FRIDAY FORECAST | MAY 21
Welcome back to your May instalment of the Char White Writes – Friday Forecast!
Another month has (unbelievably) rolled around and here, I run through the latest and greatest new releases and industry trends landing each month that I predict are to be BIG beauty & wellness news. Whether it’s new innovations from pioneering and philanthropic brands, the trend setters, or the latest indie-brand we all need to take notice of it’s all here in spades…
So, get comfy over your morning coffee, see this as an opportunity to spy on the competition and have an injection of motivation ahead of June.
Purely Makeup | ZARA gets lippy.
Yep, you read that right, the fashion powerhouse has gotten seriously lippy recently. The beauty world has fallen head over heels but what do the experts say…
The hype is REAL with this launch. ZARA has long been the go-to spot for on-trend fashion with staple stunners and unique one offs (if you can navigate the stressful website that is…). Now, for the first time, the high street fashion house has tipped its toe into the lucrative world of cosmetics with the launch of a range of matte lipsticks, along with a lip kit and a lip gloss.
With other high street giants like H&M and the previously loved Topshop (R.I.P) already having a wide makeup offering, it’s true to say ZARA faces some stiff competition. If you’re wondering if it’s got Rihanna and Kylie Jenner quaking in their boots? The answer is a potentially cautious – YES.
First up the packaging is sleek, understated, and expensive feeling matte navy. You’d be hard pressed not to feel part of exclusive club if you whipped that bullet out of your bag INSIDE (praise the lord) the pub. The shades are complimentary yet offer lots of options and should appeal to most looks. I’m intrigued to see what’s up next from them.
Skin & Wellness | BROWTOX is now (a thing).
Eyebrows are seriously BIG business. Unless you’ve really been absent from the beauty trend scene, we’re all aware of the dramatic change over the past decade from the 'plucked to death', super thin 90s brow to the Cara 'big and bushy'...
Like many things in beauty, what began as purely a cosmetic trend has bled into aesthetics and the new brow issue to be obsessing about, is all about the shape (on steroids). It’s no surprise that more and more people are using Browtox to achieve that perfect anti-aging brow lift to completely transform their looks.
Botox has come along way from the scary ‘no-frowning’ looks of yesteryear. Botox is subtly injected into the surrounding brow area to correct small and targeted areas of tissue to give a more youthful look. Think: lifting and smoothing, uneven or even ‘droopy’ brows.
Hair & Tech | Embrace the Peach.
It’s official everyone’s feeling the summer happiness vibes at the moment and nowhere is faster to adopt trends than the hair industry. Rose gold hair that was so summer 2019 has had a 2021 update. This summer it’s all about embracing peachy strawberry.
Perhaps it’s in responsive to Justin Bieber’s mega track ‘Peaches’ but TikTok and the ‘gram is flooded with millennials dying their hair this gorgeous shade and one thing’s for sure pretty hair will never go out of fashion. Wella Hair UK ambassador, James Earnshaw describes the look as having ‘the pink, strawberry shade remaining at the core. However, the addition of peach plays around with the gold tone we know and love, while introducing a syrupy structured lushness to hair that’s vibrant, daring and a little more fun.’
I couldn’t agree more, bring on the peachy vibes all summer long!
New Kid On The Block | Be Real Consultancy.
If you’re a brand striving to make a real difference in the world but are overwhelmed at the size (and complexity) of the task in hand then this may well be for you.
It's always great to see when the sustainable movement makes real changes in the industry. Introducing the new consultancy brand: Be Real, specifically tailored to support your business through the B Corp Certification process.
Katie Tillard Sharp will be supporting business through this complex process with the primary aim of building a more sustainable world, one brand at a time (with a particularly focus on fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands. I think we could all do with a few more B Corp brands in the world, don’t you?