What’s this? A glamorous new round-up from your equally glamorous girlfriends here at i-D magazine? Indeed, welcome to What’s in Beauty?, the dolled-up cousin to our flagship fashion bulletin, What’s in Fashion? If you’ve read that before — which, obviously, you all have — then the premise is pretty simple. Every month, this will serve as your go-to-hub for all the lowdown on need-to-know industry news, concealers worth queuing for, nifty beauty hacks, sexy new scents, weird and wonderful TikTok trends, expert interviews, whatever new wellness witchery Gwyneth P’s getting up to… you get the vibe!
For our jam-packed inaugural edition, we’re offering a survey of what’s hot right now in beauty in the broadest sense. Between the hotly-anticipated launch of Prada Beauty, equally chic new products from the likes of Augustinus Bader and Perfumer H, and tips on what you need to lock in the latte look, there’s plenty for anyone looking to swindle away this month’s paycheck before your landlord claims their stake of it. And on the online front, we’ve got nifty explainers for anyone whose eyes have routinely glossed over on seeing ‘Erewhon’ and ‘aegyo-sal’ appear in your beauty-fangirl groupchats. Here, my rapturous beauties, is what’s in beauty.
SKINCARE
Augustinus Bader continue their quest for it-girl world domination
By now, you will have clocked Augustinus Bader’s royal-blue, copper-topped 50ml bottles of skincare potions on the shelves of every Instagram It Girl’s “what’s in my cabinet” hauls. It is billionaire’s Nivea; the kind of one-stop-shop miracle creams that can be applied anywhere and everywhere, beloved by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian, Megan Markle and Gigi Hadid. If you want to dip your toe before slowly immersing yourself into the royal blue waters of this year’s cult favourite brand, we recommend trying out some of their widely loved key releases; the cream (AKA the moisturiser that started it all), the cleansing balm and the essence, as well as they’re recently launched eyepatches and retinol serum. Each luxury elixir does exactly what’s promised. Trust us, it’s worth the hype. RL
COSMETICS
Prada Beauty has finally launched
Calloo callay! One of the most buzzed-about luxury beauty launches of the year is finally here, one that means that you can now wear Prada on your face. Yes, Prada Beauty has landed, launching with a total of 16 makeup products overseen by the brand’s global creative makeup artist Lynsey Alexander. Spanning foundations, ultra-matte lipsticks and eyeshadow trios that draw their hues from the brand’s kaleidoscopic print archive, the range offers a foil to Prada’s keystone ‘ugly chic’ aesthetic, introducing a much needed irreverence into the field of high-end beauty. The offer is rounded out by a skincare range that includes a serum and cream created using a specially developed Adapto.gn Smart Technology – designed to help the skin adapt to the increasingly rapidly changing climates we find ourselves inhabiting – and it naturally all comes in some of the chicest packaging around – all silver, gold and glass, natch.To get your hands on some of the most sought after beauty bits going right now, hotfoot to Harrods, or, if you aren’t in London, cop via the Prada website – stat! MS
Haeckels, Pangaia and C16 Biosciences tackle soap’s palm oil problem
For something so habitually associated with cleanliness, bar soap actually has a pretty dirty track record… environmentally speaking, that is. Why? Well, because a good number of the options you’ll come across in your local chemists contain palm oil derivatives, an ingredient well known to be one of the most destructive ingredients to the planet. A pioneer in problem-solving innovation in the beauty field, Haeckels have joined forces with two other trailblazing businesses – PANGAIA, the purpose-led materials science company, and C16 Biosciences, the NYC-based climate-tech start-up – to produce a special version of its signature seaweed soap block, this time featuring a unique ingredient. Leveraging “naturally occurring microorganisms and fermentation to create a better alternative to palm oil that is rich in antioxidants and sterols and more sustainable,” a release reads, the REWILD body block makes use of Torula Palmless™.oil, a substance developed by C16 Biosciences as a natural replacement for its more harmful alternative. Manufactured at Haeckels’ home in Margate, it’s been created with natural oils that recall the scent of a burning rainforest, offering a reminder of the ways in which these essential ecosystems are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations in locations as far-ranging as Costa Rica, Indonesia and Brazil. Head here to get yours. MS
Horace launches a new line of solid soaps
Oh là là! Here’s a hot drop from Paris courtesy of the brand that’s got tongues in the men’s beauty sphere wagging, Horace. Building on their robust offering of simple, effective products and streamlined skincare routines, they’ve released a new line of bar soaps, including their very first solid facial cleanser that promises to “gently purify and deeply cleanses skin”, according to the brand, and three solid shampoos for just as many different hair types. Get yours here.
FRAGRANCE
D.S. & Durga distil their delicious scents to new, pocket-friendly sizes
If you’re here reading this, there’s a solid chance that you’re already an avid disciple of cult Brooklyn-based perfumers D.S. & Durga. Between the admittedly steep prices of their sultry scents’ full-size measures and the challenge of lugging their reassuringly weighty glass bottles about, they aren’t necessarily the most convenient scents for us girlies on the go. Well, that conundrum has been put paid to with the brand’s pocket (and wallet) friendly offering of six of their most viral scents. Available at Liberty, you can now get your hands on long-lasting 10ml rollerball perfume oil versions of Debaser, Rose Atlantic, Coriander, Radio Bombay, Jazmín Yucatán and I Don’t Know What, each for the relative bargain of £70. MS
Jean Paul Gaultier resurrect the diva
Generally speaking, summer is the time when most of us smell our worst (sweaty tubes, hot beaches, lugging your suitcase to and from far-flung destinations). This year, however, we (the UK) mostly just smell faintly damp thanks to weeks of endless rain and cold. Not exactly thriving. But while we can’t fix the weather, we can at least smell Divine whilst sitting under brollies in pub gardens all summer. On 16th August, Jean Paul Gaultier launch Divine, a fragrance inspired by old-school classic divas. The release comes 30 years (!) after the launch of JPG’s first fragrance, Classique, and Divine’s bottle pays homage to the classic hourglass packaging the brand is best known for. This time the twist is the Divine woman appears in gold, encased in a Madonna-esque cone bra corset. RL
Perfumer H launches a fruity new fragrance… and a jam?!
