If I had to choose just two hashtags to sum up this year’s predictions, they’d be #CBD and #ecology. Never have beauty and the ecology been more closely linked, while CBD, cannabis and medical marijuana will be in the headlines a lot in the next eleven months.
Here’s what I think could be big this year:
SPI-RITUAL BEAUTY. Beauty and rituals have been inseparable for centuries, but “spiritual” beauty is emerging as a potential trend, with crystals or ritual kits (like The Own & The Apothecary’s Abundance and Wellbeing Kits). Intention and reiki-blessed products may sound pretty out there…but they’re out there! One of the top brands leading this trend right now is Therapie by Roques-O’Neil.
HEV and BLUE LIGHT PROTECTION. SPFs aren’t just for the sun (nooo) the sobering fact is that all that screen time is actually aging. With experts now saying blue light is damaging our skin, brands are responding with a new wave of protective products. Products to check out: COOLA’s indoor+outdoor+environmental+digital SPF 30 Sun Silk Drops and Germaine de Capuccini’s Excel Therapy 02 1st Essence.
Linked into the HEV trend comes ANTI-POLLUTION/URBAN SHIELD skincare. In 2018 we saw a flurry of anti-pollution launches and the trend is spreading and gaining momentum. Oskia’s City Life Booster Intense Anti-Pollution Defence Concentrate, REN’s Flash Defence Anti-Pollution Mist and Murad’s City Skin range are all good examples of these new blue light shields.
HANDBAG/DESK/CAR/WEEKEND AWAY? ROLLERBALLS, MOOD BEAUTY & CHAKRAS Rollerballs are on a real roll right now. Tisserand, Aromatherapy Associates, Lilfox’s Flowerball and ila Spa’s handy mini aroma rollers spring to mind while This Works’ portable Stress Check Breathe In remedy is rollerball-designed too and perfect for air travel. Chakra beauty is having a bit of a moment as well, a perfect example being Aveda’s pure-fume Chakra mists (launched in 2002!) We all need our mini mood fixes in this rush-rush world.
PUBLIC ENEMY No. 1 – PLASTIC Single use sheet face masks, your days could/should be numbered as a backlash grows against them for environmental reasons no matter how handy or effective they are. (See also “DRY BEAUTY” below). We may well see plastic pots start to disappear. Glass jars, glass bottles, recycled paper/card packaging all the way.
ZERO WASTE “Could do better”. (Is an understatement!) I’m not seeing nearly enough examples of Zero Waste packaging (or lack of packaging!) in the beauty industry. Same goes for refillable products (e.g. eye and lip palettes). Where are they?? The time is ripe for a new – and true – Zero Waste beauty brand to lead the way…so watch this space?
With so many brands copying HERBIVORE’s branding recently, it’ll be nice to see brands copying other zero waste brands but we don’t have a flagship zero waste brand yet for others to copy. Product example: Lena Wild’s Harmony Rescue Mask (a potent product housed in a simple powder-filled glass flask).
DRY BEAUTY Ticking the eco box nicely are dry beauty products like face masks and rhassoul treatments (more examples being exfoliating powders and grains) is hand luggage friendly as well.
CBD – THIS YEAR’S BIG STORY Hands down one of the most exciting not just beauty but more importantly health stories of this year is cannabis, CBD and “medical marijuana”.
And close cousin hemp which after making headlines over 20 years ago (The Body Shop) is making its way into a boat load of skincare launches. Towards the end of last year, Canada legalised marijuana for recreational purposes, becoming the second country to do this following similar measures by Uruguay. (In Canada medical marijuana has been legal since 2001). Much misunderstood and outlawed in the late 1920s in the UK, here’s an interesting read about this potent ancient medicinal plant: Why is marijuana illegal? The reasons are worse than you think (Huffington Post)
Expect more de-regulation around the sacred plant in 2019. And a new wave of hemp hair care and skincare.
Next up…
ROSE…is not the only scent. And this year it’s about herbals more than florals. Rose lovers, fear not! Roses are blooming, but…I’ve never tested so many rose products (particularly skincare rather than bath or body) during this year’s Beauty Shortlist and Wellbeing Awards judging. Rose is everywhere. That said, eucalyptus and peppermint (face washes), clary sage, rosemary and lemongrass (all popping up in skincare and body oils) are on the up. There’s definitely a marked leaning towards herbals v. florals. The two main trenders being rosemary and – interestingly – lemongrass. Expect some interesting candle launches with more of a nod tothe herbals and hedgerows than florals. Modern herbals have never been more in than now.
Next up, DIVERSITY (in cosmetics). “Are we there yet?” Um NO although it’s getting (slightly) better. Still shameful though.
Still a huge deficit here, although MAC’s offering is wider, while some current stand-outs include Anita Grant (a great hair range and her makeup shades are stunning), along with IMAN and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and her 40-foundation shades. There is a huge gap in the market for a new range by an(other) older supermodel. Naomi Campbell, Veronica Webb, Angela Bassett, hello?
IF IT HURTS THE PLANET WE’RE NOT BUYING IT You just have to watch a documentary about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to realise the gravity of the state of the planet. A disgusting mass of 80,000 tonnes of plastic pollutes the GPGP, that’s the equivalent of 500 jumbo jets. Located halfway between Hawaii and California, this monstrocity of discarded plastic covers an ocean mass of around 1.6 million square kilometres. To visualise it another way this is twice the size of Texas and three times the size of France. As Emmanuel Rey, founder of Californian yoga beauty brand YUNI says, “Sustainability in ingredients and packaging will start to be a real consumer concern”. Bring on the coral safe SPFs.
I hope this is *the* year we start turning our backs on brands across food, fashion, beauty – any industry – that uses wasteful, polluting packaging.
Vote with your wallet. Buy bamboo cutlery for lunch in the park. 2019 is not just about clean beauty ingredients, it’s about clean beauty ingredients in “clean packaging” Or maybe even plantable packaging?
Like PANGEA ORGANICS, whose tagline “Coming from the earth and going back to it” was reflected in its collaboration with Seeds of Change a few years ago when they created the first ever 100% compostable, biodegradable and plantable product packaging. Zero waste, it’s created from 100% post-consumer paper board with no glues or dies. After use, the fibre box is soaked in water for a minute then planted about one inch deep in soil, and later – in time – medicinal herbs embedded in the packaging, spring up out of the earth.
Side note: PANGEA’s founder Colorado-based Joshua Scott Onysko is as original as his packaging – he’s a plant-based chef, skincare expert and nomad (56 countries and a lot of jobs, including selling peaches with gypsies in India).
Even if we can’t do zero waste, less waste is better than zero effort.
What do you think will coming our way this year?