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John Lewis’s beauty trend predictions: What we’ll be shopping in 2022, from blue eyeshadow to LED masks
Get ready to fall back in love with bestselling buys from Charlotte Tilbury, Foreo and more
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As we rang in the New Year for 2021 during yet another national lockdown, our beauty habits continued to revolve around at-home routines with a focus on skincare, pared-back make-up looks and DIY hair dos.
But, as restrictions began to ease in spring, our behaviour shifted once more and we began to dip our toes back into the beauty waters. So, what does this tentative step towards normality mean for our make-up bags come 2022?
If your stash is in need of an overhaul, you’re in luck, because John Lewis & Partners has just revealed its top beauty trends for the next 12 months.
The retailer’s annual report outlines its key predictions across skincare, make-up, haircare, fragrance and wellness for the year ahead, using a combination of detailed customer insights and expert opinions from its team of beauty buyers.
To get you ready for a glow up, we’ve rounded up the best trends that the retailer has predicted will shape the beauty landscape for 2022, and even included a host of must-have buys for you to shop.
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Maximalist make-up
According to John Lewis & Partners, 2022 will see a make-up boom as beauty fans will rediscover the joy of putting on their favourite products, as well as finding new ones.
Since the end of the third national lockdown, the retailer has reported that sales across every make-up category have seen a considerable uptick, with sales of blusher increasing by 181 per cent, eyeshadow by 145 per cent and lipstick by 178 per cent. Mascara sales also rocketed by 113 per cent, with Charlotte Tilbury’s pillowtalk push up lashes mascara (£23, Johnlewis.com) proving to be the bestselling product across all department. Featuring in our round-up of the best mascaras, our tester was a big fan of this particular formula, praising it for delivering “on weightless volume, length and lift”, making it “the perfect all-rounder”.
As well as returning to firm favourites, John Lewis predicts that customers will step out of their comfort zones and become more playful in their approach for 2022. Over the summer, blue eyeshadow boomed, with sales of Mac’s frost eyeshadow (£16, Maccosmetics.co.uk) in the shade “tilt” increasing by 260 per cent and Clinique’s all about shadow eyeshadow (£17.50, Clinique.co.uk) in the shade “lagoon” rocketing by 300 per cent year on year. If you’re looking for a palette that will help you push the boundaries, we recommend picking up Charlotte Tilbury’s starry eyes to hypnotise (£60, Charlottetilbury.com), which was named best buy in our round-up of the best eyeshadow palettes. As well as on-trend midnight blues, it contains bronze tones, pink hues and olive khaki shades, which our tester said have “excellent” pigmentation and colour payoff.
Other make-up trends forecasted include a return to winged eyeliner – reach for KVD’s tattoo liner (£18, Feelunique.com), which featured in our review of the best eyeliners, for this – alongside coloured mascara and tasteful glitter, which will make for brilliant Christmas party inspiration.
Intense and unexpected scents
While shopping during the pandemic was dominated by scented candles and diffusers, John Lewis & Partners states that people’s priorities for 2022 will lie in smelling good themselves, with the concept of a “fragrance wardrobe” being front of mind as we re-emerge after months at home.
Perfume sales at the retailer have already increased by 24 per cent compared to the previous year, with classic fragrances like Jo Malone’s pomegranate noir (£52, Johnlewis.com) among the most popular. The scent was voted as being best for “something fruity but sophisticated” in our round-up of the best Jo Malone perfumes. “Pomegranate noir definitely captures this fruity darkness, with sharp sweet accords with smoky undertones, making it perfect for the evening and the colder months without being too masculine,” our tester said.
As we head into the new year, the retailer adds that strong and intense fragrances will be on many people’s wish lists, as it has already seen triple-digit growth of Maison Francis Kurkdjian baccarat rouge 540 (£215, Johnlewis.com). In our review of the scent, our tester said it has “a complex, nuanced and ever so seductive bouquet”. “While many perfumes announce themselves with a lot of noise and fanfare when you spray them on – only to disappear after a few hours – the clever thing about this perfume is its subtle richness which stays pretty much consistent throughout the day, and warms up beautifully on the skin,” they added. “After a day of meetings in town, we were still catching whiffs of it on the tube home.” For more fragrance inspiration, make sure to check out our guide to the best perfumes for women.
Get active
No, we’re not talking about your New Year fitness regime, but your high-performing skincare routine. One of the beauty habits formed in lockdown that’s here to stay, John Lewis & Partners reports that skincare accounted for over a third of all beauty sales during 2021, with sales of facial cleansers growing by 82 per cent, moisturisers by 80 per cent and exfoliators by 79 per cent.
