Why everyone wants to look like Hailey Bieber, from Rhode skincare to chrome nails

It wasn’t way back that the Kardashians dictated almost each magnificence pattern and spun up their very own magnificence companies alongside them. At the height of their affect, the fact stars-turned-lifestyle moguls had been borrowing aesthetics popularized by Black and brown ladies — and make-up methods utilized by drag queens — and making them attainable to the lots. Suddenly, each white influencer had laid edges, overlined lips, and a doubtful tan.

But in 2024, that period of magnificence appears to be winding down. Fans accuse the Kardashians of being of their “flop era,” and even copycats of newer influencers. At the identical time, one of many household’s closest pals, Hailey Bieber, has develop into the brand new queen of viral magnificence tendencies, in addition to a formidable risk within the land of magnificence commerce.

While Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner impressed millennials to embrace maximalism with their contouring and lip kits, Bieber is instructing Gen Z to look much more plain.

From “glazed donut” pores and skin to “vanilla girl” make-up to “latte girl” make-up, Bieber has been connected to a slew of latest minimalist magnificence tendencies. The newest goal, it appears, is to look “clean,” naturally glowing (that’s, sun-kissed however not essentially doused in bronzer), effortlessly stunning, and, general, sort of bland.

While these make-up appears could be adopted and remixed for anybody — I, for one, benefit from the blush-heavy “strawberry girl” make-up look — a search of those tendencies throughout social media presents an nearly uniform picture: white pores and skin, calmly freckled with some-shade-of-blonde hair slicked into a decent bun. These ladies all resemble Bieber and the usual of magnificence she’s promoted by her personal social media posts and standard skincare model, Rhode.

How did this shift in magnificence aesthetics come to be? After many memorable, discourse-laden years of Black hairstyles, flashy acrylic nails, and attention-grabbing make-up being “in,” how did Bieber go on to captivate the subsequent era — one largely related to individuality, physique acceptance, and progressiveness? What is she promoting to Gen Z that’s so compelling?

Who even is Hailey Bieber?

In true nepo child vogue, Hailey Bieber is most readily recognized by her proximity to different well-known folks. (I’m not being impolite. This is one thing she’s happy with.) She’s the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin — brother to the extra well-known Alec — and, since 2018, the partner of pop celebrity Justin Bieber. She’s an in depth good friend of the Jenner sisters and different mega-influencers of their Calabasas circle. She’s made headlines for purportedly being the arch-nemesis of her husband’s ex, Selena Gomez.

The Biebers met after they had been youngsters — a fortuitous introduction made by Hailey’s father — and began courting as adults whereas attending the identical church. (They love speaking about their shared love of God.) They’ve appeared in music movies collectively, posed on the quilt of Vogue, gushed about each other in interviews, and even filmed their nuptials for the singer’s YouTube docuseries Seasons.

Before turning into a musician’s spouse at 21, although, Bieber was on a fast-paced — and privileged — trajectory to turning into a star in her personal proper. At 17, Bieber signed to Ford Models and rapidly appeared in a plethora of shiny magazines from Love to Teen Vogue. When she joined the high-profile company IMG in 2016, she was strutting down runways alongside A-list supermodels for luxurious manufacturers and touchdown cowl shoots. Later, she inked main contracts with Bare Minerals and Levi Jeans. There had been additionally efforts to showcase her character by internet hosting gigs, together with on the previous TBS competitors present Drop the Mic.

Meanwhile, her Instagram, which at the moment boasts 51 million followers, turned a vogue bible for younger ladies wanting to imitate her prep-meets-streetwear type. Bieber would publish her day by day outfits, red-carpet appears, and editorial appearances to hundreds of thousands of likes. But her pivot to TikTookay throughout the pandemic signaled that one thing larger was on the horizon.

