Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and yoga mat perfume. Sorry, it’s happening.
Included in today’s issue: Balenciaga, Bureau du Parfum, DND, ESK Skincare, Glossier, Guerlain, Half Magic, Jeni Kayne, Jin Soon, Juliette Has a Gun, Justin Bieber, L’Oréal, Maybelline, Naturelab Tokyo, Neutrogena, Oak Essentials, Oneskin, Privet Beauty, Santa Maria Novella, Selma Blair, Sugared + Bronzed, Summer Fridays, Sweet Chemistry Labs, Tate McRae, Violet Grey, Wildfox, Zeya (which is so not Zendaya) and a lipstick computer.
But first…
While we wait for Gap to release its beauty line, Aritzia has a fast pass to our bathroom cabinet, and it’s coming from Salt & Stone. Founded in 2017 by snowboarder Nima Jalali, the personal care brand is something of a sleeping giant in the “first step” space of deodorant and body lotion. (You grab them after your first step out of the shower.)
Right now, the Silverlake-based body care brand makes eight key product categories, including shower gel, home fragrance and body mist. The packaging is minimal and the color scheme is very “organic spa in Sedona, Arizona where you once saw Naomi Watts.” The cool tones can’t decide if they’re green or grey; the warm tones would disappear next to desert sand. Salt & Stone pricing hovers between $20 and $50; you can find all the products at Sephora, but also on Amazon, where its deodorant is the #1 best-seller in the category. Every minute, Salt & Stone sells four deodorants, which means in September alone, Mr. Jalali has earned $864,000 in underarm revenue.
Meanwhile, Aritzia is having its own revenue surge, thanks to its viral Effortless Pants that helped Millennials and Gen Z shoppers get back to work on their own, slouchier terms. But the retailer has yet to dip its baggy pant leg into the beauty category — until now. Artizia’s Salt & Stone partnership arrives Oct. 2, with a retail exclusive scent, Lily & Yuzu, available as $20 deodorant, $36 body wash, $45 fragrance mist and a $49 candle online and in 25 of Aritzia’s 126 stores across the US and Canada. (The Santal & Vetiver range will also be available.)
Heather McLean, Aritzia’s SVP of product, said the range is a natural fit for stores because it’s “transforming daily rituals into moments of luxury.”
It’s a win for each brand. The partnership not only begins to transform Aritzia into a lifestyle hub for not-quite-Khaite cool girls who can now get a sharp-looking $360 navy blazer and a sweet-smelling $20 deodorant in the same elevated mall store, but also puts Salt & Stone in front of cool, active shoppers in a retail space that isn’t Sephora. (Unlike at the LVMH-owned retailer, which is steadily increasing its body care offerings, Salt & Stone is a solo act at Aritzia.) The Canadian brand has lately recruited appealing “friends” like creator Emma Chamberlain and artist Cleo Wade, who told me at a brand event this spring that she agreed to work with Aritzia “because I’ve seen so many people in my life, all ages, all jobs, feel like their clothes really make getting dressed easy, even when you need to dress well.” Like Salt & Stone, Aritiza’s prices are high but not steep — the body wash is $40, the tank tops are $50. If your mom lets you buy them with your college allowance, you’re lucky. If you buy them, you’re employed, and probably by the type of company that stocks free flavoured seltzers in the break room fridge.
It is also a red flag — or if it’s coming from Aritzia, an oversize and pleated gray rayon one — signalling Salt & Stone’s growing dominance in the body care space. If you own a lot of the beauty universe and haven’t started poking around their acquisition goals, IDK, maybe ask them out on a coffee date on their home turf. Everyone wears Aritzia in Silverlake now anyway, but they’ll tell you they bought it in Vancouver on a movie project, instead of at the Grove.
What else is new…
Skincare
Speaking of super-smart soap moves, here’s some intel I picked up in Milan: Livio Damiano, the former PR boss at Loro Piana, Karla Otto and Proenza Schouler has entered his beauty era. He was poached to lead communications for Italian body care brand Santa Maria Novella — I hear he was personally snagged by former Balenciaga CMO Ludivine Pont, who took the job at the heritage soap house in July. Damiano agreed to go all-in on the brand, and moved to Brescia full-time last week to help raise their game for a new generation of lotion savants. This situation is a good one to watch.
