The Beauty of Comms

A working notebook for brand leaders and strategists: case studies, essays, and tools to explore communications planning, internal alignment, and brand reputation, plus explorations of creativity within regulatory constraints.

By Blakely Despres

· Launched 5 months ago

American Sun Care Finally Gets a New Ingredient. Now What?

What the FDA's approval of bemotrizinol means for R&D, product development, and the brands paying attention.

When the Media Becomes Part of the Sunscreen Misinformation Problem

Last week's sunscreen story isn't just bad journalism — it's a public health risk dressed up as consumer protection.

5 Communications Mistakes Beauty Brands Make Before a Regulatory Issue

The exposure was built long before the crisis arrived.

Under the Label: Drunk Elephant

Clever Tagline. Unchanged Packaging. Unresolved Philosophy.

The Credibility Paradox: Why the Most Rigorous Brands Are the Hardest to Market

The science that makes your product exceptional may be the same thing preventing people from understanding it (and how to work the problem).

What Beauty Brands Should Steal from Big Pharma

A conversation with Barbara Castro on infrastructure, credibility, and the communications discipline beauty is missing.

What Dr. Idriss Gets Right — and What Scale Is About to Test

A communications analysis of one of beauty’s most credible founder-led brands, and the structural questions that come with growth.

What's On My Vanity

Every skincare product this beauty comms consultant uses (right now).

The FDA Isn’t the Biggest Risk to Beauty Brands Right Now -- It’s TikTok

Regulation doesn’t break brands. Misinterpretation does.

When the Founder Becomes the Risk

What Dr. Barbara Sturm’s recent interview reveals about authority, credibility, and control in beauty.