Hello! It’s your skincare obsessed bestie. Thanks for inviting me to drop by, and I can’t wait to start sharing my recs with you. After all, I love doing all the research on what works + what’s in, so you don’t have to. Here is what you can expect from me this week.

• ICYMI: news, trends, and things to chat about over brunch

• WAY TO GLO: authentic skincare tips from the get-go

• GLO ABOVE+BEYOND: let’s hear some business stories in beauty

• GLOSSIP: sales events you won’t want to miss

ICYMI

• TRENDS🤟 

  - Rose are red violets are blue, I can see a Rose Bun on you

  - Who else thinks BoyfriendAir theory is the truth?

• BUSINESS🤝 

  - New FDA regulations will shakeup the beauty industry

  - Adidas wants riddance of $1B+ of Yeezy inventory 

• CULTURE🤙 

  - Oscars is this Sunday, and here is how to watch every nominated film

  - Stranger Things is coming back with a prequel

• ECONOMY🖖 

  - Get used to higher rates

  - US added 311k jobs in February, ticking unemployment up to 3.6%

• RANDOM🙌 

  - Kraken launches a bank, Silvergate closes one, and the turmoil at SVB 

  - Amazon is starting a NFT marketplace

WAY TO GLO!

Since this is the very first one, I am going back to the fundamentals. I believe that skincare, like many things in life, can use the 80/20 rule—where 20% of the work gets you 80% of the impact. You can leverage very little time and effort, while focused on the right things, to drastically improve your skin health. And if there is one absolute certainty here, among the many many uncertainties in our world right now, it is this: taking the time to take care of ourselves should take priority, either in beauty, health or mind, over everything else. You only have this one body, seize the chance to love it.

Don’t leave just yet if you already have a routine👋. Hear me out. Going back to that mission critical 20%—and getting those things right—compounds overtime. These are the steps which are absolute bare minimums, meaning, even on a lazy day, you may skip all except them. So here goes:

It all boils down to 3 things: 
1. KEEPING CLEAN 
2. SUN PROTECTION
3. MOISTURIZATION

1. Cleanse: Do this at night at the very very least

   One night is all it takes to clog pores and cause a breakout. My earnest advice is: do not even think about skipping it. You will want to properly clean off all dirt, pollutants, and makeup (this includes sunscreen) from the day. Eye makeup is another absolute must go here. There are so many little delicate glands around the eyelashes and eyelids—wearing makeup all night can really inflame this area. Kim K joked about her talent of perfectly sleeping through the night with makeup on. And all I can say is…$$$s can’t save her poor Kardashian pores 😔.

2. Sun Protection: SPF on, rain or shine

   This is the MOST important thing of all time because in skincare, active defense is offense. Our defensive move here is against photo-aging, where your skin develops dark spots, wrinkles, freckles, loss of tone and elasticity due to harmful UVA and UVB rays. Over our lifetime, little damages from the sun really do add up. Just Google “truck driver sun damage” if you don’t believe me 😀.

   Sadly, with today’s technology, it is still significantly harder and more expensive to repair the damages done to our skin than to prevent them. By taking a minute to protect your skin from the sun, you are saving extra work + $ repairing.

3. Moisturize: Do this after each cleanse

   Generally, you should moisturize your face, neck and chest regularly because these areas of skin shed cells more rapidly than other parts of your body. As such, they need moisture to repair itself, which is a process that allows younger skin to rise to the surface.

In the future, we will definitely discuss building beyond these 3 steps to develop a fuller routine. There are so many permutations to a proper skincare, each addressing different skin type, concern, environment and season. We also have so much ground to cover in BeautyTech, ingredients, procedures, etc. I am really excited to get nerdy together as we go through it all.

Now, the most commonly asked question I get at this point is “What products should I start with, there are so many?” This is a great transition to the next segment. I want to show you some of my recs to get you started.

Let’s get to it.

Meet my timeless ride-or-dies: 

1. Cetaphil’s Gentle Skin Cleanser:

The original product was invented by a pharmacist in 1947 for dermatological use. This SKU quickly became popular, and today, almost a century later, it still is the most recommended cleanser by dermatologists around the world. It has literally transcended time and trends. I use this in the morning and at night, along with a gentle makeup remover.