Remember our very first Haul of Fame, when we talked about how music video directors are gonna be beauty moguls? Here’s another one: Renell Modrano. The Bronx native and creative eye behind Justin Bieber, Solange and Bad Bunny has created Supersuite, a collection of scented body care based on the “everything shower” concept. Supersuite has a $49 perfume plus a scrub, shaving gel, body butter and body mist; it debuted at Ulta Beauty on Sept. 22. Influencer Kendra Bailey is the face.
It shouldn’t be surprising that Jenni Kayne’s fashion models wore her beauty line, Oak Essentials, at a New York Fashion Week preview on Sept. 17. But it is, because most companies with fashion and beauty divisions can’t get their synergies (or their egos) aligned in time for a visible brand moment. Of course, Kayne has convinced every Los Feliz mom-slash-producer that she needs a $950 rollneck sweater. It’s no shock she understands marketing consistency.
Welcome to Violet Grey, Sweet Chemistry Labs! The skincare line made from “bone-derived regenerative ECM peptides” hit the elite retailer on Sept. 22. Related: I hear someone from Vogue is doing double-duty as VG’s new editorial manager. We love a hustle.
Wheatgrass shots out. Bee Lab Shots in. That’s the suggestion from Guerlain, the LVMH-owned and apian-obsessed label that released these solid honey and vitamin supplements ($60 for seven) formulated to melt with its Abeille Royale Youth Watery Oil Serum for an extra dose of nourishment. It’s expensive and a bit involved, but if you love beauty rituals as much as the products themselves, this one is extremely satisfying. It launched on Sept. 23.
Selma Blair looks great. Now she’s bottling it. On Sept. 24, the actress and wellness advocate debuted Ultimate A Gold, a $100 skin cream she created with ESK skincare and its derm founder, Dr. Ginni Mansberg. The cream has retinal, lactobionic acid, ceramides and the promise that even if those ingredients don’t work for your skin, they’ll absolutely slay as Scrabble words. Good luck.
We generally don’t do vanity capitalisation in this column, but JINsoon founder Jin Soon Choi is a legend, so she can have it. On Sept. 24, the long-revered Manhattan manicurist introduced Camellia Glow Renewal Peeling Balm, an exfoliator that promises the deeply satisfying payoff of watching dead skin cells “roll away” during use. Yes, I would pay $35 for that.
I remember watching something — Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, maybe? — and thinking, “Wow, that actress is really pretty. What’s her deal?” Her name was Rebecca Rittenhouse and it turns out her deal is making a brand called Privet Beauty. The first product is a $42 “brow setting serum” developed in Korea with niacinamide (another good Scrabble word!) and peptides. It launched on Sept. 24.
Sugared + Bronzed announced its 40th location on Sept. 24. The tanning and bikini wax hub expects to hit $50 million in revenue this year; the new spa is on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Makeup
Miley Cyrus is the new face of Maybelline (and the voice of its rebooted “Maybe it’s Maybelline” jingle) and if she films a lipstick commercial with Gigi Hadid, I’ll scream like I’m in the front row of a Stillwater concert. But even though Miley and Gigi are undeniable supernovas, the move does mean that technically, the “everygirl” makeup brand is now repped by two nepo babies. Kind of gives the tagline a bit of a kick, huh?
On Sept. 18, L’Oreal hosted a TikTok Shop-a-thon with dozens of creators selling the brand’s new Extensionist Mascara. Simone Ashley and Kendall Jenner are the faces, but influencers like Becky Morgan and Amber Turner did the actual selling over social.
Summer Fridays would like s’more, please. The label that is Gen-Z catnip dropped a toasted marshmallow lip balm as part of its Holiday Trio; it’s a glazed nude with golden shimmer, and only comes as part of the brand’s Holiday Trio set. Also in the kit: A Hot Cocoa lip butter balm and a mini skincare mask. Everything hit on Sept. 22 for $48.