With its robust fruitiness, tartness and green, grassy notes, there are few things that capture the scent of a British summer quite like rhubarb. That’s an olfactory observation that Lyn Harris – the nose behind London-based independent scent-maker Perfumer H – apparently agrees with, if her brand’s latest fragrance is anything to go by. “’Inspired by the vegetable patch in my grandmother’s walled garden, where the vivid pink stalks stood sheltered under a canopy of green leaves,” she says, it melds the aroma of the woody stems with notes of red fruits, rose water, orange flower, juniper, and vetiver grass, resulting in scent so good you’ll want to eat it. Obviously, you shouldn’t do that, but those that really feel compelled to will find their cravings sated by an exclusive jam created in collaboration with Rosebud Preserves. MS
Loewe expands its range of lifestyle-elevating home scents
The realm of fragrance is, of course, hardly limited to what you spray on self. Indeed, beauty is a holistic notion, one that extends beyond the temple that is your body to the temple in which it resides… your actual home. If you feel like your abode is in need of a bit of a vibe lift, then look no further than Loewe, whose wildly popular, botanically-inspired home fragrance line offers a reliable means to instigate an olfactory vibe shift. With the Spanish having recently launched three new home scents – Orange Blossom, Thyme and Geranium – spanning classic living room candles, scented candle holders, room sprays, and even an extra-large, quadruple-wicked outdoor for the latter two, there’s no better time to invest. And if that isn’t enough to convince you, then here’s the Walter Pfeiffer-shot campaign starring the very dashing Charlie McCormick – an award-winning, self-taught gardener and all-round nature lover – to win you over. MS
WELLNESS
A guide to Erewhon Market, wellness’ most sacred temple
If your FYPs look anything like ours – and you’re not based on LA’s Westside – then you’re probably wondering what the hell an Erewhon is, and why everyone seems to be going there to spend a month’s rent at a time on salts rarer than semi-precious stones and turbocharged smoothies packed with supplements that make you feel like a philistine for having just cottoned on to spirulina. To put it plainly, yes, Erewhon is a cult, with each of its nine locations peppered across Los Angeles’ bougiest neighbourhoods a place for disciples to worship at the altar of wellness, the city’s de facto religion. More than just somewhere to easily stock up on the ingredients for your weekly dulse broth cleanse and Kardashian-kollab smoothies in one fell swoop, it’s a place to be seen, a place to flaunt your commitment to the journey to being well. Granted, between the 20$ oxygenated water and the valet parking fees (plus tip!!), your financial health will probably take a bit of a tumble if you find yourself there too often, but what does that matter when you’re doing your weekly shop among the Celine-clad likes of Kaia Gerber and Hailey Bieber – and, if your investment pays off, looking and feeling a little bit more like them, too? MS
TRENDS
Embrace the puff, the aegyo-sal trend is here
Once upon a time eye bags were frowned upon, and the beauty industry made a mint off selling us products that promised to eliminate them for good. It’s lucky none of those worked, really, because now having eyebags – or as K-beauty aficionados call them, aegyo-sal, a Korean word “charming/baby-eye fat” – is en vogue. In fact, the aegyo-sal trend is dedicated to making more not less of this lovely little optical chub. It involves illuminating, highlighting and contouring the under eyes to bring out puffiness and in the process make you look more youthful and more cheerful and inviting. Whilst critics have called it “creepy”, the trend’s proponents say it makes your eyes look bigger and brighter. Try it for yourself here. Next stop the laughter line renaissance! RL
Everyone wants their face to look like a cup of coffee
It might be iced coffee season (it’s still iced coffee season despite the rain, trust us) but in the beauty world the caffeine is still hot and everyone wants to look like a latte. Wait, bear with us. The trend, which emerged (natch) on TikTok earlier this summer, is all about embracing neutrals and shades of brown, gold and cream to create a foamy, dewy visage that looks straight out of Pret A Manger. A heap of tutorials on the platform have sprung up advising on how to get the perfect latte look, which all centres around what is essentially a glossy smokey eye in browns instead of blacks. Surprisingly autumnal for the season we’re in! It didn’t take our fave beauty companies long to get in on the action, suggesting to the FYP their own latte-inspired products. Chanel encourage use to utilise their Stylo Yeux waterproof pencil in shade espresso (fitting!) along with their Les Beiges eyeshadow palette. “Latte makeup is an effortless summer look that’s easy to create. To achieve a beautiful dewy skin, it works best if you concentrate on skin care and keeping the foundation light,” says Chanel MUA Anna Payne. “Latte makeup is suitable for all skin tones but if you have a darker skin remember to use a darker shade. Latte makeup focuses on bronzers with yellow and olive undertones avoiding orange tones.” Chin chin. RL