The holidays are a notoriously tricky time for people dealing with mental health issues. And with the rise of digital technology and a new generation’s openness to confronting the stigma of mental health, beauty brands are starting to recognize the dire importance of recalibrating their marketing efforts to provide a safe and supportive haven for women, especially our most vulnerable teenage girls. To help brands rethink the ways they can either help or hinder women’s mental health, CEW’s brand new mental health correspondent Amy Keller Laird today debuts a new column called Look and Feel. In today’s first installment, Laird, the former Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health and the founder of Mental—the first digital media destination for women that blends mental health and lifestyle—gives an invaluable, detailed PSA on navigating the new guidelines with sensitivity and savvy.

“Today, mental health is the battle cry du jour. Every beauty company and its sister seems to be promoting some version of emotional wellbeing,” she writes. “But given the beauty industry’s controversial pinkwashing history, as well as its thorny legacy of promoting grossly unrealistic beauty standards, I can’t help but wonder, Carrie Bradshaw-style: Is mental health going the way of pinkwashing? We’re at that fork in the road right now. Which way will we go? Beauty has the power to do good.”

In other news, Diptique is set to open a swanky new store on Madison Avenue on December 1. And across the pond, animal rights activists were dealt a blow when Symrise AG, the German chemicals company, failed to win its appeal against the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to prevent testing of two chemicals on animals. Although animal testing for cosmetic ingredients has been banned in the EU since 2009 and in 2013 elsewhere around the world, the appeal centered on two UV filters homosalate and 2-ethylhexyl salicylate — which the ECHA still requires to be tested by on animals — rendering the ban “virtually meaningless,” according to Cruelty Free Europe.

Catch up on these and other news stories below. 

Mental Health: How Beauty Brands Can Get it Right. Don’t miss this indispensable, in-depth guide for all beauty brands by Amy Keller Laird, founder of Mental, and former Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health and Beauty Director of Allure. (CEW)

Say Bonjour to the New Diptyque Paris on Madison Avenue. Opening December 1, the new space covers 2,100-square-feet and two floors. (DU JOUR)

A Blow For the European Animal Testing Ban. German chemicals company Symrise loses its appeal against a ECA ruling that calls for animal testing for two cosmetic ingredients. (COSMETICS DESIGN EUROPE)

Beautystreams Forecasts Psycare a Movement to Watch. Psycare is a key movement set to impact both the global beauty industry and K-Beauty in the future. (CEW)

Trend Spotting at Beauty Matters Next Summit. From the increasing ominpotence of Tik Tok to the rise of male grooming, the LA event offered a prism into the state of beauty now.

Stride Consumer Partners Wants Brands to Come Clean. What can companies learn from its investment in Odele Beauty, the award-winning clean hair and body care brand? (GLOSSY)

Disco Liquidates it Business. The men’s skin care brand that raised more than $8 million in funding has gone into liquidation. (BEAUTY INDEPENDENT)

The Making of L’Or de J’Adore. A new documentary, Inside The Dream, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the journey to recreate an iconic fragrance, featuring its new “nose” Francis Kurkdijan. (AMAZON)

Behind the Gloss Launches in the U.S. Featuring interviews with Grace Coddington, former creative director at-large of American Vogue (who appears on the cover), Sam McKnight, Elsa Perretti and more, the new book by UK beauty, fashion and lifestyle journalist Tamara Sturtz-Filby looks back at the industry’s game changers of the Seventies. (BARNES & NOBLE)