Coty has revealed Golden Lift, the latest photoaging innovation from Lancaster. The innovation was revealed during a media event in Monaco (22-23 April) where VIP guests, including The Moodie Davitt Report, got the chance to look behind the curtain and visit Lancaster’s Research & Development facility alongside its production plant.
Lancaster is a major focus for Coty as it continues to expand its skincare business. In Q3 of FY2024, Coty’s prestige skincare business grew reported net revenues by a high-single-digit percentage, led by robust double-digit growth from Lancaster. The brand recorded +25% like-for-like growth in Q3 of FY2024 and +20% like-for-like growth year-to-date.
Lancaster Golden Lift is described as ‘the ultimate lifting skincare’. It is launching in global travel retail in September.
The line was designed to tackle the problem of solar laxity, which is the deterioration of elastin fibres, ineffective elastic tissue accumulation and accelerated collagen loss.
The Golden Lift range comprises the Sculpting Cream, SPF15 Sculpting Cream, Tightening Serum and Eye Lifting Cream. It is clean, vegan and comes in a delicate bitter orange, white tea, rose and neroli blossom scent.
According to Lancaster, sun exposure is responsible for 80% of photoaging signs, including those caused by UV, visible light, blue light and infrared light.
Golden Lift goes beyond tightening the skin’s surface and builds new collagen and elastic fibres from within, resulting in firmer skin and the reversal of skin laxity caused by chronic solar exposure.
It is powered by an exclusive Dual-lifting Technology with encapsulated retinol and vectorised retinal that build new collagen fibres within fibroblast cells (collagen-boosting cells), rather than simply preventing elastin degradation.
The formula has also been infused with Lancaster’s Di-Peptide Complex, which boosts elastin synthesis by +158% and creates functional elastic fibres that visibly lift the skin after two weeks.
The Golden Lift Sculpting Cream and SPF15 Sculpting Cream expressions volumise, contour and replenish the skin. Both products sculpt 3D facial volumes in the jawline, cheekbones and nasolabial folds and restore the face’s V shape.
The Golden Lift Sculpting Serum, described as a ‘thread lift in a jar’, is supercharged with a high concentration of Lancaster’s Retinol + Retinal formula.
The Golden Lift Eye Lifting Cream targets the eyebrows, eyelids and outer eye corners. It contains Lancaster’s exclusive Eye Complex, made with caffeine, horse chestnut, ginkgo biloba and pigmented fillers to reduce dark circles and puffiness.
During the media event in Monaco, The Moodie Davitt Report Brands Director Hannah Tan sat down with Lancaster Global Brand Director Victoria Engel and Lancaster Senior Vice President Skin Research & Innovation Olivier Doucet to talk about the science behind Golden Lift and why it represents the next chapter of Lancaster and Coty’s big skincare push.
Can you tell us about the Dual-Lift technology, Retinol + Retinal formula that powers this innovation?
Dr Olivier Doucet: Golden Lift has a very interesting formula. As soon as firming or lifting is concerned, most other brands are only focused on collagen. This is good but it’s not enough. You need to go the extra mile and Golden Lift does this by focusing on elastic tissue. For example, you can rebuild skin volume but if you don’t tackle the issue of skin laxity then the volume would be on the bottom of the face and not the top.
As skin collagen fibres degrade and elastic fibres lose their elasticity, the youthful shape of the face switches from a V to an A, or what we refer ‘Reversal of the Youth Triangle’. You will begin to see a reversal of this shape in as early as three weeks of constant use with Golden Lift.
For Golden Lift, Lancaster is leveraging its retinol expertise by using an exclusive retinol cationic liposome. The liposome has a magnet-like action that targets fibroblasts and delivers retinol where it is needed rather than staying at superficial levels where it is less effective and potentially irritating, making it twice as effective on collagen production than free retinol.
The formula also features a clinical dose of vectorised retinal, which works three-times faster than pure retinol and is suitable for sensitive skin and first-time retinol users.
The combination of the retinol and retinal in Golden lift results in a +50% boost in collagen production.
Golden Lift is focused on the problem of skin laxity, but what are its effects on the other signs of photoaging?
OC: Ageing is not just one problem, but the result of many issues at the same time. We are focused on skin laxity because the way we have encapsulated retinol and vectorised retinal allows this formula to act on every skin layer and every cell type. It renews the skin, infusing it with glow and radiance, minimises age spots and rebuilds skin structure. It has multiple actions and therefore acts on several factors of skin ageing.
