Already highlighted by Cosmetics Design in 2023 as a top 10 trend, the skinification of beauty products continues its ascent. But what is skinification, exactly? Put simply, it’s when ingredients typically found in skincare products are used across other categories such as haircare and makeup. For example, a shampoo will no longer simply cleanse hair, but also provide soothing or hydrating benefits for your scalp. With ingredient-led products dominating the skincare landscape, featuring hyaluronic acid or vitamin C, coupled with a focus on overall skin health, self-care and wellness, we’re no longer satisfied with products that deliver single or superficial benefits. The care and attention we pay to our facial skin now extends to our body skin and scalp, with the goal of achieving not just healthy skin, but thanks to multifunctional products, healthier hair, or in the case of makeup, improving your skin while covering it up. Here are some of my makeup and haircare skinification recommendations.

Skinification of makeup

The Body Shop Second Skin Multi-Tasking Skin Tint

Firmly positioned as a makeup multi-tasker, The Body Shop’s Second Skin is the perfect example makeup skinification. Not only does it provide light, natural coverage in 12 shades, as a foundation or CC cream would, but it also boasts classic skincare benefits: enriched with Community Fair Trade shea butter and moringa seed oil, the formula moisturises and helps protect skin.

Pai The Impossible Glow

Suitable for all skin tones, these certified organic, vegan and cruelty-free glow givers blur the line between skincare and makeup, bringing year-round mica-enhanced shimmer in the form of a bronzer, rose highlighter and gold highlighter. Super versatile and easy to use, the glow drops can be mixed to your moisturiser, foundation or applied to specific areas for luminous skin, all the while bringing skincare benefits thanks to hydrating hyaluronic acid, sea kelp and lemon fruit water.

Clinique Even Better Refresh Hydrating and Repairing Foundation

This product was the first to introduce me to the concept of skincare benefits in makeup. Traditionally make up is used to enhance a desirable feature or hide a perceived imperfection. Today we expect makeup to not only hide, enhance or colour, but also improve, hydrate, repair. Clinique’s full coverage foundation is great at hiding blemishes and blurring an uneven skin tone, but enriched in hyaluronic acid, peptides, and salicylic acid, it smooths, plumps and re-texturises. The idea is that rather than making your skin worse by wearing makeup, you’re actually improving it. The foundation is also oil-free, non-acnegenic and won’t clog pores, reassuring oily and combination skin types that this makeup product boasts many skincare attributes.

Skinification of hair

K18 Biomimetic Hairscience Damage Shield pH Protective Shampoo & Conditioner

As a beauty category, haircare has seen a big shift towards benefits and claims typically seen in skincare. Haircare brand K18 (sold in Selfridges, Space NK, Sephora and Cult Beauty) offers a shampoo that not only cleanses but also repairs damaged hair thanks to a peptide that reduces protein loss. A big part of the skinification of haircare comes from including scalp care into products: scalp is skin and therefore will have its own needs, quite different from those of hair. K18’s pH-optimised gentle formula helps prevent disruption of the scalp barrier during washing. As for the conditioner, as well as the usual smoothing and shine-increasing properties, it also acts as a shield to protect hair against environmental aggressors such as UV rays and pollution. Your haircare version of a city shield and SPF.

Tabitha James Kraan Organic Hair Oil

Skincare routines have evolved since the 3-step cleanse, tone, moisturise mantra, taking inspiration from the Korean 7-step routine to take a life of its own. Haircare has also grown from the shampoo and conditioner duo, now including pre-treatments, masks, serums and mists. Tabitha James Kraan’s vegan and organic nutritious hair oil feeds your hair and scalp: for hair, it revives, smooths, protects and enhances shine. For skin (i.e. scalp), it nourishes, balances and restores the acid mantle (a thin film covering the entire surface of your skin, serving as a protective barrier against bacteria). 

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