Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a small excuse to talk about Dance Moms.
Included in today’s issue: Ami Colé, Bond No. 9, Cocokind, Colourpop, Dr. Althea, Dr. Dennis Gross, Evereden, Farmacy, Glow Recipe, Hard Candy, Homecourt, IPL, Isle of Paradise, Just B., Kaja, Katherine Daniels, Kulfi, Juliette Has a Gun, Maison Margiela, Nudestix, Phlur, Prequel, RéVive, Rhode Skin, Saltair, Sheglam, Tatcha, U Beauty, Urban Decay, V&Co. Beauty, Westman Atelier and the little velvet hat from Shakespeare in Love.
But first…
The Real Housewives isn’t the only place for stylish drama. It’s also happening in beauty boardrooms as companies get acquired or restructured, new creative directors are appointed and founders exit the brands they’ve built — and the teams who’ve helped build them.
“It’s like getting a new step parent,” said C., a product developer at a recently restructured beauty brand. C. is talking to me anonymously because what she’s telling me isn’t great: Her label’s new leadership “hasn’t given us any goals or ground rules yet, so we’re just racing around being like, ‘Do they like me?’ I haven’t felt this anxious since I was an intern at a print magazine, and by the way, I left that industry because I wanted a more stable office!” The unease mirrors that at fashion brands where new creative directors take the helm, allegedly setting up secret (and fully staffed) studios before the atelier can even meet with their new boss.
But studies show that “secure attachment” isn’t just a parenting theory. When employees feel safer at work, they make brands more cash, according to multiple studies. Is there a way that new CEOs and creative leads can make their new-but-old teams feel better about the transition in leadership? And what are the advantages to keeping “already there” teams engaged and employed, even if the brand they’re building needs to pivot?
I didn’t know the answer, so I called someone who would. Her name is Cyndi Isgrig, and she’s the new CEO of Dime Beauty, the Utah-based, influencer-built line by Baylee and Ryan Relf. The married couple started their skincare and fragrance brand in 2018 using minimal fonts, frosted glass tubes and easy-to-explain plant botanicals to establish a premium spa-girl vibe. In 2022, Dime got a cash infusion from Trilantic Capital, which mostly invests in energy holdings and in 2025 — alongside healthy acquisition odds, at least according to Crunchbase — Isgrid assumed the corner office, beginning as full-time CEO in March. Like, three weeks ago.
Isgrig has done this before, first by building Dermstore out of Target, and then as a founding member of The Board, the semi-secret consultancy and matchmaker brands and beauty whisperers. She also served as interim chief executive for three months at the prestige cosmetics company Uoma Beauty, after its founder Sharon Chuter stepped down. “What I learned [at The Board] was how critical talent is,” she said. “The talent you already have in place at a brand can’t be taken for granted.” That’s especially true at a voice-driven brand like Dime, which has built a vocal, engaged community through specific language and deliberate product design. Isgrig advises asking the teams that have built those channels about their best practices before making changes, even if big operational shifts are inevitable. “I like telling the team that they’re the expert on what they’ve already built, not you,” Isgrig said.
To ensure a seamless transition, Isgrig began working with Dime as an advisor before she assumed her CEO title and embedded with multiple teams before officially beginning her tenure. “That way, when it’s time to get to the next level of growth, you’re doing it with the grain of the company and not against,” she said. When it was time to start making changes, Isgrig framed the mandate as a team challenge in the face of a new situation, rather than an implication they were previously in the wrong, taking a page from Harvard Business School’s Resilience playbook (it’s a literal playbook, and actually pretty good); coaching over criticism.
To prep the brand for its Ulta launch — and its exposure to a totally new potential customer — Isgrig decided to fine tune the brand’s education strategy, working with the team to make its marketing as approachable as possible for an audience that didn’t yet know the brand. “A lot of skincare confuses the crap out of the customer,” she said. “There are so many vaguely-worded claims and a purposeful information overload, just to sound scientific and ‘official.’ But everyone on the team agrees that life is already pretty complicated!” she laughed. “So we talked about how to make education easier. How to lead with simplicity and authenticity.”
Fittingly, Isgrig notes that Dime’s new brand directive — “lead with simplicity and authenticity” — is also a useful mandate for a big company transition, especially if you’re a CEO at the top: “Make people feel included and informed,” she said.
That advice would go a long way at company’s like C.’s, where “stepmonster” CEOs are so quick to establish their authority, they lose trust and creative output in the process. “We started pretending to go out for ‘smoke breaks’ on days when we’re in the office, just to blow off steam,” she says. “Imagine being so desperate to talk about your boss that you start pretending you smoke in 2024.”