In April 2021, Bieber posted a front-facing video on TikTookay the place she applies a beneficiant quantity of moisturizer to her face whereas zooming in on her poreless, glassy pores and skin. “Glazed donut vibes,” the caption learn. “Layering my skincare for that perfect dewy finish.” Bieber wasn’t the primary to make the reference — millennial magnificence success story Glossier, which we’ll get to in only a minute, had beforehand in contrast the results of its highlighter to a “Krispy Kreme” and “glazed look” — however she supercharged the pattern. Cue a endless cycle of food-inspired magnificence fads predicated on clear pores and skin and minimal make-up that will develop into a key advertising and marketing technique for Bieber’s soon-to-be magnificence mini-empire.

Despite her presence throughout a number of platforms, Bieber isn’t precisely involved with making herself knowable. She stays primarily a temper board, prepared to mission the consumerist needs of younger, beauty-obsessed ladies. Not a persona, however an thought to aspire to. It’s the proper setup for Rhode Skin.

How Bieber turned the “it girl” of skincare

The crux of Bieber’s enchantment is the dearth of effort it seemingly takes for her to look gorgeous. It’s applicable that she at the moment has her personal Erewhon “skin” smoothie with doubtful dermatological advantages. It’s a collaboration that feels significantly Goop-like in its absurdity and trollish-ness. While viral magnificence tendencies and collaborations have helped place Bieber as a magnificence uber-influencer, it’s beginning her personal model that’s cemented her standing within the house.

Bieber launched Rhode in 2022 with a hydrating serum, face cream, and lip remedy offered in grey, medical-looking containers. In an interview for Allure, Bieber stated that Rhode’s major objective is “hydration, hydration, hydration,” emphasizing that she doesn’t need to “cut corners” or “bullshit with this brand.” Rhode’s suite of merchandise has remained small — a cleanser and lip tints are among the many solely additions for the reason that model debuted. Inventory has additionally remained considerably restricted; with each new drop, Rhode has generated tons of social-media buzz and a subsequent lengthy waitlist.

The tightly curated, merely packaged line centered on so-called good pores and skin feels like a non secular successor to Emily Weiss’s industry-disrupting magnificence model Glossier. Glossier, which launched a decade in the past, was itself an alternate to the contoured, makeup-heavy aesthetic the Kardashians championed. “Skin first, makeup second” learn one in all its taglines. Like Glossier, Bieber has gone the direct-to-consumer route to begin, bypassing brick-and-mortar shops and multi-brand retailers to promote her wares solely on Rhode’s web site.

She’s additionally simply one in all many, many celebrities who’ve develop into magnificence entrepreneurs in recent times, from Scarlett Johansson to Pharrell Williams. One level of distinction, nonetheless, is that in contrast to a lot of her superstar rivals, Bieber claims to have lent a big amount of cash to the enterprise, slightly than acquiring a licensing deal or using an incubator. It’s attention-grabbing to word that Bieber based Rhode with Michael Ratner, founding father of the manufacturing firm she makes use of for her YouTube channel; on this method, her social media presence is much more basically linked to her model.

Ama Kwarteng, magnificence director at Coveteur, says that the model’s authenticity angle makes Bieber stand out, even when her model of “realness” is very curated.

“People want someone like Hailey, who’s on TikTok and posts photo dumps and can be vulnerable in public,” she stated. “She’s talked about being cyberbullied and showed her skin when it doesn’t look perfect. That’s just where social media has moved. It’s not like the Kardashian age where everything was just so overly filtered and overly done.”

Of course, there’s a perennial need for ladies to look “natural” and “effortless.” In an article for the Cut titled “The Big Lie of #NoMakeup,” author Jessica Teas describes the ethical worth society assigns to “authentic” magnificence. Not solely are ladies who forgo make-up supposedly much less useless, however in addition they take higher care of themselves. “The idea is that a glow imparted by highlighter is fake,” she writes. “Whereas a glow imparted by a lifetime of denying yourself refined sugar is real.”

