Associate Director

Beauty's top headlines: August 5, 2026. Procter & Gamble agrees to buy Thorne for $3.8B; Pandora Appoints André Branch as President of the North America Cluster; Former SkinCeuticals, Murad Execs Tackle Psoriasis Before Flare-Ups; JMD Creative Agency Marks 10 Years with a Bold New Chapter; Haut.AI Launches AI-Powered Clinical Studies Software for Large-Scale Skin Studies Andrea Nagel Beauty News August 5, 2026 From blockbuster acquisitions and high-profile executive appointments to AI-powered research platforms and biotech-led startups, companies are investing in the capabilities they believe will define the industry's next chapter. As the lines between beauty, health, and wellness continue to blur, major consumer companies are racing to secure leadership positions in high-growth supplement categories. Procter & Gamble has announced its acquisition of Thorne for $3.8 billion, CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday. Thorne is a premium wellness and supplements brand, according to Jejurikar. "We are really excited about that because it really plays in a very high-growth segment of supplements and wellness, something that is really a big trend right now," Jejurikar told the business network. In late June, the Financial Times reported that Unilever was exploring a bid for U.S. supplements maker Thorne, which has been put up for sale by private equity owner L Catterton. The consumer goods group was among several bidders interested in the South Carolina-based company, which sells dietary supplements including magnesium and omega-3 products, primarily in the United States. Thorne, founded in 1984, is expected to generate about $650 million in revenue this year, according to the FT article. L Catterton, which is backed by LVMH, acquired the company for $680 million in a take-private deal in 2023, two years after its Nasdaq listing. (Seeking Alpha) The demand for beauty executives with proven brand-building expertise is extending well beyond the beauty industry, as companies across lifestyle and luxury categories look to accelerate growth. Pandora announced the appointment of André Branch as President of North America cluster. Based in New York, he will lead one of Pandora's largest and most important growth markets. André Branch brings more than 25 years of experience across global consumer, beauty, and lifestyle brands. He joins Pandora from the position of CEO at R.E.M. Beauty. Earlier in his career, he held multiple senior leadership roles in the North America region and Europe at companies such as Estée Lauder, L'Oréal, Diageo and Kraft Heinz. As President of North America, André Branch will lead Pandora's next phase of growth across the region. He will focus on deepening customer relevance, broadening the brand's appeal and capturing the significant growth opportunities ahead, reinforcing North America as a key strategic growth engine for the company. His appointment reflects Pandora's ambition to accelerate growth, elevate execution and reinforce North America as a key growth engine for the company. (Pandora Group) Scientific innovation remains one of beauty's most powerful growth drivers, with founders increasingly applying biotechnology to address unmet consumer needs and chronic skin conditions. With that, Relab has launched, a line that aims to bring biotechnology-backed novel solutions to psoriasis sufferers. At the centerpiece of its debut assortment is Active Rescue Psoriasis Cream ($72), an OTC product containing YopM, a patent-pending bacterial effector protein filtrate intended to target inflammation earlier than current psoriasis treatments. Relab was founded by Eric Cowles, former President of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare and General Manager at L'Oréal for Decléor, Carita, and SkinCeuticals, and Ellie Schmidt, former product development, formulation science, and ingredient innovation executive at Murad, Moon Juice, and Flamingo Estate. The brand is entering a category that has long relied on a limited mix of prescription and over-the-counter treatments for symptom management, supplemented by daily skin care to support the skin barrier. In addition to Active Rescue, there is the $62 Barrier Restore Body Cream and the $55 Barrier Restore Face Cream. (Beauty Independent) As brands compete for consumer attention in an increasingly crowded marketplace, agencies are expanding their capabilities to offer end-to-end creative solutions that connect strategy, design, and production. JMD Creative Agency, the multidisciplinary studio behind the award-winning Eilish by Billie Eilish fragrance bottle design, today announced it is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a refreshed brand identity, expanded industrial design capabilities, a new marketing strategy offering, and two senior additions to its leadership team. At the center of this new chapter is JMD's partnership with OTHRWRLD, the creative production company the agency has collaborated with on projects including Sabrina Carpenter, Stetson, and Clean Beauty Collective to name a few. The partnership gives JMD clients direct access to OTHRWRLD's production capabilities, allowing both teams to take projects from strategy and design through final production with tighter creative alignment and less translation loss between partners. "JMD and OTHRWRLD have been trusted collaborators for years, building a creative shorthand and shared standard of excellence. We're thrilled to make the partnership official - bringing together a bold, A-list creative vision with industry-leading production to create work that is both ambitious and beautifully executed," said Jessie English, Founder and Chief Creative Director of OTHRWRLD. (PR Newswire) Artificial intelligence is moving beyond personalization and consumer engagement to transform how beauty products are researched, tested, and clinically validated - promising faster, larger-scale studies and stronger product claims. Haut.AI, the leader in AI-powered skin intelligence, today launched its Clinical Studies Software, a validated platform designed to help skincare, beauty, ingredient, and dermatology companies conduct remote and hybrid clinical research across participant populations of hundreds to thousands. The platform applies standardized image capture and AI-based measurement to quantify 48 face, body, and hair biomarkers, including wrinkles, pigmentation, texture, acne, redness, and pore appearance. It enables researchers to collect data remotely or in clinics and generate claims-ready evidence across cohorts. The platform can reduce study setup time by more than 90%, from the typical eight to 16 weeks to two or three days. The launch addresses a persistent constraint in clinical skin research: for decades, clinical skin assessment has relied on controlled testing environments, costly instrumentation, limited participant pools, and manual grading by trained experts. Traditional studies typically enroll 30 to 35 participants. While these methods remain industry standards, they restrict study scale, raise costs, limit geographic reach, and produce results that vary between graders, making findings difficult to reproduce. (Insider Fitt) To read more about these stories please visit the links below:

17 Apr 2024 - Dermatologist-founded brand Murad is introducing refillable skin care products to help customers reduce waste in their beauty routines.