Episode 319 - Arnica, Minerals, Olay oh my

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

Hi, I'm Perry, and you're listening to The Beauty Brains.

Hello, and welcome to The Beauty Brains, a show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetic industry. This is episode 319 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today, as always, Valerie George. Hello, Valerie. How are you today? It looks like you got a little scarf on there.

Valerie George (0:36)

I do, it's cold here.

Perry Romanowski (0:37)

Oh, come on, you do not know cold. Right now, it is snowing outside, and my poor little outdoor cats, they came up to me this morning and they had to shake the little snow off their backs. Oh, so sad.

Valerie George (0:48)

Well, I stick to my story that it's cold here.

Perry Romanowski (0:51)

Oh, all right. Well, it's hot on the show because we're going to be answering your questions. On today's show, we're going to be answering questions about how can you tell if a product is actually well formulated or not?

Will minerals boost your skin?

How does a store brand compare to a dermatologist brand? Is it okay to use Arnica under the eye? And what is a cosmetic chemist? Boy, oh boy, what a lot, lots of great questions today. But first, some of our great chit chat. Valerie, what's going on with you?

Valerie George (1:26)

Oh, not much. I am excited because in a couple weeks, I get to see you.

Perry Romanowski (1:31)

Yes, that's right. I'll be in town in December.

Valerie George (1:35)

Yeah, I can't wait for that. We should go get facials or petties or something like that.

Perry Romanowski (1:41)

Yes, mannys and petties, yeah, or facials, yes.

You think I need a facial? Who doesn't need a facial, right?

Valerie George (1:48)

Yeah, you especially need one.

Perry Romanowski (1:51)

Oh, do I?

Yeah. Indeed. Well, that sounds like a lot of fun.

You know, I do worry about my outdoor cats. I'm going to be gone from my place. What are they going to do?

Valerie George (2:03)

Oh, is there a place? Well, I'd say you could leave a big bowl of food, but then like raccoons will probably get it.

I wish there was something you could do.

Perry Romanowski (2:12)

You know what? I'm going to go talk to my neighbor. I'm going to give them the food and I'll say, hey, can you put this out?

That's all I can do, right?

Valerie George (2:18)

Yeah, hopefully he'll do that. Or some of the cats might not make it.

Perry Romanowski (2:23)

No, no, they'll make it. I'm sure I just, because there's plenty of birds around for them to eat. So, all right, why don't we get into this beauty podcast and talk about what we found in the news?

Valerie George (2:42)

Well, I saw that Augustinus Bader is valuated at $1 billion after a recent investment round.

Perry Romanowski (2:51)

Augustinus Bader? Like, in fact, I would say it's Bader, but Bader it is?

Valerie George (2:56)

Well, I say Bada, you know, like, anyway.

Perry Romanowski (3:00)

Like your old governor, right?

Valerie George (3:03)

Exactly, although that's really an Austrian accent. Anyway, $1 billion, that's a pretty high worth. Do you really think they're worth $1 billion?

Perry Romanowski (3:13)

Well, I think of all the other beauty brands that I know that are like billion dollar brands, you know, from the big guys like Pantene or Olay or Dove, or those kinds of things. Those are all billion dollar brands. I've never heard of August Bader.

So how could it be a billion dollar brand?

Valerie George (3:30)

We've talked about it a couple of times on the show. They're very expensive skincare products. And one thing I do know, I don't know a lot about VC money, but I have seen some people that have come to me that I've worked with in the past that have taken on investment money.

And they have these five million, ten million dollar valuations as a brand, and they don't even have a product on the market. So I don't think people should confuse their worth one billion as they're generating this kind of income, because I don't think that's how it works. And I would love one of our listeners who's in the space to provide some advice to us. I just think it's, you know, OPI was a billion dollar brand. They're in nearly every drug store, spa, nail spa in the world.

That's a billion dollar brand. Augustinus Bader has a small retail presence online. They're in some Sephora's. I don't think they're moving that much product. So I don't know what that valuation is worth, but it's a sensational headline for sure.