Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Allure

It wasn’t long ago that many in the investing world just didn’t get beauty. Over the years, I’ve heard stories from founders who left meetings feeling demoralized after explaining their brand to a room full of stone-faced venture capitalists. (Side note: A good number of those tenacious entrepreneurs now look at those experiences as a blessing in disguise, because they were pushed to bootstrap their businesses, ultimately retaining more control and equity.) But today, the beauty industry is in the midst of a gold rush of sorts—even in a pandemic—spurred by stories of well-capitalized start-ups like Glossier, Huda Beauty, and Anastasia Beverly Hills. In recent months, we’ve seen a surge of celebrity founders including Selena Gomez, Halsey, Pharrell Williams, Taraji P. Henson, and three more featured on the pages that…

A pimple pops up. You reach for salicylic acid to help clear out that clogged pore. Easy call, right? “We used to speak about acne in a very linear fashion,” says Whitney Bowe, a dermatologist in New York. But a new theory posits that there’s more beneath the surface: “Research suggests acne-prone skin has lower levels of antioxidants, and biopsies of skin before pimples form show inflammation and oxidative stress,” says Bowe. “Delivering antioxidants to the skin through topicals is promising in the prevention and management of acne.” Now SkinCeuticals is bottling an antioxidant formula that builds on those findings: SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF. “I was told that creating an antioxidant for oily and blemish-prone skin would be an easy win—that was seven years ago,” says Stephen Lynch, director of skin-care…

DEPUTY BEAUTY DIRECTOR Tip: “When you run out of conversation, ask someone about their lipstick. Beauty can be a great connector.” Must haves: “When I was in high school, my mom off ered me blush. I told her I didn’t need it, and her answer? ‘Honey, everyone needs blush.’ It’s been my go-to ever since.” Confession: “I love to geek out over the science-y and tech-y sides of beauty products, like the 3D-modeling software behind ManiMe’s custom-fitted gel nail stickers.” OVER $200 VALUE* FOR ONLY $23 ALLURE.COM/BOX *Includes retail value of new member gift, while supplies last. On sale January 1-31, 2020.…

There’s a captivating sense of beauty in the ephemeral, something henna artist Azra Khamissa captures flawlessly in her designs. Based in the United Arab Emirates, she has reimagined traditionally floral henna in geometric patterns and cheetah prints. A month into quarantine, Ramadan and Eid (a festival that marks the end of Ramadan’s fast) were approaching. Typically, Khamissa would have been busiest during this time, so she looked for new ways to share her skills. That’s when she realized how she could reignite her business by filling a major void in the henna market. “I decided to launch my own henna brand and at-home DIY henna kit,” she says. “In the first two weeks, we made over 500 sales. The majority [of customers] are located in the UAE, but we’ve also…

First, thank you for writing. This year, in the face of overwhelming public suffering, people are having tiny, private referendums in every corner of their lives, including the ones behind the bathroom mirror. The good news is that unless they are an Instagram influencer, one person’s skin-care and makeup preferences are rarely newsworthy. You are unlikely to lose any public favor based on your beauty product choices. I know that’s not the point, but in our darkest hours it is a nice thing to remember. Second, I’d like to introduce a concept here, in the manner of a jovial balloon merchant handing one of his wares to a delighted customer: Money is power and nothing else. What are dollars if not enchanted pieces of paper we exchange for toilet paper…

Your hair, your way with Naturtint "I change my hair color to spice things up! I like how vibrant the color looks & how soft it makes my hair feel. It just makes me feel confident!" - Stephanie naturtintusa.com CED-Infused Bath Bombs! Sink into a relaxing bath of epsom salt, 25 mg broad spectrum CBD hemp oil & dried jasmine leaves to soothe sore muscles & moisturize skin! pranacbd.com CBD Meets Manuka Honey Vena's Miracle Manuka Multi-Use Melting Cream is a luxe blend of Manuka Honey, CBD & nourishing ingredients your skin will adore. venacbd.com Best Brow Solution EES is the only tested, published & patented product available for fuller, thicker brows, naturally. 20% off! essentialeyebrowsolution.com Code:EESAL JUNE has revolutionized 'the period' Cramps, mood swings, bloating, 'the period' is tough…

