Needless to say, as we enter year two of the pandemic, the lack of entertainment and excitement has led to tedium shaping trends — turning cash into cultural cache. While these grooming trends sourced from the Spring/Summer 2022 runways and the internet might leave one yearning for youth-like qualities, the fetishes and flamboyance, one cannot deny too that they vibrate at a higher frequency than the piteously generic ones.
The mish-mash buffet of the compelling, gratifying, and ostentatious proves as electric as it is euphoric this season, like a serious shot of dopamine to the brains.
Pictured Above: The Moist Lip
Tom Ford was once famously quoted that one of his requirements for waiters or ushers at his events had to have moist-looking lips as it telegraphed sexiness but in a less salacious context, having a set of moist puckers means that everything is swell in the thinnest skin of one’s body. In scientific terms, however, it means that one’s skin cells have a high level of NMF (natural moisturising factor) that contributes to his or her twin set looking young and pink in health.
If the look we mentioned seems to elude one, makeup artist Sha Shamsi recommends a strawberry coloured lip balm (“the colour flatters Asian skin tones which are very yellow” as the shade brightens up both the lips and complexion. Her choice of tube? The Kiehl’s Lip Oil in Midnight Orchid that “works across all skin tones” but if one is wary of it, he can simply just bite his lips to induce a flush before applying some clear lip balm on. The holy grail of hers is Chanel’s Boy de Chanel Lip Balm.
(On Kush) Dior Men Wool jacket
The Return of Night Fragrances
In a study from 1982, researchers evaluated the sexual lives of 78 young, married and virile people over the course of one year with results showing that acts of fornication showed a 58% spike in the evening with a slight resurgence around six am — easy like Sunday morning with low chances of afternoon delights. Some call it the pleasure principle, how our ancestors would sleep together at night to conserve heat, or how the act produces oxytocin that can only be triggered by doing the dirty (Ébène Fumé by Tom Ford has some dirty heat to it). What explains the resurgence of night fragrances then as one of 2022’s grooming trends(Celine however, does it blatantly by titling one of its products Nightclubbing), waters to be worn at night? Well, the answer would be that the brands featured here are banking on a simply skin-like scent (By Kilian Sacred Wood is a seductive sandalwood and creamy milk) or oud to turn their waters sexy and seductive.
Revered by some as aphrodisiac-like and disdained by others as “foul”, oud contains a compound called indole, one that is as fragrant and electrifying. While it often connotes something carnal (our bodies produce indole when we are well, “heated” up just like how Acqua di Parma Oud&Spice warms up on the body), the new order of oud allows one to live different lives at night. The club-goer entering a VIP lane or the hirsute bodyguard standing behind the ropes, the gentleman smoking a Cuban cigar and sipping on an old-fashioned (Louis Vuitton Pur Our is pure class) or a bare lean body in Berlin’s Berghain or the opening act of Magic Mike versus the head honcho doling out the bills post-show.
How then should one tackle each of these seven beastly bottles? Drier skins dilute their intensity while more moisturised ones allow their carnality to come out.
The Flippy Fringe
Going by many a moniker — blunt, choppy, French, or wispy bangs — this form of a fringe draws a curtain on the “brushed-up hair” look while tapping into the textural side of things from the season. While all face shapes can pull off one of the easiest 2022 grooming trends, Tomoya of ITTO+LIM recommends listening to him (or one’s hairstylist, for that matter) because wider foreheads lend themselves to a length slightly below the eyebrows and shorter, soft-sweeping side fringes help to soften a round-shaped face.
Post-cut is when one needs to be even less flippant about the upkeep, “you should style it according to the hairstyle you already have” and that is where one should sit on the spectrum of the style.
The Modernised Mullet
How can a trend exemplary of the eighties (less Billy Ray Cyrus) be brought into the now (more the Biebs)? The magic bullet to the modern mullet firstly requires a medium length on all sides of one’s head and a professional to cut it. Tomoya — who coincidentally did this cut — recommends layering on the top for texture, retaining its length at the back and shortness on the sides for more contrast.
