Journal
Field notes from the studio.
Category thinking, product debriefs, and the odd tangent — from the people who build beauty brands for a living. New pieces monthly; subscribe below to get them first.
The whitespace in skincare is smaller than it looksEvery founder pitches a whitespace. Most of them are illusions. Here's the three-question test we run before we agree to build.Read →
Clean beauty in 2026: the claim is over, the standard is beginningClean isn't a positioning any more. It's the floor. That changes almost everything about what wins on the shelf.Read →
Marketplace vs. prestige: choose your first channel like your life depends on itThe channel you launch on shapes the brand you become. Here's how we help founders choose — and what we tell them to hold back.Read →
The first ninety days: what a beauty founder should build (and what to defer)Everything feels urgent. Only a handful of things actually are. A day-by-day map of the first three months, from the studio.Read →
Packaging that sells: three tests we run before signing offThe pack is the product, until the consumer opens it. Then it becomes the ritual. Neither role forgives shortcuts.Read →
Scent and story: why fragrance is the hardest category to fakeYou can dress a serum. You cannot dress a smell. Notes from building a fine-fragrance house from scratch.Read →
Brand architecture: house of brands, branded house, or something in betweenA structural decision most founders make by accident. Here's how to make it on purpose, and why it defines the next ten years.Read →
The buyer brief: what a prestige buyer actually readsTwenty pages of moodboard is a red flag. Here's the structure that wins the meeting, and the details that lose it.Read →
The Brackley launch checklistThe list we run through the week before every launch. Nothing glamorous. All of it required. Miss any item and you inherit it as a customer-service problem the week after.Read →
Your first buyer meeting: eight things we've learnedThe meeting is 45 minutes. Prep is 45 hours. Here's how to spend the prep — and how to spend the meeting.Read →