There's Enough of Hailey Bieber's Glow to Go Around

There's Enough of Hailey Bieber's Glow to Go Around

June 15, 2022
by KELSEY CASTAÑON
Image
Image Source: Rhode Skin
Hailey Bieber has a new baby. No, not the kind you're thinking (although that's not completely off the table, she's said). Rather, today marks the launch of her highly anticipated beauty brand, Rhode, in which she bottles what every person on God's green earth collectively wants: her glow.

You see, Bieber's skin is like the sun — a case study in radiance that's been closely zoomed in on and investigated by a host of experts (not to mention her 45.2 million Instagram followers), glowing in a way that's almost too intense to look at directly without some sort of filter. It's been a topic of conversation in countless social media posts, TikTok videos, and internet articles. (One Google search for her skin-care secrets yields a cool 4.2 million results.)

Needless to say, the world is ready. Since Bieber first announced Rhode in November 2021, fans have eagerly awaited her every update about the brand, even as mysteries around when — and what, exactly — she would drop loomed. Yet there's a vulnerability to putting yourself out there, and so Bieber took her time to make sure everything was just right.

"I still have some fears and hesitations of 'I hope this or that doesn't happen,'" she tells POPSUGAR. "I'm opening up this part of my world to everybody. Rhode is coming straight from my mind to their hands; I'm the majority owner of this brand, I'm the one who put the most money into this brand, so my biggest hope is that people love it for what it is and for the quality of the product."

She also knows she's sharing this space in the beauty industry with many a celebrity, but to be clear: this is not a competition. In fact, she wants Rhode to represent the opposite.

"I've struggled enough with comparison to other people, and I don't want that for this brand," Bieber says. "There is space for every woman to succeed and thrive in this industry. We need to compare brands, people, whatever it may be — that's something that's been very sensitive for me."

This is, in part, because much of her skin-care knowledge is thanks to the countless women and beauty entrepreneurs she's met along the way. "I've been very fortunate to have worked with the best makeup artists, the best facialists, many female founders and brand founders, and have access to the best dermatologists in the world," she says. "That's such a privilege, to be able to ask questions and have conversations about skin care and also building a business. I try not to compare myself to their paths, because we're all different people, but I've just absorbed so much information that I apply to my beauty philosophy."

Image
Image Source: Illustration: Aly Lim
Image
Image Source: Rhode Skin
The biggest takeaway she's gleaned from every chat on Instagram Live and behind closed doors pointed to a single conclusion: what works for one person won't necessarily work for the next. That's why Bieber made her curated lineup of three skin-care essentials — the Barrier Restore Cream ($29), Peptide Glazing Fluid ($29), and Peptide Lip Treatment ($16) — as universal as possible. The former two are unscented (at her insistence, since smells often "trigger migraines for me," she says), with tried-and-true ingredients that won't irritate sensitive skin.

"I wanted simplicity, I wanted easy — boom, boom, boom, three steps, and you're ready to go," she says. "I thought about how skin care applies to my life. I move around a lot, travel a lot — I have for the last 10 years — and I thought about I would need on the plane with me. What would be what I need when I'm in the sun, on vacation, at the gym? What are the ingredients I would want when I'm dehydrated? That’s how I came up with each product."

Plus, when the pandemic hit, Bieber was afforded a luxury that rarely is for any megafamous celebrity with a face plastered on billboards in Times Square and paparazzi hiding outside their homes: time. Time to research the science behind ingredients, time to learn from experts, and time to experiment.

"I was buying everything and trying everything — from the most high-end, expensive stuff to the lower end to everything in between — trying to pinpoint what works for me and what doesn't," Bieber says. "What I realized is skin care doesn't need to cost a lot of money to be a high-quality formula. Essentially in skin care, things can go out of style. There are ingredients that are trends, and then there are ingredients that are always going to be important. I wanted to create products you can just keep going back to that will never go out of style."

Bieber, of course, realizes there's no one-size-fits-all to skin care. "I'm also very hip to the fact that it may not work for everybody, and that's OK," she says, adding with a laugh, “I feel like a 90-year-old grandma saying that, but it worked in that sentence."

She's highly aware that achieving her coveted "glazed-doughnut" skin might require different approaches from people with dryness (like herself) vs. those with oilier, acne-prone skin, like her husband, Justin. "I was cognizant of that because, of course, I want him to be able to use these products — and he does, and he loves them. But it's about openness and authenticity. If you have oily skin, and the thought of moisturizer freaks you out, the Peptide Glazing Fluid would be a great option for you, because although there's marula oil in it, marula oil is typically very safe for acne-prone skin and is a great hydrator. Just saying, 'Here's what it's in it. Try it, and if it works for you, amazing. If not, OK.' There's no bullshit."

Still, this chapter of Rhode is only the beginning — and the future is looking bright (like, stare-at-the-sun bright). "I don't look at Rhode as just a skin-care beauty brand; I look at it as an entire world with a lot of possibility," Bieber says. "I want it to one day be a beauty platform where creators can make content, share tips, buy products, sell products. I want the brand to speak for itself aside from the attachment to me