Pop Culture

The Celebrity Beauty Wave Shows No Signs of Stopping

Shiny statuettes are the currency among performers this season, but the real action is on the bathroom shelves, thanks to a celebrity beauty spree. Telegenic hair gave rise to Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie; Pharrell Williams’s lineless skin brought us Humanrace. You can match your nails to Harry Styles (Pleasing), shimmer in Halsey’s About-Face glitter, and smell like Tyler, the Creator (his musky-rose French Waltz). This collection of new launches is a slick lot but responsible too—down to Rihanna’s eco-minded refillable lipsticks. Even better than an autograph.

Keys Soulcare

Launched by Alicia Keys in December 2020, Keys Soulcare is imbued with the Grammy winner’s intuitive approach to well-being, down to the mantras attached to each product. This new niacinamide serum, designed to hydrate and brighten skin, comes with the affirmation: “I give myself permission to glow.” Coming from a woman well known for her makeup-free radiance, it’s the wavelength to ride. 

Keys Soulcare Let Me Glow Illuminating Serum

Pleasing

Long a fan of a well-dressed nail, Harry Styles has made his mark in the discussion around personal style irrespective of gender. His beauty line Pleasing, which launched last fall, continues that theme, with a selection of polishes alongside skin-care staples that a globe-trotting musician might appreciate. This winsome green lacquer is part of the new spring drop, which counts Mick Fleetwood as its trippy campaign star.

Pleasing Nail Polish in Sprouting

LolaVie

With her long-running role on Friends, Jennifer Aniston managed to set the hair agenda for a generation of women who flocked to salons, asking for “The Rachel.” Styles have evolved, but that enviable hair remains, which is the basis for LolaVie—the most recent launch being the Perfecting Leave-In (soon to come in a travel size as well). “A good leave-in conditioner should hydrate your hair, but I wanted to create a product that did more,” Aniston recently told V.F., citing its benefits with damage repair, frizz taming, and styling control. 

LolaVie Perfecting Leave-In

JLo Beauty

The namesake beauty range from the Hustlers star debuted in early 2021, coinciding with a pandemic-related spike in skin-care fervor. Jennifer Lopez is synonymous with glow (and for a beguiling agelessness), so it’s inevitable that the skin-care products would induce that same effect. This sheet mask (sold individually and in a 3-pack) pairs an olive-based complex with brightening Japanese rice-sake ferment—one step closer to that JLo radiance. 

JLo Beauty That Limitless Glow Sheet Mask

Pattern

“I had logged hours and hours in the trenches with my hair,” Tracee Ellis Ross put it back in 2019, reflecting on her high-school experience that planted the seed for Pattern. The hair-care brand has since become her secret weapon, both on the red carpet and onscreen. This mask is a pivotal new product: Made with white tea and manuka honey, it’s designed to help coax hair through difficult transition phases, such as from chemically treated to curly, or as a reboot between protective styles. 

Pattern Transition Mask

Haus Laboratories by Lady Gaga

Launched in 2019 by the pop phenomenon, the makeup brand goes long on screen-star essentials, from a quintessential liquid liner to a matte lip color worn to the 2021 presidential inauguration. (Monster Matte lip crayon in 1950, for the record.) She tested her latest collection, Casa Gaga Italian Glam, on the set of Hou*se of Gucci—*this gold highlighter brush included.

Haus Laboratories by Lady Gaga Italian Glam Highlighter Brush

Rare Beauty

Selena Gomez launched Rare Beauty in the fall of 2020, with the idea to create more than a line of products—she wanted to build community. New to the range is this swipe-and-blend bronzer stick, for the warm flush of instant spring break. The Only Murders in the Building star is also dedicated to supporting mental health, with a portion of sales benefitting Rare Impact Fund, her fundraising effort for the cause.

Rare Beauty Warm Wishes Effortless Bronzer Stick

UN/DN LAQR

Male musicians in nail polish are a familiar red-carpet sight, and Machine Gun Kelly made it official, launching UN/DN LAQR last fall. The saturated solid colors and glitters hold their own under the stage lights, or alongside Megan Fox (the couple showed up to the launch party with their pinky nails attached by a chain). This bubble gum pink spells a good time.

UN/DN Nail Polish in Party Favor

Anomaly

The ethos behind this hair-care brand, launched in 2021 by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, is multi-pronged: There is efficacy to consider (key for a woman known for her voluptuous hair), sustainability (as seen in the recycled-plastic packaging), and approachability, thanks to prices that don’t induce sticker shock. This new Bonding Treatment mask takes aim at damage with a combination of plant-based proteins.

Anomaly Bonding Treatment Hair Mask

About-Face

The musician Halsey has distilled her colorful, luminous beauty aesthetic into this makeup line, which debuted in 2021 with a steady calendar of subsequent drops. The emphasis here is on creativity, with matte shadow sticks and dewy highlighters regularly in the mix. This Fractal Glitter Gelly set delivers a go-anywhere glimmer, from brow bone to collarbone.  

About-Face Fractal Glitter Gelly Set

Golf le Fleur

The neo-prep aesthetic is a Tyler, the Creator signature, and the Grammy-decorated musician has packaged it up in the form of his brand Golf le Fleur, which will sort you out with sweater vests and striped polo shirts. Expanding into the beauty category is his latest project, with nail polishes alongside the fragrance French Waltz. It’s a musky rose intercut with sandalwood and jasmine—something for everyone.

Golf le Fleur French Waltz Fragrance

Billie Eilish

Along with an array of Grammy awards, Billie Eilish also counts a serious collection of perfume, sourced from duty-free boutiques, department-store beauty counters, and deep-dive online searches. For her own creation, made in collaboration with Parlux, the musician chased her dreamed-about vanilla with exacting specificity, pairing it with amber and musk. The metallic bottle is less a portrait than an abstraction of a bust—insert yourself, or your partner, here.

Billie Eilish Eilish Eau de Parfum

Humanrace

Pharrell, a man known for his enviable skin as much as his chart-topping music, turns out to know his way around the beauty business. His skin-care line Humanrace launched in the fall of 2020, with a sold-out rush for the thoughtful face products, including a rice powder cleanser, an enzyme exfoliant, and a lightweight cream. A subsequent expansion into body care brought us this body-soap set, with the wise suggestion that we momentarily slow down.

Humanrace Take a Moment Body Bar Set

R.E.M. Beauty

Priestess of the high ponytail, Ariana Grande is a preternatural beauty pro, and she cemented it last fall with the launch of R.E.M. Beauty. Created in collaboration with Forma Brands, the range is geared around periodic drops, with a lineup that includes shimmering liquid eye shadow, mascara and false lashes, and liquid liner for her trademark flick. This swirling highlighter comes in a range of shades, from icy mint to warm desert sun.

R.E.M. Beauty Interstellar Highlighter Topper in Miss Neptune

Fenty Beauty

When Rihanna debuted her beauty brand in 2017, it invariably changed the conversation around inclusive shade ranges, leaving competitors to play catchup. The products include everything from cream blush in adventurous hues to plumping lip gloss; skin care made a splash in 2021. This spring, Fenty rolls out its newest lipstick, with a refillable system for a lighter footprint.

Fenty Icon Refillable Lipstick in The MVP

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