A Beauty Editor’s 2024 ‘Ins’ (and ‘Outs’)
January 1 | 3 minute read
Words by Brennan Kilbane
Originally published on | January 16
It’s difficult to be a beauty consumer in 2024 (happy new year!). Not as difficult as, say, being a pearl diver or air traffic controller, but those with an interest in – or genetic predisposition toward – shopping for new skincare, makeup, haircare, nail stuff, body oil, jade rollers, microcurrent devices or cosmetic injectables must be exhausted by the pace at which the market moves.
Algorithms trained every second to better optimise for our preferences, constantly shuffling and redirecting the flow of content, means that trend cycles have now collapsed into blink-and-you’ll-miss-them super events. Doesn’t ‘buccal fat removal’ feel like it happened three decades ago?
It would be grueling, boring, impossible and misguided to acknowledge every beauty and wellness trend as it passes through the mainstream – but it would also be a little bit fun, wouldn’t it?
This Is It will attempt to track major movements in cosmetic culture with a brief digest. These are not official judgements, but merely observations. You are welcome to take them as gospel; we wouldn’t recommend it.
The Term ‘Longevity’
A Subtle Flush
A Cult Fragrance in the Making
Simple Moisturisers
Bedside Hand Cream
Earlier this (northern hemisphere) winter, I went with a friend to try bouldering at a nearby gym – and I won’t make that mistake again. After a single hour, which itself contained maybe 20 minutes of actual vertical bouldering, my hands were stinging, chapped and blistered.
So, it was true need, not mere want, that drove me back into the grasp of Lanolips Rose Hand Cream Intense – the best hand cream in the world, in my opinion.
My only New Year's Resolution is to add Tatcha’s The Kissu Lip Mask to the proceedings, but if I had a second, it would be to avoid bouldering ever again.
True Minimalism
Not, like, ‘quiet luxury The Row sweater with drop shoulders and no visible branding’ minimalism, but an actual, practical, undeniably fashionable life lived with less. Le Labo’s Co-Founder told The New York Times that his Brooklyn brownstone had a “mattress on the floor” kind of vibe – in an interior design feature about his home.
The other Co-Founder, a true citizen of the world, recently invited T Magazine to photograph the Kebony wood walls of his Portuguese vacation manse – every one of which is bare. “The art is the view,” he said, probably gesturing to one of the nearby windows, framing an expanse of wildflowers and swaying grasses.
It’s enough to suggest that the things we need are the things we already have: moisturiser, mattress, Le Labo fragrance, lip balm, hand cream, feeling happy and vital!
Credit: The Row
