Iconic Tag

Body talk is back. Skincare’s latest frontier delves below the neck. The body care category exploded through the pandemic and has a flurry of M&A activity, comparable to L’Oréal’s $2.5 billion deal to purchase Aesop this 12 months and L’Occitane’s 2021 purchase of Sol de Janeiro. Beauty Inc polled nearly 400 executives, editors, financiers, retailers, executives, influencers and chemists on their favorite products across key segments of skincare. Under anonymity (the complete list of those willing to be identified as electors appears on this story, though the content of their ballots stays confidential), the outcomes speak to timely trends — the premiumization of body care, for one — and tried-and-true innovation. One product, for instance, boasts a hero ingredient that has propelled...