Retail Recap: The big beauty launches of October 2023

Last month saw a variety of new beauty launches across the UK, from new brand launches and retail expansions, to tech and product innovation.

Here's a round-up featuring October's highlights from businesses including Boots, Elemis and Olaplex, as well as this month's feature content from TheIndustry.beauty.

Launches at UK retailers

MANTLE lands at Selfridges in new major retail roll-out

Scandinavian beauty and wellness brand MANTLE launched at Selfridges, marking its first major roll-out at a UK retailer. The brand is now available online at Selfridges, as well as in-store in London and Manchester.

Boots launches new premium haircare category following customer demand

Boots launched a new premium haircare category, introducing over 400 products and various initiatives to strengthen its beauty offer. It follows  a surge in customer demand for professional haircare.

New brands

BIBBI Parfum unveils debut fragrance range inspired by founder's meditative state

New brand BIBBI Parfum launched its debut range of luxury fragrances. Each scent draws inspirations from founder Stina 'Bibbi' Seger’s meditative, subconscious state of mind - the fragrances are "narratives, stories woven from the threads of her inner world".

Georgia May Jagger launches botanical skincare range

Georgia May Jagger unveiled MAY Botanicals, a skincare range that combines science-based functionality and ethically sourced, natural ingredients. The British-American model said she was inspired to create the range due to her personal journey with sensitive skin.

Tech & Innovation

Superdrug unveils new VIP loyalty scheme as it moves away from physical cards

Superdrug launched a new VIP Rewards Loyalty Scheme as it looked to improve its customer experience across all channels. The new scheme comes as the retailer moves away from physical cards to an app-based loyalty scheme, hoping to "enhance its offline plus online initiative to engage and improve the customer experience".

Elemis to launch “game changing” plastic-free sampling sachets

British skincare brand Elemis partnered with plant-based materials brand Morro - launched last month by Cambridge-based Xampla, a pioneer of materials to replace single-use plastics – to launch plastic-free biodegradable sampling sachets.

P&G enhances fragrance design with new AI-based solution 

Procter & Gamble (P&G) partnered with Moodify, an AI-based fragrance design software solution, to strengthen its fragrance development. The owner of Aussie and Olay employs Moodify's capabilities for malodor control based on digital scent creation to execute fragrance design on a larger scale.

Lush celebrates Halloween with new 'Trick or Treat' activation

Lush gave away 10,000 prizes worth £150,000 as part of its 'Trick or Treat' campaign for Halloween. Running from 24-31 October, the activation offered customers a randomly selected note on their receipt with 'trick' or 'treat'.

How Olaplex tackled dupe culture with its latest TikTok campaign

Olaplex addressed dupe culture on social media with a playful campaign highlighting that its products are actually "undupable". Using social listening tools, the brand identified how often it was being duped and introduced OLADUPÉ to "show consumers that the only company that could actually dupe Olaplex, is Olaplex itself".

Features

• The Interview: Millie Kendall and David Walker-Smith on the launch of British Beauty Week 2023.
  Brand profile: How Watermans created effective and affordable hair-loss solutions for all hair types.
• The Interview: Dr. Sam Bunting on rejecting skincare trends and keeping things simple.
• The Interview: Shari Jafari, CEO of Simon Ourian M.D., on infusing skincare with AI expertise.