 or 'dolphin skin' (so perfect and shiny it looks wet)? Who can say? But one thing's for sure, just like fashion, there's always an out-there beauty trend or miracle skincare product vying for headline-grabbing attention. Having worked in the beauty industry for more than three decades, I've seen hundreds come and go, like the no-make-up make-up of the '90s that required 23 products to pull off. Personally, I never got colourless mascara. Neither did an acquaintance of mine who worked for a big beauty brand. The moment he was asked to promote it, he decided it was time for a career pivot. He became a policeman. However, some crazes stick. The early clamour for Chanel's Rouge Noir nail enamel (£25) a Stygian red as worn by Uma Thurman in 1994's Pulp Fiction, recalibrated our taste in manicure statements, generating wait-lists and queues around the block. Its cult status remains unassailed. Likewise, in 2007, Boots sold a year's stock of No 7 Protect & Perfect in a fortnight after the BBC's Horizon documentary declared it a truth serum (in that it actually worked). Again, still going strong (£24.95). During my career, I've trialled countless products at their inception, from Avon's Anew which gave the mass market AHAs, to the recent launches of skincare containing CBD extracted from the cannabis plant. And I've always asked the incisive, all-important questions (and nope, the latter can't get you high but it does have anti-inflammatory properties). I've been intrepid too. Dermatologist Dr Nick Lowe gave me my first shot of Botox when it started being used to soften wrinkles. I was a tad anxious, given it was a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum (the one related to botulism) but to my surprise it was){kind=link}
These tried-and-tested products have earned their enduring appeal
Paris Fashion Week was awash with bleached brows, while social media is in meltdown over ‘marinated make-up’ – a kind of slept-in grunginess, since you’re asking. Will these trending looks wipe out ‘donut skin’ (so perfect and shiny it looks glazed) or ‘dolphin skin’ (so perfect and shiny it looks wet)? Who can say? But one thing’s for sure, just like fashion, there’s always an out-there beauty trend or miracle skincare product vying for headline-grabbing attention.
Having worked in the beauty industry for more than three decades, I’ve seen hundreds come and go, like the no-make-up make-up of the ’90s that required 23 products to pull off. Personally, I never got colourless mascara. Neither did an acquaintance of mine who worked for a big beauty brand. The moment he was asked to promote it, he decided it was time for a career pivot. He became a policeman.
However, some crazes stick. The early clamour for Chanel’s Rouge Noir nail enamel (£25) a Stygian red as worn by Uma Thurman in 1994’s Pulp Fiction, recalibrated our taste in manicure statements, generating wait-lists and queues around the block. Its cult status remains unassailed. Likewise, in 2007, Boots sold a year’s stock of No 7 Protect & Perfect in a fortnight after the BBC’s Horizon documentary declared it a truth serum (in that it actually worked). Again, still going strong (£24.95).
During my career, I’ve trialled countless products at their inception, from Avon’s Anew which gave the mass market AHAs, to the recent launches of skincare containing CBD extracted from the cannabis plant. And I’ve always asked the incisive, all-important questions (and nope, the latter can’t get you high but it does have anti-inflammatory properties).