There are always people watching Jenna Lyons. Even in her innermost sanctum, an enormous bathroom that probably qualifies as a bathing suite, which is attached to an open-concept master bedroom that probably qualifies as a dressing wing, her bathtub sits beneath two enormous windows that look out (and in) on other loft-style windows, many of which do not belong to her. (She thinks the performance artist Joan Jonas, who lives upstairs, would be “fine” seeing her naked.) And on a marble shelf that probably qualifies as a bathtub mantle sits a strange Victorian gentleman whom Lyons does not know. “It’s some weird vintage portrait I bought,” she says, smiling. “I’m kind of into it.” Several years after her conquest of American fashion as the creative director of J.Crew, Lyons is…

STAY IN YOUR LANE Charlotte and David Cho of Soko Glam and Then I Met You The couple met in South Korea on a blind date in 2009. In 2012, they got married and started Soko Glam, an e-commerce site that sells Korean beauty products to American consumers. David works behind the scenes as CEO, while Charlotte is the face of the site and curates the product lineup. In 2018, they launched their own brand, Then I Met You, and last year the couple welcomed a daughter, which Charlotte calls “the biggest launch of our lives.” NO BUSINESS AT DINNER Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz of Malin + Goetz The two met at a bar in New York City 25 years ago. Today they helm an expansive suite of chicly…

GOOD PRESS IS PRICE LESS Sheena Yaitanes, 37, studied biology in college, got an MBA, and even worked as an actor for a while. But she always saw herself starting a beauty brand, and in 2015 launched Kosas with about $70,000 of her own savings and four riffs on classic lip colors. One of the first things she did as a new business owner was hire a boutique public relations firm that was scrappy and affordable, which netted her early good press. As Kosas expanded into more categories (like foundation and eye shadow), its fans grew, and it gained a reputation as an “anti-glam brand.” Yaitanes started getting interest from investors who wanted a piece of the beauty industry, but some had no experience in it. “Those people were not…

1. PRABAL GURUNG X JOYA DREAM CANDLE. Nepal fig, coconut milk, cedar leaf, peach, and rainwater? In one word: dreamy. $75. 2. FRESH HESPERIDES GRAPEFRUIT. This bright citrus scent wakes me up when I’ve been zoning out at my laptop for too long. $50 for 30ml. 3. AHC AQUALURONIC EMULSION. Morning and nighttime skin care are great. But I treat my parched forehead to this juicy gel-lotion about five times a day. $32. 4. CHANEL LA CRÈME MAIN. Keep this chic egg next to your keyboard and your hands will thank you. $50. 5. SMYTHSON NILE BLUE PANAMA NOTEBOOK AND POPPIN PEN. Give eyes a much-needed respite from screen time. $75 and $9 (sold in a set of four). 6. COLORESCIENCE SUNFORGETTABLE BRUSH-ON SUNSCREEN. Powder SPF makes reapplication easy on…

1. Escada Candy Love. The response rate for love notes spritzed with this limited-edition blend of candy apple, rose, and vanilla whipped cream is 99.9 percent. 2. Revlon So Fierce Prismatic Quad in Slight Flex. Applying these metallic shadows with a damp brush is like putting your hands in the air during a roller coaster ride: optional, but necessary for the full experience. 3. Uoma Beauty Drama Bomb Extreme Volume Nourishing Mascara. Most brushes succeed in making long lashes look longer, but this wand also works its magic on sparse and stubby ones. Its hourglass shape was specially designed for people with shorter lashes. 4. Clarins Total Eye Lift. If the eyes are the window to the soul, then undereye bags are the paisley curtains you never got around to…

