Welcome to the new decade. January is always the month for an honest reset, and 2020 is the year we are recommitting to the products that actually work, the routines we will sustain past Valentine’s Day, and the brands we trust enough to stake a year on. The Australian bushfires are dominating world news this month and several of the brands we cover are donating meaningfully to relief — we will note this as we go. Let’s get into it.
Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Intense lands
The franchise extension we predicted in December landed on schedule: Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Intense is now in stores. Where the original Pillow Talk is a sheer rosy nude, the Intense version pushes the formula deeper into a mauve-rose that reads more pigmented in photos and works better on medium and deeper skin tones. Both shades will live in the lineup permanently, which is the right call. If you have not yet bought the original, start there. If you already own it, the Intense is worth a separate slot.
Pat McGrath Sublime Perfection foundation arrives
Pat McGrath Labs launched its first foundation this month — Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection. After half a decade of palettes and lipsticks, Pat McGrath has finally entered the foundation category, and she has done it with thirty-six shades and a hybrid satin-matte finish that holds up under both flash and daylight. The price reads steep at sixty-eight dollars, but the formula and shade range are aggressive enough to compete directly with Estée Lauder Double Wear at the prestige tier. We have been wearing it for two weeks and we are converted.
Drunk Elephant’s first Shiseido-era thinking
Drunk Elephant has not launched a major new product since the Shiseido acquisition closed in October, but the December newsletter teased that a Bronzing Drops product is incoming. We are watching this carefully — Drunk Elephant has been a deeply slow-launch brand by deliberate strategy, and any acceleration in its release calendar will tell us what Shiseido’s stewardship looks like in practice. For now, the existing lineup remains the core, and Protini Polypeptide Cream is still the right entry point.
The clean-girl January routine
The single biggest beauty conversation in our DM’s this month is “the clean January routine” — a stripped-down, repeatable lineup that resets the skin after holiday richness. Our recommended baseline: The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid serum morning and night, Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos two nights a week, CeraVe Moisturizing Cream as the occlusive, and a daily mineral SPF from EltaMD. Five products, no decisions. The skin gets quieter within two weeks.
Australian bushfires and beauty’s response
Several beauty companies are donating meaningfully to Australian bushfire relief this month. Aesop — itself an Australian house — committed to the Australian Red Cross. Lush is donating proceeds from specific bath bombs. The actions are real, the donations are documented, and we plan to continue noting brand-led philanthropy where it is substantive rather than performative. If you are stocking up on January essentials, the Aesop Resurrection Hand Wash is a household staple regardless and the timing makes the purchase a small additional good.
Selena Gomez has a beauty brand in development
The persistent rumor in the celebrity beauty world this month is that Selena Gomez is preparing a beauty brand for a late-2020 launch. The brand will reportedly be positioned around inclusivity and mental health — Gomez has been outspoken about her own mental health journey for years — and is being developed in partnership with Sephora. We will have more in the second half of the year. For now, file it under “watching.”
What we are buying in January
Our January cart is small and serious. Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Intense (we already own the original). Pat McGrath Labs Sublime Perfection foundation in our matched shade. A bottle of Aesop Resurrection Hand Wash for the kitchen. And a fresh tube of CeraVe Moisturizing Cream because we go through one tub every six weeks in winter. We will see you on the first Tuesday of February.