Conscious Beauty Collective Changes Name To Power Beauty Collab And Business Model To Shop-In-Shops
Conscious Beauty Collective has transitioned to a new name—Power Beauty Collab—and a new business model that curates selections of clean indie beauty and wellness brands for stores, salons, spas and fitness studios.
Launched in 2022 by Lynn Power, co-founder of haircare brand Masami, as a co-marketing platform for brands that executed a series of retail pop-ups, the company has changed its name in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent in November by Ulta Beauty, the beauty specialty chain that assembles clean, sustainable, vegan and cruelty-free brands in its Conscious Beauty program and owns the trademark for “conscious beauty.” The company has changed its business model in response to difficulties staffing and scaling retail on its own and aims to curate selections for as many as 25 stores across the United States, up from 14 today.
“Ever since we launched, it has been a struggle to educate consumers on what ‘conscious beauty’ means. It’s not obvious to them,” says Power in a statement. “On top of that, as small indie brands, we are battling larger brands who have different definitions of ‘clean’ or ‘conscious.’ This rebranding lets consumers take their power back and not be controlled by what is in the best interest of large corporations. And, yes, it happens to be my last name, which is serendipitous.”
With the rebrand, Power Beauty Collab has unveiled a website showcasing its digital magazine Powerfully Beautiful, videos communicating brand founder stories, giveaways, community efforts—it recently started groups on Facebook and Geneva—and a store locator identifying where it’s introduced indie beauty and wellness brand selections that it calls pop-ins because, as Power explains, it’s “literally popping in a shelf into a retailer.”
Power Beauty Collab’s current pop-ins are at locations such as Remedies Herb Shop, Petal + Hive, Luv + Co., Verde Market and Collagen Bar NYC. For each pop-in, it curates six to 12 brands. A few of the bestselling brands are Corsica Scents, Iero Beauty, Esteli and Lunaescent. All told, roughly 60 brands are involved in Power Beauty Collab. Along with pop-ins, it does events, sampling and other marketing initiatives to raise awareness of participating brands.
For pop-ins, Power Beauty Collab requires retailers and brands commit to the curation for at least three-months. Brands are stocked on a consignment basis, and there’s a fee of $95 to $295 for them to participate plus they provide a percentage of store sales that ranges up to 20%. For retailers, Power Beauty Collab removes administrative hurdles to brand partnerships and sources brands it might otherwise overlook.
“Our customers enjoy connecting to the meaning and purpose behind the products.”
She explains, “With this model, we wanted to make it a real mutually beneficial relationship where the store is benefitting by getting rent they can count on every month, but they are also incentivized to sell products because they get commission.”
In a statement, Jillian Ehrenberg founder of Actva Beauty and Power Beauty Collab retail partner Petal + Hive in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., says, “Petal + Hive carries only clean beauty brands, and we love the emphasis the Power Beauty Collab places on sharing founder stories. Each brand has a unique and compelling story to tell, and our customers enjoy connecting to the meaning and purpose behind the products in addition to appreciating the features and benefits.”
Power came up with the idea for Power Beauty Collab in 2021, when she was diagnosed with aggressive stage 3 breast cancer and spent many hours in treatment, giving her time to ponder the fate of her business and clean indie beauty and wellness generally. She recalled how, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, brand collaborations were vital to growing Masami’s visibility, email list and sales—and she envisioned Power Beauty Collab, then Conscious Beauty Collective, as a vehicle for ongoing collaboration to help aligned brands across beauty categories.
She’s discovered it’s great for imparting learnings and resources like insurance companies and trademark lawyers, too. And it’s great for communicating clean beauty to consumers unfamiliar with it. “Consumers still don’t understand it, and they want to,” says Power. “Even as someone in the industry, sometimes I look at ingredient labels and don’t know what some of the stuff is. How do you expect consumers to understand it? We are trying to make it accessible and break it down.”
Conscious Beauty Collective ran pop-up stores from April 2022 to April 2024, including at Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco, Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, Calif. However, with the temporary locations, Power learned it was virtually impossible to secure knowledgeable employees dedicated to store success.
Even with Power Beauty Collab’s model, Power admits success isn’t guaranteed, and brands must work to generate sales. “A lot of brands have a very naïve sense of retail. They look at it as the end goal, not as part of the journey,” she says. “The more you put in, the more you get out. A lot of brands really don’t want to hear that because they think the retailer should do the heavy lifting, but, especially when they’re a small indie brand that no one knows, it’s easier for the retailer to take on a brand that’s recognizable that’s going to bring in traffic.”
