WOW, where did the week go? OK, I will admit I finally took a few days off in sunny Mexico. I don’t have a laptop and my iPhone doesn’t have international access so when I’m gone, I’m gone. We stayed south of Cancun in the hot tourist area called the Maya Riviera nearby the new hot town Playa Del Carmen. Although Mexico is rife with drug, government and police issues, this part of Mexico is calm and collected. The weather is always good and the Mexican people are ultra friendly and love to take care of their guests.

What’s better than fresh guacamole and tortilla chips? Mexico is famous for their hot sauces and we had a variety to choose from. They have no such thing as “Pace” (the American version of salsa) as everything they make is fresh and homemade. I especially love the pablano pepper sauce, red sauce and Mexican salsa. But after a few days of eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner (you can’t help it), you can’t wait to get home so you can stop eating it.

The Hospitality industry in Mexico is quite diverse and all of the major players are now situated in this part of Mexico (Four Seasons is working on taking over a failed Viceroy development). While most of the larger properties are all-inclusive, there are many properties that have opened in the past few years that are not. I will admit my days of standing in the swimming pool with a beer in my hand and a cooler of them poolside are long gone (actually they never happened although a good Peña Colada was my weakness). Add that, blaring music, non-stop activities and food that never stops either, all-inclusive resorts are quite hectic. The newer resorts are quiet and while they allow kids, you can relax if that is your goal.

With all the TSA precautions going on at USA airports, how is it the Cancun airport which is among the most ultra-modern in North America, not only allows you to keep your shoes on going through the x-ray, you don’t have to worry about being searched or going through one of those new scanning machines either. They are truly tourist-friendly.

I tried tasting Tequila one night with the BUB. We got the grand idea during the day since the resort put a small bottle in our room with limes and salt. We opened the bottle, poured a large shot and got the limes ready. But since it was a good quality Tequila (like Patron), we decided sipping was better than doing shots. We each took a sip and immediately had the look of disgust on our face like “who can drink this?” Of course we tried another sip but after that, the Tequila was tossed out. I decided you either do Tequila shots with lime and salt or mix it. But you really don’t want to taste the stuff.

Hopefully by now you have received both thebeautybook Spring 2011 edition and The Industry Source magazine Jan/Fed edition. So far the response has been great to both.

An interesting article came out today that L’Oreal is vulnerable to a take-over and that management is deciding what it can do to prevent it from happening. I know I mentioned this fact in 2010, but the more the rumors float, the more they come true. It is still hard to believe anyone could buy L’Oreal.

I’m ready to start my video blog next week and as promised will be focusing on new products. The video blog will feature Amy B. who will be my spokesperson showing off the products.

The Detroit North American Auto Show starts tonight with the charity preview. Compared to the past few years, this show will be splashier, more extravagant and a lot of players are back such as Porsche. Optimism in the auto industry is very high right now with all 3 American companies riding strong. The question is will they learn from their previous mistakes. Union contracts are due later this Fall and one thing is for certain, no company can afford any mistakes at this point. And for Michigan, let’s be happy the auto industry is improving but let’s still move forward with the grand plan to remake this state without auto industry boom and bust cycles.

Happy Friday!

One would have to go back to Cleopatra days to find a beauty distributor that started before Peel’s. Without consulting a history book, I think if they hung around another 4 years, they would have celebrated their 100th anniversary.

Peel’s joins the chorus of other family-owned distributors that have decided enough is enough. In this instance, Peel’s claimed that the estate taxes going up after the first of the year was the culprit: The family could not justify paying 55% estate taxes and handing off the business to their kids to pay the taxes.

I’m not going to expel on the whole notion of estate taxes but it is worthy to understand that is the reason for the sale. Both Essie and OPI sold this year along with Aerial and Schoneman, perhaps their reasons were the same.

L’Oreal picked up Peel’s and it’s now #1 L’Oreal doing battle with #2 Sally Beauty Holdings for the business. Boutique distributors and brands will continue to be around until they too get to a size that makes it worthwhile for an acquisition.

While the Peel’s family is staying on, their culture will change. We have seen the transformation in virtually every instance.

My question is “Is this the end of legacy independent businesses?” Sure there are still thousands of such businesses around but the likes of public companies such as P&G, Unilever, L’Oreal and Henkel make it very difficult to be independent. After all, these are legacy businesses that will be around a very long time.

What’s ironic is at this very moment powerhouse L’Oreal, a $26 Billion company, is fighting for it’s life. That’s right. Nestle owns 30% of the company and wants the rest. Can you imagine? But it could be a tasty acquisition: Buy a bottle of Biolage and get a Nestle Crunch bar free (King Size please).

One thing for certain with the stock market heading higher is that acquisitions in 2011 will intensify. There isn’t much left in the pro beauty business field to pluck (we aren’t selling) so the likes of ULTA become attractive.

While I never had any dealings with the Peel’s family, they will be missed. It’s sort of the end of a bygone era with a whole new era being ushered in. I got my FLIP camera, Facebook-Twitter-YouTube infantry, and other new media resources for this era. Steve Jobs has made the life of people simpler and with the introduction of his new iPad2 in 2011, we are going to see things we have never dreamed about.

New era, new media, new iStuff, new year. Hey, it’s still fun to be independent, damn the estate taxes.

Happy Tuesday!

Paul DeJoria is licking his chops and having a shot of Patron to celebrate. Already worth some $3.5 Billion, he is watching from the sidelines what OPI is going to fetch. DeJoria owns both Paul Mitchell and Patron. Mitchell is the beauty industry’s biggest privately held company.

OPI is the second largest and is on the auction block. Looks like Coty is a lead bidder and a few private equity firms such as Bain are tagging along. Ultimately the selling price could be $1 billion.

