The New Generation of Hybrid Beauty Products
Double duty.
After the mind-blowing tediousness of the 10-step Korean beauty regimen comes the great relief of hybrid beauty products: multifunctional cosmetics that combine skin care and makeup without compromising on either. “Consumers are looking for multifunctional products for many reasons, such as to simplify their routine, for cost savings, and for sustainability reasons,” says Jen Novakovich, a cosmetic scientist and host of The Eco Well beauty science information platform. In a survey by The Benchmarking Company from last year, 67 per cent of the 3,900 respondents said they regularly buy beauty products that perform more than one function or solve multiple problems. They want them to work just as well as the individual items—and they want proof of that too.
That’s all part of a trend of beauty-lovers getting smarter about their products. “Consumers are savvier than ever about ingredients and want the ones that deliver benefits—like peptides, vitamin C, and hyaluronic acid—added to their makeup products,” says Susanne Langmuir, a beauty veteran who founded the beloved before launching a second brand, Lixr, which she describes as “skin care disguised as makeup.”
One advantage of hybrids is psychological. Skin-care products often take a long time to start showing results—usually at least four weeks—and many people will get fed up and ditch them in favour of something new. But if your moisturizer gives you a glow, or your tinted sunscreen evens out your complexion, you’re more likely to continue using it. “I for sure feel that way based on my own user experience,” Novakovich says. “There’s a sunscreen product that I love, and it’s got a little bit of shimmer in it, and I wear it frequently because I like the way that it looks, and that improves my compliance.”
Langmuir agrees, making the argument from the opposite angle. “Makeup with clinically proven actives that build skin health, so you feel more confident without it, is a big beauty benefit.” But it’s not simply a case of adding active ingredients to an existing makeup product and calling it a day. Novakovich says manufacturers need to consider how new ingredients might change the stability of a formula, and that making it more complicated might also make it more expensive. In other words, it’s better to develop formulations from scratch, considering the desired makeup and skin-care results rather than trying to morph an existing product into another.
Where might this all go next? Adding a little wellness to your hybrids. “Expect to see new night-time launches that enhance sleep, lip gloss with mood-mending benefits, and deodorants boosted with daily vitamins,” Langmuir says. Until those come along, we’re enjoying these eight makeup/skin-care mélanges.
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Clarins Double Serum Foundation
The brand brings makeup benefits to its beloved Double Serum. In the mix, active ingredients including vitamin E to boost complexion radiance, peptides, and horse chestnut, plus light-reflective and colour ingredients that deliver medium to full satiny coverage. Makeup and skin-care ingredients are packaged separately, mixed only when applying the product. It comes in 37 shades.
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Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dewy Flush
A sheer but buildable blush, this contains soothing niacinamide for brightening dark spots and hyaluronic acid for hydration. It comes in four shades from soft pink to cherry red and will last the whole day long.
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Ilia Skin Blur Serum Concealer
Lightweight but capable of covering even the gnarliest pimples or most stubborn dark circles, this has line-fighting peptides and sea fennel extract (a retinol alternative) plus caffeine to depuff. Apply a dot or two where you need it, then tap it into skin with your ring finger or blend with a brush. In 34 shades.
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Lixr Creamy Lip + Cheek Tint Stick
Packed with skin-care ingredients (hyaluronic acid and jojoba for moisture, antioxidant raspberry seed oil), this can be used on both lips and cheeks for a matchy-matchy monochrome look. It comes in six sheer shades.
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The Hailey Bieber-helmed brand’s first product was Glazing Milk, a ceramide-based light moisturizer that repairs the skin’s barrier function and gives a glass-skin finish. This version has pearly shimmer added. Use it all over your skin for extra glow or as a highlighter on cheekbones, brows, and cupid’s bow. It can also be applied to the body, it and comes in four shades.
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Shiseido Color + Glow Enhancer
It stops pollution from sticking to skin thanks to a protective polymer and has antioxidant wild thyme extract. Light-reflective pigments make unevenness and fine lines look smaller. Use as a highlighter, eyeshadow, or blusher depending on the colour and your preference. It comes in nine shades from light pink to deep bronze.
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SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion UV Defense SPF 50
A mineral sunscreen that’s suitable for even the most sensitive skin, this provides high levels of protection against UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) rays. It’s lightly tinted, so it leaves no white cast even on darker skin tones and offers some coverage to even out the complexion.
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Summer Fridays Bronzer Butter Balm
A highly blendable bronzer, this contains moisturizing ceramides and seed butters, plus peptides. It comes in six shades and should be used on the nose bridge, cheekbones, and forehead—wherever sunlight naturally hits. It’s shimmer free so can also be used to contour.
