The Business of Beauty Haul of Fame: Cash Is Thicker Than Water

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a possible LinkedIn car crash.

Included in today’s issue: Addiction Tokyo, Ami Cole, Cover FX, Etienne, Futurewise, Great Many, Hard Candy, HeyHae, Iris&Romeo, Karuna Beauty, Lafco, MAC Cosmetics, Make Beauty, Maybelline, Sloane Stephens, Tarte, Tory Burch, Vintner’s Daughter, Westmore Beauty and Gemini Vegetarians.

But first…

Water may be the source of all life, but it’s also a beauty product.

Evian sells aerosol cans full of spring water at Ulta Beauty. Sephora’s come from Caudalie; they’re filled with grape water instead. Target’s water sprays are both French — Avene and La Roche Posay. They cost $14 each. Rather gulp instead of mist? Beauty brands have flooded the market (sorry) with water bottles. Glossier went first in 2019; their $28 Nalgene is still a bestseller. Fenty Beauty, Tower28, R.E.M. Beauty and Jeffree Star Cosmetics all make them, too. Since hydration is a beauty ritual and logos are a power play — or at least an affinity marker — the bottles make double the splash.

Beauty’s water obsession is deepening. This week, I stumbled on an $8 rose gold straw at Biossance, the label better known for its $70 retinol cream. Revolve’s beauty vertical sells $12 straws now, and even Anthropologie, the undergrad mecca of Smith’s Rosebud Salve tins, has a pack of straws for $13. Why are beauty hubs selling straws? Because like flat irons and blush brushes, drinking tools are beauty tools — at least they are now.

How we got here: As ingestible supplements promise longer nails and sleeker hair, and superfoods like chia seeds and kale become skincare ingredients, the line between what’s in and on our bodies keeps blurring. The virtue-signal of “sustainability” helps, too, because if you’re sipping from a designer straw, you’re not using a plastic one, and therefore, you are, like, a super-good person.

Where we’re going: Straws aren’t just going to keep becoming accessories. They’re getting their own accessories. You already know this if you’ve seen a LoveShackFancy x Stanley Cup water bottle, which includes annoyingly awesome bow charms on the straws. Girls on TikTok have started matching their eyeshadow and lip gloss colours to the straws. Several fashion editors I know begrudgingly adore these frippy, flowery clankers — even women whose austere devotion to The Row borders on monastic. These cups are totally sold out, and go for $220 on StockX (really).

Etsy has exploded with cheap straw charms, including several that mimic logos by Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Coach. (Click fast. You know these are all getting poof-ed by fancy French legal departments in 5…4…3…) This month, the water sanitation company Lifestraw debuted a new “Lifestraw Sip” model with a stainless steel outer, a sleek carrying case and a teal-capped top that makes it look more like an accessory than a survival tool. Beauty companies, too, are seeing the possibility in making more water-bottle merch, because it keeps them visible without needing to drop any cash into R&D.

And who knows, perhaps it will inspire Alessandro Michele to make his own branded straw for Valentino this fall — with matching Valentino nail lacquer, of course.

What Else Is New

Skincare

Tennis star Sloane Stephens launched her body care line, Doc + Glo, on Aug. 21. It includes Game Changing Deodorant that boasts “world-class funk fighting,” plus Hustle Deodorizing Body Mist, which promises an anti-microbial shield. Products cost around $20 each.

Westmore Beauty’s Redzone Edit cream dropped on Aug. 19th. It vows to “instantly neutralise and conceal the look of redness” and costs $39.

On Aug. 17, Karuna Beauty introduced Simply Sheer Daily Sunscreen in three versions, including a clear formula, one with a tiny bit of pink, and one with a subtle green tint to help cancel out redness. $26 each.

On Aug. 20, Futurewise debuted Face Melt, a gentle cleansing balm that helps remove makeup and SPF without irritating skin. It costs $19 and the name is so good, I’m actually mad nobody’s used it yet.

