Oops! We Shaved It Again

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and more intel on Erewhon’s beauty game.

Included in today’s issue: Biotechbeauty, Ceremonia, Deciem, Dossier, Elemis, Evolve Together, Estée Lauder, Fenty Beauty, Flamingo Estate, Givenchy Beauty, Guerlain, Herb & Root, Jolie, Kimchi Chic Beauty, MAC Cosmetics, The Outset, R.e.m. Beauty, Saint Crewe, Sol de Janeiro, Tonymoly, Victoria Beckham Beauty, Weleda and the Great Erewhon Buy-In.

But first…

It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your bikini line stops?

Courtney Claghorn does. She’s the co-founder of Sugared + Bronzed, a California-born hair removal and spray tan business that began on celebrities like Hilary Duff and then spread its proprietary hair-nipping glaze along the thighs of women in Dallas, Philadelphia, and Miami. Today, Sugared + Bronzed has 36 locations and over 20 products in its private label; it also has a membership programme with 30,000 active subscribers, who pay between $50 and $120 per month for bronzer, smoother skin. And it’s currently experiencing a 40 percent spike in visitors that Claghorn calls “the Coachella Bump,” due to an influx of music fans storming the desert in search of Charli XCX and/or a few tabs of X.

Method, Neutrogena and Sol de Janeiro are paying millions to be the festival’s official personal care sponsors. (Kiehl’s is sponsoring the Governor’s Ball in New York.) But even without any targeted ads, Sugared + Bronzed is so booked, it stays open for 12 hours a day during festival season to fill customer demand. That demand proves that indie brands can still get a “win” during festival season if the product is trusted (nearly 30% of Sugared and Bronzed appointments come from word-of-mouth referrals, says Claghorn). It also proves that sometimes, what we think we know about Gen-Z spending habits are — to quote Cady Heron in Mean Girls math class — “Wrong! So wrong!”

Consider this: Right around 2021, Gen Z’s supposed love of body hair became a big thing. Spurred partly by cool kids like Ella Emhoff and Lourdes Leon, and partly because Covid-19 lockdowns made shaving (and pants) less expected, articles came from fashion publications like Vogue, newspapers like the the Guardian, general interest pubs like People, and so many (!) TikToks, all claiming that shaving was out, body hair was back, and hair removal was over. Kiehl’s had ads that showed hair peeking out of bikini briefs, and “The Crown” star Emma Corrin posed with unshaved armpits on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. But while global sales of razors and shaving cream did dip in 2020, they went right back up in 2021. Market research firm Technavio says the hair removal market — specifically waxing and sugaring — will grow nearly 10 percent by 2028 alone, with a $436.4 million revenue increase. Tiktok’s massive “everything shower” trend was a category boost for shaving creams and lotions, and Claghorn said Gen-Z clients are her second-biggest customer base after Millennials, often outnumbering them during festival and Spring Break season. “It’s more expensive and because they’re young, they have less money,” she explained. “But they’ll save up and do it right before Coachella or a big vacation with their friends.”

You don’t need a beauty analyst to tell you that personal care norms are swinging back into more conservative territory. But it used to be that these polished political glosses were fought with black Urban Decay eyeshadow called “Uzi” and shredded plaid skirts that paid homage to the Sex Pistols. Today’s aesthetic rebellion is a little more of a slither than a scream, with the Marilyn homages of Sabrina Carpenter and the kissy-face sweetness of BLACKPINK seeming deceptively submissive — until you listen to their lyrics. The legs, like the vocals, are super-smooth. And though for decades, adult entertainment has dictated body hair trends (true story), these contemporary pop culture icons are just as likely to sway sales of Billie or Athena Shave Club… or command wax appointments pre-Coachella.

“We did wonder, when those stories began to come out, if there was a real shift on the horizon,” said Claghorn. But the data told a different story. “Our engagement with Gen Z was the same. Our booking levels were the same, if not a little bit more. Obviously, everybody should do exactly what they want with their bodies and their hair. Every body is a great body!” Though the stigma of fuzzier women is abating, the practice of removing that fuzz remains a Gen Z ritual.

“We started keeping our salons open until midnight in March to fill the demand,” Claghorn says. “They’ll come in at 11:30 at night. They’re committed.”

What else is new...

Skincare

At this point, Erewhon is basically just a hype house for nature-forward brands. Skincare labels like Osea have thrived at the organic grocery hub, which also birthed the Stunt Smoothie phenomenon after Hailey Bieber made her own dedicated strawberry shake. But though placement inside the TikTok paradise can cement a brand’s New Hollywood cred, it can also be expensive. Sources tell me the entrance fee is $2,700 per new product, plus a 20 percent revenue commitment to food warehouse costs, since Erewhon is a grocery store beholden to different safety standards than a regular retail venue. There’s also the $30,000 smoothie buy-in, which I first reported last May. That hasn’t stopped Jolie, the clean water brand, from making their own drink for the retailer; the Spring of Youth, a “hydrating elixir” with coconut water, milk, and blue spirulina. It debuted on April 2 and looks delicious. There’s also the debut of Evolvetogether, the personal care brand dedicated to plastic-free formulas and hand sanitizer that smells like a Palm Springs oasis. The label hit Erewhon on March 31 with a bar soap and a body wash; you can find them next to the Jolie shower heads.

On March 28, Sol de Janeiro took over Las Vegas’s Sphere, the giant alien dome where you can see a Roblox dinosaur hologram or Phish live. They made the exterior look like a giant spinning bottle of their best-selling body lotion Bum Bum Cream, sent a drone to record the transformation and blasted it onto their social media channels. It was mesmerizing.

Flamingo Estate landed in the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Club House at LAX on March 28. The partnership mirrors Air France’s collaboration with Clarins and Jet Blue’s Dr. Dennis Gross deal. All long haul flights need a signature lip balm, right?

