The Barefaced Podcast
Episodes
Death of the Magazine: What Happened to Australian Beauty Media?
04 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Not that long ago, Australia had more women's magazines per capita than almost any comparable market. Australian Women's Weekly, Vogue, Dolly, Cleo, C...
Sephora Part 2: The Tech Obsessed Beauty Retailer
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Get full access to barefaced at barefaced.substack.com/subscribe
Sephora Part 1: The Death of The Beauty Counter
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before Sephora, beauty retail was a very different world. Products sat behind glass, and a single sales rep, loyal to just one brand, controlled how a...
The Middle Eastern Beauty Opportunity
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When we talk about the frontiers of beauty, we usually think of France, the United States, South Korea, or China. But a new frontier is emerging furth...
The Untold Story of L'Occitane
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of big beauty, L’Occitane probably doesn’t come to mind. It’s a nearly fifty-year-old French brand that, to me, represented nothi...
Canadian Beauty: Why Is No One Talking About Its Potential?
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Despite being the 10th largest economy in the world, Canadian beauty remains a mystery. For a country that birthed giants like MAC and Deciem (The Ord...
Trump’s Tariffs: What They Mean for Beauty’s Supply Chain
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Another person talking about tariffs… I know! But this episode is different. Trump’s tariff announcement sent shockwaves through the markets—the...
The Beauty Funding Boom: Why Are VCs So Obsessed with Beauty?
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It seems like almost every day there’s a new beauty brand announcing they've secured funding. Why has there been such a surge?Venture capital (VC) f...
MCo Beauty: The $1B Shady Business
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Luxury brands spend years developing products—MCo Beauty swoops in and replicates them in weeks. And the results speak for themselves.Originally kno...
Trade and Tension: The Unknown Power of Japanese Beauty
01 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, the global embrace of Japanese culture has been undeniable. From streetwear and homewares to anime and video games, Japan's influence...
Luxury Fashion Houses: Can Their Beauty Brands Stay Relevant?
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the start of Fashion Month—the pinnacle of luxury, where fashion houses invest millions into runway shows to reinforce their brand identity. ...
Class, Culture, and Contouring: The UK’s Distinct Beauty Trends
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to social media, beauty trends often go global—but not in the UK.While interest in makeup in Canada, Australia, and the US has slowed down si...
The British Beauty Battle: Why Are There So Many Retailers?
04 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beauty shopping in the UK is anything but intuitive. You can find luxury brands at Boots, a pharmacy, or Harrods, a luxury department store, or shop t...
The Glossier Effect: The Blueprint for Building a Cult Beauty Brand
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The rise of Glossier wasn’t just a success story; it became the blueprint for modern beauty branding. While much of the conversation surrounding Glo...
Celebrity Beauty Brands: How Do Consumers Objectively Feel?
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It has been well established that consumers are fed up with celebrity beauty brands. So, why do some of these brands still go on to achieve huge succe...
$500 Beauty Devices: The Allure of High-Tech at Home Devices
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the $800 Dyson Airwrap to the $700 Dr. Dennis Gross LED Face Mask and $400 NuFace, luxury beauty devices aren’t just getting attention—they’...
The K-Beauty Boom: How Korean Skincare Took Over the World
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To many, the undeniable presence of Korean skincare seems to have come out of nowhere, but in reality, its rise has been anything but random. In this ...
The Mecca Effect: Why Sephora Can't Compete in Australia
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Australia's beauty market flew under the radar until Jo Horgan changed everything by launching Mecca in 1997. By the time Sephora arrived in 2014 to c...
How Advertising Laws Changed the Beauty Industry
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the past decade, shifts in advertising laws have continuously reshaped the beauty business. What did the industry look like before #ad was enforced...
The Black Beauty Problem
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to episode one of The Barefaced Podcast! The podcast revealing the beauty industry's untold stories. It only made sense for episode one to be ...