That’s a lot of money. We all know Essie sold to L’Oreal earlier this year but that was a $28 million company compared to the mammoth $300 million company OPI is. I wouldn’t be surprised if L’Oreal doesn’t step in later, they know there isn’t another brand like OPI around.

I’ve written my fair share about OPI, George Schaeffer, Suzi-Weiss Fleishmann and for good reason. They created a phenomenon from nothing. They took risks and spent millions in consumer publications. They took risks and put in state-of-the-art filling machines when most people were outsourcing. They took risks in naming lacquers with strange names.

Now the risks are going to pay off and pay off big. They deserve it. But once the deal is over, the bigger questions remain: Will OPI go retail to pay off the investment and will George and Suzi stay on?

Of course there is a small chance that all this talk from today’s Wall St. Journal is gibberish and only rumors. Wouldn’t that be nice. But in today’s global economy and with companies and equity firms flush with cash, this sounds like an opportunity that won’t be passed up.

WOW. What else is there to say?

Happy Wednesday!

Harriet and Buddy Rose were pioneers. Back in 1979, they started Forsythe Cosmetics and introduced the first range of $1 polish in over 100 colors. This was around the same time little known Arnie Miller, Paula Meehan Kent, Jerri Redding and Paul Mitchell were coming out with Matrix, Redken and Paul Mitchell salon lines.

Forsythe had two key salespeople working for them, Janet Greenberg and Essie Weingarten. Both left around the same time in 1981 to start their own companies. Greenberg went on to start Charni and Weingarten went on to start Essie.

Charni and Essie both copied Forsythe’s marketing idea and launched $1 polish in a multitude of shades. Both prospered quickly due to their previous connections and they became natural competitors. However, Greenberg decided motherhood was more important and Charni faded away. Essie on the other hand kept on churning out new shades focused in the French manicure category and came up with names like Ballet Slipper and Waltz to differentiate her brand from the masses like Revlon and L’Oreal.

Eventually the $1 bottle went to $1.25, then $1.50, then $1.75, then $2.00, then $2.50. Mind you, this bottle had no brand name, it was a square bottle with a white top. If you called Essie to order, most of the time after 6PM Essie herself would answer the phone and take the order, no order too small. Her and Max (business partner) sat upstairs in a small open office with four others yelling back and forth while processing orders. One caveat with Essie: she made sure she was paid.

Then Max had the brilliant idea to put the logo on the bottle. Of course the price zoomed to $3.00, then $3.50 and now sits at $4.00, surely ready to go up again once the economy settles in (they always kept pace with OPI).

During the growth stage, you could see Essie and Max behind their booth at the NY, Long Beach and Midwest trade shows. Manicurists would come with lists and buy hundreds of bottles. Essie was there packing up the boxes, tearing apart the boxes, talking and yakking. Max stood behind the booth with his Armani suit and Hermes tie watching the whole time and making sure the money was properly accounted for. Smart man.

Alas, a couple years ago L’Oreal nearly bought Essie but something happened. But not for long. Perhaps as long as 6-9 months ago, Essie signed the dotted line agreeing in principle to sell her company founded back in 1981. Yesterday the press got hold of the news that L’Oreal in fact bought Essie and both Essie and Max signed long term contracts to stay on.

Needless to say, life in Astoria, NY will change quickly as L’Oreal moves production and inventory to its central locations. It will be strange to see Essie and Max walk into 575 Fifth Avenue and sit in an office.

In the end, it’s yet one more entrepreneurial-based company gone in our industry. Snatched up like gold floating in the river. L’Oreal is now in the polish business and God only knows what they will do with the brand. George at OPI is most likely wondering the same thing himself.

I will miss the Essie chapter. There are memories that won’t fade especially when it came to Max’s BS, but all in the love of the business. This was a long chapter, nearly 25 years long.

Good luck Essie and Max. Enjoy your newfound wealth and take time to travel. Be sure to visit Turquoise & Caicos and Playa Del Platinum. After all, you are now living in the Lapis of Luxury.

Happy Thursday!

Innovation these days is coming from smaller companies in tune to consumer demands. Just look at Facebook, Twitter, and the zillion other social networking websites out there. None of these were started by Microsoft, Yahoo, or IBM.

Innovation in hair care and hair color is coming from smaller companies as well. Kemon was first to market with its paste highlighting system, well before L’Oreal introduced their Platinium brand.  Pureology was first to market with its sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners and L’Oreal ended up buying the company to acquire the technology.

The latest buzz word in hair color is “ammonia-free.” Why? L’Oreal introduced their new INOA color in Europe last year and is launching it in the USA this year. Unlike smaller companies, L’Oreal has the marketing and celebrity muscle to make quick inroads when it comes to press. INOA (an acronym for Innovation No Ammonia) is a complicated and expensive system and is L’Oreal’s attempt at ammonia-free hair color.

One would think the company that invented hair color would have launched INOA at least five years ago. But no, Kemon was the company back then that launched the first ammonia-free hair color, Actyva. Since then, Kemon launched YO color which is both extremely low ammonia and PPD-free. And this year they launched their third generation of extremely low ammonia color, HD High Performance.

HD is especially targeted towards Wella users since the numbering system is very similar. But that is the only thing similar. HD is unlike any color on the market in the way it performs, smells, shines, lasts and its simplicity in application. Like Apple has proved with its “i” family of products, the best technology is simple to use.

Remember the one of the best marketing programs ever: The Coke-Pepsi challenge? If you are a L’Oreal or Wella user, try HD on us and if you aren’t convinced HD is the best, then at least you made the decision based on your own trial. I am that confident in HD. It’s the future of hair color.

Happy Monday!