Makeup

Maybelline announced its sponsorship of the New York City Marathon on Aug. 15. As a distance runner, I love this, because it is fun to wear “race glam” like glitter or lipstick while doing something that feels like an impossible slog.

Has anyone tried Heyhae press-on nails? The California-based label claims to use sunlight as a nail adhesive — no LED light or nail glue squirts required. (Ummm…?) On Aug. 21, Heyhae released four new designs, and yes, I will try them out and report back.

Hard Candy released Espresso Glosstopia Lip Slide on Aug. 21. It’s a deep, pigmented brown gloss that makes me really appreciate Tori Spelling’s grunge-Marilyn vibes on “90210.”

Cover FX has a new $16 powder brush that dropped Aug. 21. It’s especially useful for all the new powder blushes on the market — Sephora is selling 59 different ones right now, which is wild.

On Aug. 21, Etienne beauty products rolled into Revolve. That tracks, since makeup artist Etienne Ortega’s clients — which include Lana Del Rey, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera — are exactly the type of girls that Revolve’s shoppers want to be.

If you would like to pay $40 for a tinted moisturiser, Tarte’s Maracuja Juicy Glow Primer hit shelves on Aug. 21. It comes in four shades, and promises a glass-skin finish in just a few swipes. Tarte also restocked its sold-out Creaseless Setting Powder on Aug. 19; they cost $36 each.

I would like to commend ColourPop for releasing a hot pink shade of its new Power Pout matte lipstick on Aug. 22 and calling it “Bend and Snap.” Let’s hope they can make a full “Legally Blonde” capsule collection in the near future. (What, like it’s hard?)

MAC Cosmetics has a new concealer, Studio Radiance, out Aug. 22. It comes in 44 shades and promises to last 24 hours. (Useful for the upcoming all-nighters of Fashion Month.)

Make Beauty’s Inner Tube Plumping Lip Treatment costs $26 and promises a 40 percent increase in lip volume. If only dropped on Aug. 20, but if that claim is real (which it can’t be … can it?) TikTok is going to lose its mind. Let the swiping begin.

Welcome to New York, Addiction Tokyo! The brand arrived at Bloomingdale’s on Aug. 16 with 12 new eyeshadow palettes inspired by 18th century Italian textiles. Rococo for everyone!

Iris&Romeo hit over 500 Sephora doors on Aug. 23 with a handful of key products, including Best Skin Days tinted moisturiser and Weekend Skin SPF. This is a big deal for a smaller brand.

On Aug. 15, Ami Cole introduced its first product collab with influencer Aysha Harun. It includes one of the brand’s famous Lip Treatment Oils in Happy, a peachy nude colour that retails for $20.

Haircare

On Aug. 21, Great Many dropped shampoo, conditioner, densifying serum and scalp treatment to help address issues of hair thinning and loss. The products retail between $34 to $48 each, and come from Heyday co-founder Michael Pollak and Estée Lauder vet Steve Klebanow.

Fragrance

Tory Burch’s new scent, Sublime, began misting through Manhattan on Aug. 19. Kendall Jenner is the face and Malin Ericson designed the bottle; she’s done work for Proenza Schouler and Prada, too. The scent has “please chill out” vibes of mandarin and patchouli, a fun contrast to Jenner’s taut limbs and tight gaze.

Lafco’s Pumpkin Seed and Sandalwood candle launched on Aug. 20. The scent claims to “recall a cozy gathering” and features notes of rose petals, peach and toasted pumpkin seeds. A nice elevation from “pumpkin spice” sweetness.

Vintner’s Daughter launched its newest perfume oil, Understory Volume 2, on Aug. 22. The fragrance has notes of violet and moss, with art by MarSha Yi Robinson, who’s known for her Strange Dirt series of nature still-lifes.

And Finally

Well, this is messy. I hope the brand gets its $3200 back, and also, that it stops leaving most of its inventory with a PR firm. Phew.