brand and how it stays authentic to its original purpose and community. She also discusses the importance of brands and institutions working together to ensure Afro and textured hair is properly represented in training, salons and product development, as well as the evolution of textured haircare from a niche category into a more mainstream part of the beauty industry - and what still needs to change.
Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.
Make Waves secures Boots rollout amid refillable beauty demand
This is a big step for Make Waves, the refillable anti-perspirant brand, and in the midst of a prolonged heatwave, it couldn't have come at a better time. The formerly DTC-only brand has broken in to the high street in a big way with a distribution deal with Boots. The deal comes after the British brand was selected as one of two winners of the Boots Breakout Beauty UK accelerator.
Founders Oliver Batiste and Owen Machon founded Make Waves three years ago in frustration at the amount of single-use plastic used in everyday essentials. Co-incidentally the news of the Boots deal landed just as I discovered I had one of the Make Waves starter packs in my product stash. I can therefore vouch for its appeal.
The starter pack contains a reusable applicator and a refill capsule for £13, with subsequent refills costing £6 on their own. Each capsule should last around six weeks, so the price is very fair, particularly as the product is incredibly effective and the fragrances are divine. Am currently using Jasmine & Rose and I am a convert. There are plenty of other fragrance options but the Boots roll-out focuses on Bergamot & Amber, Jasmine & Rose, Raspberry & Rhubarb and Coconut & Vanilla. I am particularly keen to try the latter next.
The applicator was designed by former Dyson engineers and is easy to use and ergonomically pleasing. I shall be carrying mine everywhere with me and I imagine many, many more will now that they can access it in Boots and the demand for refillable beauty booms.
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.
Cymbiotika secures new funding as premium supplement market accelerates
The market for premium supplements market is continuing to grow, and appetite to invest in brands with established subscriptions, specialist positioning or strong retail potential is attracting both investors and consumer goods groups.
The latest example of this is Cymbiotika, a liposomal supplement brand that generated $150 million in revenue last year. It has this week taken on new investment from US-based influencer and entrepreneur Alix Earle, although a figure was not disclosed.
Earle joins an existing roaster of celebrity investors including Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber – who founded the beauty brand Rhode, while singers the Weeknd and Post Malone participated in Cymbiotika’s $25 million funding round in January this year.
Just last month, meanwhile, David Beckham’s IM8 secured $1 billion in growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, as the brand looks to accelerate customer acquisition and global expansion. The subscription supplement brand operates in 43 countries and has surpassed a $200 million annualised revenue run rate, according to co-founder Prenetics.
We've also seen retail expansion is broadening access to premium supplements beyond specialist health shops and brand websites. Women’s wellness company Unfabled launched in Sainsbury’s nationwide in May, following its rollout across 737 Boots stores. A study from Unfabled Labs found that 70% of women would prefer to buy supplements during their weekly grocery shop.
Camilla Rydzek, Senior News Writer.
