September brought the city back to a working speed. NYFW Spring 2017 ran from the eighth to the fifteenth, the see-now-buy-now experiment dominated the trade press, and the long Labor Day weekend cleared the bridge into proper autumn beauty. Our bathroom counter shifted in two clean moves over the first week: a heavier moisturiser at night, a warmer lip stain in the bag, and the SPF that had been standing in for daily moisturiser through August was politely retired until next May. The month’s recurring lesson was about pacing — the autumn beauty step-up is more interesting when it is gradual, not when the entire bathroom counter changes in a single afternoon.
NYFW Spring 2017 and the see-now-buy-now experiment
Tommy Hilfiger‘s see-now-buy-now Pier 16 show with Gigi Hadid on September 9 was the most-photographed show of the week. The runway-to-shop-floor experiment delivered — by Saturday morning the consumer pieces were checkout-able online, the carnival-themed booths were open to the public, and our group chat was actively shopping. Rebecca Minkoff ran the same playbook a few days later. Marc Jacobs‘s Spring 2017 was the season’s most editorial collection — Bella Hadid debuted on the Marc Jacobs runway, dramatic dreadlocked styling provoked the appropriate week of conversation. The takeaway: the runway-to-rack calendar realigned in 2016, and the houses that committed early were the ones that benefited.
The autumn skincare step-up
The transition from summer’s barrier-protective rotation to autumn’s actives-and-rebuild routine started on the Sunday after Labor Day. Out came the new Drunk Elephant C-Firma we had been holding since August. The retinol step-up came back into the rotation two evenings a week, then three. Heavier moisturisers from Augustinus Bader — the brand had been quietly building a US presence — joined the night routine. The takeaway: autumn skincare is the season the actives finally repay attention, and the SPF stays daily.
The warmer-lip return
By the second week of September, the balms were back on the shelf and the bullets were back in the bag. Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk continued its three-year cult run, and the Matte Revolution shades in 1975 and Walk of Shame became the everyday rotation. MAC Velvet Teddy got a quiet fall reissue and re-entered every editor’s pouch. NARS Audacious in Anna kept the matte-bullet category alive. The takeaway: a warmer berry or rosewood lip is the most reliable signal you have made the switch to autumn.
Pat McGrath Mothership lands
The biggest prestige beauty drop of September was Pat McGrath Labs‘s Mothership eyeshadow palettes. Five palettes — Subliminal, Sublime, Subversive, Subiminal Platinum, and Subnormal — each forty US dollars per gram, the most expensive prestige eyeshadow launches of the year. The brand had been testing capsule pricing through the year, and Mothership was the natural conclusion. We did not all buy palettes, but we all studied the swatches; the gold-and-aubergine combinations defined the eye-makeup vocabulary for the rest of the year. The takeaway: the prestige-palette category had a new ceiling.
Glossier expansion, the Atlanta trial
Mid-September Glossier ran a pop-up trial in Atlanta — the first significant non-NYC retail experiment for the brand. The takeaway from our Atlanta-based friends: the brand translated outside its hometown, the showroom-style display worked, and the local-market strategy was proving viable for a beauty DTC. The line for Cloud Paint and Boy Brow ran around the block by the second day. The brand’s Q4 calendar was already telegraphing more colour-cosmetics drops. The lesson: a digital-native beauty brand earns its audience all over again at the first physical retail.
Hair, the autumn cut
The mid-month salon visits delivered the autumn cuts our friends had booked through August. The choppy fringe came back, the long lob got an inch trimmed, and a couple of friends went deeper to a proper bob. Olaplex No. 3 stayed in the Sunday rotation, and the bronde glaze got refreshed for the colder months. The hair brief for autumn was sharper edges, lower-maintenance volume, less heat-styling. The takeaway: the right autumn haircut is the most under-discussed beauty decision of the year.
What we are watching in October
October brings Allure’s Best of Beauty rollout, the start of the holiday gift-set wave at Sephora, and the Halloween-makeup editorial cycle that shapes the rest of the autumn. We are watching for the next clean-skincare launch — Drunk Elephant has another autumn drop telegraphed — and for the see-now-buy-now experiment to either expand or recede. Our October plan: confirm the autumn lipstick rotation, finish the C-Firma at proper retinol pace, and start the holiday-gift-list spreadsheet. We will see you on the first Tuesday of October.