The Glossy Beauty Podcast

One of the biggest beauty industry headlines over the past few weeks has surrounded an unexpected lawsuit filed by indie makeup darling Patrick Ta Beauty over which retailers can, and cannot, sell its products.  Last month, Patrick Ta Beauty filed a lawsuit against CVS and Canadian distributor Akstrom for the "unauthorized" sale of its cosmetics in CVS’ newly-launched off-price section called "fresh beauty finds." The lawsuit highlights ongoing friction between beauty brands and product diversion into the gray market, best described as the trade of authentic goods through unintended or unauthorized channels.  It comes during a time when off-price is becoming a dominant retail channel for beauty and wellness. Not only do consumers crave a deal, but the quick sale of products to off-price stores can have meaningful financial benefits for beauty brands in need of cash infusion.  Off-price leader TJX — which operates TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods — grew its revenue by 3.95% in 2025 to reach net sales of $56 billion. While CVS generated $400 billion in revenue during fiscal 2025, the brick-and-mortar leader is not immune to industry challenges facing pharmacy retail. Its new "fresh beauty finds" section is a strategic way to boost revenue through competitive categories.  CVS and Patrick Ta Beauty declined to comment on the lawsuit, and Akstrom did not reply to Glossy’s request for comment.  There’s much we don't know about Patrick Ta Beauty's lawsuit, including how Akstrom obtained the Patrick Ta Beauty products, how CVS will proceed with its intended sales and how this may impact beauty’s growing gray market. While early, the lawsuit comes with many valuable lessons that demand analysis.  In today’s episode, Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack is joined by Julie Zerbo, lawyer, legal analyst and founder of The Fashion Law, where she unpacks the legal cases impacting the fashion and beauty industries. Also on today’s episode is Ian Ginsberg, president of iconic Greenwich Village apothecary C.O. Bigelow Chemists and distribution arm Bigelow Trading, which encompasses its private beauty line and a USA wholesale distribution arm that imports brands like Marvis toothpaste for sale across domestic retailers. 

As the wellness category swells in size, many insiders are wondering the same question: What should be called ‘wellness’ in 2026? In today’s special crossover episode with Glossy’s sister publication Modern Retail, West Coast correspondent Lexy Lebsack joins Modern Retail senior editor Gabi Barkho and Rachel Hirsch, founder and managing partner at Wellness Growth Ventures, to discuss the products and categories that should, and shouldn’t, be considered wellness in 2026. The trio walks through a variety of categories, from better-for-you food and protein sodas to skin care, oral care, sleep aids and tools for optimized breathing, among others. As previously reported by Glossy, wellness consumers are overwhelmed with the sheer size of the assortment available today, which has bred a growing strategy toward evocative launches and campaigns that "stop the scroll." Think: soda-flavored toothpaste and wellness brands turning into entertainment companies to sell supplements, fiber gummies and beauty peptides. Today’s conversation is rooted in the guests' diverse specialties: Barkho covers food, beverage and wellness for Modern Retail; Lebsack reports on beauty and wellness for Glossy; and Hirsch’s seed fund is dedicated to advancing the wellness sector through investments in brands like Cure Hydration, BelliWelli, Liquid Death, Flaus and Tia. Don’t forget to follow the Modern Retail Podcast for more topics like this.

In a lot of ways, supplement company Cymbiotika has perfected the form factor and distribution of modern-day vitamins.  The San Diego-based company launched in 2018 and quickly found its footing in the marketplace with single-serving pouches of Liposomal supplements. So far, the company has sold more than 200 million individual packets and grown its revenue 3,000% over the past 3 years to reach $150 million in annual revenue, according to the company.  Cymbiotika sells across mass, online and grocery retail in boxes and individual pouches at point of sale. It entered Target in 2025, Ulta Beauty in March, and Walmart last week. Now, the brand is making a big bet on a new category by launching its first beauty supplement for hair, skin, and nails.  Called Liposomal Beauty Peptide Complex, the launch is being promoted with the brand's biggest campaign to date. "The investment was a big one in the sense that we've never really done anything on this level,” said Cymbiotika co-founder Durana Elmi. “I think you're starting to see a shift in the consumer's approach toward beauty, and being there in the forefront of that today is something we're really, really proud of.”  The new product will be sold at retailers like Ulta Beauty, Walmart and Target. Elmi joined Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack to walk through the brand’s strategy to win in the notoriously competitive world of beauty supplements. This includes the brand’s biggest campaign to date, starring model Amelia Gray and made with OBB Media, the content company owned by Rhode co-founder Michael D. Ratner. 

