The Business of Beauty Haul of Fame: Christmas in September

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a Hello Kitty robot face mask. (File under: Wonders. Cease. Never.)

Included in today’s issue: Carolina Herrera Beauty, Cle Beauty, Curie, Dashing Diva, Gen See, Geske, Gisou, Kylie Cosmetics, Lasinoh, Loewe, MakeUp Eraser, Nordstrom, Philosophy, Pura D’Or, Saint Jane, Salt & Stone, Saltair, SickScience, Valentino Beauty, Victoria Beckham, and Glen Coco.

But first…

In the spring of 2023, a modern jousting match was held. Beauty brands chose their fighters — the most-wanted, most-viral, or simply most-new products — and sent them on a quest to Revolve’s headquarters in Cerrito, California, a leafy Los Angeles suburb 25 minutes from Disneyland. The prize: A slot inside Revolve Beauty’s 2024 advent calendar, a $150 stash of hair, makeup and skincare products that claims a $539 value, all carefully packed into a pink suitcase.

“Brands take their submissions to the advent calendar quite seriously,” said Trudy Arnold, Revolve’s beauty and home director, adding that for brands, it can be a useful tool for getting in front of new and existing customers. “The Revolve shopper is very plugged into social media, and so for more traditional or offline brands, our calendar can make them part of a bigger viral moment,” she said.

The analytics back up Arnold’s claims. Last year, TikToks of Revolve’s advent calendar drew over 30.3 million views. This year, terms like “Revolve advent Calendar 2024″ and “Unboxing Revolve advent Calendar” have engaged over 15 million people in just over two weeks. Because of this exposure, Arnold says some brands lobby so hard for inclusion that they give Revolve gratis products.

“Brands receive so much from being part of this programme in terms of marketing support and exposure,” she said. “It’s become a very big deal to choose from among all the brands. We’re almost like a judging panel.”

Other emerging brands have turned advent calendars into customer acquisition tools. At the farm-based skincare brand Beekman 1802, chief digital officer David Baker said the $179 advent calendar (which promises $403 worth of products) “is like a rocket for new shoppers.” Half of their buyers are new customers; 27 percent of them buy something else within 90 days.

“There’s a science to what products you include,” said Beekman 1802 CEO Jill Scalamandre, who joined in 2022. “You want a mix that drives discovery and awareness, and that fulfils the user’s wishes. It’s Christmas, after all, So a full-size bar of soap and lip balm, that’s a must. Then we let people test the new stuff,” like their Mushroom Milk Eye Cream. Scalamandre says she also insists on a “leave behind,” like a decorative cake-topper or a table runner, so the brand ID lingers. This year, Beekman has made 6,500 calendars. Over half have already sold.

“This year, we sold as many on our launch date as we did in our full first week last year,” said Charlotte Tilbury, whose advent calendar costs $220 and comes packed inside a gem-covered cardstock jewellery box. Tilbury says the calendar is a chance for shoppers to get sold-out products they might have missed when they first came out.

For Manicure Paris CEO Gaëlle Lebrat Personnaz, advent calendars are an opportunity to launch new products to existing customers. She says the base and top coats rolled out through the 2023 edition “became some of our all-time best-sellers.” Aman Essentials, Charlotte Tilbury, La Mer, MAC and Lancôme have also announced their advent adventures. Even British Vogue has a “festive calendar” that retails for $465, and includes products from Tatcha, Dr. Barbara Sturm, and Laura Mercier. (Shouldn’t Allure be doing this, too? Discuss.)

But why is this stuff — which is ostensibly meant for holiday gifts — dropping in September? Partly because the advent calendar has gone from a Christmas present to a self-care investment. As Arnold put it: “It’s pretty obvious that many shoppers are buying it for themselves, especially shoppers who want to turn it into social media content.”

But also, blame the pandemic. (Really.)

“When the supply chain slowed down, we started selling holiday items earlier so that everything would arrive on time,” explained Scalamandre. “We ended up keeping the sell-date the same, because even though it’s months away, people love to shop for Christmas. Even before the first day of fall.”

What Else Is New

Skincare

Why is Kylie Jenner posting Lansinoh Nipple Cream as a $10 go-to lip balm on Instagram? Perhaps as a base for her Plumping Powder Matte Lip and Plumping Liner, which both dropped on Oct. 3. Still, if Kylie is considering a move into the motherhood product phase, investors are listening. See also: Nara Smith.

Plum, a line of “vaginal skincare products,” premiered on Sept. 25. Its first product, a $72 serum, claims to help with dryness and discomfort, and features facial staples like hyaluronic acid, peptides and omega-3. Should there be one serum that’s both sex care and skincare? At this point, probably. But I continue to beg you: Please ask your doctor before using a topical product on your reproductive region!

