Welcome in, today is Thursday, August sixth, and we begin with e.l.f. Beauty, where WWD Beauty reports the company has raised its full-year forecast. e.l.f. Beauty has lifted its sales forecast for fiscal twenty twenty-seven to a range of one point nine three billion dollars to one point nine six billion dollars, according to WWD Beauty. That is an increase on the company's earlier guidance for the year. The same reporting notes the forecast covers a portfolio spanning the eponymous e.l.f. brand, Naturium and Rhode. Set against that mass-priced line-up, the range puts a two billion dollar revenue mark within reach, and that is a reference point retailers and rival brand owners work from when they set shelf allocation and price tiers. Investor-side reaction leans clearly bullish on the raise. A recurring thread in that response attributes much of the margin and profit strength to pricing moves and one-off tariff refunds rather than to underlying demand, and treats that distinction as the thing to watch in later quarters. A contrarian strand among brand-side practitioners is more cautious still, arguing that social-led attention and low-cost demand generation are not the same as durable loyalty, and that sustainable value in beauty comes from differentiated product and repeat purchase rather than from visibility. Ownership of one of the largest beauty retail channels in the UK is unsettled again. Global Cosmetics News reports that takeover talks for Boots have stalled, after the Weston family reduced its offer and the revised bid was rejected by the retailer's owner, Sycamore Partners. The proposed acquisition had been put at seven billion pounds. Per that account, the Westons had become the sole remaining bidder in June, when Sigma Healthcare withdrew its interest. That leaves no competing buyer in the process to restart it, and it leaves both the exit path for the current owner and the retailer's medium-term buying plans without a settled answer. For brand owners and distributors, listing decisions and investment at Boots now sit behind an unresolved sale. Which brings us to what Boots is doing in the meantime. A WWD Beauty report sets Boots and Marks and Spencer side by side as both push deeper into beauty, and quotes the beauty executive and Floral Street founder Michelle Feeney, who says of the rush to build share, in her words, the gloves are off. The argument is that two heritage high street names, with nearly three thousand stores between them, are now competing seriously with Space NK, Sephora, Rituals and Superdrug, and with department stores investing millions in beauty and wellness. That read is anchored in scale: British Beauty Council research cited in the piece puts beauty's contribution to UK GDP last year at twenty-eight point three billion pounds, the largest single business category on the high street. On the detail, Boots has opened a second beauty-only store, an eleven thousand square foot unit in Bristol carrying more than two hundred brands, and is trialing standalone fragrance. Marks and Spencer carries around seventy beauty names online, with third-party brands close to half of its beauty sales, and its head of beauty, James Mugford, frames the aim as becoming the trusted editor for beauty. Both fleets making room for third parties means a tighter fight for listings. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Following our earlier report on Beiersdorf's guidance cut and its Nivea programme, Cosmetics Business reports chief executive Vincent Warnery told investors the group needs a broader portfolio, and acquisitions to reduce its dependence on Nivea. Global Cosmetics News reports Brazil is moving to ease regulatory barriers for Korean cosmetics, lowering a long-standing hurdle for K-beauty brands entering Latin America. And finally, multiple sources tell WWD Beauty that private equity firm Pai Partners is in exclusive negotiations with the British skin care brand Elemis.