When I was about three or four years old, I would sit on my parents’ big brass bed and put on my mother’s makeup while I watched Sesame Street. “You look ridiculous!” she’d say when she caught sight of the mountains of blush I’d dusted across my cheeks. Our early encounters with beauty products and rituals can be incredibly formative experiences and memories that we cherish, even if they were negative. It’s this shared experience that we’re examining in this issue of the Living Beauty Journal.

In our cover story “On Nostalgia,” Randi Bergman explores the incredible power of nostalgia and how it shapes our beauty habits well into our adult years. The founder of Capsule 98, a content platform dedicated to formative moments that shape us all, Randi has made nostalgia her niche, and it’s an emotional force we can all appreciate. Some of my first beauty products, like The Body Shop’s long-gone makeup collection and Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique, still pull at my heartstrings; catching a whiff of Marc Jacobs Daisy always reminds me of when I first met my husband. Others, like Oxy10, trigger a visceral shudder of disgust. 

We also consider the role that beauty plays in the experience of new Canadians in “Basement Beauty.” My grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Canada in 1948 and always looked impeccable, would regularly get her hair done in a woman’s basement near her home in Toronto. The strong smell of hairspray that surrounded those appointments sticks with me to this day

Some of the most poignant and universal beauty moments are ones that have been captured for the silver screen. In “Screen Shot,” Lesa Hannah takes a look at some iconic beauty moments in cinema history and the work that went into creating them. Like Lesa, whose Instagram account @the_makeup_trailer is her personal love letter to onscreen hair and makeup, I love film. There’s nothing better than an ugly-duckling story to prove that we can all change our circumstances. 

And what would a look back be without some major milestones? As we mark the 50th anniversary of Biologique Recherche’s Lotion P50, we take stock of the successes of everyone’s favourite multi-functional exfoliator and the innovative brand behind it. Working with Biologique Recherche has been life-changing for me, and I know you’ll join me in celebrating the innovative company behind it.