Beauty veteran launches skincare brand Neon Hippie in US

Dive Brief:

• Founded by beauty industry veteran Nicole Ostoya, skincare brand Neon Hippie has launched in the U.S., skincare-brand-301750919.html”>according to a Tuesday announcement.
• The company enlisted chemist and entrepreneur Florence Nacino to create its mushroom-based products. The products are made with Chaga, Reishi, Shiitake, Tremella, Trametes Versicolor, Cordyceps and Coprinus mushrooms, the company said.
• Priced between $25 and $125, the product assortment includes face oil, cleansers and creams, per the announcement. In addition to its own website, the brand is available at select Neiman Marcus locations and on the department store’s website.

Dive Insight:

Neon Hippie’s wholesale partnership with Neiman Marcus at the time of its launch further proves brands’ increasing need to diversify their channel mix.

As the limits of selling primarily online becomes more apparent, brands have sought retailers to sell their products through. Along with Neiman Marcus, Target has added DTC skincare brands into its product assortment. The mass merchant earlier this month added skincare brand Loops to more than 1,500 U.S. Target stores, joining Ulta and Nordstrom in distributing their products. Target also introduced Futurewise, another DTC skincare brand, into its U.S. stores.

Mushrooms and fungi have been showing up in more skincare products over the years. Neon Hippie’s Ostoya touted the many benefits of the ingredient.

“Ask any Mycologist what mushrooms can do for the skin,” Ostoya said in a statement. “Taken singly, these mushrooms are quite effective. Tramella holds 500 times its weight in water, but together in our proprietary 7 Shroom Complex, they perfectly feed, moisturize, repair, reduce inflammation and transform the skin.”

Mushrooms have also become increasingly popular across the broader retail industry, especially when it comes to seeking out more sustainable materials.

A March 2021 survey from the Material Innovation Initiative and North Mountain Consulting Group found that more than half of respondents preferred alternative leathers. Though some brands are marketing fungi as an environmentally sustainable material, experts told Retail Dive that the biodegradability of fungi-based products depends upon whether they’ve been combined with other fabrics or materials.