You knew it was coming (or at least, you did if you read Diana Pearl): Wildfox has finally launched beauty products to go with its status sweatshirts. Volume 1: White Fox The Beauty + Lifestyle Collection hit the brand’s DTC site on Sept. 23 with vanilla perfume, blush and highlighter balms, lip glosses, body scrubs, sheet masks and an “everything shower set” that includes body cleanser, body cream and a pink hair tie. But is it compatible with dorm water?
Neutrogena’s five lip oil shades debuted on Sept. 23 with help from Tate McRae. The singer and onetime Dance Moms rival recently wore Mocha Mist, Coral Crush, Ruby Red, Petal Pop and Radiant Raspberry. The names are sleepy, but the colours themselves are pretty vibrant!
Half Magic’s Go Plump Yourself is a matte lip pencil that promises more lip volume and “only burns for a few minutes!” It launched on Sept. 23 for $20, and the before-and-after shots are very compelling.
DND Gel Nails rolled out a clever foodie collaboration called Yes Chef with a $115 box of polish, charms, stickers, and even recipe cards from restaurant royals like Cassie Yeung and Tue Nguyen. They yelled “order up!’ on Sept. 23.
Gosh, Glossier’s WNBA hoodie is good. It dropped on Sept. 24 with an $84 price tag and an exclusive basketball sticker as a gift-with-purchase.
Haircare
Oneskin appears to have even more celebrity fans than gun control. (Sigh.) The Brazilian-bred, San Francisco-based company got a shoutout from Matthew McConaughey this week — specifically, he uses their Hair Peptide Scalp Serum, as does his (Brazilian) wife, Camila Alves. Jennifer Aniston and Katy Perry have made similar endorsements, which is especially notable because they’ve got their own lifestyle brands.
Welcome to JCPenney, Naturelab Tokyo! The Japanese hair brand hit 408 stores, plus the JCP website, on Sept. 22. Among the offerings are the brand’s viral Kiseki Molecular Repair Mask for $36.
Fragrance
Zeya founder Aimee Blank loved plug-in scent diffusers, but got nervous when she realized her kids were inhaling melted plastic. Her heat-free diffuser hit Target this summer and now it’s got a new scent: Old Money. (Really.) The fragrance has notes of pear, mahogany and rose that “envelop your space with quiet luxury.” It’s $8.99.
On Sept. 20, I had the most fun cigarette break with Satoshi Kuwata, the founder of LVMH prizewinner Setchu and a onetime employee of Virgil Abloh’s. The Japanese-born Kuwata was explaining to me that one of his new five scents, which dropped that day at Dover Street Market in London and New York, was based on the tatami mats his friends used to do yoga — and sometimes hook up — upon when he was a teenager. That one’s called Friday 2 AM Tatami. But Kuwata was more excited to discuss Thursday 1 PM Ayu, which smells, he says, “like one of the most rare fish in the world. It does not taste or smell like fish. It is delicious. Smell it.” It was cucumber-y, and now all the cool kids are gonna wanna smell like Lake Biwa. I told him I was calling it Eau de Mermaid. That’s not as cool, he said, as just admitting you like smelling like a fish.
City of Scents has turned its Paris incense and Marakkesh room spray into $42 candles. They smell like vibes, not actual streets, which is great because although I would really love a $42 New York candle in theory, my apartment does not need to smell like Katz’s Deli. Or wait, maybe it does…
Juliette Has a Gun has a perfume called Powder Love. It shot into stores on Sept. 25 with notes of cotton candy, orange blossom and powdery musk — which is a way better smell than powdery musket.
Écoutez, mes amis! You can now register for “fragrance creation classes” at Bureau du Parfums, the Paris scent lab from noses Aurélie Dematons and Jérôme Herrgott. It’s a two-hour session for about $150, and l’ecole begins on Oct. 3.
And finally…
This lipstick-inspired keyboard from China-based tech accessories company Lofree is good. Just my type.
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