Pretty Quick Impatient people, rejoice! During a time when so many of us are painting our nails at home, more and more brands are launching nail lacquers with one key ingredient: “They all contain isopropyl alcohol, which helps set the colors faster,” says cosmetic chemist Ginger King. By the time you’ve polished both hands using Essie’s Expressie, Maybelline’s Fast Gel, or more (below), your nails are nearly dry—and smudge-free. Special Effects Modern (nail) art doesn’t require a steady hand or a paintbrush. Technology is on your side: “I am able to create nail art and have it go to anyone, all over the globe—and that is groundbreaking,” says manicurist Jessica Washick of the graphic nail art stickers she’s created for ManiMe (above). The brand won an Allure Best of Beauty…

We Will Survive Whoever coined the phrase “hope isn’t a strategy” clearly never lived through a pandemic—or met these five entrepreneurs. They still have their skills, their tools (needles, threads, miles of hair), and the belief that things will eventually get better. Because if any business knows how to finesse a comeback, it’s the beauty business. DREAM WEAVER “Times are uncertain, but we’re so grateful—our clientele has definitely picked up,” says Braid Heaven Salon owner Shelley Smith, her measured, reflective voice punctuated by the rhythm of her Guyanese accent. Twenty-five years ago she moved to Kansas City, where she is something of a local celebrity for her bubble braids (she plaits extensions into clients’ natural hair in a way that protects it). Now Smith sees a growing trend in pandemic-era…

Usually, in an election year, I see a lot of journalists and political players coming in for injectable fillers and toxins, to reduce frowning, as well as laser treatments, to reduce facial redness. They did this year, but not in the numbers you would expect. On the other hand, because so many people are wearing masks and they can black themselves out on Zoom, I’ve been doing more invasive stuff. I have never performed so many CO2 laser skin resurfacings and Silhouette InstaLifts [absorbable sutures for lifting cheeks and nasal labial folds] in such a short time period. While the latter is not invasive, I like to tape people’s cheeks in order to reduce their facial movements for the first week. The tape is well covered by most masks. And…

That’s approximately 215 people served per week, by a San Francis-co-based nonprofit on a mission to “transform the way communities around the world see and serve their unhoused neighbors.” Before the pandemic, LavaMaeX’s main service was providing hot showers—about 160 a day from mobile care stations across San Francisco and Los Angeles—but, as organization CEO Kris Kepler explains here, they have since pivoted to offering kits containing face masks, sanitizer, food, and water. In March I made the difficult decision to suspend our shower service for the health and safety of our guests and team. However, we refused to leave our unhoused guests behind. We assembled kits with critical hygiene and COVID-19 prevention items to distribute streetside in the San Francisco Bay Area and L.A. weekly, providing our guests with hope…

What follows is a mostly comprehensive explanation of the process involved in manufacturing and installing the ideal human smile. The practice of cosmetic dentistry unfolds in myriad ways every day, but for the purposes of this overview we will imagine the process from the perspective of the kind of person who is more likely than the average American to be in the market for veneers or other in-mouth improvements: somebody affluent, between the ages of 40 and 49, and female. Let’s call this character Mrs. Dalloway. After decades of exposure to the gorgeous, face-flattering smiles ubiquitous among America’s celebrity population—the ones that dentists have been crafting since the advent of Hollywood but have only recently become grocery commodities that regular American people can go out and buy for themselves—Mrs. Dalloway…

“While recovering, I struggled to find my own beauty. One day, I got a sunburn and put on a tinted moisturizer. When I looked in the mirror, it was the first time I ever recognized my beauty. Shortly after, I became a makeup artist and started learning more about skin care, and now we’re here.” “Whenever I stop using Youth To The People Superfood Cleanser [7], it’s like a night-and-day difference. It clears out my pores, but leaves my skin hydrated.” “When I was running around working two jobs, I couldn’t find [a moisturizer] that I didn’t sweat out or didn’t make me look greasy. First Aid Beauty Coconut Water Cream [3] and Rovectin Clean Lotus Water Cream [4] are the only ones that hold up against oil and Hawaii’s…

