WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF BEAUTY
MiNDFOOD Beauty Editor Megan Bedford unveils the Future Beauty Special, an in-depth report on the influences and innovations shaping the future of the beauty world right now, including two creative new solutions she’s itching to try.
There can be no consideration of key and emerging beauty developments expected this year, without first acknowledging the part the preceding 12 months, and the global challenges inflicted by the COVD-19 pandemic, have played in informing them.
In some ways, product development by beauty brands has been hampered by social distancing, with lockdowns necessitating working from behind screens worldwide. Sandra Lup, a lead design engineer at Dyson, told me their experts had to use their famous problem-solving skills in new ways in 2020, which resulted in building and testing prototypes in their own kitchens!
In other ways, new trends exist and are acknowledged in our report solely because of the habits we as consumers formed during varying lengths of time spent at home in 2020.
In my view, what’s exciting is how our challenging circumstances saw us instigate changes for the better. The growth in the skincare market was happening anyway on account of a wider availability of options and accessibility of information and advice, but it’s the application rituals we established when we had time to consider them that will stay with us, to the benefit of our skin.
Local experts report we’re taking more risks, especially with our hair – less umming and ahh-ing over small changes, and more guts to make a bold change – and we're more open to playfulness, too, which I always think is a great thing when it comes
“LOCAL EXPERTS REPORT WE’RE TAKING MOR E RISKS.”
to our appearance. A top makeup artist and good friend once gave me some advice about my occasional hesitation (long gone now!) around trying new cosmetic approaches: “It washes off!” It's always stuck with me, and it's worth keeping in mind as we navigate one of 2021's key trends – expressive eye makeup.
The embrace of colour in makeup, including bright primary hues, is likely a reflection of the need for a bit of expressiveness and joy in unpredictable times, and I’m here for it.
Of course, the year won't be without its exciting leaps in beauty advancements. In recent days, major US consumer electronics trade show CES (held virtually this year), which heralds the beauty industry's key tech developments, introduced us to two launches that are indicative of current influences further explored in our report on the following pages. YSL’s Rouge Sur Mesure Powered by Perso is an at-home device that enables a user to blend custom colours of YSL’s Velvet Cream Matte Finish lipstick, with thousands of shades possible. The app that drives it allows you to perfectly tailor your lipstick to your complexion, expectation or outfit, and virtually 'try on' the colour before it’s mixed. Speaking to the increased consumer desire for bespoke products that suit us as individuals, it also has environmental benefits: one device that can create multiple looks reduces the need to buy a number of lipsticks. Not to mention, it sounds like a lot of fun!
And with water becoming an everprecious commodity around the world, L’Oréal has partnered with Swiss environmental innovation company Gjosa to develop Water Saver, a showerhead system that reduces the amount of water used to wash hair by up to 80 per cent.
In a nutshell, by taking a water droplet and making it 10 times smaller, it uses two litres per minute in comparison to the household standard eight litres, yet the brand says there is no difference in pressure. It also has the ability to infuse specially designed, micronised shampoo and conditioner formulas directly into the water stream, for better product absorption and faster rinsing.
Although these innovations are a wee way off becoming available here, I’ll be sure to keep you updated when they do.