In an age when make-up tutorials are accessible to anybody with an web connection, cosmetics act as an equalizer. It doesn’t matter what situation your pores and skin is in, or what your “before” appears like; with the best merchandise and methods, you can also make any variety of tweaks to your look. Being in a position to say “I woke up like this” — or at the least look like you probably did — is subsequently an automated flex.

John Sciulli/Getty Images for Nasty Gal

“Even if it takes a billion steps, people want to look like that,” Kwarteng stated. “They don’t want to be a try-hard. They don’t want people to see the labor that’s gone into their work to beautify themselves.”

Indeed, there’s a not insignificant stage of maintenance and, notably, cash required to look “authentically” beautiful. Whether that’s having entry to dermatologist or esthetician or making use of make-up in such a strategic method that it’s barely seen, the bodily and monetary dedication that such an aesthetic requires is nothing new. These ladies might not look as powdered or bronzed because the Kardashians, however they very nicely might have executed the identical quantity of labor to seem as good.

The rise of the “Clean Girl” comes with baggage

The idea of “no-makeup makeup” is hardly a novel thought; most of the present utility methods circulating on TikTookay really feel harking back to ’90s tender glam and the ethereal, dewy visages of the ’70s.

Still, it’s arduous not to discover tendencies like “vanilla girl,” “latte girl,” and “clean girl” and the general rise of Bieber hanging, significantly after a decade of influencers leaning into “otherness.” Not solely does this evolution expose a stage of disposability to Black aesthetics (and Black tradition normally), the need for “pure,” “plain” magnificence feels loaded.

The implications for Black ladies and different ladies of shade on this present magnificence period are just a little fuzzy. Plenty of media protection suggests one thing insidious underlying this aesthetic pivot. The racial connotations of the phrases “clean” and “vanilla” — plus the ladies who seem first if you Google their related magnificence tendencies — do convey an unique message. But journalist and wonder professional Kayla Greaves says Black ladies have a declare to these tendencies as nicely.

“Black women have embraced the slicked-back bun, no-makeup makeup, minimalist look for decades before there was an actual name for it,” Greaves stated. “Should we be credited? Absolutely.”

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She talked about ladies like Nia Long, Gabrielle Union, and Sade: they’re “absolutely stunning, but throughout the years have always gone for a more minimal, natural look.”

Kwateng notes that these appears are sometimes extra achievable for a selected kind of Black lady. For instance, some Black ladies is probably not in a position to put their hair in an ultra-sleek bun.

“When you think of the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic, it’s like the opposite of what’s technically considered a more urban or ‘Black girl’ aesthetic,” she stated.

One of the few superstar Black ladies related to these present tendencies, Sofia Richie — Bieber’s fellow nepo child, because the daughter of Lionel Richie — is price contemplating. Her mild complexion actually performs a task in TikTookay’s exaltation of her as an influencer. Likewise, she’s been credited with the explosion of the “quiet luxury” vogue pattern that overlaps with “vanilla,” “latte,” and” clear” lady aesthetics. There’s a valuing of privilege and wealth (or, once more, at the least the looks of these issues) figuring out how younger folks need to look today. As Kwateng defined, “it feels like more of a class thing.”

To be clear, there’s nothing inherently dangerous or classist about sporting much less make-up, less complicated hair, or shorter nails. However, it’s fascinating watching a brand new, seemingly extra progressive era embrace a bland uniformity on the expense of individuality.

In an op-ed concerning the rise of “beige-influencers” for the Guardian, author Sarah Manavis observes “a pervasive inclination towards dullness” amongst Gen Z.

“Heteronormative, conventional lifestyles have long been regarded as more socially acceptable than straying from this path,” she writes. “But conventionality has now been granted a pious, aspirational element, as if this isn’t how people have been encouraged to live for centuries.”

For all of the dialogue about our lack of monoculture, it’s nonetheless thriving within the magnificence division.