Gone are the days of expensive skincare products packaged in silver and gold with complicated names and ingredients lists as long as your arm. Now everything is more… well, ordinary.
Bottles are small, white and simply labelled – branding is pared back and non-fussy and product names are as short and clear as possible.
A new beauty brand is capitalising on this appetite for simple skincare, creating 15 products based on key ingredients like hyaluronic acid, retinol and vitamin C – and everything is under £10.
The Inkey List was started by Colette Newberry, former COO at WAH Nails, and Mark Curry former senior buying manager at Boots.
The pair not only wanted to sell effective products, but to educate people are what can sometimes be the very confusing and buzz-word heavy world of beauty and skincare.
‘There is a growing wave of consumers that are realising you don’t have to spend a fortune to get incredible skincare but our thinking was, how do we go on to democratise this even further?’ Newberry told British Vogue’s Funmi Fetto in an interview.
‘Yes, we wanted to make sure the price point was accessible but what we felt was missing in the industry was accessibility to information and understanding. We did a lot of research and discovered thousands of people that are interested in skincare but just don’t know where to start.’
‘There are so many questions. "How does vitamin C actually work for my skin type? Does/should this product replace something else I am currently using? At what point do I use this particular product?" People are confused. Giving someone access to retinol at £6 is fantastic but not if you don’t understand how to use it.’
The brand officially launched today, and the questions have already started rolling in. Log on to The Inkey Lists’s website and you’ll be presented with a text box ready for your beauty questions – and a counter showing you how many questions have already been asked – 287 at the time of writing.
Head over to the brand’s Instagram account and you’ll find they’ve been busy on Instagram Stories using the question feature answering queries such as ‘What’s the bets thing to use for acne/acne scarring?’ and ‘What do you recommend to help shrink pores?’ with indepth replies.
It remains to be seen whether customers trust advice from a brand instead of independent bloggers or journalists, but the price point and focus on the ingredients everyone is searching for have definitely got our attention.
READ MORE: Grazia's Edit Of The Most Instagrammable Beauty Brands
Grazia Instagram Beauty Brands
1 of 9Selahatin
Inspired by classic French beauty brands, Selahatin's toothpaste comes in an aluminium tube with a paired-back, monochrome design. What's inside is just exciting with the Scandi brand designing their toothpaste flavours like perfume aromas.
2 of 9The Gentle Label
Proving that even chores can be chic, The Gentle Label's household cleaning products come in stylish bottles you'd be proud to display. Using all natural ingredients, their three part range ticks the eco-approved box too.
3 of 9Lixir
You've probably already spotted Lixir's millennial pink packaging on Instagram and it turns out their hardworking products are just as impressive as their photogenic aesthetic. Formulated by industry expert, Dr Collette Haydon, the streamlined range aims to take the fuss and faff out of skincare with results-driven and multi-purpose products.
4 of 9Apa
Apa Beauty are aiming to overhaul the way we see toothcare with their line of 'oral cosmetics.' Borrowing their aesthetic from the world of luxury skincare, the tasteful white and gold packaging will improve any bathroom #shelfie.
5 of 9Herbivore
Whether it's their jade rollers, blush pink bath salts or charcoal soap bars, Herbivore Botanicals know a thing or two about Instagrammable branding. Bursting with natural active ingredients, the products live up to the hype.
6 of 9IGK
Whether it's the tongue-in-cheek product names, the world-class formulas or the bathroom brightening packaging, we've fallen hard for IGK haircare. And now, thanks to our friends at Space NK, you no longer have to worry about raiding a stateside Sephora to get your fix.
7 of 9Flora and Curl
Inject some tropical vibes into your bathroom with Flora & Curl's colourful, floral packaging. The non-toxic hair care range for naturally dry, curly or afro hair is well worth investing in.
8 of 9Haeckels
Hailing from Margate, Haeckels harvests the abundant seaweed off the town's coast to create powerful, natural skincare products. Housed in amber glass bottles with minimal branding, the packaging is both understated and elegant.
9 of 9Saturday Skin
With playful pink packaging and glow-giving credentials, this Korean beauty brand deserves a place on your bathroom shelf.