On 31st March Pai launched Bright Now, a PHA daily tonic. Before I talk about it, we need to talk about REN.
REN sadly announced its closure in June 2025. Their founders had sold to Unilever back in 2015 and without that dogged founder mentality fighting to save the brand and jobs, nobody seemed able to salvage it. Ed and I know something about this after the tumultuous year Pai also had in 2025!
When I started Pai in 2007, REN had already been going 8 years. They were in all the top retailers, and became a lead player in establishing the clean beauty category.
If REN hadn't existed, Pai might have been a different brand. Not because we imitated them, but because when you're building something new, you measure yourself against the best in the market.
We had our own story. Pai has always been certified organic because I believe in transparency from start to finish. We specialised in sensitive skin because of my personal journey living with a chronic skin condition and struggling to find products that didn't trigger flare-ups.
I always respected REN from a distance. Never met the founders but appreciated their retail operations, slick marketing and commitment to packaging sustainability, including those phenomenal ocean plastics initiatives.
So when REN closed and M&S (one of their biggest accounts) suggested we create a Pai version of their best-selling Ready Steady Glow Tonic, I said yes immediately.
We have one rule when it comes to new products. We'll only make something if we're creating something genuinely innovative, or formulating something better than what already exists. Unless we can meet one of those criteria, we don't do it.
This was firmly the second.
We created formula and packaging prototypes within a few short months. It's a Pai product through and through, but it's defined by what REN was and what Pai is. The original uses AHAs. Ours uses PHAs.
Same brightening action and visible improvement in skin texture, but gentler and more suitable for reactive skin like mine. We also formulated with natural Niacinamide, our signature omega and antioxidant packed Rosehip extract and other tricks we've picked up over 18 years of natural science formulation. It's COSMOS certified too.
This product wouldn't exist without REN. I like to think we're taking a really great product and perfecting it, the Pai way.
So here's Bright Now.
I hope Pai customers love it. Most of all, I hope REN diehards give it a try.
And if Pai isn't the brand for them, I hope they'll consider supporting other indie British brands instead. Because we all need the support right now.
