October 2017 was the month the post-Fenty conversation settled, the Allure Best of Beauty list landed, the holiday gift sets stacked themselves up on every Sephora endcap, and Halloween makeup peaked at a level of complexity that pushed even the most enthusiastic among us toward the simpler look. The first weekend of the month brought cooler air and a real autumn for the first time, the kind that justifies the heavier moisturizer and the second cup of coffee. The bathroom counter looked entirely fall — the Fenty foundation pump in the front, a Pat McGrath palette in dark plum to the right, an oil cleanser in the back, and a single Diptyque rollerball that we had been wearing for three weeks. October’s joy is in the small details, and we are committed to all of them.
The Allure Best of Beauty list, with our caveats
Allure‘s annual Best of Beauty list dropped on October 3 with the usual mix of expected winners (Olaplex, Drunk Elephant, Charlotte Tilbury), surprises (a particularly strong drugstore showing this year), and one or two that we wanted to push back on. The list named Fenty Beauty‘s Pro Filt’r as foundation of the year — a call we agreed with, though it was a one-month-old product at the time of judging. Maybelline‘s SuperStay Matte Ink and the L’Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise both made the drugstore tier. The Allure list is still the most-cited annual product round-up in beauty press, and the brands that win positions on it tend to see a real Q4 sales lift. We use it less as gospel and more as a reminder of which products had the most editorial momentum across the year. The list also reminded us that a $9 mascara had earned more best-of recognition than most $30 ones.
The post-Fenty competition starts to deliver
Five weeks after the Fenty launch, the prestige brands that had been scrambling in September started shipping their responses. MAC announced an expanded shade range across its core foundation lines for fall delivery. Maybelline released a forty-shade range in its Fit Me line at the drugstore, which delivered the inclusivity message at a $9 price point and was probably the most quietly important launch of the month. Cover FX — a brand that had been quietly delivering deep shade range for years — finally got the critical mass of editorial attention it had earned. The Fenty effect was working as intended; the bar had moved, and brands that had been complacent on shade range were now publicly accountable. The conversation in the beauty press through October shifted from “how to match” to “who deserves credit for moving first.” The honest answer was usually Fenty.
Halloween makeup, peaking
Halloween 2017 fell on a Tuesday, and the editorial buildup ran the full month. The complexity of editorial Halloween looks had reached a level we no longer attempted at home — full SFX makeup prosthetics, two-hour sit-downs in front of an Instagram light, looks designed for the camera rather than for a party. We pulled back this year. The simpler look we landed on: a single graphic eye in matte black liquid liner, dramatically winged, paired with a deep red Pat McGrath lip and an otherwise bare face. The conversation in beauty press was about the rise of “soft Halloween” — looks that took inspiration from a costume without committing to one — and we are the target market. The face paint went unused. The graphic eye was three minutes of work and held all night.
The holiday gift set, on display
By the second week of October every prestige retailer had committed to its holiday gift set assortment, and the standouts were already clear. Charlotte Tilbury‘s holiday gift architecture remained the strongest in prestige beauty — boxed sets, a Pillow Talk lipstick-and-liner duo, advent calendars built to be Instagrammed. Diptyque‘s holiday candle architecture was, as always, the gift to give the friend you do not know that well. Kiehl’s released its annual artist-collaboration holiday tin, this year designed by Jeremyville, and we bought a four-pack for the office. The single best gift-set buy of the season was actually a non-prestige one — a Bond No. 9 mini-bottle gift set we picked up at Bergdorf for a friend who was particular about fragrance. October is the month to sort out the Christmas list. We were on it.
The skincare ingredient of the month
The skincare ingredient that dominated October beauty press was bakuchiol — a plant-based retinol alternative that had quietly been included in a handful of niche launches the previous year and was now in everything from prestige lines at Sephora to private-label brands at the drugstore. Herbivore Botanicals‘s bakuchiol serum had been in our routine since spring, and we were testing the new Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial — a 25% AHA, 2% BHA mask that had become the cult product of the prestige acid category. The active-ingredient era had reached a point where consumers were starting to know more about percentages and pH than the average sales associate. The shift in the conversation was real, and not slowing down. We are reading Into the Gloss for a clearer take on what is actually worth using.
Closing
By the last week of October the calendar had cooled, the holiday lists were drafted, and the Halloween makeup had settled into a single graphic eye for everyone in our group. November is going to bring the holiday push in earnest — the Black Friday beauty sales, the Sephora Beauty Insider holiday event, the gift sets either selling through or going on markdown. We will see you on the first Tuesday of November.