Want to Sell Lip Gloss? Get Boys to Do It

Business of Fashion

23-05-2025

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and a record nine body mists dropping on one day.
Included in today's issue: Amika, Athena Club, Blake Brown, By/Rosie Jane, Coppertone, Ellis Brooklyn, Essie, Facile, Florence by Mills, Glamlite, Iris & Romeo, Laura Geller, Glossier, Kayali, Parfums de Marly, Parívie, Phlur, Roame, Sol de Janeiro, Tarte and an unforgivable Eowyn erasure.
But first…
Close your eyes and imagine which Lancôme ambassador you think is capable of selling the most $25 lip gloss. Is it Zendaya? Olivia Rodrigo? Julia Roberts? According to this week's data dump, it's actually… Ed Westwick.
The 37-year-old actor is most famous for playing Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl. This week, he's the internet's main character in a throwback video shot in the Empire Hotel — where Chuck Bass lived in decadent sin on the 2008 hit show — for a new Lancôme campaign. Called the 'Juicy Tubes Kissing Web,' the ads enlist Y2K icons like Mischa Barton, Paris Hilton and Christina Millian, all gushing about Juicy Tubes flavoured lip gloss, which first launched in 2000. Lancôme says the campaign has been one of the brand's top 10 social media launches, but even with that metric, Westwick's wink-to-camera video is exceptional. As of this writing, it's been viewed over 1 million times and boasts nearly 400,000 engagements. All the videos are a blast, but about 30 percent of Lancôme's total follower count has seen the content from Westwick's video alone. (The average engagement rate for makeup brands is closer to 3 percent.) Lancôme says Westwick's video is the most-engaged social media content they've ever made.
'Obviously, we're very happy with the performance,' says Julie Selig, Lancôme's head of consumer engagement. 'We know that nostalgia is a huge conversation and a huge trend in the beauty industry.' Juicy Tubes first debuted in 2000 and appeared onscreen in formative teen content like Mean Girls and The O.C., shows with surprisingly broad and lasting appeal. 'Y2K teen nostalgia hits all the strings,' Selig added. 'Gen Z is just discovering it now and they think it's cool. Millennials remember it vividly because they were teens or college kids. Gen X watched shows like The O.C. as a guilty pleasure, because they were in their 20s. Everyone can relate.'
Lancôme began planning the videos in November, and used a content strategy that mixed slickly-produced content with DIY footage shot by the stars themselves. 'I went to the Mark Hotel right before a party to shoot Gabrielle Union,' said Selig. 'When she said, 'There must be some juicy in the atmosphere,' like in Bring It On, I died.' The Juicy Kissing Web, which rolled out as a series of social media videos, "ties together your favorite 2000s celebs... and unites them with a kiss," the brand claims in a release. (Lancôme)
Part of Lancôme's nostalgia play is engaging Millennial women's fantasy best friends, like Union and other beloved girl's girls, including Amanda Seyfried and Hilary Duff. But with Westwick and fellow Kissing Web recruit Chad Michael Murray, along with the adorable tagline 'kisses are better with Juicy Tubes,' the brand is capitalising on a different kind of Y2K throwback: Encouraging women to wear makeup because of men. Murray's video talks about kissing his Cinderella Story co-star Duff and his current wife Sarah Roemer when they wore the lip gloss. Westwick recalls a throwback hookup who tasted of Juicy Tubes' 'vintage' Marshmallow Electro flavour. 'A guy on the L'Oréal team brought it up during a brainstorm,' said Selig. 'Men have nostalgia for it too. They remember the taste!'
This U-turn from the beauty industry's modern insistence on 'self-care' and 'empowerment' was a risk from a mega-brand like Lancôme. Choosing Westwick, who is most famous for playing a snobby sleazeball with a root-for-me redemption arc, was equally touch-and-go, especially since the actor faced assault allegations in 2017. (They were dismissed but Westwick lost work from the episode.) Today, it seems like both the flirty messaging and the casting choice is paying off. After his smash-hit campaign, Selig hints that Westwick will appear in more Lancôme content this year.
As for the idea that you might purchase beauty items to please, or at least tease, a guy? It's been the marketing subtext for Sol de Janeiro's Bum Bum Cream and Phlur's Vanilla Skin for years. Now with the return of ultra-femme beauty aesthetics — as seen earnestly on Carrie Underwood and subversively on Sabrina Carpenter — Lancôme is saying the quiet part out loud: Glossing up is one way to go places. They're hoping brand fans will shop accordingly. What else is new… Skincare
Coppertone unveiled a new ad campaign with Olympic rugby babe Ilona Maher on March 4; Instagram and TikTok ads began hitting my feed this week. The cutest is Maher getting chased by a puppy and showing off her taglines, just like the sun-care brand's original cartoon mascot did in 1953.
Erewhon's newest arrival is By/Rosie Jane. On May 15, the Aussie brand debuted its Every Day range of body care, including deodorant, body wash, body milk and moisturiser. It's all under $25, which is considered a bargain at the L.A. grocery store. ($80 tote bags, anyone?)
