Summer Fridays

Airports want your beauty dollars



Susana Chaves

A few years ago I was obsessed with the concept of ‘airport fashion’. A craze originating in Korea, it was about dressing up for the airport, shopping up a storm in duty free and documenting it all on social media. Back then we were witnessing the rise of K Fashion, street style and the experiential economy, all merging in a retail sweet spot for airports to reposition themselves as luxury shopping malls. In fact, so great was this opportunity that travel retail came to be known as ‘the sixth continent’, with a billion consumers passing through it.

Fast-forward five years and it’s beauty’s turn to grab the spotlight and the um, travellers cheques. (more…)



The rose beauty edit: Summer Fridays, 79 Lux, Chanel, Acqua di Parma, Ostens, Floris



Andy Warhol rose

Spring is in the air, which means it’s time for the annual rose beauty roundup. I really like subtle rose fragrances in skincare and slightly stronger ones in my body oils and potions. There are studies that show rose oil can have numerous therapeutic effects, from analgesic to physiological; for me it’s definitely up there with lavender as a calming, comforting scent. Here are a few of my rose beauty wants and recs…

SUMMER FRIDAYS In the spirit of transporting myself into a summer mindset, Summer Fridays has added a rose R&R Mask (£46, below) to its capsule product line-up. (more…)



Trend report: Namastay in bed




One of this year’s inescapable lifestyle trends has been for stressed out, cash-poor millennials to stay home rather than go out. Which means the money they do have gets spent on small pleasures like scented candles, cute lighting, superior bedding and sheet masks aplenty. Vox unpacks the story in detail here. The TLDR is that  – as with any emerging grassroots movement – commercial brands have been quick to hop on this gravy train, with the so-called ‘homebody economy’ spawning all manner of businesses catering to the #Namastayinbed brigade.

Beauty-wise, it’s a huge cash cow. (more…)