2. Anessa SPF 50+ Perfect UV Sunscreen by Shiseido:

Broad spectrum UV blocking, high coverage at SPF 50+, lightweight and non-comedogenic (i.e. prevents acne and pore clogging), this really is a homerun. But the keyword here is Zinc Oxide, the main active ingredient in this product. This bad boy is a physical blocker and the broadest spectrum UVA and UVB blocker approved by FDA. What that really means is the following: (1) it produces no chemical reaction at the skin level; (2) it sits at the surface of the skin and does not get absorbed; (3) it works right away unlike chemical blockers; most importantly (4) it is safe for sensitive or eczema prone skin. Before the pandemic, I used to stock up on this item every time I go to Japan, because it really is an exceptional product for me from every perspective.

3. Moisturizer is actually a really tough one to recommend. It depends on so many factors such as the climate you live in, skin type, age, budget, etc. Generally, you want to keep it as simple as possible—simple ingredients, preferably oil-free, non-comedogenic, non-scented. I have included some options for you to play with for now.

• Dry, Normal or Sensitive Skin Types: Curel Japanese Skin Care, First Aid Beauty

• Oily / Acne-prone Skin Types: La Roche-Posay Effaclar, Neutrogena Hydro Boost, Proactiv Green Tea Moisturizer

Like this stuff? Then share with your friends & family. Having your support and feedback is what gets me going each week.

GLO ABOVE+BEYOND

When I say “Wealthiest Female Music Artist” who comes to mind for you? Are you thinking Taylor Swift? Beyonce? Maybe Lady Gaga?

The real answer is Rihanna.

Rihanna has worked and worked and worked—so hard—that she finally climbed into the Billionaire’s Club. As of 2021, she is worth ~2x over Madonna at the number 2 spot, and hails an enormous fortune estimated at $1.7B dollars. Yes, she probably racked up a fortune $$ from Umbrella, or the Super Bowl stunt earlier this year. But the majority of her wealth comes from her beauty line, Fenty.

Rihanna started Fenty, eponymous to her real name Robyn Fenty, in 2017. Owing to RiRi’s star power, Fenty quickly became an international success. Within a year of launch, Fenty was already pulling in $550M revenue. But the real shock value of this business, in my opinion, is the growth strategy Fenty deployed on two fronts: Brand and Distribution.

Brand: Fenty was super focused around inclusivity from the get-go. It stayed close and authentic to this mission, and went all-in via marketing—addressing diversity of gender, age, race/skin tone on both product selection and messaging. This filled a major gap in the beauty industry and resonated incredibly well with customers.

Distribution: Fenty’s partnership with LVMH was the key to its launch. Fenty first started within an LVMH incubator called Kendo Beauty, whose main job is to jump start brands that could be sold in Sephora (which, if you didn’t know, is also owned by LVMH). Without putting up any upfront capital, Fenty had immediate access to all of Sephora’s sales channels on day one—an immense global fleet of retail locations, online stores in every one of its operating domain. This distribution horsepower is unparalleled for any boot-strapped beauty brand.

While you can say that RiRi’s popularity is undeniable, it is her business acumen and vision for the brand that got Fenty to where it is today. Long and behold, in 2021, Rihanna sold ~50.01% stake of Fenty to the French luxury conglomerate LVMH at a total valuation of $2.8B. Our queen RiRi cashed out ~$1.4B from the Fenty project in just a couple of years of launch. Her queendom is raining literal cash and I bet she won’t want an umbrella any time soon.

GLOSSIP

• CASHBACK

  RetailMeNot has 5% cashback on all online Sephora sales until 03/31

  Rakuten has a variety of brands like FAB, Origins, KVD at up to 20%

• SALES EVENTS

  Sephora Oh Snap! Sale: ~Mid March. Traditionally Sephora offers one to three top-selling beauty products for 50% off for one day only.

  VIB Sale: Coming up in April.

That’s it for today friends! Next week, we will talk about the one food that is going to destroy your skincare/anti-aging goals. So stay tuned, I’ll be back soon!