“Something I had wanted for a very long time—a boat, accurately named She’s a 10.” [Editor’s note: Accurately identified, it’s a mega-yacht.] —CAROLYN ARONSON FOUNDED HAIR-CARE BRAND IT’S A 10 IN 2006. “A ring that has a pink pear-shaped ruby. The store where I bought it has since gone out of business. I don’t remember the price. It looks like a Beautyblender.” —REA ANN SILVA INVENTED THE BEAUTYBLENDER APPLICATOR TOOL IN 2003. “A piece of art by Beatriz Milhazes that I had dreamt about and admired for a very long time. It’s bright and happy and hangs in my family room.” —TIFFANY MASTERSON FOUNDED SKIN-CARE BRAND DRUNK ELEPHANT IN 2012. “A $1.9 million apartment in Brooklyn, 14th [floor], 360-degree views.” —MARCIA KILGORE FOUNDED SKIN-CARE BRAND BLISS IN 1996 AND MAKEUP…

Word of Mouth It’s beauty economics 101: Lipstick sales go up in times of hardship. At least that was the case before hardship was a pandemic that could be curbed by covering our mouths with a face mask. Though lipstick sales may not be soaring, our lips are only out of sight—not out of mind. Google Trends shows lipstick was still searched more than eye shadow and mascara over the past year in the U.S. We are clearly not kissing lip color goodbye. (Never!) Turn the page for some of the best new lipsticks brightening our smiles at home, on Zoom, and, yes, under our masks.…

“When I worked at makeup counters, we used face charts [to show products]. I don’t use them that often [today], but this was really fun. Since it’s a flat surface, I wanted to play with texture by incorporating metallics, gloss, glitter, and rhinestones. Wearing a mask changes a lot of things. I’m more focused on the eyes lately. Even though it’s quite a dramatic look, using brown eyeliner instead of black is a little warmer and softer-looking. I kept the lip neutral to complement the eyes. I’ve been playing with a lot of different types of formulas that are long-wearing or a stain, so they don’t get all over my mask.” Get the look: Huda Beauty Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Ruby, KimChi Chic x Ketnipz Rainbow Sharts Palette, Maybelline New…

flash back to New Year’s Eve 2019 and I was in the Twists & Locs salon in Accra, Ghana. “The place was packed,” I later wrote for Allure. “In one chair, a local Ghanaian woman chatted with her stylist in the Twi language. In the next, an American woman asked her braider to recommend the best restaurant for Ghanaian cuisine. A Londoner took a call to finalize party plans for the evening.” Parties, restaurants, people sitting next to each other: These feel like occasions belonging to a different time, but Twists & Locs founder Kuorkor Ayisa is slowly rebuilding. I called her almost a year after my visit to find out how. We closed shop a few days before [Ghana’s three-week] national lockdown [in April]. We were eager to [re]open…

$ 500, 000, 000,000 Estimated sales, in U.S. dollars, generated by the global beauty industry each year, give or take a few billion. This number typically rises by about 5% annually. 15 Percentage of Black-owned brands the 15 Percent Pledge urges retailers to stock as a reflection of the diversity of America’s population. Sephora was the first—and so far, the only—major beauty retailer to formally make this pledge. 2001 Year former Estée Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder coins the term “lipstick index” to describe the resiliency of the beauty industry during hard times. Today, the concept is alive and well, though considering that mask mandates have caused eye makeup—not lipstick—to gain market share, the “mascara index” might be more appropriate. 2124 Visitors to Tatchaland Island, the skin-care brand’s digital space hosted…

