Beauty editor Ash Cometti was on the ground in Sydney to unearth the best beauty trendsand the products to help you execute them.
Inside a former substation in Sydney’s bustling CBD, a recent House of Sephora event offered a horde of beauty media, content creators, and TV personalities a first
Machine Hall, which opened in June, proved a stylish setting for the event, with its soaring ceilings, spacious floor area, wrap-around mezzanine and curved staircase, which was covered in the brand’s signature black and white stripe.
The biannual beauty event showcased the biggest and brightest launches of the year from a suite of beauty brands including Fenty Skin, Tarte Cosmetics, The Inkey List, Rare Beauty, Caudalie and more.
Here are our picks of the trends to try this season and beyond, along with the most impressive innovations spanning skincare, haircare, makeup and bodycare.
The Trend: Glazed Lips
It’s the trend popularised by Hailey Bieber back in 2022, and two years later, glazed lips have received a worthy upgrade with new shades and formulations that promise to lend more than just sheen.
Juicy-looking lips no longer call for the sticky, smudgy glosses of the past, these days gloss formulas look to cosseting skincare ingredients like peptides and hyaluronic acid to condition lips while they glaze.
As far as colour is concerned, the mineral pigments contained within are far more sophisticated than ever before, meaning they can be blended into gloss and oil textures in myriad shades.
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Advertise with NZME.To translate the trend further, keep your eyes peeled for terms like “lip glaze” over “lip gloss”, a rebrand of the latter that speaks to the beauty zeitgeist.
Tarte Cosmetics, which celebrates its 25th birthday this year, is broadening its lip-plumping collection with the soon-to-be-released Maracuja Juicy Plumping Lip Oil, $50, which conditions lips while drenching them in lightweight, juicy colour.
Ole Henriksen highlights a skin-first formula with its best-selling Pout Preserve Peptide Lip Treatment, $33. Its newest shade, Creme Brulee, smells like hot chocolate and lends a chocolate-brown tint to lips, while a combination of lip-specific peptides, plant butters and oils help to nourish, condition and soften lips.
Boston-born skincare and makeup brand Fresh is expanding its selection of Sugar Lip Treatment, $45, with three new shades to be released on October 15. Our pick? Beach Peach, a complexion-flattering apricot that looks set to accompany any summer adventure.
Ingredients-first skincare brand The Inkey List is pivoting into colour cosmetics with the launch of its Tripeptide Plumping Lip Balm, $25, in shades pink, berry and mocha. “It’s your lips, but plumper,” says one of The Inkey List’s ambassadors of the volumising lip treatment, which contains ultra-filling spheres.
The Trend: Glass Skin Glow-Up
A hybrid term describing a mash-up of the K-Beauty “glass skin” trend and this year’s viral TikTok “glow-up” trend, Sephora’s skincare predictions involve overhauling routines to prioritise products which provide long-lasting, ongoing hydration, especially overnight.
“Glass skin” describes radiant skin that appears flawless (and poreless) with a dewy, hydrated finish. It’s mostly achieved through skincare alone — layering products that promise to hydrate, brighten and nourish for skin that appears smooth and radiant.
This routine-driven approach points to a wider philosophy around skincare — one that upholds consistency and patience to achieve real, visible results.
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Advertise with NZME.For brands like Biossance, night-time proves the perfect time for a glow up — when cellular regeneration is higher, meaning the skin has a chance to renew and repair itself. The new Squalane + Ectoin Overnight Rescue Ultra-Rich Cream, $131, is said to accelerate the skin’s night-time transformation with bio-fermented ectoin that binds to and seals in moisture. “It’s hyaluronic acid on steroids,” says a Biossance representative, adding that the molecule is known for protecting cells that exist in extreme environments.
Laneige also capitalises on the skin’s natural overnight restore and repair process with its new Bouncy & Firm Eye Sleeping Mask, $49, which employs similar technology to the brand’s best-selling Lip Sleeping Mask but is less sticky and spreads further. It feeds the delicate under-eye skin with vitamins and minerals to wake up to skin that appears firm and resilient, rather than puffy and tired-looking.
Other impressive skinnovations include a new moisturiser range from Caudalie, which is available in three formulas to cater to the needs of different skin types. The new VinoHydra Moisturiser range is priced at $58, and includes a Deep Hydration, Gel and Sorbet Cream iterations to care for dry, combination and normal/sensitive skin respectively.
