Katie Service - The Beauty Brief

The MR PORTER Guide to a Better Day
MR PORTER

Wild Kitchen
Claire Bingham

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The science and secrets behind skincare and the beauty industry.

Think smarter; look better.

Welcome to your gloriously glossy glossary of skincare terminology. At your fingertips is a compendium of skinformation from me, a beauty editor, to you, designed to arm you with a greater knowledge about what exactly you are picking off the shelves. Take this book with you shopping, or keep it next to your laptop; consume it all at once, or feel free to dip in and out.

People regularly ask me the question, Which moisturizer is better, X or Y? My answer is always the same: Have you checked what theyre made from? To which the response is nearly always: No. And to be honest, I dont blame them for not bothering to check. Skincare ingredient lists or INCIs, as we call them in the biz (see ) are not particularly user-friendly. They are usually long, winding compilations of impenetrable science that are nigh-on impossible to understand, and who has the time? If it wasnt my job, I wouldnt either; I would be happy just to buy that moisturizer and believe all the wonderful promises on its label about looking younger, richer and more fabulous.

And thats how I know there are a lot of people out there who are just bluffing their way through skincare, taking the marketing jargon on the front as a given and totally ignoring the small print on the back because, hey, life is too short. And, on the whole, skincare brands arent trying to pull the wool over your eyes its just that its a competitive industry, and brands will go to great lengths to convince you to shop with them.

And when I say competitive, I mean really competitive. Bolstered by trends for lockdown skincare regimes, DIY beauty and post-pandemic wellbeing, recent times have seen a surge in the skincare industry; as a global market, its predicted to be worth $190 billion by 2025. Meanwhile, the science behind the technologies and ingredients just gets better and better: skincare is now an arena for Nobel Laureate chemists, NASA scientists and stem-cell specialists. Meaning that, as a customer, you need to get geeky. Knowing your skincare from the inside out has never been so important.

Another thing Ive learned is that skincare isnt one size fits all. That a moisturizer you loved five years ago and have habitually used daily may not work the same wonders as it once did. That what works for Caucasian skin may not do the same thing for black skin or Asian skin.

I am not a scientist, and this is not a textbook, but I am quite obsessed with skincare. I frequently pull pots of moisturizer out of my coat pocket when I reach for my wallet while I'm out and about. I enjoy facials, peels, tweaks and lifts, and my bathroom cabinet is a sight to behold. As a beauty editor I also have access to some of the best dermatologists, facialists and formulators in the world, many of whose tips and advice I have shared in this book. But in the end I am just a normal woman on the hunt for answers and a less exhausted complexion.

Whatever your skin concerns wrinkles, breakouts or other I hope that this little book of definitions, tips and explanations can demystify the beauty industry and help you ask the right questions and find the answers youre looking for, whether these concern cost, care for the environment, ethics, or simply whether a product really works.

To help you navigate, some handy symbols are used throughout the book:

An ingredient or product youll find in my bathroom

An ingredient or product that has a positive impact on the world (environmentally friendly, vegan, vegan-friendly, sustainable, fair trade, or otherwise impacting the planet positively)

An ingredient or product to avoid

The cost of a treatment or procedure

Your body is so clever. If we could unzip our skin, we would unfold like a universe. Thats how you need to look at it.

Nichola Joss, Facialist

Beauty is such a nice way of examining the world.

Ateh Jewel, Beauty Journalist

Good skincare is so important to incredible makeup. Since the beginning of my career I have always believed that the key to a beautiful painting lies in creating a beautiful canvas, and that taking care of your skin and having a good everyday skincare routine is essential. The key to magic skin is all about looking after and maintaining the best skin of your life. I love sharing my tips and tricks for skincare as much as I do for makeup.

Charlotte Tilbury, Makeup Artist and Brand Founder

Your beauty industry 101 the conversations worth listening to.

We live in an age when we are more interested than ever in the chemicals we interact with on a daily basis. We google them, we tweet about them, we read about them in newspapers, and we spend hours watching skincare tutorials and trawling through product reviews on Instagram.

Thats what I love about beauty. Beyond its superficial trappings of lipstick and hairspray, it has a relevance in so many peoples lives and so many social contexts. It also has a penchant for the political: just look at the way that brands like MAC and The Body Shop tap into bigger conversations on topics such as gender equality, animal rights, cultural appropriation and sustainability. Its never simply skin-deep.

However, the beauty industry has not always been known for landing on the right side of headline issues. Theres still a vast misrepresentation in beauty when it comes to diversity, be that models ethnicity, age or physical ability. The reality of skincare as deeply personalized is not yet being reflected in the way its being sold to us. In addition, the industry is one that continues to use an incomprehensibly huge amount of plastic; we are quite literally filling the oceans with empty compacts and shampoo bottles. Its also an industry that has been guilty of promoting impossible standards and fuelling an unnerving trend for surgery and injectables in young people.