If we had to remember just one word after the year we just went through, it could be: essential. It has fueled the debates of recent months but also the intimate reflections of all those who have reassessed their needs. Thanks to confinement and exit restrictions, in fashion as well as in beauty, a question arose: does accumulating consumer objects have any meaning?
It’s probably no coincidence that Netflix is currently streaming The Minimalists: Less Is Now, documentary dedicated to the Americans Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus – authors of the book Minimalism (I read) -, which we hear say: “You never take the time to ask yourself what is essential or necessary or how many of these things add value to my life? “ After the Japanese Marie Kondo who invited us to tidy up, these two thirties encourage us to lighten up.
The first victim? Serum
The cosmetics sector, subject to overbidding for years, is increasingly shaken up by this need for simplification, as Pierre Bisseuil, co-founder of The Prospectivists agency, explains: “It is no longer the“ less is more ”, which seeks more in the less, but the“ less is better ”. The question is: how is less enough for me? How to achieve something that seems to be so sufficient, so good and good for you that you have a perception of abundance, in terms of quality, for example. “ In his book Unbearable paradise (Dunod, 2020), Grégory Pouy exposes the difficulties of extricating oneself from hyperconsumption that has become a habit, but he also points to the ” satisfaction “ which arises, when we get there, from “Not needing anything more than what you already have”.
The idea is gaining ground and, in the beauty market, this has several consequences, the first being the end of extended skincare routines. The first victim? Serum, the most expensive product because it is supposed to be the most concentrated. “While it has been booming for years, it experienced a real setback last year. Consumers have refocused on cream ”, notes Mathilde Lion, European beauty expert from The NPD Group.
“We are discovering that the less we do, the better it is for the skin, in particular because we stop attacking our microbiome” Marie Drago, doctor of pharmacy
Even in South Korea, women abandon, after decades of practice, the famous layering, the superposition of skincare products (up to ten different ones). Since everything has a name, we call it the skip care, or the art of skipping care steps. Cica-crèmes, restorative creams inspired by French pharmacy, are popular with these new consumers whose skin has become sensitized by being saturated with products.
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