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The skincare trends you should have on your radar for 2023

These are the complexion-enhancing ingredients, formulations and techniques predicted to be hitting shelves – and your bathroom - in the year ahead

While there's no doubt that many of 2023's beauty trends will be discovered on TikTok, and blow up then totally disappear, we've discovered a wealth of more sophisticated gems offering exciting benefits that we predict will still be around long after social media trends have died.

From relations to already buzzy ingredients, to new approaches to glow-getting and taking multitasking to new heights, these are the big skincare stories coming your way in 2023.

The new CBD

While many initially passed it off as a fad, cannabidiol-infused skincare certainly seems here to stay, with CBD being the compound (there are over 100 of them) most championed. It's particularly good for sensitive and acne-prone skin due to its anti-inflammatory properties. The soothing and smoothing benefits are also said to be great for anyone wanting to treat the signs of ageing and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, as it has hydrating properties and helps the skin to maintain balance.

But now a lesser-known cannabidiol called cannabigerol, or CBG, is in the early stages of finding its way into our skincare products. This variant also offers antioxidant and antibacterial benefits as well as helping to fight UV damage, giving it superior anti-ageing powers. At the moment, Cellular Goods are the only UK company to make CBG-rich skincare, including the unisex Rejuvenating Cannabidiol Face Serum, which also contains peptides to boost collagen levels and smooth skin. If you need any more persuading, supermodel Helena Christensen is the face of the range.

A glow-up 

Global trends forecasting company Beautystreams predicts that this will be the year of skincare that gives a truly luminous look, both immediately and long term. As the importance of health and wellness grew during the pandemic and as a barometer of internal health, luminous skin that appears to glow from within is more desirable than ever.

Where once we might have relied on faking a healthy glow with highlighting, luminising makeup, now we’re seeing the rise of skincare that will achieve radiance for real, thanks to next generation formulas packed with fast-acting, radiance-boosting ingredients. Think products that create a skin-flattering glow and are light-inducing too, but those benefits won’t wash off. Case in point: Fenty Skin's Pre-Show Glow Instant Instant Retexturizing 10% AHA Treatment, is an exfoliating formula that helps smooth skin, refine the appearance of pores and brighten dark spots. The difference here though, is that it makes skin glow after just 60 seconds.

Hypertasking hybrids

While multitasking products have always been loved by the beauty world and hybrid products have become increasing popular as formulas become evermore sophisticated, the fusion into multi-tasking hybrids elevates them to a whole new level. And given our current challenging economic times, they are certainly set to be welcomed.

“Products that have multiple functions and added benefits will be a hit with consumers wanting to get more value from their purchase,” says Sienna Piccioni, Head of Beauty at trend forecasters WGSN. “We’ll see this especially with skincare-makeup hybrids such as SPF-tinted serums with hydrating actives that save money, time and improve skin health. Hybrid beauty products thrive during recessions, but the next breed will take multitasking to a whole new level.”

Forget the filter

Similar to the glow-getting trend, expect to see ingredients appearing in skincare that give a lasting blurring effect, rather than achieving it through makeup such as primers. With the popularity of ‘skinimalism’ teamed with a growing backlash against social media filters, including how they are used for beauty advertising online plus the rise of the anti-filter platform BeReal, cosmetic ingredient companies are banking on skin-perfecting ‘blur’ products gaining popularity this year as shoppers cut their social media filter use.

At the recent SCS Formulate trade event for ingredient suppliers, mattifying and pore-masking formulations looked set to make a big comeback, albeit with an eco-friendly twist this time as technology and ingredients improve. The result should be a wealth of new skincare formulas that allow us to take better selfies by turning to topical skincare and ditching filters altogether.

Functional fragrance skincare

Part of the continued overlap between beauty and wellness arenas, scents in skincare that do more than simply make a product smell nice, but actually have active benefits for the complexion are on the rise. It’s a trend that’s been applied to fragrance in the past, where a spritz of scent has a neurological effect on the brain, in particular for energising or calming.

New skincare arrivals such as the Faace moisturiser, Stress Faace, take this one step further by benefiting the appearance of the complexion too. Their particular blend of jasmine, ylang ylang, geranium and patchouli infused into the moisturiser has been shown to have a soothing effect on the senses, while their active ingredient Neurophroline tackles the effect that stress has on the skin, such as a rise in inflammation and sensitivity triggered by an excess production of cortisol, our stress hormone. In clinical testing, the moisturiser was shown to reduce the effect cortisol production has on easily angered complexions by 70 per cent after only two hours, leaving it calmer and brighter.

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