Inside the world of beauty packaging

This week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast introduces a three-week series dedicated to beauty packaging. Despite daily interacting with beauty products — including face wash, body wash, lipstick or shampoo — consumers rarely spend time thinking about the countless decisions that go into a brand’s packaging. From sustainability (Are refills offered? Is the plastic PCR?) to color (think: the pull of millennial pink) to font, every packaging element is carefully considered. As our first guest in the series, FIT Professor Sebba Alqetrani, said, “The first thing the consumer sees, touches and interacts with is the package. [It] is your first opportunity to have a first impression.”

Over the next two weeks, we will explore just why packaging is so important and what factors can make it impactful, whether it has to do with a product’s efficacy, branding or deeper emotional resonance.

But first, a look at some of this week’s headlines including the launch of Ulta Beauty’s UB Marketplace, a curated third-party marketplace that will allow the mega beauty retailer to integrate many new brands into its existing e-commerce site; Sephora’s growth, bolstered in part by Rhode’s buzzy launch, according to LVMH’s recent earnings; and The Body Shop’s return to U.S. sales , launching online through a direct-to-consumer site and Amazon.