To be sure, C. and her colleagues understand that their beauty company is facing a tough market and needs to make changes — and that they’re at work, where the only thing guaranteed is a paycheck, not a route to emotional fulfillment. Still, there’s ample data to back up Isgrig’s more inclusive way of leading, especially when employees need to be nimble, creative, and loyal in order to get their brand to a higher level. That’s not going to happen if they’re too busy dealing with a CEO who’s acting like Meredith Blake from The Parent Trap… even if they’re trying to build cosmetics aimed at recreating her villainous but undeniable glamour.
What else is new…
Skincare
Saltair’s moisturising body mists got three new “flavours” — Golden Hour (coconut), Seascape (grapefruit) and Salt Water Vanilla — on March 13. They retail for $15 each and promise to make everyone in your sorority house super jealous.
Tatcha released a “travel size” of its Silk Sunscreen SPF 50 on March 17, but there’s a glitch: The regular size is 1.7 fl, which is only half the TSA carry-on limit. Why make a mini when the OG can safely board a plane? Because a $25 tube is way more likely to be an impulse buy than a $64 one, and those Sephora aisle bins aren’t going to fill themselves. Tatcha is smart to take advantage of that retail space, too, because they know this particular formula is excellent. Once you buy it, you’re not going back.
Be gentle? Please. Dr. Althea debuted a Grinding Cleansing Balm (Ow! But good ow?) on March 17 that uses jojoba and camelia extracts as grist, and brings to mind an apothecary’s mortar and pestle… but not his Shakespeare in Love hat. (Anybody? Anybody?)
Farmacy’s Green Clean Cleansing Balm hit the Sephora App on March 17, with a “sorbet-like” texture that sounds far more fun than a balm-to-gel formula… which it is.
RéVive spun off its Vitamin C Brightening Serum into a $195 eye cream that uses the same ingredients to address dark circles and fine lines. Let’s call it the Frasier of skin formulas.
Attention, skin zappers! The IPL Foreo debuted on March 18. It looks like a pink ‘80s hair dryer but comes with super-strong light beams to singe body hair off, reportedly for good. It’s $800 and scares me.
Dr. Dennis Gross introduced its “DermInfusions” eye cream on March 18 that claims to fix problems like “bunny lines” and “elevens” that I didn’t even know existed. This will likely make the $64 formula even more coveted — who wants to admit they didn’t know all the ways their own skin was betraying them? (Enter essay by a noted TikTok feminist here.)
Do we want to look like the characters we hate? U Beauty is testing that theory with Michelle Monaghan, the very kind TV actress playing a very bitchy TV actress on The White Lotus. She’s the new face of the brand, with a March 18 campaign showing the 48-year-old stunner applying luxury lip gloss from that famous metal tube.
Good news for people who still use topicals instead of Botox: The British facialist Katherine Daniels dropped her own bakuchiol cream on March 19. It’s also got babassu oil and shea butter for extra moisture, and retails for about $70.
Prequel launched its Reactive Skin Solutions 5% Ectoin Cream on March 19. It comes in a metal French pharmacy tube that resembles Glossier’s very first Balm Dotcom, and does the thing where it lists the percentage of its active ingredient in the name. Perhaps this is The Ordinary’s true legacy — Naturium started doing it, too.
Isle of Paradise introduced a $29 bottle of self-tanning drops on March 19. They’re meant to be mixed into your regular moisturiser, and come with a video where the subjects of Reddit’s NYC Influencer Snark thread appear to ask for tanning advice.
Makeup
Blurred lips > blurred lines. On January 30, the Rhode Skin founder launched Peptide Lip Shape, the $24 crayon that social media praised for its “blurring” effect, which made lips look fuller and lusher, but not more angular. Like most of Mrs. Bieber’s inventory, the products became instant hits, and on March 18, Hard Candy debuted its $8 Lip Blur crayon, which it proudly called a Rhode “dupe” in email blasts. Then on March 20, Cocokind unveiled its own $12 formula — Ceramide Lip Blur Balm — in five glossy shades. I’ve tried it; it’s lovely.
Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dewy Flush serum hit stores on March 13. It’s got a glob of shimmer in its buildable rosy formula and a surprise retail partner — Kohl’s — along with Sephora. Worth noting: The Fashion Law reported that the K-beauty brand is suing makeup brand Makeup By Mario for infringing on their “Watermelon Glow” trademark, which they claim they’ve spent $56 million building into a gotta-have-it concept. Makeup By Mario named a lip serum shade “Watermelon Glow,” alongside other fruity hues like “Cherry Glow” and “Strawberry Glow.”
Just B. introduced a powder highlight called Champagne Pigment Glow on March 14. It’s aiming to capture “South Asian and medium skin tones” but since it’s a neutral gold metallic, the $18 compact should work for complexions across the spectrum.
Adventure Time is one of the Cartoon Network’s most successful shows, with individual episodes luring in over 3 million viewers each. Either Sheglam knows that, or its product development team really likes zonking out on the couch. Either way, the Singapore makeup brand has paired with the animated show on seven cosmetics, including blush, highlighter, lip gloss and a makeup sponge shaped like the Earl of Lemongrab which… I mean… amazing. They dropped on March 17.
