Do you want your beauty products to influence your mood? That’s increasingly the direction the industry is heading. It started with the “functional” fragrance trend, where perfumes promised to lift your spirits, relax you, give you energy or turn you on. Brands like Vyrao, Moods and The Nue Co are all part of this neuroscent category, as is Charlotte Tilbury. After the brand’s original fragrance was quietly discontinued (RIP Scent of a Dream, my ultimate summer scent), Charlotte Tilbury re-launched with a full range of wellness fragrances created with the help of neuroscientists and a psychologist.
Now, those neuroscientists are coming for our skincare. It’s not completely unheard of: we’ve all seen the creams, balms and oils designed to help us sleep with ingredients like lavender and chamomile (think The Body Shop’s Sleep Bedtime Balm or This Works Deep Sleep Night Oil). But will this emotional engineering be kicking up a notch soon? Earlier this month, Brynn Valentine explored the potential impact of a face cream that can mimic the ‘love molecule’, oxytocin, within the body. Just days later, a brand centred around intimacy launched.
Mienne is a bodycare and skincare brand for “everyday eroticism”. Describing itself as the first luxury house devoted to desire, the products are “powered by aphrodisiacs and actives” in order to transform everyday rituals, stimulate your senses, and expand your definition of pleasure. “Mienne formulas are erotic recipes that ask, ‘If skincare can turn you on, what else can?’” as the website and press release says. These products include more specifically sensual offerings like a “sex serum” (lube) and a massage candle, alongside things like body wash, hand cream and soap.
As part of the launch, Mienne tapped number one muse Julia Fox, choreographer Parris Goebel and singer Lourdes “Lola” Leon for its campaign, which is as sexy as the products. See the images in the gallery above and read on below for more beauty news and product launches from the month of May, including a viral TikTok brand coming to the UK, a new cleanser from our favourite holy brand, and saving the bees.
