Welcome in, today is Wednesday, July fifteenth, and we begin with three Estée Lauder brands that, according to WWD's sources, are no longer on the block. The Estée Lauder Companies are holding on to three brands that, per WWD, had quietly been on the market. The company never formally announced a sale process for Smashbox, Too Faced or Dr. Jart+. But multiple sources confirmed to WWD that all three were being shopped. Those sources now tell WWD the trio will stay in the portfolio. WWD frames the decision as a read on how the company is weighing its options under the current restructuring. Divestiture was one path. A turnaround inside the house is, per WWD's reporting, the path being taken for now. WWD's sourcing suggests the company may see more value in fixing these brands than in selling them, at least at the prices on offer. Note the range involved. Smashbox and Too Faced sit in prestige color. Dr. Jart+ sits in skin care. WWD reports both were in the same conversation. WWD has this one on its own, and Estée Lauder has not commented publicly on the reporting. So hold it as sourced rather than confirmed. If it holds, it is one input for anyone tracking what else in the portfolio might move, and on what timeline. Also today, Bluemercury has a new chief executive. WWD reports that Alex Choueiri is taking the top job at the Macy's-owned specialty retailer. He arrives from Kering Beauté, where he was chief executive of the Americas, and before that spent years at L'Oréal, per the same report. That is a prestige-brand operator moving to the retail side of the counter. Bluemercury competes with Sephora and Ulta for the same specialty shelf and the same shopper, at a smaller footprint, inside a department store parent that is reshaping its own store base. WWD's framing suggests Macy's went looking for that résumé specifically. In that reading, Choueiri's background is in building the brands that need retailers like Bluemercury, which gives him a view of what the retailer can offer a brand partner. The read for the trade may be this. Bluemercury's next chapter gets written by someone who knows what prestige houses want from distribution. That could carry through to assortment, to exclusives, and to how the retailer positions itself against two much larger rivals. Separately, Valentino Beauty has unveiled Vendetta, its first new prestige fragrance franchise in six years. Cosmetics Business and Global Cosmetics News both report the launch, which arrives as a duo, Vendetta Donna and Vendetta Uomo. The house calls it, in its words, a new olfactive chapter. The structure is the part to notice. This is not a single scent with flankers to follow later. It is a franchise built with two pillars from day one, which is how houses increasingly launch when they want shelf presence and reach across both sides of the counter from the start. Fragrance remains the category's growth engine, and six years between prestige franchises tells you how selectively a fashion house spends that kind of launch budget. Per the reporting, Vendetta is positioned to expand Valentino's luxury fragrance portfolio rather than replace anything in it. Watch the retail rollout and the media weight behind it. That is where franchise ambition either gets funded or does not. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. WWD reports June's Prime Day beauty winners split across skin care, hair and fragrance, a more balanced mix than the skin-care-dominant holiday season. WWD reports prestige brands are launching lower-priced items to court Gen Alpha and Gen Z in a crowded, inflation-pressured market. Industry reaction leans cautious, with a recurring concern that down-priced extensions could come at the cost of ingredient quality and age-appropriate formulation. Modaes reports Alexis Rollier is stepping down as Sephora's global chief operating officer after fourteen years at the company, eight of them in that role. Cody Plofker is stepping down as chief executive of Jones Road Beauty, saying he is not the right person for the next phase of growth, per Cosmetics Business, Global Cosmetics News and WWD. Reaction in the channel has largely read the candor as unusual. And finally, Superdrug posted a five point two percent sales rise across stores and online despite subdued UK high-street footfall, per Cosmetics Business and Global Cosmetics News.