And this was it: how 2019 came to a close. The hottest beauty news and posts in December that made a lot of waves.
Beauty News
Have a look at huge sums of money changing hands right now, and you can see the beauty business scrambling to save itself and shifting its focus: makeup sales are declining, and Coty acquiring parts of Kylie Cosmetics AND Douglas stocking them is part of companies desperately trying to stay relevant.
Douglas will start to stock Morphe. (Reason: see above.)
Sephora Germany will deliver to Austria. I mean, why should only we in Germany suffer from an appalingly bad e-commerce site?! Let’s spread the joy!
Avon will stop animal testing (livekindly), Brazilian parent company Natura invests in reservation programmes for the Amazon rainforest (Reuters).
Cult Beauty stops carrying makeup brushes made from badger hair. – Great first step, and now lets ban ALL brushes that use animal hair. There’re technologies out there to manufacture great working synthetic brushes (everyone who ever had a synthetic Chikohudo or Hakuhodo brush will concur), there’s absolutely no need for animals to suffer for them. (Cosmeticsbusiness)
China will ban microbeads in cosmetics in 2020. (Globalcosmeticsnews)
Hey look, bankrupt fragrance brand Commodity is back, and they’ll document their journey on how to buy and relaunch a fragrance brand on social media! (Beauty Matter)
Beauty Stories
Instagram face. Where to start?! It’s more than creepy where we’ll go on our quest to self-optimisation. As someone who worked in healthcare in another life I’d ALSO like to point out that only VERY few procedures are evaluated on a long-term basis and long-term risks are nearly unknown (New Yorker).
The skin neutrality movement, and why an editor is hesitant to join. Education is key, and for that, people have to understand that most skin conditions have nothing to do with personal habits (Refinery).
Ahhhhhhhh, DazedDigital ranked AAALLLLL the beauty dramas of 2019! (For a little light reading full of Schadefreude. It’s a great cure for lingering hangovers.)
Sustainability
Consumers want to choose sustainable options. Then why don’t they? Fast Company: “It’s too hard to do good. As a result, we are seeing a decline in the ability of consumers to support socially responsible businesses, even when their ideals align with such organizations.”
Waterless beauty products: a new trend. I’m very intrigued – less water means less packaging and fewer preservatives, and seems like a genuinely great idea (Fashionista).
Is it even possible to be a sustainable influencer? Fashionista says no.
How to be a more conscious consumer, even if you’re on a budget (NY Times).
Life, love and everything else
Morning routines. I bet you’ve read about VERY successful people optimising their mornings before (you know the ones that start with some green juice and yoga at 4am). Do you have to feel like a total failure when you roll out of bed at the last possible minute and devour a bagel from across the street before rushing to the bus? Absolutely not. (Might I suggest a New Year’s resolution? Be gentle to yourself.) (The Atlantic)
Was the #metoo movement a success? Read about what happened since the movement broke (TeenVogue).
The good news of 2019: what maybe didn’t make the news, but was good, nevertheless (Bored Panda).
On the blog
Pantone’s Color of the Year 2020 is here, and not only will you learn all about it, but see some 20 year-old pics from me. Ahem. Is it cold where you are, or will you go somewhere where it’s cold? If so, I’ve got some skincare and makeup hacks for you! (Tested at the Arctic Circle by yours truly.) A VERY flattering concealer/foundation hack for you folks over 40 and what I learned about skincare in 2019 (don’t stress).
Do you think you’ve got to give up great products (staples, holy grails…) when you start to use sustainable beauty products? Think again, because for these products, no sacrifice is required: they work better than their conventional counterparts, in fact! In a similar vein, I really, really want to branch out more in 2020 – come and join me in my 2020 resolutions!