Moving into 2022, the retailer predicts that products that target post-pandemic lifestyle-related skin concerns will dominate, including Kate Somerville’s BHA-rich eradikate skincare set (£32, Johnlewis.com), which addresses maskne. Here at IndyBest, we’re big fans of the brand’s eradikate collection, with the salicylic acid acne treatment featuring in our round-up of the best salicylic acids. “Any remaining blemishes shrunk in size, and inflammation was kept to the bare minimum,” our tester said. “While we mostly used it as a spot treatment, it worked well across the entire face without peeling or excessive dryness.”
The retailer has forecasted that we will also see active ingredients become increasingly sought after in the make-up space, including primers packed with salicylic acid to reduce pore size, foundations with brightening boosters such as vitamin C to improve skin over time and setting sprays with in built pollution protection.
In our round-up of the best primers, our tester highlighted Milk Makeup’s hydrop grip primer (£14.50, Selfridges.com), which is made with niacinamide – an ingredient known to help minimise the look of enlarged pores. “Much loved by beauty experts and consumers alike, this primer still remains hard to beat on performance,” they said. “It’s ideal for complexions that need an extra hit of hydration (don’t we all), with its cocktail of moisturising ingredients, including hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, hemp-derived cannabis seed and blue agave.”
Beauty with purpose
No longer just a buzz word, John Lewis & Partners predicts that 2022 will be the year we see sustainability and ethics take centre stage in beauty. While sustainably sourced ingredients and cruelty-free formulas will continue to become the norm, the retailer adds that planet-first packaging – in particular refillable products – will skyrocket in popularity.
Already offering a number of refillable formats including its magic cream (£49, Charlottetilbury.com) and magic night cream (£30, Cultbeauty.co.uk), Charlotte Tilbury continues to lead the way in this realm. Featuring in our round-up of the best refillable products, the brand’s hot lips 2 lipstick (£28, Cultbeauty.co.uk) was also highlighted for proving that sustainable beauty “needn’t be boring”. “Each colour is available as a bullet refill,” our tester said. “The pigmentation is great, and they leave your lips feeling moisturised.”
Another brand that the retailer has tipped to skyrocket in popularity thanks to its conscious credentials is Evolve, which focuses on recycled and recyclable packaging, fairtrade ingredients and vegan and cruelty-free formulas. The brand’s hyaluronic serum 200 (£30, Johnlewis.com) was included in our review of the best organic skincare products, where our tester praised it for giving “results that easily compare to more mainstream brands”.
The retailer also predicts big things for Votary’s plant-based, natural and vegan skincare oils, with the current bestseller being the brand’s blemish rescue oil (£35, Spacenk.com), which combines two per cent salicylic acid with nourishing tamanu to effectively unclog pores, reduce redness and inflammation and minimise scarring. Here at IndyBest, we’re also big fans of Votary’s intense night oil (£135, Johnlewis.com), which featured in our round-up of the best night oils. “If you’re looking for the skin-rejuvenating results of adding a retinoid to your routine, this uses hydroxypinacolone retinoate, which is known to be more effective than retinol with less irritation,” our tester said. “We found a softening to dark spots, fine lines and a definite glow using this consistently for a month. Well worth a skincare splurge.”
The beauty tech boom
Throughout the pandemic, many of us resorted to at-home beauty treatments and, while we’ll be heading back the salon to get our brows tinted and threaded, John Lewis & Partners is predicting that the trend for DIY facials will stay put for 2022.
Over the past year, the retailer states that beauty gadgets like LED light masks, facial-toning devices and clever cleansers have been a big hit, with Foreo proving to be the most popular brand with a whopping 361 per cent uplift on the year. If it’s a cleansing brush you’re after, we highly recommend the brand’s luna play smart 2 (£79, Feelunique.com), which uses soft, flexible, silicone touchpoints combined with sonic pulsations (as many as up to 8,000 pulses per minute) to gently brush across the top layer of the skin, removing make-up, dirt and excess oil, as well as sloughing away dead skin cells. In our review of the device, our tester said it had “fast become an invaluable asset” in their skincare routine.
When it comes to LED face masks, consider investing in MZ Skin’s light-therapy golden facial treatment (£385, Net-a-Porter.com), which took the top spot in our review of the best ones. “The mask features 150 bulbs that emit five light wavelengths to target different skin concerns,” our tester said, adding that these include firming, discolouration, spots and blemishes, and inflammation. “It’s fairly easy to set up; you plug it in and use the remote control to pick the LED light colour and duration of treatment,” they added. “We like how the intensity of the light can be adjusted to suit your comfort levels.”
John Lewis & Partners has forecasted that the interest in beauty tech will only accelerate in 2022, with innovations in the space moving from DIY tools to high-tech hydrafacials, micropeels and even cryotherapy.
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