December was the close-the-books month. The year-end lists landed across the beauty press — Allure’s, Glamour’s, WWD’s, Marie Claire’s — and the consensus on the products that had defined 2024 was clearer than usual. Holiday party season pulled out the brighter end of the eyeshadow palette and the metallics that had been off the shelf for two years. The John Galliano departure from Maison Margiela on December 11 effectively closed the most influential runway-beauty story of the year. And the lead-up to NYE made it obvious that the “clean girl” minimalism that had governed beauty since 2022 was finally ready to give way to something more interesting. We tried to enjoy the year-end glow without diving too hard into January planning yet.
The year-end lists were the most useful in years
The 2024 year-end best-of lists across the beauty press converged on a tight, credible set of products. Charlotte Tilbury‘s anniversary capsule and Pillow Talk Big Lip Plumpgasm appeared on most. Rhode‘s Pocket Blush. Sol de Janeiro‘s Cheirosa 68. The e.l.f. Halo Glow franchise across multiple SKUs. Glossier‘s Universal Pro-Read Concealer. Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun. The list felt earned this year, not generated — these were the products people had actually worn, recommended to friends, and rebought. The takeaway: when the year-end lists agree, the year had real, durable winners.
NYE makeup finally got interesting again
For three Decembers running, NYE beauty content had defaulted to a “polished clean girl” template: glassy skin, neutral lip, soft glitter at most. December 2024’s NYE content broke. Heavy gloss eyes. Metallic eyeliner returned. Wet-look skin. A real saturated lip, often deep wine or oxblood. Pat McGrath Labs‘s pigment products got pulled out of their normal “for-pros” sub-segment and into mainstream content. Make Up For Ever Aqua Resist Color Pencils saw a spike. The takeaway: minimalism had been the dominant beauty mode for long enough; the swing back toward maximalism was beginning, and NYE was the natural inflection point.
John Galliano left Margiela on December 11
John Galliano’s departure from Maison Margiela was officially announced on December 11 after months of speculation, closing a ten-year tenure that had produced some of the most influential runway-makeup moments of the modern era. The January 2024 couture show — Pat McGrath’s porcelain-doll finish — would in retrospect be Galliano’s lasting beauty contribution to the house. Maison Margiela‘s next creative director would inherit a beauty legacy that had punched far above the house’s ready-to-wear weight for a decade. The takeaway: runway beauty matters as much as runway fashion in shaping what we wear, and the brands that lose a creative director with a strong beauty point of view will be making decisions that affect the cosmetics aisle for years.
The holiday self-gift category was where prestige held up
Holiday-season retail data confirmed what the November Estée Lauder commentary had previewed: prestige beauty’s growth was slowing, but the customer was still buying for herself in specific premium categories. Augustinus Bader‘s The Rich Cream as a holiday self-gift. Gisou hair oils as a December present-to-self. The Dyson Airwrap as the iconic “I’d been waiting to justify this.” The takeaway: prestige beauty wasn’t dead, it was discriminating — and customers were spending where the product earned the price, not the brand.
The skincare reset was already in motion
The last week of December every year produces a wave of “new year skincare reset” content. The 2024 version was sharper than usual — informed by the year’s “morning shed” pushback and the broader exhaustion with over-routining. The consensus reset routine: a gentle cleanser, a vitamin C in the morning, a retinoid at night, a ceramide moisturizer, and an SPF. Five products, no fillers. The Inkey List‘s tighter ingredient lineup got featured heavily. The takeaway: the beauty conversation in December 2024 had matured enough that “less is more” was no longer the contrarian take, it was the consensus.
What we are watching in January
The new year brings the predictable wave of resolution-driven beauty content and the early-year prestige launches that prestige houses always seed for January. Estée Lauder’s new CEO transition closes effective January 1 and we’ll be watching for early strategic signals. The Spring 2025 couture shows in late January — the first post-Galliano Margiela couture is going to be the most-watched debut of the year. We’re also watching the first wave of January launches that always reset the year’s narrative. We will see you on the first Tuesday of January 2025.
Shop the edit
- Maybelline SuperStay Vinyl Ink — a high-shine NYE lip.
- La Roche-Posay 10% Pure Vitamin C Serum — a year-end brightening hero.
- Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub — a gift-ready body scrub.
- e.l.f. Bite-Size Eyeshadow Palette — a mini palette for NYE eyes.
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