SpaFinder Top Ten Beauty Trends in 2009
The world of beauty, always a hotbed of intense competition and marketing innovation, is poised for another year of fresh global trends in spa beauty-oriented products and treatments, according to SpaFinder Lifestyle Online Magazine’s new report: “Top Ten Spa Beauty Trends to Watch in 2009.”
The much-anticipated spa beauty trends forecast from SpaFinder Lifestyle’s Editor-in-Chief, Melisse Gelula, showcases an eclectic mix of beauty concepts and products emerging from the spa world that will shape everything from the red carpet to the drug store aisle in the year ahead. Gelula’s annual trends have become a go-to resource for beauty journalists and bloggers, having proven a remarkably prescient crystal ball for what’s around the corner in spa beauty. Check out her 2008 predictions at: The SpaFinder Press Room
For 2009, Gelula forecasts a boom in facialist-branded skin care, multi-tasking beauty products, and niche nail polish formulators. New antioxidants and gem stone extracts will infuse products, while a heightened focus on diet’s role in beauty will be the talk at the spa–and beyond. On the spa-ritual front, hammams are red-hot, while blistering debates about the safety and effectiveness of sunscreens will to continue to be a source of controversy. Also look for suds-free shampoos, better definitions of “organic,” and a big interest in science-based products, driving the beauty consumer’s ongoing, two-faced fascination with both organics and injectables, reports Gelula.
Read a condensed list of the “2009 Top Ten Spa Beauty Trends” below, or the complete report online, at: 2009 Top Ten Spa Beauty Trends Complete Report
1. Multi-Tasking, Money-Saving, Products
The explosion of targeted skin-care products in recent years will give way to products that have two, three, or four beautifying uses, such as Joey New York’s Quick CTSM2, an all-in-one cleanser, toner, scrub, and mask. Multi-taskers are good for both a drooping face and dropping dollar. Another result of the heightened rallying around value and affordability: more do-it-yourself and at-home spa-treatment-inspired products like facial kits, etc.
2. Brand-Name Facialists
Dermatologists Murad, Perricone, and Wexler are being joined by a new generation of facialist-branded skin-care treatments and products. Fifth Avenue’s Tracie Martyn and Los Angeles’s Kate Somerville are becoming franchise-facialists with treatments at spas besides their own, and the skin-care lines of facialists Eve Lom and Tammy Fender are some of the new group of ‘faces’ that will reach the retail big-time.
3. Gem Stoned
Move over gold, silver and platinum�spas worldwide, such as New York’s Cornelia Day Resort and The Park Hyatt Dubai, are now boasting the benefits of beauty products infused with precious and semi-precious gems. Whether gem extracts are as beautifying as the real thing has yet to be scientifically determined, but more spas will swear by the subtle healing energies imparted by them.
4. The Skin-Care Diet
Food is the new skin care, reflecting a return to the inner-beauty mantra that a good diet begets good skin. Organic-derived ingredients, topical probiotics (the beneficial bacteria) in brands such as Bioelements and Nude, and a growing number of beauty supplement-like beverages are on the rise.
5. Antioxidant Free-for-All
All manner of teas, hearty alpine herbs like edelweiss, and rare fruit extracts will be joined by more–and possibly increasingly obscure–sources of skin-benefiting antioxidants. For instance, next up, suggests a recent article in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology�burdock fruit.
6. Sunscreen Controversy
Are mineral sunscreen particles too small to be safe? Are chemical sunscreens bad for you? Do some antioxidants boost protection from UV rays? More questions are simmering about beauty’s most serious and important skin-care product than the industry can answer, at least in 2009. Expect a summer of mixed messages and hot debate.
7. Suds-Free Shampoos
By popular demand, shampoos without the controversial ingredient sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) or traditional foaming agents are hitting the shelves. Brands from California’s Sumbody to Paris’s Leonor Greyl produce a soft lather or emulsification, making suds-free washing a far more sophisticated experience than previous incarnations.
8. Organic Panic
While beauty brands continue to scramble for a USDA Organics logo, strip parabens from their formulations, or swap their packaging for something more earth-friendly to meet consumer demand, others will use 2009 to better define exactly what shade of green they subscribe to, while touting transparency as their angle. Call it green beauty marketing 2.0.
9. Hammams Are Hot
This year’s hottest beautifying bathing ritual is the hammam, a traditional Moorish-Mediterranean steam room, now found in brand-new spas from the Montage Beverly Hills to the InterContinental Montelucia in Arizona. Moroccan-sourced product ingredients such as argan oil, myrrh, and black soap are also building steam. After all, lounging at the hammam for hours, (which often involves less therapist-based costs), is a great way to stretch the spa dollar.
10. Hard Science Sells
There’s nothing like proof that a product works to justify a cosmetic purchase or a higher-price point. That’s why science-backed products will be flourishing even in tough economic times. Look for the drug company debuts of Botox-competitor Reloxin in 2009, an injectable; and the much-anticipated eyelash-lengthener Latisse, by Allergan; along with more growth hormones, skin-penetrating peptides, and nanotechnology in over-the-counter beauty products. The marriage between science and beauty will also continue to strengthen because of the use of biology textbook terms (like cellular, epidermal, dermal) invading skin care and its labels, reaching a whole new level of skin-care marketing.
BONUS TREND
Niche Nail Polish
Essie, OPI, and CND aren’t the only games in town. Deborah Lippmann is taking off as the bespoke nail bedazzler with the Lippmann Collection, and makeup artist Michael Marcus has partnered with the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo for a nail line. Expect new offerings in this fun, affordable, recession-proof beauty category.
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Costa Rica evokes images of coffee plantations, volcanoes and Pacific beaches. No place is better to experience these than the Four Seasons Papagayo. It is the epitome of luxury and relaxation. I tend to send guests seeking a romantic getaway or family groups looking for a little adventure. All return super satisfied.