Editors’ picks: January’s best natural beauty launches

The beauty launches this month were a bit out of time and season (in a genius way). Evoking cool coconut water on a hot day and traditional Moroccan hammams, natural beauty brands did an excellent job of reminding us that there’s life beyond blizzards.

They seriously brought the skin care this month as well, with a chia-infused face serum and a new vitamin C-based serum from Parisian skin care guru Valerie Grandury.

Also out in January: a new cleansing oil (you know that’s a thing, right?), as well as a conditioner that tames winter flyaways without any trace of heaviness.

Click through to see our January picks, for more natural beauty inspiration. —The Editors

Cleansing oils are all the rage, since American women have finally discovered how well they dissolve makeup and deep clean your skin without drying it out in the process. No one knows this better than the French, who’ve been watching our skin-stripping sodium laurel sulfate use with alarm. So with that comes Caudalie’s new Cleansing Oil. The pioneering brand born on a vineyard, and who pioneered grape-derived antioxidants in skin care, makes this light and effective blend of sunflower, almond, castor, and grapeseed oils. It comes in a preservation-friendly pump, and compared to some thicker cleansing oils on the market, this one feels like it would be great for combination or acne-prone skin.

(Photo: Caudalie)

Kahina Moroccan Beldi Soap

This purifying black soap is incredibly loyal to the one used in a traditional hammam experience, where you’re lathered endlessly with a mitt and olive oil soap and doused with pans of water. Kahina’s has only two all-natural ingredients: traditional eucalyptus leaf oil and saponified olive oil, and it comes with a seriously exfoliating kessa (mit) for an all over skin-smoothing detox scrub. Grab one, fill your shower with steam, and you’ll be stepping into a beauty ritual that’s centuries old.

(Photo: Kahina)

Joining Valerié Grandury‘s line of super fresh, super specific skin-care serums, which she originally created for private clients, is C for Collette, loaded with vitamin C and superfoods, and done in collaboration with the founder of the famed Paris boutique of the same name. The 15 percent vitamin C is great for skin brightening and collagen production, which provides firmness, while wheatgrass, goji berries, and acai use their antioxidant power to do for your skin what they do in your smoothie (hint: health-boosting radiance). The promise is that French woman glow, sans the need for makeup.

(Photo: Odacité)

With chia seed, it’s often what the nutrient-dense superfood is paired with that elevates it to all-star status: almond milk makes a pudding, some frozen berries create a smoothie, and in the case of Maya Chia Beauty’s latest offering, the addition of astaxanthin (a powerful antioxidant) results in an ultra-luxurious, skin-boosting serum. The Super Couple pairs the powerful seed oil with the carotenoid (it’s what gives flamingos and salmon their brilliant pink hue, and in a recent study was found to be 64.9 times stronger than vitamin C in combating free radicals) for a not-greasy formula that targets inflammation while deeply quenching skin. And no, despite the coral tint this serum won’t leave you looking like a lobster.

(Photo: Maya Chia)

Shea Moisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Weightless Creme Rinse, $10.99

When it comes to conditioners, “weightless” is, well, a weighted word. A conditioner can get in Goldilocks territory fast: a bit too heavy for some, just a bit too light for others (AKA flyaways for days). And seldom just right. With a balance of organic shea butter and organic coconut water—plus imbe oil for deep moisturizing—Shea Moisture’s creme rinse is substantial enough to be recommended for curly hair. But we found it to be light enough for fine-hair types. And, as a bonus: its subtly tropical scent (with a fusion of dragon fruit, lychee, and green apple extract) is a real spirit-booster on gray January days.

Did you miss December’s launches? No problem, we’ll catch you up.

(Photo: Shea Moisture)