As the number one prestige suncare brand in Europe, Lancaster’s suncare expertise is well-known. As the brand is now shifting focus on its skincare business, how is Coty communicating Lancaster’s rich photoaging heritage?
Victoria Engel: We are communicating strongly on social media by spreading educational content that highlights our expertise in photoaging and suncare.
We have also invested in many marketing initiatives in Monaco. Through these initiatives, we can showcase our Monaco heritage and the fact that we are born in Monaco and are still produced in Monaco to this day, which is very rare for a beauty brand of our scale. By bringing you here, we can share our heritage, history and our know-how.
For travel retail, we have an exciting animation plan to highlight both sun and skin. Suncare is usually seasonal, but over the next 12 months we are proposing year-round animations so we can promote the brand all year round. The key messaging will focus on our Full Light Technology but also that we are the number one sun protection brand in the premium market in Europe.
Education is all about repetition so we will be communicating the efficacy of Golden Lift across our key visuals to really drive the message that your skin will be lifted in two weeks.
We have also developed a skincare diagnosis tool – it’s already available in China – that shows you your hidden dark spots and wrinkles. These types of tools really impact conversion, because customers can clearly see the type of treatment their skin needs.
OC: I’m always a little bit surprised that it seems people have forgotten all that Lancaster has done around skincare. For years, we were one of the leading companies in skincare. It’s true that we may have become too successful in suncare, which has overshadowed this heritage. However, I believe our skincare and photoaging heritage is so strong that it speaks for itself and our potential to dominate skincare again is enormous.
Tell us more about Lancaster’s repair, regenerate and revitalise ethos?
OC: When we created Ligne Princière, the idea was to make a cream for the Princess Grace of Monaco. We wanted to create a cream that would renew and regenerate the skin, leveraging our expertise in regenerative medicine. To do this, we needed to act on three aspects: work on the cellular level, build the structure and push everything to make new tissues.
Skin cells will not be able to regenerate if they are not in good shape, this is why we need to repair the skin on a cellular level. Next, we need to give skin cells energy so they can metabolise. Afterwards they need to be protected so they can keep working. So, you need to revitalise and create the ideal architecture around them to protect the skin cells. If you are acting on these three levels, you’ll be able to repair, regenerate and revitalise the skin holistically.
In your view, what value does Golden Lift add to the Lancaster skincare portfolio?
OC: It’s part of the repair field, even though we’re not repairing but instead rebuilding elastin fibres. By doing that we are reversing photoaging.
The Lancaster portfolio is quite well balanced because we have three main pillars to act on the skin. First, we repair the damage with our 360 product, preserving what you have. Then we have Golden Lift, which is all about rebuilding; then we have the ultimate product to help you regenerate, and that is Ligne Princière.
How will the launch of Golden Lift further drive Lancaster and Coty’s wider skincare push?
VE: Golden Lift will be our main product launch in skincare. In Europe, our main countries carry suncare but some of them already have both sun and skin. In these markets, we are leveraging the strength and awareness of our suncare business to highlight our expertise in skincare too. Our skincare lines offer solutions to sun damage so the two businesses can work in synergy. Golden Lift will be our hero launch for the relaunch of Lancaster as a skincare brand.
OC: For me it’s a new era. For years, most of Coty’s investment was going towards fragrance. With the arrival of Sue Y. Nabi, who is an expert in the skincare field, there was a new willingness to bring back our skincare business to the level it needs to be for us to be competitive. We have new energy, new capabilities, new resource and have hired 30 new engineers, so it is very exciting for us.
What are your priorities for expanding the Lancaster brand in global travel retail?
VE: We want to gain market share in Europe, which is our strongest market. We want to be present with suncare in countries we have not launched in before. In China, we only have ten doors but are growing slowly.
After China, we are looking to expand in Asia Pacific travel retail with our suncare business, particularly in travel-focused destinations. Being present in popular travel destinations is a key strategic goal for the brand.
In Asia Pacific, we’re planning to be in 100 doors, in key holiday destinations, over the next year. We are looking to open in destinations where they need suncare and where the brand awareness is high. These include Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and China. We’re also expanding in Latin America in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and the Caribbean.
In Asia we’re mainly focusing on suncare. Our Lancaster Sun Perfect line is particularly popular with Asian consumers, especially in city destinations because it combines maximum sun protection with skincare benefits, such as the prevention of dark spots and wrinkles, falling in line with the Coty’s wider ‘skinification’ strategy. ✈
