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Cyan is a gender-neutral skincare line

Cyan Skincare, US

US – Cyan is a sustainable, gender-neutral beauty brand prioritising a minimal approach to skincare.

Offering only two products – a serum and a moisturiser – Cyan creates its non-toxic formulations in small batches. The brand hopes to redefine the concept of clean beauty by placing transparency at the core of its values, while focusing on a specific set of ingredients informed by the ocean.

Its Atlantic Serum, priced at £37 ($48, €43) and Pacific Moisturizer at £40 ($52, €47), both combine vitamin C and marine extracts, along with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid. According to the brand’s founder Ali Grace Marquart: ‘[Circular] beauty is really about designing products where every element can be re-used or recycled in order to eliminate waste, so that is our ultimate goal.’

As we uncover in Bio-positive Beauty, consumers are increasingly opting for condensed routines as beauty moves from zero to positive impact.

Empirical Spirits cans its post-category drinks

Empirical Spirits, Copenhagen

Denmark – Danish distiller Empirical Spirits has launched two canned drinks, designed to make its post-category products more accessible.

Having gained traction for its experimental approach to distilling alcohol, Empirical Spirits is turning its processes, such as fermentation and sourcing of local ingredients, into ready-to-drink (RTD) products. Prized for its developmental approach to drinks creations, the brand worked with Sasha Wijidessa of Singapore cocktail bar Operation Dagger on the drinks, creating ‘something like 100 iterations to get to the final stage’.

The two canned creations are made with a base of Belgian saison yeast. Can 01 is lightly carbonated, made with beet molasses, milk oolong cold brew tea, gooseberry spirit and cold-infused blueberry juice for a 10% abv drink. Can 02 has a lower abv of 8% and has been flavoured with cold-infused sour cherry juice, blackcurrant bud spirit and walnut wood spirit.

The RTD cans build on the themes seen in Post-category Spirits, with distilleries creating category-defying alcoholic drinks that don’t follow the traditional rules and regulations of spirits creation.

Atari’s luxury hotels make a play for e-tourism

US – Japanese gaming giant Atari has set its sights on the luxury hotel market, as it branches into e-tourism.

Targeting gamers young and old who appreciate a sense of nostalgia, Atari’s first hotel will open in Phoenix, Arizona, before being rolled out to Las Vegas, Chicago and San Francisco. Through the hotels, the company hopes to maximise its existing global reputation to create immersive travel experiences, allowing guests to play virtual and augmented reality games as part of their stay.

The Atari Hotels will also feature studios to accommodate eSports events and tap into the strong sense of community present in the gaming industry. According to the brand, its hotels will also ensure gaming reaches a wider audience, with the hotels providing ‘experiences for every age and gaming ability’.

As the gaming industry grows, travel and hospitality brands are levelling up their services with E-Tourism experiences, catering for an audience that hopes to combine physical escapism with competitive virtual worlds.

Atari Hotels, US

Stat: Children use social media for activism

A study by Ofcom reveals that children in the UK are increasingly using online platforms to express their values, with almost one fifth of 12 to 15-year-olds using social media to share their thoughts on environmental, political or charitable causes.

The growth of sharing and commenting on such online posts has been dubbed the Greta Effect by Ofcom, in recognition of the impact of young environmental activist Greta Thunberg. While purpose-driven behaviour is increasingly important to Generation Z, their parents remain sceptical. The Ofcom study notes that about 2m UK parents now feel the internet does their children more harm than good.

Read our new youth macrotrend Paradox Personas to discover how Generation Z are using online platforms to enrich, but not define, their offline selves.