Ritual founder and CEO Kat Schneider knows that winning the female supplement consumer requires taking big bets and big swings.  “When I started the company and I was fundraising. … I was told pregnancy was ‘niche’, postpartum was ‘niche’, perimenopause was ‘niche,’” Schneider told Glossy. “This was a decade plus ago. Now, women's health has never been hotter.” Ritual launched direct-to-consumer in 2016 with a transparent supply chain and science-backed formulations. Now, it has the best-selling prenatal supplement on the U.S. market, according to the brand, and is sold across Target, Walmart, Costco, Amazon, Whole Food and more retailers.  Still, when the company entered the perimenopause space last month, it still felt like the Wild West. “There's almost no market sizing [into subcategories of women’s health],” Schneider said. “You have to have a lot of conviction when you're going into something earlier, ahead of the time that people see it.” Perimenopause, the hormonal precursor to menopause that can last a decade, has received new attention in the past few years as women’s health takes a front seat in popular culture. In today’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, host Lexy Lebsack sits down with Schneider to walk through exactly what it took to launch into the burgeoning space, which is also the brand's first new category launch in six years. Its big swing includes a dedicated foundation supplement called Perimenopause Health, plus a foray into creatine, an essential nutrient for perimenopausal women, with the launch of its new Creatine Greens powder drink mix. Then there is the multi-million-dollar marketing budget that includes hiring “Nobody Wants This” actress Jackie Thon for a campaign and TV spot created with full-service media agency Giant Spoon.

What if new product development didn’t have to be so complicated and expensive?  NIOD, the second brand from Estée Lauder-owned Deciem, entered Sephora in August with an NPD tactic borrowed from tech companies like Apple. “NIOD is all about high science and high tech, and then bringing it to the consumer in as simple of a way as possible,” Amy Bi, vp of global brand at Deceim, told Glossy. “It's very similar to an iPhone. As technology within skin care evolves, as research evolves, we simply upgrade our products.”  For example, NIOD’s best-selling Copper Amino Isolate 3 1:1 (CAIS) serum is on its third iteration, which is noted in the name as "3." Similar to an iPhone, which is on its 18th iteration, NIOD can constantly innovate without having to reinvent the wheel.  “We're just upgrading them similar to how your iOS goes through a software upgrade overnight and then a bug is fixed or something has been simplified for you,” Bi said. “It's the exact same approach.” She told Glossy that some consumers stay well-informed about the latest version, which is messaged across traditional marketing channels like email and social media. But most consumers simply appreciate that the brand is always optimizing its formulas. Others never even catch on to the process.  NIOD, pronounced nee-odd, launched in 2015 as the second brand from Deciem, the beauty incubator behind The Ordinary. Deciem was purchased by Estée Lauder Companies in 2017 for a total investment of $1.7 billion.  As previously reported by Glossy, NIOD is positioned as a science-meets-longevity skin-care brand and serves a burgeoning cohort of biohacking wellness enthusiasts. The brand was early to the copper peptide skin-care trend that’s growing today and, like The Ordinary, prices the entire line competitively. NIOD’s products range from $26-$93.  Bi has been with Deciem for five years. Her CV includes nearly seven years at Nike, her last role being global brand director of women’s lifestyle.  NIOD still launches new products; its cadence is simply slower.  “We're not constantly on this new product launch cycle that so much of the industry is on,” Bi said. “ We're actually just focused on maintaining our key SKUs, our key products, and then upgrading them when we see that there's exciting technology that serves the same benefit, or there's a way that we can improve the texture, the efficacy, anything to do with the product itself.” Of course, that doesn’t mean every consumer loves saying goodbye to older versions, so the company has mastered a slow process of phasing out older iterations, similar to how Apple slowly discontinues older iPhone models.  Bi sat down with Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack to walk through the benefits, the challenges, and advantages of an iterative approach to new product development.