Beauty’s essential workers

Elyse Glickman is US west coast editor of Lucire.

Over the past two decades, Lucire kicked off the year’s beauty coverage by reporting on the latest and greatest in beauty and wellness innovations at flashy “awards’ season” pre-show suites and the Indie Beauty Expo. However, COVID-19 definitively marked the end of this era—and the start of another. The Pro Safety Beauty Summit, taking place January 11–13, 2021, is not only a ‘first-of-its-kind international online trade conference’ that underscores this new era, but also introduces the general public to a more thoughtful way to look at beauty innovation, from top industry experts down to our devices’ keypads.

While salons, spas and independent professionals spent much of 2020 navigating unfamiliar territory to make beauty services and goods smarter and safer, the rest of us are tracking their progress as they work towards total reopening. In the process, their "best practices" should also have us rethinking about how to make our day-to-day maintenance and routines cleaner, more streamlined and more sanitary. Leading the charge is Madeline Leonard, Karen Reddy-Medeiros and Sumita Batra, who pulled together the Pro Safety Beauty Summit to provide beauty professionals a roadmap to groundbreaking safety products, health protocols and everything else required to go the distance a post COVID-19 world.

Although we’re eagerly awaiting our favourite beauty businesses and service providers to fully reopen later in 2021, the Pro-Safety Beauty Summit media gift bag and a few other brands provided us with a few ways to elevate our mood, pretty up and pamper ourselves in the interim.

Make-up artists and brands make their mark
The Leland‌ ‌Francis‌ collection concept was fashioned by celebrity‌ ‌and‌ ‌editorial‌ ‌make-up‌ ‌artist‌ ‌Dillon‌ ‌Peña‌. His goal was to ‌enhance the‌ ‌landscape‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌green‌ ‌beauty‌ ‌industry‌ ‌through his ‌luxe‌ ‌line‌ ‌of‌ ‌clean,‌ ‌natural‌ ‌small-batch‌ ‌beauty‌ ‌products‌. Although though many products are intended for the pros to help lay‌ ‌the‌ ‌foundation‌ ‌for‌ ‌proper‌ ‌make-up‌ ‌application, the products (such as the ‌body serum) enable anybody to add an extra layer of green luxury even at a time when everybody’s wearing less make-up.

At a time when Zoom conferences abound but overly done appearances do not, Pro-Safety Beauty Summit sponsor Make Up For Ever’s lightweight Water Blend face and body foundation provides nearly weightless, buildable coverage for a flawless look that looks polished but completely natural. The fact that the formula is 80 per cent water adds to its appeal as a healthier make-up alternative.

Ready, Set, Jet may have been designed for travel, but we can’t think of anything better for keeping one’s current daily routine glamorous but streamlined. These interchangeable and functional batons are the brainchild of global beauty entrepreneur, author and activist Shalini Vadhera, who takes a double-barrelled approach to mixing and matching skin care and colour cosmetics for customized, no-mess portable beauty.

From‌ ‌her‌ ‌native‌ ‌Iran,‌ ‌and‌ ‌later‌ ‌to‌ ‌England‌ ‌and India,‌ ‌entrepreneur Kundan‌ ‘Kelly’‌ ‌Sabarwal‌ ‌grew‌ ‌up‌ ‌watching‌ ‌her‌ ‌father‌ ‌and‌ ‌brothers‌ ‌develop‌ ‌and launch ‌brands‌ ‌internationally.‌ Following in their footsteps, she rolled out Ziba Beauty. Today, her Ziba brow salons can be found in upscale shopping areas worldwide, and in step with the times, she’s packaged them in an essentials package that makes perfect eyes and brows attainable on the go.

Cinema Secrets‌ ‌has long been a go-to line for professional make-up artists on movie sets and photo studios worldwide. One trade secret worth knowing is that clean, sanitary brushes makes application cleaner and more professionally looking. With that, the Cinema Secrets brush cleaner should not only be in those professional settings, but also in everybody’s medicine cabinet.

Rose-Marie, the creator of RMS, developed her line out of personal necessity and recovery. While developing her line was part of her healing process, we all can agree that toxic‌ ‌chemicals‌ ‌and‌ ‌heavy‌ ‌metals‌ ‌used in many popular beauty lines are not doing anybody any favours. She successfully argues that if we’re concerned about what we put in our bodies when we eat and drink, doesn’t it also make sense to show that same kind of care when choosing beauty products?

To learn more about the hottest skin care and make-up brands popping up on every trendy international beauty site, head to Deciem, which describes itself as a ‘humble‌ ‌and‌ ‌happy‌ ‌umbrella‌ ‌of‌ ‌good‌ ‌beauty‌ ‌brands.’ The Ordinary, a no-frills–high-quality line of organic spa-inspired formulas sold at reasonable neighbourhood pharmacy prices, is prominently featured, as is the Chemistry Brand, which takes a problem-solving approach in its range of products for hair and skin.

More essentials for clean living in 2021

Internationally pharmacy skin care brand La Roche-Posay is at last bringing its top selling Lipikar Lipid Care line of lotions and body wash to American shores. These ultra-moisturizing wonders blend luxurious shea butter and other natural ingredients to remedy extra dry and eczema-prone skin. Its Cicaplast Hands repair cream and balm will also be hitting US retailers, imparting 48-hour hydration and a barrier of shea butter, niacinamide and glycerin that keeps moisture in through multiple hand washings and hand sanitizer applications. Luxurious textures, meanwhile, make these necessities all the more delightful to use on a daily basis.

We have many choices when it comes to hand sanitizer, but there’s something reassuring and evocative about the lemongrass, clove and lavender scents of Hands‌ ‌Down‌ ‌Hand‌ ‌Refresher‌, reminding us of a past vacation to a far-off place, or one we want to take later this year. The collection was by‌ ‌celebrity‌ ‌make-up‌ ‌artist‌ ‌Stephanie‌ ‌Fowler, who ‌developed‌ ‌this‌ ‌formula‌ ‌while‌ ‌working‌ ‌with‌ ‌her‌ ‌clients‌.

‌Tangle‌ ‌Teezer, founded‌ ‌by‌ ‌leading‌ ‌hair‌ ‌colourist‌ Shaun‌ ‌P.‌ in‌ ‌London‌ ‌in‌ ‌2007,‌ began‌ ‌life‌ ‌as‌ ‌an‌ ‌idea‌ ‌in‌ ‌a salon‌ ‌and‌ evolved into a‌ ‌global‌ ‌business‌ ‌selling ‌50‌ ‌million‌ ‌hairbrushes‌ ‌worldwide.‌ ‌

Following the adage that beauty begins from the inside out, Health‌ ‌Plus‌ ‌Inc.‌ supplements ‌offers dozens of well-researched,‌ ‌safe,‌ ‌effective‌ nutritional solutions to help everybody clean themselves out, build up their resistance and pretty themselves up from within. •