Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and moustache podcasts.
Included in today’s issue: Buxom, Chillhouse, Clinique, Colourpop, Dr. Idriss, Estée Lauder, Frank, Fresh, Gisou, Gucci, Guerlain, Hairitage, Kandeō, La Prairie, L’Oréal, Lush, MAC Cosmetics, Makeup by Mario, Moroccanoil, Sulwhasoo and coffee collabs.
But first…
Guava Girl? Please. Make way for the Exosome Woman.
She’s an elder millennial or, more likely, a Gen-X boss who looks better than the 25-year-olds in her office and has answers for everything — thicker hair, firmer skin, longer stretches between Botox appointments. She swapped her Ever/Body membership for a $3,600 micro-needling facial at Pietro Simone’s East Hampton clinic. She’ll drop a link to a neurology Substack in the same group chat as a reservation alert for People’s. And she’s helping brands sold from Violet Grey to Target make so(oooo) much cash right now.
The Exosome Woman’s namesake is a microscopic sac that carries lipids, proteins, and genetic material from cell to cell. Simone himself calls exosomes “microscopic powerhouses.” They can “tell” skin to regenerate cell tissue or attack cancerous mutations, which makes them super-interesting to medical researchers. But just like Botox was an eye-disorder treatment before it was a lunchtime forehead tweak, exosomes are becoming an alleged panacea for sagging skin and thinning hair. Like “peptides” before them, exosomes sound both high-tech and naturally occurring. Simone calls them “a symbol of biological luxury.”
Where do these little guys come from? Wellllll … that gets tricky. Exosomes are plentiful in stem cells and umbilical cords, along with breast milk. This is great for human biology but less ideal for consumer formulations.
“Exosomes are costly to isolate, tightly regulated and limited by the availability of donor material,” explains Jill Scalamandre, the president of Beekman 1802, which formulates its new Milk RX Serum with billions of goat’s milk exosomes instead. Other brands have invested in plant stem cell technology to harvest them.
At first, exosomes were mainly injected through doctor-administered formulas like JuveXO, a firm that’s been exploring their potential since 2014, when Dr. Rafael Gonzalez and his team commenced studying what cells secrete and how to optimise release of hyaluronic acid. Beauty brands were quick to experiment, and by 2021, an entire South Korean “exosome facility” opened to research and develop new skincare formulas.
Today, exosomes are easily squirted into formulas, which means Dr. Barbara Sturm’s $535 Exo-Medic Face Serum and Skinfix’s $69 balm can each claim the ingredient. Last month, Augustinus Bader’s much-anticipated Elixir hit shelves with its own exosome origin story and some formidable before-and-after photos.
“We didn’t just drop an exosome product and hope for the best,” said Inkey List co-founder Mark Curry. Inkey List report that after using exosomes in marketing language, they noticed a spike in social media engagement and an increase in DMs asking “Where can I buy this?”
Thanks to numbers like these, the Exosome Woman now has her own pricey lip balms from Exo Lips ($52) and Som ($138). But will the craze reach masstige, the way peptides power Rhode’s $18 lip gloss and hyaluronic acid hit Topicals’ $16 lip balm? Sources say “give it a few months.” On June 11, Plated Skin Science opened its own exosome manufacturing facility in Minnesota, which could bring shipping costs way down on the coveted compound.
Let’s see how long it takes for a Target brand like Naturium to harness it.
What else is new…
Skincare
In September, we told beauty brands to start paying attention to Katseye. In May, Glossier listened and signed the K-pop sextet to a lip gloss campaign. Lush joined the party on June 30 with six soaps and a bath bomb devoted to the international girl group. (Never heard of them? Start here.)
Props to Dr. Idriss for going big with the name of its new whipped sunscreen. It’s called Major Fade Disco Block and launched on June 30 with SPF 50, ceramides and a lavender tint to avoid any white cast.
Kandeō is a new skincare brand from dermatologists Jean Charles and Gabriella Vasile. On June 30, it launched the first product: Tinted Sun Drops SPF 50+, which bronze the skin while preventing it from actually tanning.
On July 1, Fresh’s Black Tea Renewal Serum arrived on shelves. It’s an $82 formula that promises the smoothing effects of retinol without the irritation, thanks to black tea extract along with kelp and niacinamide.
Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Eye Lift + Sculpt hit shelves on July 1. It’s an $85 formula with peptides and hyaluronic acid that targets fine lines, thinning skin and puffiness. The bottle is a kind of sun-kissed ‘70s bronze; it’ll look great on the marble counter tops of its uptown fans.
Remember Frank, the coffee scrub company that would leave a satisfying Starbucks aroma (and a tiny trail of fragrant grounds) along your bathtub floor? The Aussie brand is expanding to Firming Body Cream on July 1. It doesn’t have any coffee grounds, but it does have some impressive before-and-after photos, along with a $38 price tag and caffeine included in the formula.
