Raise a glass to 2019 and join me looking back on 2018 in beauty shenanigans – and a Happy New Year to all of us.
Most-needed instagram account
Beauty is about emotion, and beauty businesses sell dreams. Or did you ever buy a red lipstick because you thought your lips to be too pale?! No. You bought the dream. Estee Laundry is shedding light on the going-ons behind the scenes, and on the business practices of those selling those dreams to us, and I honestly think that was the best thing that happened to beauty addicts this year.
The don’t do it for the gram award
Look, I’m the first one to admit that I’m a few greys and a perm away from yelling at the kids to get off my lawn, but! Say it with me: Peel-off masks consist nearly wholly of alcohol, and not the good kind (and some film-formers). There’s nothing good in there, and I truly hope that all the cheapie copycats of GlamGlow use biodegradable glitter.
Brows had to take a lot through the ages: Look at the 20s pencil thin, high arched brows, as an example. (Your great-gran possibly thought that the hottest shit ever.) So, if you want to braid, spike, fishtail your brows, whatever. But take it from this aging, grumpy broad – put those tweezers down. It’ll be hell to grow these bad boys back.
The most wacky, and honestly I’m tired
I honestly can’t imagine how tiring it must be to work at Deciem, when I find it tiring just reading about them. They had a wild year, and not of the fun kind, either. Sure, they peaked: they were carried (shortly) by Sephora, Estée Lauder invested majorly in them – and then their founder went completely overboard. A lot of shenanigans later, the company now seems back on track – EL pulled the reigns, a new CEO is installed – and apparently, bad press is still good press. Or is it? I’m not even interested in the brands’ products anymore.
The scandal which we should have anticipated the most
Then Sunday Riley advised their employees to install VPNs and post good reviews on Sephora’s site to boost sales and cancel out bad reviews in ratings. We don’t have to even talk about why that is incredibly disrespectful to all people struggling with their skin, but about what happened then? Sephora penned a reply, basically saying ‘hey thanks, we look into that’, and every influencer went on plugging Good Genes like nothing happened. Including Allure, the biggest beauty magazine out there: proving that if you want an unbiased review, you’ve to look for small IG accounts and independent blogs.
Why we can’t have nice things award
Sure, click rates are the bread and butter of a whole industry: but pitching two random things against each other because of one common denominator? Meghan vs. Kate, Katy vs. Taylor – K-Beauty against J-Beauty what?!?! Apparently, for some people it’s inconceivable that there might be two stars, coexisting happily next to each other. I like products from Japan and Korea. I mean, why not?!
Thank you, there’s still some good in the world award
And still, there’s some good: Fenty Beauty drives the beauty community in an astonishing, and great way: magazine covers has been shown more WOC in 2018 than ever before. Representation is finally catching up. Sustainable beauty brands are on the rise, and also the growing consciousness all over brands that it might be a good idea to produce sustainable products. Microbeads have been banned (not everywhere, but still). Brands are also working on making animal testing superfluous – L’Oreal is a driving force behind the reproduction of lab-grown skin, China has allowed products to sell in China that weren’t actually animal tested – small steps. Small steps. Thank you.
Most stupid internet feud
2018 was the year in which we apparently had to start defending skincare. Sure, click rates etc. – but I still wonder why an online article called The Skincare Con got that much traction. Skincare has something of a renaissance right now, and is a huge part of the beauty business. It seems very 2018 though that people will get enraged both about science, and other people’s pastime and hobbies. I can’t even crack a joke about it, because those tendencies made 2018 seriously tiring.
The we are family award
And lo and behold: there’s this whole thing I call the democratisation of beauty – products available easily (or, easier) for all kinds of people – people of all kinds of skintones, affordable skincare, and plain available. In Germany, we were blessed with Sephora returning, Nars returning, and a lot of brands launching here (Hourglass, Charlotte Tilbury, Too Faced, Becca etc.) that made us honestly feeling like we’re no longer the ugly duckling of the beauty world. Awwwwwwwwww!
The nicest brand, period
Good quality products, scandal-free, inclusive, innovative and just plain nice: I always wonder why Illamasqua isn’t around more. Maybe they are, despite their rock-chic edgy demeanour, just too nice?!
With a cherry on top award
I’m one of those weird humans who absolutely hate maraschino cherries – the texture makes my skin crawl – and therefore, it won’t be a surprise that I’m not really into Urban Decay’s newest eyeshadow palette. After retiring the original Naked I, it would’ve been a great opportunity to jump into a new era, but no: more of reddish-toned eyeshadows that every brand and their table lamp is churning out. Yawn.
And the 2018 new Holy Grails award goes to…
… aka the things I loved to put on my face. They are both pretty pricey and give great skin: on the skincare side, we have SK-II’s Facial Treatment Essence, and on the makeup side there’s Hourglass’ Ambient Powder in Dim Light. I was sceptical before trying both, but so happy I took the plunge.
