6 hottest new beauty innovations to watch

From sustainable male grooming to watermarked advertising for transparency to Amazon’s new health and wellness team based on its Alexa tech, here’s our favourite recent disruptive ideas set to shake up the industry.

1. Green and clean: ethical shaving​

With consumer interest in ethical, sustainable products never higher (recent bans on microbeads​ a key example), companies are making efforts to reinvent pretty much everything they can to be more environmentally-conscious.

Enter Bulldog Skincare For Men. This British player has become a leader in the male grooming segment, having built up an international fan base for its no-nonsense, accessible brand identity and disruptive product development.

Its latest move is the launch of a sustainable razor: the handle is made of bamboo and fully-replaceable.

Will this push on sustainability woo male consumers who haven’t yet been interested in grooming? Find our full article here​.

2. Avon goes digital​

Avon, long a behemoth of the offline world with its Avon sales rep model, is having a digital makeover as part of its attempts to redefine itself for today’s consumers.

The company hopes the move to digital brochures—in 12 countries so far—will help turn the brand’s business around globally. Read our full article here​.

3. Dove: No digital distortion​

The Unilever brand, acclaimed for its promotion of healthy attitudes to appearance and bodies, has announced a ‘No Digital Distortion’ initiative: Dove will add a watermark to all untouched promotional Dove photos by 2019.

Step aside Photoshop, real beauty is here to stay - if Dove has anything to do with it. Find the full article here​.

4. Ingredients under scrutiny​

Consumers want to know where their ingredients are coming from, who is involved in the harvesting, mining or creation of them, and whether all of it is ethical and safe.

Because of digital innovations, it’s becoming ever-easier for them to do just that.

A digital ingredients list has been created by Cosmetics Europe​​, a major industry body, to show the industry is keen to be proactive in this area. Find our article on preliminary results of the initiative here​.

5. You can now use your dog’s hair to make tattoo ink​

SKIN46 is a company that extracts clean carbon from human and animal hair and is able to turn it into ink for tattooing.

​Whether there’s consumer appetite for such a quirky venture remains to be seen - find our full article here​.

6. Amazon’s Alexa assembling a health and wellness team​

‘Alexa, can you check some symptoms for me?’ Amazon is reportedly building new offerings for health and wellness consumers based on its Alexa technology.

GlobalData, a market research firm, explains further in our full article here​.