Sulwhasoo’s Ultimate S Enriched Cleansing Foam arrived on July 1. It’s an $85 formula with olive oil, glycerine, peptides and “Korean herbal ingredients” that was inspired by the millefeuille pastry. Fashion reminder: Carrie Bradshaw’s iconic Atelier Versace couture dress is also millefeuille-adjacent.
Is your Surf Lodge hangover more severe than usual? La Prairie might be able to help. Starting this month, they’re offering facial services at Gurney’s Montauk through August, including its signature Summer Glow and Sculpt & Contour facials. Yes, you can also get the brand’s Skin Caviar Hydro Emulsion onsite. No, the aestheticians cannot help you get a table at Crow’s Nest — they’re just magic for your skin, not your Resy game.
Makeup
Colourpop dropped Fresh Kiss Lip Mask and Lip Scrub on July 1, with flavours like pistachio gelato and vanilla cake. Yes, these are total Laneige dupes, but at $10, they’re also aligned with Colourpop’s teen base in a very real way.
Neither sleet nor snow nor the drumroll to Demna can stop Gucci Beauty from releasing new goodies. On July 1, the brand unveiled Blush De Beauté, a $50 painted floral compact full of super-fine powder in two shades of coquette pink.
Cynthia Erivo is the new face of Clinique. (Yay!) Her first campaign hit on July 1 and features the brand’s Almost Lipstick in Nude Honey, a sequel of sorts to Black Honey that softens the shade from goth berry to burnt rose. The images feature Erivo in a white tank top applying makeup and laughing; they are divine.
It’s a bulk drop! On July 1, Buxom unveiled four new makeup products: Lash Xtension Mascara ($28), Flip Side Eyeshadow + Eyeliner Duo Sticks ($27) and Power-Full, a $24 lip plumper. The brand’s imagery is high pigment, with lots of neon-and-plum-brown contrasts. Honestly, I thought I was looking at a ’90s Jane Cosmetics ad for a moment. (Side note: Has there ever been a better makeup tagline than “Some girls have all the fun?”)
More robots are coming for your eyeliner. On July 1, L’Oréal’s new AI tool, Beauty Genius, launched with “personalised diagnostics for skin and skin tone” based on over 150,000 dermatology notes, and virtual try-on technology. So far, this doesn’t sound too different from many beauty apps. BUT. (Big but!) In 2026, L’Oréal says they’re partnering with Meta to make the tool available inside WhatsApp, which means — especially for its global customers who use WhatsApp as their main texting tool — this might become an unavoidable shopping tool soon enough.
It’s amazing how the makeup developed specifically to endure red carpet and photo studio lighting is now heat-wave approved during the climate crisis. The latest example is from Makeup by Mario. The brand launched its Master Mattes collection of cream eyeshadow on July 2 with 10 neutral-toned shades and a promise of heat and water resistance. Each tube is $25.
If anyone can make lip liner shiny, it’s MAC Cosmetics. On July 3, it debuted Lipglazer, a glossy lip liner in eight shades including a plush pink called Ribbon (interesting) and a deeper shade called Nightmoth that sounds, delightfully, like an all-girl punk band. $25 each.
Hair Care
Hairitage has renewed its partnership with the WNBA Dallas Wings. On June 26, the hair brand by YouTuber Mindy McKnight announced its second season with the team, which includes star players DiJonai Carrington and Arike Ogunbowale. (Yes, they both have gorgeous hair.)
On July 1, Moroccanoil debuted Texture & Volume Powder, a lifting product for fine and lightweight hair with argan oil and a semi-matte finish. It’s $30.
Did you catch NPR’s segment on “the moustache renaissance?” It includes an interview with Beard Sorcery founder Matthew Scalf about the rising demand for his $16 moustache wax. (It also includes a goofy tidbit about how some guys are filling in their moustaches with eyebrow pencil until they fully grow in.)
Fragrance
It’s been a minute since we had some scented slam poetry. Fortunately, Guerlain’s new Vétiver Fauve perfume is here to drop some beats. The fragrance “opens with tropical green notes that capture the feeling of dew-covered leaves at dawn … grounded by the earthy depth of vetiver … it settles into a warm, elegant trail of tonka bean and cypriol.” According to nose Delphine Jelk, it was inspired by “The Jungle Book.”
And finally …
Apparently it’s Java July. After Tarte did a spring collab with Dunkin’, Chillhouse introduced a new pack of Chill Tips press-on nails in honour of Keurig’s new K-Brew + Chill iced coffee machine that hit July 1. So did a collaboration between the skincare brand Cosrx and Alfred Coffee, which includes free Snail Essence samples at the L.A. cafe’s coffee shops. Starbucks, are you listening … and calling Lipsmackers for the inevitable latte lip balm?