Erin Crewe is a college therapist; she is also — as of March 31 — a beauty founder. That’s when she debuted Saint Crewe, a skincare brand geared to teens and twentysomethings. Crewe’s partner is Laura-Lucia Carothers, a Texas veteran of personal care brands like Skinceuticals. They’re starting with four products, including a cleansing balm, serum, moisturiser and mist. The packaging is cheery without being cheesy, a nice balance.

Deciem’s latest formula, a Multi-Antioxidant Radiance Serum, promises to fight the complexion dullness caused by air pollution. It’s out on April 1, but alas, even though the product was built to counteract the effects of climate damage, it still has single-use plastic in the packaging. Let’s work on this.

In March, designers rebooted past hits like McQueen skull scarves and Chloe Paddington bags. In April, beauty companies started doing the same thing. First up is Weleda, which brought back its Skin Food moisturiser’s 1920s aluminum tube on April 1. Now it’s made with 95 percent recycled materials.

Cherry, but make it soap? Elemis unveiled its Black Cherry Cleansing Balm on April 2, with rose wax and elderberry along with cherry extracts. It retails for $69.

Glow in the dark pimple patches? Hello — or rather, Hanhoo. On April 3, the K-beauty brand eyeing Gen Alpha’s babysitting money dropped $24 sheets of phosphorescent and holographic zit stickers.

Makeup

Bienvenu, Givenchy Beauty. A month after Sarah Burton’s stellar debut for the Paris couture house, the brand debuted Prisme Libre, a colour-correcting pressed powder that promises “a natural matte finish.” It costs $41 and comes on a new wave of relevance for the brand — but of course, real fashion girls are hoping the next Givenchy compact looks like the ones on the now-famous mirror dress.

On April 1, Estée Lauder launched Pure Colour Melt-On Glosstick, a slim and clickable lip colour that hits somewhere between a lipstick and a balm. It comes in eight shades and retails for $38 — more than most lipsticks, but this one has peptides (oooh).

Y2K beauty seizes another day. On April 1, MAC Cosmetics reissued the sorority house staple Lipglass, now available as a $26 lip plumping oil or a $25 non-sticky gloss. The plumper is only available in clear, but the gloss comes in 10 shades, including a light pink “Snobbish” for all you Duke Tri Delts out there. Mwah.

Kimchi Chic Beauty made mini versions of its pressed powder highlighters, out April 1. They retail for $12 and are the near-identical size and shape of a Return to Tiffany locket. Hey, KCB — make these little guys wearables!

Speaking of wearables, Tonymoly rolled out two keychain lip glosses — strawberry and chocolate — on April 1 as part of their Squishmallow collaboration (Squishmallows are chubby, fuzzy stuffed animals. My foster dogs adore them.) The new flavours cost $10 each, but you can get the originals in strawberry, coconut and chili pepper for $7.50 at the Ulta sale.

Fenty Beauty’s new Hot Cheeks compacts look like Minecraft tokens and feature giant arcade-worthy cherries on top. They hit Sephora on April 2.

Alanna Tran did something smart. After studying cosmetic chemistry at UC Berkeley, she worked in L’Oréal’s marketing department for two years before starting her own line, Biotechbeauty, which debuted April 2. It promises “microbiome-friendly” products, including a $38 blush and a $58 serum.

And now, celebrity makeup launches in three acts…

Victoria Beckham Beauty introduced nine makeup brushes on April 2. They’re wood-grained and quite beautiful.

Scarlett Johansson is jumping into colour cosmetics for the first time. On April 2, her brand, The Outset, launched three shades of Lip Oasis, a glossy balm that retails for $28 and now comes in orange-y red, plum, and dusty rose. The original clear formula has sold out seven times.

Ariana Grande’s R.e.m. Beauty debuted 12 Starlet liquid eyeshadows on April 3. They’re packaged in giant clear capsules and come in eight metallic and four matte shades. The names on these guys are pretty great, including “femme bot” (shiny taupe), “glitch” (glittery pink), and NVM (flat dusty rose).

Haircare

Is this the Pantene x Alix Earle effect? On March 31, Paige DeSorbo joined Tresemme as the face of its Lamellar Gloss line, a Walmart best-seller for sleek, shiny hair.

Ghd introduced its Futurescape collection on April 2. It’s a line of five signature heat tools, recast in iridescent pastel shades. It’s the first time the label’s Duet Blowdry tool is available in a colour other than black, and a smart move, considering how easy it is to grab someone else’s from the gym when they all look alike!

Fragrance

Ceremonia has entered the fragrance chat. On April 1, the New York-based label launched its first hair and body spray, Perfume Mist de Guava. It’s $38, has notes of lemon zest and peach, and comes with a tiny hint of shimmer. The big point of difference over mainstream competitors like Sol de Janeiro: Zero alcohol in the formula.

Herb & Root’s Hummingbird scent is a $25 fragrance with bergamot, amber and pear. It’s made by Julia Kahlig-Garuba, who is both a perfumer and a lawyer (cool!) and produced in Texas, where eight North American hummingbird species make their homes (also cool!).

Reeking of whiskey used to be a faux pas, but on April 2, Guerlain began to encourage it. The brand’s newest fragrance, Habit Rouge Spirit, is a collaboration with Hennessy, and features notes of leather, wood and cognac. You do not need to be 21+ to buy it, but you will need $180 for a bottle.

Got synesthesia? Get excited. On April 3, Dossier partnered with the all-ages playpen The Color Factory on a line of eight fragrances meant to bottle shades like red (smells like cherry), yellow (smells like banana) and blue (smells like “fresh air accord”). They retail for $38 each.

And finally…

Which brand is gonna pay Katy Perry to use their skincare products in space?

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