Back from California Suppliers’ Day, Happi sat down with the BASF Personal Care Team team to discuss all the buzz from the show, including reaction to Ameriflor™ Calm, a new soothing active ingredient designed to make sensitive skin more resilient as well as the forward-thinking formulations featured in BASF’s “Reshaping Beauty” concept. These trending formulas reflect the evolving landscape of wellness, body confidence and selfcare—think solutions for the changes associated with the GLP-1 journey.  Plus, hear some news about BASF’s APG portfolio and what’s on the horizon for 2026. 

Allison Garlet, marketing manager, bioactives and Andrew Miller, senior marketing manager, hair, body an doral care in North America, at BASF talk about their recent show at Suppliers’ Day in California and what’s in store for 2026. 

Dr. Liliana George, former longtime chemist at the Estee Lauder Companies, is seeking investors for her new venture, Order de Lys. The skin longevity brand caters to the 50+ cohort leveraging AI in the creation of optimal formulation for mature skin. 

Longevity and pro-aging are the future of beauty. 

So much, in fact, that Coty is using its gargantuan influence to undefine it. For the Happi Top 50 Company, beauty is in everything, not just one set definition, and shouldn’t be characterized by any combination of colors or specific physical features. 

With the changing ethos surrounding beauty and consumers championing older age, one new indie brand is changing the way menopausal women feel about their looks. MYNE Beauty, an acronym for “My Youth Never Ends,” aims to claim what’s theirs—their age—and all the accomplishments, steps and mountains they’ve climbed to earn it. 

The brand was founded by Liz Martin, a past executive director of product development at Estée Lauder and Perricone MD, whose experience in the beauty industry spans three decades. 

One of the most lusterless years in recent history was 2020. Yet in December, beauty industry veteran Karima El-Hakkaoui launched her first skin care brand, Six Gldn, with her late husband. 

Despite having access to countless products while performing branding and marketing for top beauty companies from L’Oréal to Estée Lauder, the pair struggled to find products that worked consistently for both their skin types. The Los Angeles-based couple sought a solution to attain that coveted Tinseltown glow while protecting the skin’s delicate barrier, reaping anti-aging benefits and adapting to skin’s evolving needs.

In Tripadvisor’s first Trendcast report exploring the trends reshaping travel and predictions for the years ahead, beauty-minded travelers are making trips out of far-off treatments—from local rituals to cutting-edge new technologies. In fact, mentions of skincare treatments are up 87% in Tripadvisor forums and beauty bookings are up 400%.

Analysts say beauty enthusiasts are hitting up an Ayurvedic retreat in Sri Lanka to South Korean spas for snail mucin facials.

In Toronto, Canada, one emerging beauty brand is bringing Moroccan beauty traditions to the masses with emphasis on pure and bold ingredients. 

Pure and Bold Beauty, founded by R&D chemist and quality assurance manager Sana Ennafati in 2023, makes body scrubs, skin and hair oils with purity, safety and quality at the core. With a master’s degree in phytochemistry – or the study of phytochemicals, which are chemicals derived from plants – from Central Library, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia in Marrakesh, Morocco, she manufacturers her own products. The argan and prickly pear seed oils in her hair and skin oils are imported from Morocco while the certified organic coconut oil in her body scrubs are sourced from Malaysia. 

Cohere Beauty is a custom development and manufacturing organization of beauty, personal care, fragrance and specialty products. 

Cohere manufactures products for some of the most well-known and fastest-growing brands in the world. Boasting a library of 10,000 formulations, and solutions for every body, skin, and product feature, customers include Fortune 500 companies, department stores, health specialty stores, hotels, spas, and more with more than 67 countries around the world in possession of your products. 

On this Happi Podcast, CEO Christine Staples sits down to discuss market trends, niche products and the synergy behind the four powerhouse manufacturers that started it all.

West African native Olowo-n’djo Tchala, founder of personal care brand Ayeya, now available in Sprouts and Whole Foods, speaks to Happi from Ghana about how he’s using his brand to address poverty in Africa and provide millions with clean water. 

Global Personalized AI and AR Beauty Platform Revieve CEO Sampo Parkkinen sits down with Happi to discuss the origin of this nearly 10-year-old company, its impressive growth into reaching 120 brands and retailers across five continents. Plus, he shares the guiding principles of being a great entrepreneur and what the future has in store. 

When Sandra Velasquez, a single mother of Mexican descent, was at her nadir in 2019, unemployed and caring for a teenage son, she did what any smart person in dire straits would: plant seeds. 

These seeds would grow a beauty business called Nopalera, the Spanish word for prickly pear cactus. One of the most versatile, sustainable and regenerative plants in the world, prickly pear cactus served as the star ingredient to a lineup of hydrating skincare products that eventually caught the attention of “Shark Tank.” 

In this Happi Podcast, Velasquez opens about how her dogged determination to build a beauty business from scratch led to a burgeoning Latina-owned enterprise.