Why 2024’s Makeup Trends Begin Before the Makeup
Most 2024 makeup trend roundups start at the mirror with a brush in hand. This one starts in the bathroom, two steps earlier, because the looks that dominated the year — a lit-from-within finish, softly blotted lips, a five-minute face that survives a school run — are built on preparation rather than on piling product over product. That is also useful news if you shop a bath-and-body catalog like ours, since the prep layer is what we actually stock. Below is how we would build the year’s most wearable looks with the products on the shelf right now, plus an honest note on what is not here.
Trend One: Skin That Looks Lit From Within
The largest shift of 2024 was away from flat, heavy coverage and toward skin that still reads as skin: light catching the cheekbone, a little natural texture, nothing powdery. It is a forgiving direction, because it rewards a comfortable base more than a flawless one. Think of it as lighting a room rather than papering over the walls.
Dewy, Not Greasy
The usual mistake is going too far and arriving at shiny by mid-morning. The fix is to do the moisturising early and keep the finishing layer thin. Prep while skin is still slightly damp, let it settle for a minute or two, then use far less of anything luminous than you think you need. A comfortable base holds a look together; an over-loaded one slides.
Where Our Catalog Fits
The closest match to that prep step is the Skin So Soft Original Gift Set, listed at $31.49. It bundles the Original Gelled Body Oil (6.76 fl. oz.), the Original Bath Oil Spray (5 fl. oz.) and the Original Body Oil Stick (1.7 oz. net wt.), plus a blue snowflake gift bag. The stick format is the practical one for a makeup routine: it lets you target dry patches — elbows, cuticles, the odd flaky spot on the jaw — without slicking the whole face. For a lighter, more scented option, the Skin So Soft Soft & Sensual Gift Set at $25.99 pairs the Original Gelled Body Oil with a 3.4 fl. oz. Soft and Sensual Hand Cream, a Soft & Sensual Body Oil Stick and a snowflake gift bag.
Trend Two: Graphic, Architectural Liner
Sharp, drawn-on liner stayed central this year: floating creases, doubled wings, negative-space shapes and small geometric accents near the inner corner. The technique matters more than the colour, and it rewards a steady hand and a clean canvas rather than expensive products. Two practical notes. First, do liner before base if you are new to it, so mistakes can be wiped away without rebuilding your foundation. Second, keep the rest of the face quiet — a strong graphic line reads best against simple skin and a nude or balm-only lip. We should be straight with you here: we do not sell eyeliner, so for this trend you will need to shop elsewhere for the liner itself. What our range can do is handle the prep and the finish around it.
Trend Three: Blurred, Blotted Lips
Full, glossy colour gave ground to something softer: colour pressed into the lip, edges diffused with a fingertip, shine kept to the centre. It looks undone on purpose and it photographs well, but it only works on lips that are not already cracked or tight. Prep is the whole trick, and it is the cheapest step in the routine.
Lip Prep That Costs Three Dollars
The Senses Hot Chocolate Lip Balm is listed at $3.00: a 0.14 oz. balm formulated with vitamin E and aloe vera and a festive scent, sold as a stocking-stuffer size. The Senses Vanilla Latte Lip Balm is the same $3.00 and the same 0.14 oz., built around a coffeehouse scent. If fragrance is not your thing, the Avon Calendar Lip Balm is listed at $3.00, comes in at 0.16 oz. net wt. and is formulated without fragrance. All three can be worked in a thin layer, blotted, and used as the base under a dabs-of-colour lip rather than as a glossy top coat. A balm under colour is what keeps a blotted lip from turning patchy by the afternoon.
Trend Four: The Five-Minute Face, Assembled in Advance
The other defining idea of 2024 was speed: a routine short enough to finish before the school run, built from a small number of multi-purpose items. The people who manage it well are not faster with a brush; they have simply put the pieces in one place so nothing needs hunting for. Bundled sets are quietly the best answer to that, and they happen to be our specialty.
Gift Sets as a Routine Shortcut
The Merry Snuggle Gift Set at $9.99 is the smallest entry point: two 1.7 fl. oz. hand creams (Skin So Soft Original and Soft & Sensual), two 0.14 oz. lip balms (Senses Vanilla Latte and Senses Hot Chocolate) and a Fair Isle gift bag. It covers hands and lips in one purchase. For a fuller routine, the Senses S’mores & Snuggles Gift Set at $24.99 brings a 6 oz. whipped body butter, a 24 fl. oz. bubble bath and a 1.7 fl. oz. hand cream in the same scent family, plus a Fair Isle gift bag — a sensible winter pairing, since dry indoor air is what usually breaks a dewy finish. If you would rather assemble things yourself, the four pieces in the Skin So Soft sets above cover the same ground individually.
Trend Five: Comfort for Long Outdoor Days
Outdoor makeup days — markets, ball games, patio dinners — are their own category, because heat and insects undo careful work faster than anything else. This is the one place where our catalog has something genuinely specific: the Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus Picaridin Pump Spray, listed at $14.00. It is a 4 fl. oz. pump spray formulated with picaridin as an alternative to DEET, described as low-odour with a light, clean feel, and sold for repellency against mosquitoes, deer ticks, gnats, no-seeums, sand flies and biting midges. Applied before you leave the house rather than after the fact, it keeps the fussing to a minimum. It is not a cosmetic and it does not set or extend makeup.
What This Guide Does Not Promise
Two honest limitations. First, our catalog is bath-and-body, so we do not stock foundation, concealer, mascara, blush or eyeliner; the graphic-liner trend above cannot be completed with anything we sell, and the five-minute routine we describe assumes you already own base makeup. Second, none of the products here are treatments or remedies. They are moisturising, cleansing, scenting and repellency products, and they are described here only in the terms their own listings use. Results vary with skin type, climate and how much product you apply, and a balm will not fix a severely cracked lip any faster than any other balm. We would rather say that plainly than imply a guarantee.
A Five-Step 2024 Routine You Can Actually Keep
- Cleanse and dry, then work a light oil or balm into the places that get tight — the body oil stick format in the Skin So Soft Original Gift Set is easy to target.
- Give it two minutes before you add anything with colour. Damp skin plus pigment is how a base turns patchy.
- Apply base makeup as thinly as you can, and press rather than sweep.
- Do your liner, then a balm-based lip: balm first, blot, then colour dabbed into the centre.
- Finish hands and any exposed skin, and on outdoor days add the Picaridin Pump Spray before you leave.
None of that is dramatic, and that is rather the point of 2024’s direction: fewer steps, better preparation, less product. If you want to start with the smallest possible change, begin with lip prep and the prep-before-base habit — together those two cost very little and visibly change how the rest of the year’s looks wear.