Peter Thomas Roth’s Peptide Skinjection range highlights the ingredient on everyone’s lips (or faces, as it were): peptides. All three new peptide-packed treatments zero in on expression lines, said to leave skin looking smoother and more radiant. This includes a fresh iteration on the brand’s popular Exfoliating Peel Pads, $87, alongside a skin-smoothing serum with 19% peptides to prolong the results of anti-wrinkle treatments for up to six months.
The Trend: Cloud Makeup
A sharp pivot from glass skin comes cloud makeup, a look characterised by buttery, soft skin that will have you looking as if you’ve stepped out of a Renaissance painting.
The soft-focus makeup application technique involves creating a dreamy, ethereal finish to skin — softly mattified but still glowy, without the need for bright highlight.
It’s universally flattering, as diffused finishes often are, and skin appears soft and luminous, not glossy or overly reflective.
The secret? Layer a few key products in both pearlescent and matte finishes, such as an illuminating primer with a velvet matte foundation to achieve skin that glows in all the right places.
Launching mid-September, Rare Beauty’s True To Myself Tinted Pressed Finishing Powder, $50, is a cloud makeup must-have, which helps to set under-eyes, soften and blur skin. It’s formulated with kind-to-skin ingredients, helping to banish unwanted shine when used for touch-ups or to set base layers.
For skin that appears matte (not flat), look no further than the new It Cosmetics CC+ Natural Matte Full Coverage Cream, $86, for skin that appears matte (not flat). The skin-loving serum/foundation hybrid is said to help conceal uneven skin tone, redness and blemishes, while promising day-long hydration to oily and combination skin types.
The SoftSculpt range from Makeup By Mario comes in four different formats (stick, balm, pressed powder and liquid) but the goal remains the same: a radiant, airbrushed finish. Viva loves the SoftSculpt Shaping Stick, $67, which smooths on as a cream but dries down to a soft, natural-looking matte.
For a touch of colour, the new Milk Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tint, $49, is excellent for lending a natural-looking flush to cheeks, with four different shades to select from. Pro tip: a Milk Makeup representative recommends always applying to skin with a brush or sponge for a healthy hint of colour, before setting with your choice of powder.
The Trend: Everything Shower
Let’s be clear: the “everything shower” is not new. The self-care trend first went viral on TikTok back in 2023, and the phrase refers to a once-a-week deep clean that’s designed to leave you feeling refreshed.
An everything shower can last anywhere between one and four hours (yes, it’s a process) and involves deep cleaning skin, hair and body. It can typically be split into three distinct phases: pre-shower, shower and post-shower, with many devotees reserving the practice for an at-home spa day or as a pre-date ritual.
It goes far beyond bathing, with steps ranging from scalp exfoliation and hair masks through to full-body shaves and smoothing on body oils.
After sampling the new Fenty Skin Butta Drop Hydrating Body Milk, $56, we’re confident this will soon become an everything shower essential when it launches next month. The lightweight, silky emulsion smooths on to skin and absorbs quickly (not to mention it smells like an island holiday). It’s enriched with Kalahari melon, baobab and coconut oils to hydrate and replenish, alongside shea, mango and cocoa butter to soften and condition, plus Barbados cherry extract to revive thirsty skin.
Those of us who grapple with keratosis pilaris (dry, bumpy skin) will delight over First Aid Beauty’s KP Bump Eraser Body Scrub, $54, which serves dual purpose to act like a chemical peel and micro-dermabrasion in one. The formula is brimming with a 10% concentration of glycolic and lactic acid alongside pumice buffing beads to chemically and physically exfoliate skin and decongest pores.
Hair and body mists are having their moment, with body care brand Kopari revealing its new Hair & Body Fragrance Mists, $48, in four summer-ready scents. Viva loves Seychelles Sands, a musky toasted vanilla, and Kaanapali Coast, a sweet, creamy coconut.
For body oil lovers, consider Esmi Skin Minerals new Golden Glow Illuminating Body Oil, $88, which is laced with coconut, papaya and cranberry seed oil to promote even skin tone and texture while lending a golden sheen to limbs. It’s fast-absorbing and non-greasy, and can be used alone or twinned with your choice of moisturiser for the ultimate glow-giving combination.
Ash Cometti was hosted on a press trip to attend House Of Sephora as a guest of the brand, and Darkhorse agency.
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