Ami Colé wants a slam dunk. The brand unveiled a March-Madness style bracket on March 17 that lets shoppers vote on a new lip gloss shade, which Ami Colé will make this summer. Paid partnerships with Spelman, Howard, UCLA, USC, Columbia, and the University of Georgia will amplify the competition, along with content from college influencers.
Kaja’s Beauty Bento compacts now come in gray-blue and dusty rose shades. The two hues hit Nordstrom.com and Macys.com on March 18 for $28 each, and though that seems expensive, the product is doing well enough to warrant a shade extension.
Tubing mascara continues to dominate new release lists, likely because the formulas do a better job staying put. Kulfi’s Badi Lash version rolled out on March 20 with castor oil and rambutan, a fruit with neon green and red “hair” that’s related to the lychee. I’ve been testing it this week, and I’d say the lash effect is geared more towards definition than length, and the ultimate one to beat is still from Tarte.
Too Faced launches a new mascara on March 21, and its also a tuber: Called the Ribbon Wrapped Lash Extreme Length Tubing Mascara, its a follow-up to Better Than Sex, which outsold every other mascara in the world in 2024, according to Circana.
ColourPop’s Toy Story collab hit shelves on March 20, with Buzz Lightyear eyeshadow, Pizza Planet lip masks, and green mascara for Rex, the goofy plastic dino who’s so beloved, he has his own Toy Story supercut with 2.5 million views. (It’s worth it.)
Someone check on Urban Decay’s product development department. On March 20, the brand dropped its 24/7 Glaze-On Eyeshadows, which look like molten metal and come with a screw-top applicator that could double as a fake nail on a Disney villainess. March 21 brought another eye launch, Naked Shadow Sticks, which are neutral-toned crayons that come in matte and shimmery formulas.
The blush rush continues. Westman Atelier’s cheeky Duos debut on March 21, featuring contrasting shades of peach, pink and bronze for maximum “ohhh, pretty” comments.
Haircare
If you grew up being scolded for your curly, “expensive” hair, V&Co. Beauty would like to help heal your inner child. The Minnesota-based brand debuted a curl-tested Moisture Collection on March 13, that costs $8 on its website — and $9 at Amazon, CVS, Target and Walmart.
Fragrance
Evereden, a beauty brand geared toward Gens Z, Alpha and younger, released a trio of $23 body mists on Amazon on March 18. They’re geared to Gen Alpha and Gen-Z, have names like “Main Character Energy” and “Supernova” and claim to be safe for kids as young as 8. The brand also makes face cream for babies… maybe to use during a baby facial.
The ultimate sign of gentrification: Your Brooklyn neighborhood gets its own luxury perfume. Bond No. 9, the fragrance house with scents inspired by Chinatown, the Upper East Side and the Hamptons, mixed a new juice for Greenpoint, the land of artisanal pizza and third-generation Polish dive bars, which launched on March 18. It smells like a $470 mix of pear, bergamot, and the ink you used to sign a lease for $800 a month in 2005.
Does your laundry need its own fragrance oil? Homecourt is going for it. The brand co-founded by Courteney Cox and Dr. Sarah Jahnke debuted its first laundry collection on March 19 and it includes neroli, cedarwood and rose scented oil options.
Dear readers, a vibe shift: The ultra-chic perfume junkies at Maison Francis Kurkdjian are getting cutesy. On March 18, the luxury label unveiled Kurky, a peach-raspberry fragrance with doodle-covered packaging and marketing assets that look like a comic book spread. The scent is $245 at Bloomingdale’s — still pretty adult — but the messaging is clear: Luxury fragrance is going younger and sweeter, and combined with Louis Vuitton’s dopamine-fueled Murakami relaunch, its sense of escape doesn’t include much room for irony. (Or sex, for that matter.)
Juliette Has a Gun boasts a naughty name, but its latest fragrance — Miami Shake — is equally declawed, with a strawberry top note, notes of whipped cream and a pastel bottle featuring cotton candy shades of pink and blue.
If you are in the market for a straight-up lust trigger, maybe try Phlur. Its BDSM-tinged Rose Whip perfume debuted on March 21 with a spank of pink peppercorn and black currant, plus nutmeg, musk and blacklight imagery that hints at a 50 Shades prequel.
Maddie Ziegler has booked her first fragrance campaign! The tween dance prodigy turned credible actress is now the face of Maison Margiela’s perfume line, which is licensed through L’Oréal. Her first campaign drops March 21, and it’s for Never Ending Summer, the $165 perfume that smells like an Aperol Spritz.
And finally…
Sunscreen charms are happening at Revolve and Urban Outfitters. Prada Beauty — perhaps get on this.
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