Nail

Frustrated watching specialty stores, online merchants and department stores siphon off a market they once controlled more than 50% of, mass marketers are firing back.

(To view the full Category Review, click here.)

To regain their dominance of the $16 billion U.S. beauty market, chains such as Walgreens, Target, CVS and Walmart are burnishing their images. Among the moves they are taking are:

NEW YORK -- Estee Lauder has agreed to buy California-based beauty company Too Faced for $1.45 billion, scooping up a brand that’s popular with millennials.

Too Faced products are sold at self-serve beauty retailers such as Sephora and Ulta Beauty and have a loyal following on social media. 

The deal is the latest in a series of beauty mergers this year.

In October Coty acquired more than 40 of Procter & Gamble Co.’s beauty brands. And Revlon agreed to acquire Elizabeth Arden in June for about $419 million.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- e.l.f. Beauty is expanding its footprint in the New York City area with a new store north of Union Square.

The 520-square-foot store is located at TurnStyle, the underground marketplace located below Columbus Circle at Eighth Avenue, between 57th and 58th Streets.

MIAMI, Fla. -- Beauty products brand HSI Professional is planning to expand distribution of its styling tools and hair care products to brick-and-mortar retailers.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. -- KISS Products Inc. is expanding its successful InstaWave styling tool line with three new size barrels, two color options, and bonus heat-resistant travel pouch.

The KISS Professional InstaWave is a fully automatic tangle-free curler that instantly and easily creates beautiful, long-lasting curls and waves. It is the perfect tool for stress-free styling, at any skill level, with guaranteed results.

BOLOGNA, Italy -- Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna will celebrate its 50th anniversary in March by launching a new project called COSMOPRIME.

According to Cosmoprof, COSMOPRIME will be a preview to Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2017. Buyers and distributors attending COSMOPRIME in Pavilion 19 will have the chance to visit the Extraordinary Gallery, a Cosmoprof exclusive area where beauty trends will be on display.

BOLOGNA, Italy -- Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna will celebrate its 50th anniversary in March by hosting the first edition of Tones of Beauty, a multicultural beauty showcase.

Tones of Beauty will be part of Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2017, which will host international companies with a strong focus on retail from March 16-19. Tones of Beauty will take to Italy for the first time ever the best brands of “Black & Brown” beauty products, involving all the sectors of the industry and continuing a project that began two years ago at Cosmoprof North America.

LOS ANGELES -- Popular skin care brand Neutrogena has created an innovative LED face mask that treats facial acne with just one step, sending therapeutic red and blue wavelengths into the skin at the speed of light.

Neutrogena says its new Light Therapy Acne Mask is the only home LED device that uses this dual-action approach to disrupt the acne cycle and deliver clearer, healthier skin.