Welcome back to Haul of Fame, the weekly beauty roundup of new products, new ideas and a genuine craving for Rubirosa thin crust pizza.
Included in today’s issue: Amika, BeautyGrass, Bvlgari, Dior Beauty, Glossier, Guess, Kopari, MAC Cosmetics, Made by Mitchell, Oribe, PMD Beauty, Relevant Cosmetics, Rihanna, Snif, Qure Skincare, Tan-Luxe, True Botanicals, Vacation, Valentino Beauty, VS Pink, Westman Atelier and some cute underwear.
But first…
Raise your hand if you’ve already gotten loads of emails about the upcoming May 6 Met Gala and its watery-oatmeal theme “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
It’s a tricky one for beauty companies, because they’re taking the whole “sleep” part pretty literally, trying to tie the phrase — which is meant to reference vintage or long-archived pieces — to actual slumber.
So far, I’ve received a mattress-load of beauty pitches about “Met Gala prep” products like sleep masks, melatonin supplements, overnight moisturisers and even a smoothie guaranteed to make attendees look well-rested on the red carpet.
On the one hand, this is smart. As Emily Sundberg reminded us in her excellent Feed Me newsletter this week, sleep is a $300 billion business. Beauty products often promise comfort, ritual and recovery—all things encouraged in a healthy sleep routine. That means PM products can plug into this category with the ease and delight of a Hello Kitty night light. There’s even a fragrance industry push via TikTok to wear perfume to bed, which doubles their sales (twice the sprays in one 24 hour cycle!) while touting some mild evidence that scent triggers the brain’s transition from day into night.
But sleep is one of those elusive things that even the wealthy can’t always buy. (See also: Happiness, kindness, the competence to type “your” vs. “you’re” on a dating app.) If you’re lucky enough to surf the REM waves, it’s not because of your moisturiser or your PM perfume. And when I spoke to Dr. Ava Shamban — a Hollywood dermatologist I actually trust, because she refused to give me any fillers or Botox when I was 30, telling me to “come back in 10 years when you might need it” — she showed me new-ish research that the skin has its own light receptors within skin cells that affect circadian rhythms. That means that even if you’re getting eight hours of sleep, your skin might be on its own glitchy schedule. Many people with under-eye puffiness or sagging cheeks are doing just fine in the sleep department — but their skin hasn’t caught up.
“You don’t always look tired because you’re tired,” she told me. “But you can look well-rested even if you’re not.”
Dr. Shamban launches a new product line called Althaea Skin on May 1 that targets the skin’s “clock gene functions” and harnesses them back to a healthy morning-and-night cycle. It includes topical formulas, plus a handheld gizmo that combines LED therapy, radio frequencies and electric pulse stimulation to jolt collagen production and circulation. (Althaea is not, sadly, named for The Grateful Dead song.)
I suspect Dr. Shamban is on the forefront of “sleep-fake technology,” a scientific push to harness our cells for optimised rest even if we’re not actually snoozing. It’s a bit like how Ozempic makes it look like someone is dieting and working out, instead of literally needling themselves into a smaller dress size.
As for Met Gala implications, well, I don’t know any dermatologists who are (openly) sponsoring a celebrity this season, but I know a lot of designers, Vogue editors and famous people who wish to look very beautiful without beauty sleep. Which means whomever finally cracks the sleep-fake code is going to be very, very rich.
Sweet dreams, kids.
Skincare
BeautyGrass launched Vibrant Boost, a face mist, on Apr. 18. They claim it’s a “high vibrational hydrating mist” with “plant-based collagen and elastin-boosting copper.” It’s fun how they insist it isn’t just for your skin, but also for your aura. Ridiculous, but fun.
Westman Atelier introduced Suprême C, a Vitamin C brightening serum, on Apr. 19. It’s Gucci Westman’s second foray into pure skincare — her first, Skin Activator, is a hydrating and tightening serum that dropped last March — and at $325, it’s the most expensive cosmetic product on her site. Let’s see if a retinol situation comes next.
Qure Skincare entered the patch wars on Apr. 19 with their own Micro-Infusion line. Each of their skin dots boasts 80 serum infused micro-darts that target fine lines, wrinkles and puffiness.
Do you want your body-firming lotion to smell like Jessica Chastain? Of course you do! Enter True Botanicals and their new Phyto-Retinol Anti-Aging Body Lotion. It has “top notes of amyris, copaiba, and eucalyptus” plus a campaign starring the Oscar winner and Gucci muse (who is also the absolute nicest human).
If you had “The Jetsons But Make It Beauty” on your 2024 bingo card, congratulations. PMD Beauty has that space covered with their new Clean Redvolution device, which debuted on Apr. 22. It’s a two-sided gadget with a sonic cleansing buzz on one side and an LED light treatment on the other. The $229 device comes with its own protective goggles.
