Was it really a year ago that we all hunkered down to hibernate (and bake bread)? Time both stretches and stands still these days, but with vaccine relief on the horizon, our collective coming-out party is just around the corner—and with that, we’ll need to be ready with fresh faces and forward attitudes. A phalanx of new beauty brands have just launched to get us all into grooming gear; here are five new lines to get the party started.
Evan Beau
Makeup artists know better than anyone how to hide or highlight our best features, but what if they could create the perfect canvas before the very first drop of foundation? Following in the steps of other skin-care icons such as Pat McGrath and Charlotte Tilbury, Canadian makeup artist Lauren Kurtz introduces her new good-for-you skin-care line Evan Beau Cosmetics to achieve glowing skin without the need for glowing makeup.
Named after her first child, Evan Beau marries botanical research with the latest technology for a conscientious lineup devoid of animal ingredients, fillers, toxins, fragrances, and synthetic preservatives.
Image courtesy of Evan Beau.
The Essential Regenerating Day and Night Serums harness antioxidant micro-algae, lipo-plumping Adipofill’in, vitamins B3 and C, and a “no-tox-faux-tox” acetyl hexapeptide 8. The gotu kola and Damascus rose-infused Ethereal Foundation arrives in a patented glass container with an airless pump to preserve the ingredients as long as possible.
The best part is that $1 from the sale of each product goes directly to One Body Village Canada to help its efforts in combatting child trafficking.
Available exclusively at shopkalosophie.com
Coach x Sephora
What do you get when an American heritage leather brand teams up with a temple to all things beauty? The new Coach x Sephora Collection combines the legacy of Coach and the beauty expertise of Sephora for a playful seven-piece limited-edition makeup line.
Created in a warm colour palette with hardware inspired by Coach’s leathercraft, the collection rocks glitter and nostalgia. Coach’s Sculpted C, a nod to Signature, its most recognizable house code; the Tea Rose, its wildflower inspired by a spirit of adventure; and its mascots Rexy, Sharky, and Uni adorn each piece.
Image courtesy of Sephora.
“I wanted to create something playful but also very Coach—really rooted in a rich colour palette that recalls our leather heritage,” creative director Stuart Vevers says of the line. “Like a beloved bag or favourite piece of outerwear, makeup is about creativity and style.”
From the Rexy Eyeshadow Palette (the perfect mix of buttery matte gold metallic and soft shimmery shades) to the Tea Rose eye masks (enriched with cucumber extract and rose oil), this cute mashup is the perfect pandemic Zoom pick-me-up.
Available at Sephora and select Coach stores, and at Sephora.ca and Coach.com while supplies last.
MOB Beauty
You’d think that after founding MAC Cosmetics, you’d go off and buy a deserted island somewhere to finish out your days beachside and blissful. But not so for part of the brain trust behind MAC: Victor Casale, the founding chemist of MAC Cosmetics, has joined photographer and MAC founder Frank Toskan and industry veterans Alisha Gallagher and Beatrice Seguin to launch a new beauty concept called MOB Beauty.
“Clean” has long been a buzzword in the industry, but scant attention has been paid to just how sustainable beauty brands really are or how clean their ingredients might be. MOB Beauty hopes to change that with its new vegan brand.
Image courtesy of MOB.
Made in the brand’s own labs, the clean, cruelty-free collection is presented in an entirely novel way. Because the team couldn’t find existing resources to meet its sustainability standards, it designed its own “Earth-First” packaging system using post-consumer recycled materials. Every component—from the plastic Repurpose Palette, which holds more than six “clip in” refill shades to the individually boxed refills themselves—is 100 per cent customizable, refillable, and can be home-composted or recycled after use.
Available online at Mobbeauty.com
LIXR
After more than a year of being unable to see her father due to COVID restrictions, Toronto-based Bite Beauty founder Susanne Langmuir felt increasingly powerless, despite having built her cult-fave clean, vegan beauty brand into an industry powerhouse. “We didn’t have the emotional tools at the ready to deal with the crippling effects of isolation and fear,” she says of the pandemic’s toll. So while in lockdown, the entrepreneur doubled down on making all those quotidian moments more mindful and meaningful—and with that, LIXR was born.
Langmuir’s imaginative new lip elixir collection combines mood-lifting olfactory benefits (activated by the warmth of our lips when applied) with organic aromatics and sustainably sourced, cruelty-free ingredients, some from her own 50-acre organic farm.
Image courtesy of LIXR.
Examples from the collection include Nocturnal Kiss Sleeping Mask, a lip remedy made with organic chamomile, lemon balm, bergamot, and farm-grown lavender, and Focus, a tinted minty mask with organic peppermint, spearmint leaf, and eucalyptus that creates a soothing lip tonic that can also be applied to your temples for headache relief.
LIXR launches April 7.
King C. Gillette
For more than a century, the Gillette brand has tried to bring home the barbershop experience to make grooming easier and more accessible for men everywhere. Its latest collection of tools and facial-hair-care essentials is infused with a new signature fragrance (featuring top notes of cardamom and ginger, heart notes of lavender and bourbon oil, and base notes including patchouli and sandalwood) and clean, plant-based formulations (argan oil, avocado oil, coconut water, aloe vera, white tea extract, and cocoa butter).
Grouped into three categories—Shave & Edge, Trim, and Care—the new line includes a conditioning beard balm with cocoa butter that works double duty as a deep-conditioning wash-off mask.
Available at Masteryourstyle.ca
Read more Beauty stories.
