January 2024 opened with a swift cultural pivot. The coquette-pink-and-pearls aesthetic that had defined late 2023 gave way almost overnight to its opposite: the “mob wife” look, which had been bubbling on TikTok since November and exploded into mainstream visibility through the first three weeks of January. Big fur, gold jewellery, slicked-back hair, defined lip — the cultural mood turned away from soft-femme and toward something more assertive. Around it, the usual January reset continued: barrier-repair skincare, post-holiday detox, and the first launches of the new year. These are the products and trends that defined the start of 2024.
“Mob wife” aesthetic takes over
The “mob wife” look that TikTok had been quietly building peaked through January. The aesthetic was the deliberate counter to the coquette-clean-girl-balletcore trio that had dominated 2023 — instead of pink-and-pearls, it was fur-coat-and-statement-gold; instead of soft skin and ribbon ponytails, it was sculpted brows, glossy slicked-back hair, and a dark plum or wine lip. The visual reference points were Carmela Soprano, Karen Hill in Goodfellas, and a generally maximalist read of 1990s Italian-American glamour.
The products that powered the look: Charlotte Tilbury‘s Pillow Talk Intense for the lip, Pat McGrath Labs‘s smoky eye palettes, MAC‘s Spice and Cork lip liners for the lined-lip silhouette, and Olaplex‘s No. 7 Bonding Oil for the high-gloss slicked-back hair. The styling logic was that 2024 wanted a more assertive, less-apologetic visual expression — and “mob wife” gave women a culturally-sanctioned aesthetic for it.
The post-holiday barrier reset
The January skincare conversation continued the now-mature post-holiday barrier-repair routine. CeraVe‘s Hydrating Cleanser remained the dermatologist-default. La Roche-Posay‘s Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer continued its multi-year run as the across-the-board fall-back. Vaseline was still the slugging hero. Cetaphil‘s Gentle Skin Cleanser stayed in the rotation.
What had changed about the January reset by 2024 was the scope. Where 2023’s “two weeks of nothing” had been a niche dermatology-influencer recommendation, 2024’s version was mainstream — Sephora and Ulta both ran campaigns positioning the January reset as a wellness-and-routine practice rather than a fringe one. The brands had decisively decided to lean into restraint as a marketable concept, which was good news for the consumer who had been over-stimulated by the launch frenzy of 2022-2023.
Naturium’s first launches under E.l.f.
Naturium‘s first post-acquisition launches under E.l.f. ownership arrived mid-January. The brand released a new Vitamin C Complex Cream and a refreshed Glow Recipe-adjacent Multi-Bright Tranexamic Acid Treatment. The launches were strategically careful — Naturium kept its independent brand voice, its existing channel partnerships (Target, Amazon, Naturium.com), and Susan Yara’s personal brand presence — but the product cadence was visibly accelerating compared to pre-acquisition timing.
The strategic test was whether E.l.f. could grow Naturium without diluting it. The early signals were positive — the launches felt like a Naturium product rather than a Naturium-flavoured E.l.f. product. The acquisition playbook E.l.f. was running (let the founder stay, keep the channel mix, accelerate product velocity carefully) was a credible template for the rest of the indie-prestige consolidation that was now underway. We expected more deals through 2024.
The “strawberry girl” makeup trend
Alongside the mob-wife maximalism, a quieter trend — the “strawberry girl” makeup look — caught its own moment through January. The look was pink-pink cheeks (a hot-pink blush placed high on the cheekbone), strawberry-tinted lip, brushed-up brows, and the slightly-flushed-from-the-cold finish that the season called for. Rare Beauty‘s Soft Pinch Liquid Blush in Hope and Joy did the heavy lifting. Merit‘s Flush Balm provided the prestige alternative.
The interesting thing about “strawberry girl” was that it occupied roughly the same emotional space as the coquette aesthetic of late 2023 — soft-femme, pink-coded, playful — but with a slightly more grown-up styling. The look worked for the 30-something customer who didn’t want to fully commit to coquette ribbons but appreciated the pink-cheek vocabulary. We expected the look to last through Q1 2024 as an alternative to the mob-wife maximalism.
Body care continues, no longer summer-only
The body-care category that had matured into a real prestige tier through 2023 continued to grow through January 2024 — and importantly, no longer felt like a summer-only conversation. Necessaire had become a year-round prestige body-care brand. SALT & STONE‘s natural deodorant kept its position. The newer entrants — Sol de Janeiro, Half Magic body care, the Glow Recipe body line — kept growing.
The bigger pattern was that body care had completed its transition from “summer SPF and self-tan” into “year-round routine” over the previous three years. The category was now a permanent fixture of every prestige beauty shopper’s monthly stack rather than a seasonal moment. We expected the category to keep growing at double-digit rates through 2024 and to start attracting the same kind of acquisition interest that the indie-prestige face-skincare brands had drawn through 2023.
January 2024 opened with a clear thesis: a sharp pivot from coquette-soft to mob-wife-assertive, the barrier-repair reset finally going mainstream, Naturium’s E.l.f. acquisition delivering its first product output, the “strawberry girl” look as the softer alternative aesthetic, and body care finally a year-round category. We will see you on the first Tuesday of February.
Shop the edit
- CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser — the gentle cleanse to start the reset.
- La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Moisturizer — a no-drama daily moisturizer.
- The Ordinary Granactive Retinoid — an approachable retinoid for the new year.
- TruSkin Vitamin C Serum — a brightening vitamin C step.
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