Congratulations to Graza olive oil, which just introduced their first personal care product — a bar of soap called Sudsy — with Metahaiku on Apr. 23. The soap is made in Vermont, infused with the olive oil, and has a welcome lack of plastic packaging.
Sun Care
Vacation introduced three new products on Apr. 11, including a mineral face sunscreen and an SPF stick. The one that really intrigues me is Studio Tone, a bottle of bronzing drops that come with SPF 50, ensuring a cosmetic benefit as well as sun protection.
There’s proof this is a good idea: Kopari launched their Sunglaze — a “rose gold spray” with SPF 50 — in February. This week, they claimed to sell 1 bottle every minute, which means when this column drops at 9 am, they’ll have already made $21,060.
Meanwhile, Paris Hilton has paired with Tan-Luxe on The Future Airbrush 360, a self-tanning mist that comes scented “with notes of cassis, violet, and white leather.” I really want to mock this, but when I think of white leather, I think of Sloane from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and I still want to be her so badly. If I can smell like her iconic white leather jacket while getting a little sunkissed, I’m in. (Note to Paris Hilton: Did you ever see that movie? What did you think?)
Hair Care
Amika’s Perk Up Ultra Oil Control dry shampoo debuted on Apr. 21, with a focus on scalp health and preserving volume.
Also on Apr. 24, Oribe launched a new Heatless Styling Balm, which is made with “tomato fruit ferment and upcycled chickpea extract.” The product itself has a wonderful proven formula, but let’s be real — now that we’ve read their marketing snippet, we’re all craving a vegan souvlaki.
Cosmetics
Rihanna, Amelia Gray and Deva Cassel were each photographed wearing opaque pastel eyeshadow this month. (Their looks were done by Yadim for Interview magazine, Dick Page for W magazine Korea, and Peter Philips for Dior Beauty, respectively.) Does the “Priscilla” movie have a longer tail than we realised? Discuss.
On Apr. 19, Saie Beauty partnered with the organic underwear brand Subset on the launch of a new pastel colourway that matches Saie’s flowery cosmetic shades. They’re giving out free Lip Blur lipsticks with every $99+ purchase, so if you need new bikini briefs, now is the time.
Relevant Cosmetics introduced Rele-Blur™ Soft Focus powder foundation on Apr. 22. The shade range of 36 colours is really impressive. Will it move more women to try a solid base instead of a liquid foundation? Relevant poster girl Nicole Richie probably can make it happen.
Glossier’s newest Balm Dot Com, a strawberry version, launches on Apr. 24. The scratch-and-sniff sticker possibilities here are endless.
MAC Cosmetics unveiled their Strobe Dewy Skin Tint on Apr. 25; it has over a dozen shades and comes packed with hyaluronic acid and Vitamin E as well as 8 hours of continuous wear.
Made By Mitchell pressed the “go” button on two new products — a serum-y Truth Tint base lotion and an illuminating Bolt Balm cream — on Apr. 25. If the fan-crazed comments on the brand’s Instagram are not from AI, people are insanely obsessed with this line. Perhaps acquisition hunters should be watching it a little more closely.
Fragrance
Confirmed: Every cool girl wants to smell like tomatoes now. That’s why Snif’s new scent, Slice Society, smells like pizza and has already sold out online. Its partner — a fizzy caramel-and-orange scent called Soda Snob that launched the same day — is still available to purchase.
Bvlgari’s Allegra Chill & Sole perfume debuted on Apr. 24. It has Italian lemon and neroli essence, and its bottle looks like a giant piece of candy.
On Apr. 23, Guess launched their new fragrance with notes of pink pepper, orange blossom and musk. It’s called “Iconic,” which is kind of genius, because every time you name the scent, you’re forced to give it a compliment.
I first met American model Scarlett Costello backstage at a Marc Jacobs show in 2019. She was reading James Baldwin’s novel “Giovanni’s Room” in the makeup chair as Guido Palau did some light interventions with a curling iron. She swore it was “a total accident” that she was closing the show (it was not) and asked, very politely, that the makeup team keep her wispy unibrow intact (they did). This week, Scarlett unveils her very first fragrance campaign for VS Pink. It was shot Polaroid-style by Zoey Grossman and fits nicely into Victoria’s Secret’s plan for a cooler girl gaze in their branding. The fragrance itself is pretty sweet, and makes me yearn for another mall staple: Orange Julius.
And Finally
Do you want to work for Alessandro Michele but also get free lipstick? Valentino Beauty is hiring a Director of Brand Engagement to help reposition the brand under its new creative director. (As my colleague Celia Ellenberg said earlier this week, that’s gonna be tough.) The salary is competitive and the position has loads of potential… especially figuring out how to pivot Michele’s group chat of beautiful misfits (Miley, Leto, Lana) into a very different product silo than Gucci’s alchemical allure.
