June 2022 was the most launch-heavy beauty month we had seen in a long time. The middle of the month brought two of the year’s most-anticipated debuts within ten days of each other, the wedding calendar was full from start to finish, and Pride brought a wider conversation about inclusive lines and small queer-owned labels back into editorial focus. Travel was finally back to pre-pandemic patterns, which meant a noticeable uptick in carry-on-friendly mineral sunscreens, refillable lip balms, and the kind of compact two-in-one products that earned their place in a small toiletry bag. Here is what the bathroom counter looked like through June.
Rhode arrived on June 15
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode debuted on June 15 with a tightly edited three-piece routine — a Peptide Glazing Fluid, a Barrier Restore Cream, and a Peptide Lip Treatment — and it sold out within hours of going live. The brand had been teased through the entire glazed-donut-skin moment, and the launch landed exactly inside the conversation the founder had been building. The Peptide Lip Treatment was the standout: a thick, slightly tinted balm in a thoughtfully-sized squeeze tube that felt like a more functional version of the cult Aquaphor application. The pricing was prestige but not stratospheric, the packaging was beautifully restrained, and the launch had the energy of a brand that knew what it was. We got two of the lip treatments and put one on the bathroom shelf and one in the carry-on.
Pat McGrath dropped Huetopian Dream
Pat McGrath’s Pat McGrath Labs released the Mothership IX Huetopian Dream eyeshadow palette in mid-June, a colour story of vivid jewel tones and metallic teal-and-fuchsia pigments that had been previewed on the Spring 2022 Anna Sui runway. The Huetopian palette was the most pigmented of the Mothership series we had picked up, with shadows that worked at runway intensity but blended beautifully into editorial daytime looks. The piece felt purpose-built for a season that had decided eyeshadow was back. The price was unflinching — north of one hundred and twenty dollars — but for anyone collecting Mothership palettes, this had become the definitive Spring/Summer 2022 entry, and we expected restocks to be intermittent through autumn.
Mineral SPF finally went prestige
The mineral-versus-chemical sunscreen debate had been simmering for years, and June was the month the prestige category caught up. Westman Atelier‘s Vital Skincare Soft Lit Liquid Foundation included an SPF 30 mineral filter and read as the closest thing to glass-skin in a foundation we had used. Versed‘s Guards Up Mineral Sunscreen took the affordable, transparent-finish lane. Drunk Elephant‘s Umbra Tinte Physical Daily Defense kept the Drunk Elephant believer happy with broad spectrum and an antioxidant-rich base. The thing that had changed in 2022 was the cosmetic finish — we no longer had to choose between visible white cast and chemical-filter eye-stinging. Several mineral options finally felt like an actual upgrade rather than a trade-off.
Lip balm got a real upgrade
The category that nobody had paid much attention to in years was suddenly central, and June was the month we noticed the field had completely changed. Summer Fridays‘s Lip Butter Balm in Vanilla and Honey had become the universal “what is on your lips” answer; Laneige‘s Lip Sleeping Mask kept its place as the overnight reference, particularly the new Sweet Candy seasonal flavour; Kosas‘s Wet Lip Oil Plumper introduced an actual peptide-formulated lip balm with a glossy finish. Even the Rhode lip treatment we mentioned above slotted into this same field. The category had moved from “drugstore afterthought” to “real, well-formulated product with a real price tag” in about eighteen months, and we were honestly happy to see it.
Pride spotlighted small queer-owned brands
Pride had become an annual marketing moment for every major beauty house, and the more interesting conversation each year was which actual queer-owned and queer-led labels were worth following. Fluide, the New York-based makeup line founded by Laura Kraber and Isabella Giancarlo, kept the gender-inclusive lipsticks and eye shadow conversation rolling with its Pride Pack. Half Magic Beauty we had written about in April, and through June the brand kept doing the most interesting work in colour cosmetics. The honest pitch we kept making to our group chat: skip the rainbow-packaging from a major house and put your money behind the small lines that actually had skin in the game year-round.
Closing
June ended with a Rhode lip balm and a Mothership IX palette on the bathroom counter, a new mineral SPF in everyday rotation, and a fuller short-list of small queer-owned labels for the year ahead. Summer was officially under way, the wedding calendar was at its peak, and the categories that had been quiet for two years were all suddenly loud at once. We will be back on the third Tuesday of June with a summer jewellery roundup of the independent designers we are wearing through the heat, and back on the first Tuesday of July with the next monthly. See you then.
Shop the edit
- e.l.f. Stay All Night Setting Spray — keeps summer makeup in place through the heat.
- Supergoop! Glow Stick SPF 50 — easy on-the-go SPF reapplication.
- Color Wow Dream Coat — anti-humidity protection for summer hair.
- Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa 62 Mist — a warm-weather scent layer.
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