Are There Any New Ideas Anymore?

Subscribe to Full Coverage by Priya Rao: unpacking how shifting ideals, new players and cultural movements are transforming the global beauty and wellness industries.

Welcome back to Full Coverage. Thanks as always for reading.

First up, a special thanks to Christopher Skinner and our friends at Front Row for our fabulous breakfast at Kith Ivy this week. Per usual, our team brings out the best of the best. To get invited to the next one, email Amy (Amy.Lore@businessoffashion.com).

All anyone in beauty can talk about this week is two battles over copying playing out side-by-side: Molly Sims vs. Bobbi Brown and Fenty vs. Glow Recipe vs. Huda Beauty. If these proper nouns mean anything to you, I have a theory about what they have in common — and who came out as winners. Both instances are copying in different forms. And while there have been plenty of takes, here is mine.

What’s in a Copycat?

Without too much rehashing, Molly Sims took to social media over the weekend in tears to express her disappointment that Bobbi Brown’s Jones Road (though she didn’t name the brand explicitly) had used the name “Wide Awake” for its new Brightening Concealer; Yise sells a “Wide Awake” Brightening Eye Cream. By Sunday, Brown apologised and said that Jones Road didn’t find a trademark for “Wide Awake” and that it would promptly rename the product. Then Sims, who removed her initial video, said that she and Brown had “personally connected and worked through it together.” Beauty podcaster Kirbie Johnson has a much more detailed account of all this on her great Substack Ahead of the Kirb, including the tidbit that Yise wasn’t actually the first to use the name “Wide Awake” anyways — it was Christen Dominique’s brand Dominique Cosmetics. Le sigh.

Also this week, Fenty, Glow Recipe, Huda Beauty and K-beauty label Wonder Bath each released eye patches with a newfangled grinder-like format that cuts the product out in chunks, calling to light the well-known but under-discussed truth that many of these brands use the same component manufacturers. Fenty made light of the matter with an Instagram post that joked about all of the products wearing the same outfit to the same party. It was a masterclass in how founders respond to imitation.

A lot of people are saying that this is happening because there is an oversaturation of beauty labels, which I don’t disagree with. But I also think the episodes speak to a critical lack of innovation overall. From product names to packaging to categories, who isn’t doing the same thing?

Almost immediately after Sims posted her video, there was a rigorous debate in the comments: Beautyblender founder Rea Ann Silva said she had the most ripped off product in the industry’s history, while Necessaire co-founder Nick Axelrod-Welk, called out Sims for knocking off the body care label’s packaging. In a video posted on Monday, Daniel Kiyoi, the founder of Nocturnal Skincare, claimed that Yise duped its Japanese-inspired makeup bag after it went viral in 2024. And then of course, most of us know that Yise had to change its name from Yse because YSL Beauté filed a trademark opposition. The one who comes out looking the worst in this situation is ultimately Sims and her brand — if you’re going to accuse someone of copying, you shouldn’t be doing it yourself.

Some of this repetition I truly believe is an honest mistake — we have to hold space for people to have similar ideas at roughly the same time. How many times have I thought about a great story and then seen that same idea pop up in The New York Times or Puck? I blame Rachel Strugatz and I for basically having the same brain.

But it also could be an attempt to capture another brand’s momentum. When one label is doing well, it’s hard not to try to capitalise on what’s working. Case in point: it’s pretty blatant that Voeshe is heavily borrowing from Cyklar’s entire brand identity, from its sexy colours to its minimalist font and nearly identical campaign imagery. Elsewhere, Dealbodies founder Krys (Deal) Lunardo claimed that body care brand Salt & Stone stole their entire car-inspired campaign and copy right before the latter sold to Advent International. There are rumours that Salt & Stone pushed their acquisition announcement until the conversation died down.

Taking someone else’s name can be detrimental, no matter who got there first: see the case of Rhode, the clothing brand, with Hailey Bieber’s line Rhode. The decade-plus fashion label had the name well before Bieber, but settled with the famous founder before ultimately closing in January 2025. Bieber’s Rhode, as we all know, went on to sell to E.l.f. for $1 billion later that year. But it looks like brands need to enter exclusivity agreements with their suppliers and creative agencies, too. Huda Kattan commented that Huda Beauty, Fenty, Glow Recipe and Wonder Bar had been “screwed over by the same packaging supplier.”

It’s hard to believe that brands can claim to own a colour or font or even componentry, but look at what happened with Van Leeuwen and Rebel ice creams. The former sued the latter for copying its sorbet-coloured pint containers and script lettering. Van Leeuwen ended up winning $24 million; Rebel filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. In other news, I recently learned two buzzy brands are currently locked in a lawsuit fighting over a specific colour!

When two labels are battling it out, it’s usually the brand with the bigger pockets that can stake claim. Brown could have done this; Jones Road is expected to surpass $200 million in revenue, but she too knows the importance of names. Hello Estée Lauder Companies and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics!

Each and every founder thinks they invented the next big thing.

Unfortunately, many of them haven’t. I feel for young brands, who don’t have the capital to fend off bigger entities. But not every fight is worth pursuing, it’s costly and often leads to bad press or worse. I think it’s better to take a page from Rihanna; you may be fuming internally, but laugh it off publicly.

What You Should Be Reading

Faran Krentcil’s deep dive on Sheglam, Shein’s beauty brand, is a must read! [The Business of Beauty]

After a thorny year for her namesake brand, Pat McGrath dropped a crystal-encrusted Pandora collection. [WWD]

YouTube-era makeup brand Morphe is adapting to a brave new social media landscape. [The Business of Beauty]

At long last, Skims Beauty is confirmed to launch in 2027. [Kim Kardashian via X]

Gen Z is bedazzling everything they own in hopes a bid for more daily “whimsy.” [The New York Times]

Meanwhile, Sophia Sinot and Iggy Rosales bedazzled Allure cover star Zara Larsson. [Allure]

This week’s This American Life was all about intergenerational growing pains, with a third act that’s all about hair. [This American Life via Spotify]

Thanks y’all,

Priya