March 2020 will not be a normal beauty month. We are writing this on the first Tuesday of the month, before the United States has issued widespread stay-at-home orders, and we already feel the conversation shifting. Italy went into lockdown last week. Asian beauty supply chains are visibly disrupted. The category is moving very fast from “what’s new this season” to “what do I actually need from my bathroom for the next six weeks.” Here is what we think genuinely matters in March.
The home routine becomes the routine
If you have been wearing makeup five days a week, you are about to wear it none. The shift away from foundation, blush, and mascara toward a serious skin routine is happening so fast that we are already seeing it reshape what is on backorder at Sephora and CeraVe‘s direct site. Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, retinol, ceramide-rich creams, and basic SPF — these are the products that will get used. The lipstick stays in the drawer.
The hands and the face mask reality
Hand-washing is suddenly a twenty-times-a-day activity. Aesop Resurrection Hand Balm and the heavy CeraVe Healing Ointment are the right answers. We are also already seeing “maskne” — irritation under cloth and surgical masks — become a real conversation in dermatology forums. The early advice we are passing on: skip the heaviest occlusives during the day if you are wearing a mask, switch your daytime cream to a lighter gel formula like Neutrogena Hydro Boost, and double-cleanse at night to clear the friction-trapped sebum.
Hair color goes home — Olaplex No. 0 is moving
Salons are starting to close in the cities that have moved fast on lockdown. The hair-color conversation has gone from “I want a balayage refresh” to “how do I keep my color from disintegrating until I can get back into the chair.” Olaplex No. 0 and No. 3 — the pre-shampoo treatment plus the in-shower mask — are flying off shelves at Sephora. If you are committed to color and are watching your salon close, those two products plus a sulfate-free shampoo will keep the color stable for at least eight weeks. Kérastase Bain Cristal is the right shampoo if you are color-treated.
Everyone is suddenly buying The Ordinary
The combination of “I have time to actually use the products I have” and “I should not be spending eighty dollars on a serum right now” has produced an enormous spike in interest in The Ordinary and The Inkey List. We are recommending the same starter routine we have suggested for two years: The Ordinary Niacinamide 10%, Buffet, and Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion. Three products, eighteen dollars total, results visible in six weeks. The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream as a fourth piece if puffiness is your thing.
What we are not buying right now
This is the section we usually leave out, but the moment calls for it. We are not stocking up on foundation, lipstick, blush, or mascara. We are not pre-ordering Spring 2020 launches. We are not buying anything at the prestige-fragrance counter. The products that benefit from a working makeup-and-events lifestyle are about to sit unused in our drawers. The category will rebound — we are not pessimists about this — but the immediate weeks call for a stripped-down lineup.
Brand actions worth noting
Several beauty companies have made meaningful pivots already this month. LVMH announced this week that its perfume and cosmetic factories will be retooled to manufacture hand sanitizer for French hospitals. Estée Lauder committed two million dollars to relief efforts. We expect more announcements in the coming weeks and we will track them. The brands that show up materially in the next ninety days will earn long memory.
What we are buying in March
Our March cart is functional, stocked, and small. Three tubes of CeraVe Moisturizing Cream. Two bottles of Aesop Resurrection Hand Wash. A six-month supply of EltaMD UV Clear SPF (do not skip SPF inside — windows pass UVA). One bottle of Olaplex No. 3. We will see you on the first Tuesday of April. Take care of yourselves.