SickScience rolled out DropOff, a “body sculpting serum” on Oct 1. It claims that “92 percent of volunteers during an 8-week clinical test experienced a reduction in belly circumference, while 98 percent said skin looked and felt more nourished.” Related: Have you read Brennan Kilbane’s excellent rundown of “claims” versus reality in the beauty space? Do it before dropping $48 here.

On Oct. 1, the German gizmo company Geske paired with Hello Kitty on five products, including a hyaluronic acid and aloe face mask, plus four gadgets — two facial brushes, a “sonic mask” that applies LED light therapy and pulsations to your skin, and one “eye energiser” wand that looks like a self-pleasure device. Please read the directions carefully.

Salt & Stone made an Erewhon smoothie for $10. It launched Oct. 1, has a “coconut-creme soft serve-base with an olive oil drizzle and flaky sea salt,” and comes with a gentle reminder: It costs a reported $30,000 for brands to do this designer slurpee.

Some news on the sweat front: On Oct. 1, Curie debuted its Santal Sage and Ocean Air deodorants, each $14. Saltair’s Green Grapefruit range came out Oct. 1 as both a deodorant ($10 – $12) and body wash ($13). It promises a zingy scent, plus a splash of “brat” green in your bathroom.

If you were trying to get a free sample of Philosophy’s Ultimate Miracle Worker Cream, sorry — they ran out of all 1,000 tubes in less than 12 hours. That’s partly thanks to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who’s been hyping the cream as part of a new campaign — and proving the power of Gen-X in the beauty space.

Throughout October, Saint Jane is donating 100 percent of sales from their $68 Hydrating Petal Cream to The Pink Agenda, a breast cancer foundation that funds research and caregiving. Often, charity tie-ins read as a customer ploy. This donation is substantial.

Makeup

Browsing in Nordstrom? You might spot Carolina Herrera Beauty, which launched in stores, as well as online, on Oct. 1. The brand is making “wearable” beauty — leather lipstick cases, eyeshadow palette lockets, $30 enamel charms to clip onto your lip gloss. It seems a little dated, a little “Gossip Girl.” But it’s also quite preppy, and even if New York women don’t go for it, it could do very well in more sorority-driven locales like D.C., Texas and Arizona.

Cle Cosmetics unveiled two new shades of their dewy CC Cream, Warm Deep and Neutral Deep, on Oct. 5. They join a dozen other colours, sold for $38, that have a lot of beauty industry fans thanks to their glowy — but not shiny — finish.

Gen See’s $23 Cruise Lip Pencils hit shelves on Oct. 1. They come in four bare-but-better shades like “rusty beige” and “cinnamon brown.”

On Oct. 2, Dashing Diva released its Chromagic Starter Kits, which blend the brand’s stick-on LED nails with a super-shiny powder that you’re meant to sprinkle on top. If you love art products and cake decorating, this $20 pack is for you. If not, I get it — press-on nails are supposed to be easy!

MakeUp Eraser has made seven tiny scrubbers covered in “Mean Girls” quotes and graphics. Though the $25 set includes a very good reproduction of the Burn Book, the highlight is a royal blue washcloth that reads “personally victimised by Regina George.” It launches on “Mean Girls Day,” Oct. 3.

Gisou launched (another!) tinted lip oil on Oct. 5. This one is called Cherry on the Cake, costs $28, and has a pinkish-red shimmer.

Hair Care

Pura D’Or’s Scalp & Hair Strengthening Hair Oil debuted Oct. 1. It costs $20 and has rosemary, peppermint and castor oil. It claims to be a “thickening solution” for thinning or more-damaged hair.

Fragrance

I am obsessed with the beauty breakdown from Victoria Beckham’s fashion show on Sept. 27, which included concealer, brow gel, lip balm… and 21:50 Rêverie perfume, which has notes of tobacco, vanilla and “the decadent scent of plum on the lips of another.” Can you smell the models through the photos? No. Still — brilliant. Thinking Victoria’s Secret should do the same thing with Gigi Hadid and Tyra Banks and Bombshell at their show in two weeks.

Jamie Dornan and Sophie Wilde are Loewe’s newest fragrance faces. They “play out everyday scenes in a poetic ode to nature and intimacy,” but really they turn away from the camera for a striking black-and-white portrait.

On Sept. 18, the “functional” fragrance line Vyrao got a cash infusion. On Oct. 1, they got a new perfume, called Mamajuju, with a scent profile which “is known to enhance relaxation, self esteem, and memory.” It comes in a bottle with an “energetically charmed Herkimer diamond crystal.” Perhaps a “Music Man”-style theatrical event should be written about this elixir. Perhaps I’m a cynical bore and it actually works. Either way, the brand has proven very profitable, and that’s a more powerful claim than anything on a bottle.

And Finally

If you loved the “Pretty Baby” beauty vibes at Valentino’s runway show, and want to cast Alessandro Michele’s famous friends in a perfume ad, have I got a job for you…