As for the situation regarding the shape of one’s face, “keep some side fringe for rounder faces,” “add a little layer to the top for oval faces,” and simply, “people with square faces don’t have to bother much.” With regards to the styling, Tomoya recommends blow-drying with reckless abandon before using styling dust or a sea-salt spray for some added crunch and character.
(On Arif) Celine Wool shearling jacket, wool embellished jacket
The Meet-In-the-Middle Mattifying Powders
The last time we spoke about a mattifying product in our February 2021 issue, it centred around a cache of concealers that we called Matte 2.0, creating the illusion of softer and smoother looking skin. This sensibility has now extended to powder products (with some having coverage, of course) with all of them having one wonderful effect – leaving a matte but not mattel-like finish — the difference being what they do after.
The Hermès Plein Air Matte Glow Powder leaves a radiant second-skin-like radiance no matter how much one applies it while the Dior Backstage Face & Body Powder-no-Powder blurs the look of pores and imperfections without nary a streak. A newcomer to this coterie is the Shu Uemura Mopo Breathable Lasting Powder that creates an “airbrushed” finish for skin tones ranging into the darkest of Asian ones.
The Subtle Brow Arch
Regardless of what friends, family or foe might say, sometimes the manual version of the brow lift can work just as well as the treatment itself. What we call a “semi-arch” immediately adds balance to a square face, “lifts” droopy eyes and if one has a round face, lengthens it quite considerably. Makeup Artist Sha Shamsi’s tip to acing one of 2022’s big grooming trendswould be to first measure one’s inside brow (“line a pencil with the centre of the pupil and where it hits is where your arch should be”) muster up some bravado by tweezing as close to the roots and as close to a mirror as possible, and finally, “pull in the same direction of its growth” for a relatively painless experience (if one has a thick set, a trip to a professional is highly recommended).
As for what to do with one’s twin set post-pluck, she recommends combing them into place and setting it with eyebrow gel. Her favoured options are MAC Cosmetic’s Clear Brow Set or Tom Ford Beauty’s Brow Sculptor.
(On Adler) Prada Cotton-blend vest
The Hands Off Hygienic Products
Sadly, the hygiene standards of a skincare product becomes compromised after one opens it. This is due to immediate exposure to airborne particles or, perhaps worse, the loss of its efficacy or potency when surrounding light hits it straight on. Thankfully, we live in an age of smarter skincare products — removing the need for sanitising or scouring. Some of them have something as simple as an airtight locking mechanism that prevents dirty air from entering (the Sign Skin Dream Capsule and Chanel N°1 de Chanel Revitalising Lotion employ it to great appeal) while some are sealed to significant tightness (the Avène Tolerance Control Soothing Skin Recovery Cream has its own patented sealing system while the formula of the Kiehl’s Renewing Daily Micro-Dose Serum is encased in an airtight bag) or have a “one-touch” dispense to prevent air bubbles from forming (its name is IRÉN Skin the Keep Calm Soothing Serum). Drunk Elephant’s solution with its C-FirmaTM Fresh Day Serum is hygiene at its highest, too: the formula stays fresh the minute one mixes it for the first use.
The New Way Of Nailing It
One of 2022’s biggest grooming trends that is leaping off TikTok and into real (or reel) life only works “if one already has sizeable nail sizes to work with,” as nail artist @inailforfung says. While the nail whizz of two years does custom press-ons, she recommends a classic manicure be done first — recreating clothing prints, something meaningful or really, what anyone wants her to do — and then taking proper care of them after with just two steps: using cuticle oil daily and not getting too handsy lest they chip off quickly.
While the art she paints on can usually last a month and a half with proper care, she notes that men typically have to return after just thirty days to of course, get them professionally removed by her.
(On Juri) Moncler Grenoble Cotton jersey tank top; Celine Jeans
Photography Zantz Han
Grooming Direction Bryan Goh
Styling Izwan Abdullah
Photography Assistants Seth Ang & Michelle Yap
Grooming Faz l Makeupartistinc using Fenty Beauty
Hair Tomoya Iizawa l ITTO+LIM
Nail Technician inailforfung
Once you’re done with these 2022 grooming trends, click here to catch up with our March 2022 cover stars, BTS!
RELATED ARTICLES
Chart Life’s Adventures With Dual Time Watches