The global cosmetic dentistry market is expected to be worth around $28 billion by 2024, nearly twice the size of the global pineapple industry. But this figure is easily dwarfed by other related markets, like oral care and hygiene ($54 billion by 2022). “The term ‘cosmetic’ dentistry has lost its cache,” says Dennis Fasbinder, a clinical professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. “Almost every dentist has to think cosmetically.” In 2019, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry issued a survey on the “state of the industry.” The overwhelming majority of respondents were dentists, although many identified themselves as general dentists, distinct from cosmetic. About 40 percent reported upwards of $1 million in practice profits; 12 percent made over $2 million. The majority cited a growing over-the-counter whitening…

i have always had a lot of challenges with my skin. I thought skin was supposed to get better after 18, 20, 22; you’re supposed to be clear of that skin shit. But here I was, almost 30, and I still had this really teenage-like skin issue and it was so frustrating. My skin started to get better when I had my first son. I remember I got very healthy, knowing that there was a being growing inside of me. I thought about water a lot more. I would say I was probably up to at least about a gallon of water a day. [With] my prenatal vitamins, you could just see an instant difference. On the diet side, I already didn’t eat meat or dairy because of my singing,…

How does a pandemic impact our sex lives? Researchers at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana State University set out to answer that question last spring. They published a study about changes in sexual behavior prompted by lifestyle changes in the wake of COVID-19. They found that living alone was linked to higher rates of virtual and technology-based behaviors, like sending nude photos. The results also revealed that when people do get intimate, they’re getting more playful with it: Respondents reported trying new sexual positions and sharing fantasies with their partner. And people who incorporated these types of elements were three times more likely to report improvement in their sex lives. To that we say, play on! 13.6% of those surveyed say their sex lives have improved during the pandemic. 1…

The beauty industry is worth more than $500 billion. Powering that chunk of the global economy are thousands of entrepreneurs making soap in their kitchens and taking out mortgages to pay for lab samples. They’re coming into a hungry industry. Venture capitalists, private equity firms, and megacorps are always looking for promising brands to snatch up for eye-popping sums. In other industries, it can take decades to achieve notoriety, let alone boardroom prowess. In beauty, it can happen in the span of a YouTube video. Not that it always does. Many of the brand names in your makeup bag were built over lifetimes. But at the top, the view is gorgeous, the space is roomy, and former teachers, college students, Etsy store owners, and yes, Rihanna, mingle together. The question…

When David Moltz approached Kavi Ahuja outside a bar in downtown New York City, she thought she recognized him from somewhere. “Weren’t you my waiter three weeks ago?” she asked. He was indeed. Kavi, a budding architect, had dined at the restaurant where David worked when he wasn’t playing gigs with his band. They started dating, launched their fragrance brand D.S. & Durga in 2009, and got married the following year. The couple now have two kids and are growing one of the quirkiest, most unique, niche fragrance brands on the market. David, 40, a self-taught perfumer, is the nose. Early on, he ran organic citrus-fruit peels and pine needles through a distiller to extract the oil for the raw ingredients of the perfume. Eventually, he graduated to more sophisticated…

WAVE SET As a surfer, Chase Wilson’s job was tough on his body. And on his hair. Any styling product that survived the surf seemed impossible to rinse out, lingering in his hair for weeks. So Wilson, 29, started mixing his own pomades—in his mom’s Crockpot. The result is Byrd, a minimalist men’s grooming brand with two barbershops in California. While being a surfer informed Wilson’s ideas about what a functional hair product should do, it also gave him some intangible skills. “Professional surfing taught me discipline and creativity,” he says. “Every wave is different; every ride is a blank canvas and an opportunity to express your unique approach in the ocean.” KA-POW Jennifer Yen, 45, started her career playing the villain Vypra on the hit Power Rangers series in the early 2000s.…

Allure was born in the early’90s, entering a beauty landscape populated with ocean-blue eye shadows packed neatly into neon multicolored Caboodles. Future Allure editors were sneaking glassy lip glosses out of their moms’ kits, and more than one of us still has a Caboodle in their possession, now stocked with liquid lipsticks and highlighters. Today’s Caboodle is older and wiser, adopting a more timeless palette. Color trends come and go, but plastic is forever. What to get for the woman who has everything? An opalescent Caboodle to carry it all in. Ben Amun earrings and bracelets. Brinker & Eliza bracelet. Jennifer Behr necklace. Details, see allure.com/credits.…