Iris & Romeo's Weekend Skin tinted moisturiser is now available in Cool Glow, a shade for pale girls. The colour hit shelves on May 16, with the same SPF 50 and Vitamin C as its original formula.
E.l.f. Cosmetics introduced its Sheer For It Blush Tint on May 17. The $5 formula comes in five colours, including a cherry hue called Left on Red. (Adorbs!)
Athena Club hit Target stores on May 18, which is great, because I cannot keep taping their single razors to a chopstick while I wait for replacement kits in the mail.
Fran Drescher wants to pave your pores. On May 19, the Nanny icon paired with Laura Geller to launch Spackle Skin Perfecting Primer, a $38 formula with SPF 30. As part of the campaign, the brand will make a one-time donation to Drescher's charity, Cancer Schmancer.
Paris Hilton's skincare line, Parívie, has arrived in full force. On May 19, the range dropped with a cleanser, serum, moisturiser, overnight mask and neck cream, along with an 'essence' for brightening. The range goes for $38 to $125, and comes packaged in gleaming fuchsia bottles. If only Kitson still existed so this thing could have a proper Melrose Place launch party!
Julianna Christensen is the type of home influencer who organizes her fridge on camera. On May 20, she launched Roame, an extension of her tidy aesthetic bubble that includes soap sheets, wipes and even toilet-seat covers.
Welcome to Sephora, Facile! The skincare brand by Los Angeles derm Dr. Nancy Samolitis launched in 273 doors on May 20 with four products; 'West Village Girls' can also buy it at Happier Grocery, the closest thing New York City has to Erewhon.
Sol de Janeiro's Body Badalada Vitamin Infused Lotion dropped on May 22 with an ad campaign starring Brazilian influencer Juliana Nalu, along with online it girl Samyra Miller, dancer Nick Pauley and Bretman Rock. Makeup
Glamlite's Lord of the Rings collaboration hit Middle Earth, and actual Earth, on May 16. It's got a shadow palette, a lip scrub, a highlighter and a gloss — but zero products named Eowyn, so just throw the whole thing off the Rohan castle drawbridge, because come on!
Has Tarte made every possible Maracuja Lip product? Not quite. On May 19, the cosmetics giant dropped a $27 lip stain in two pink shades, Lolli and Ice Pop, meant to mimic the effects of lip blushing. (Or at least the effects of sucking on a cherry popsicle until your lips turn bright red.)
On May 19, Glow Recipe launched Glass Balm, a four-shade collection inspired by the Korean shaved ice dessert bingsoo. The $22 formula has 'hyaluronic microspheres' that 'help to fill lip lines.' Does this mean there are also hyaluronic megaspheres? Or is that just, like, a regular drop of serum? Chemists, help a girl out.
Glossier Lip Glaze arrived on May 20 with six colours, one for every member of the K-pop group Katseye, which fronts the new product campaign. They're $22 each.
Kylie Cosmetics debuted its Hybrid Blush on May 20 with a balm-to-powder formula in eight shades. The launch imagery includes Kylie with high, teased hair and a white lace push-up bra — very Priscilla-coded.
Essie has re-released Clambake, a red-orange glaze from 2008 that influencer Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen has been hunting down on eBay for the past decade. The shade matches the checkered plastic tablecloths at the seafood shacks in Maine and Massachusetts; it hit shelves on May 21.
Makeup By Mario's SoftSculpt Blurring Bronzer hit Sephora on May 22. It's a buildable contouring compact available in six shades and retails for $38. Hair Care
Amika's Frizz Me Not collection debuted on May 20. It's a trio — shampoo, conditioner and treatment spray — that claims to be 'a $30 replacement for a $300 Brazilian blowout.' I'm gonna take my coarse, bleached-fried 3C curls and test it. Stay tuned. Hair & Body Mist Overload
Everybody's doing a hair and body mist, starting with Millie Bobby Brown, who named hers 'Love Core.' It's a perfect choice for her audience and personal brand, which is basically 'What if your fave Love Island contestant was also capable of winning an Oscar?' It's $18 at Ulta Beauty, and debuted with notes of cherry nectar and candied mandarin.
Meanwhile at Target, Blake Lively's hair care line Blake Brown released three new hair mists on May 19, including bergamot, vanilla and santal options. They're $19 each and come in gilded bottles that resemble Parfums de Marly's take on modern decadence.
And speaking of Parfums de Marly, did you know Amal Clooney's blowout was spritzed with the stuff before stepping out onto the Cannes red carpet in her vintage Galliano dress? Hair stylist Dimitris Giannetos did the honors.
Phlur dropped two summer mists, Beach Skin and Peach Skin, on May 19. The former has notes of coconut milk and salted tiare flower; the latter launched with a special drink at the vegan cafe The Butcher's Daughter called Peach Glow.
And just in case you want another flavour, Ellis Brooklyn's Milkshake trio includes banana, lychee and mango scents. They're $35 each, and debuted on May 19.
Kayali's Vacay in a Bottle collection hit Sephora on May 20. It's kind of like the destination wedding of fragrances, with scents named for Maui, Capri, Marrakesh and the Maldives. And finally…
Between this Jimmy Choo relaunch and the Row's $690 flip-flops, it's going to be a double-duty pedicure season. Birkenstock foot scrub, this is your time.
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