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Welcome to Glossy’s Week in Beauty & Wellness, our newsletter recapping the biggest industry news you missed this week. Today, check out our beauty tech reporting on NFTs and Snapchat’s new shoppable AR filter developments. In other beauty news, reporter Gabriela Barkho of our sister publication Modern Retail broke the story that Glossier laid off around a third of its corporate employees. And today, Farfetch announced that it will be acquiring Violet Grey and adding beauty to its lineup.
Over the last eight months, non-fungible tokens have quickly swept the internet and the beauty industry. The excitement — and debate — generated by the possibilities over NFTs has spurred luxury brands like Givenchy, premium brands like Clinique and mass brands including E.l.f. Cosmetics to jump into the space.
Takeaways:
- When it comes to beauty NFTs, there’s often a physical component. Ciaté London, for example, sold NFTs that came with physical beauty products as part of its collab with “Selling Sunset” star Christin Quinn.
- Brands are also incorporating NFTs into their loyalty programs. “NFTs are going to be the new membership,” according to Roxanne Iyer, vp of global consumer engagement for Clinique. The brand offered an NFT giveaway for people who signed up for its loyalty program.
- Rather than profit, several brands such as Nars, Givenchy and L’Oréal Paris are opting to sell NFTs for charity.
Snapchat continues to ramp up its shoppable AR beauty try-on tech as it enlists Ulta Beauty and MAC Cosmetics for its new lens capabilities.
Takeaways:
- Snapchat has been ramping up its shoppable AR functionality for beauty over the past several years, as have Instagram, Pinterest and Google.
DTC brand Glossier laid off about one-third of its corporate workforce. In an email announcing the layoffs, Glossier CEO Emily Weiss, said, “We have made the incredibly tough decision to part ways with over 80 members of our Glossier team.” Weiss went on to say that the company has made “some mistakes” over the past two years. “We prioritized certain strategic projects that distracted us from the laser-focus we needed to have on our core business: scaling our beauty brand.” She also noted that Glossier “got ahead of ourselves on hiring.”
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