The rise of SUPER CREAMS
The influence of the East on the skincare trends of today is hard to overstate. The rise of K- and J-beauty (Korea and Japan) has hailed the arrival of multi-step, serum-heavy routines and of more playful elements like pretty packaged sheet masks and jade facial massage tools.
Happily, the expansion of our skincare collections has coincided with what many are calling the ‘democratisation of skincare’. Waving goodbye to the days of expensive creams with indecipherable labels, today, brands like The Inkey List and The Ordinary are offering potent, single-ingredient serums for under £10. They’re also taking to social media, encouraging their consumers to brush up on their skincare science and pick ’n’ mix ingredients that were once the sole purview of clinicians and dermatologists.
But, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and we’re beginning to see a new trend emerge. These are doctor-devised, one-stop-shop supercreams that promise to clear out our skincare cupboards and address our complexion concerns in one fell swoop. The elegantly balanced formulations are grounded in years of clinical practice, and put an emphasis on quality over quantity – hence the hefty price tags. Whether or not we’re willing to splurge on these new skin saviours, they may just persuade us to hop off the fast-beauty bandwagon and strip back our increasingly cluttered cosmetic collections.
THE STEM CELL SUPERSTAR
Augustinus Bader The Cream
