Jessie Gurunathan: What’s with all these middle-aged male celebs suddenly launching beauty brands?

Brad Pitt and his new skincare range, Le Domaine.

OPINION

Fancy smelling like singed hair follicles? If you answered yes, then you’re in luck, because tech mogul and occasional internet troll Elon Musk has just announced the release of his perfume, Burnt Hair.

If you want to get your hands on a bottle of this $171 fragrance, you may have to join a waiting list, as it apparently sold out within hours of launching its online pre-sales. The ad copy on the website’s product page reads, “The essence of repugnant desire.” I can’t help but imagine that if Musk was on Tinder, that’s what the bio on his dating profile would say.

Seriously, though, what is it with all these middle-aged white male celebrities suddenly deciding to launch beauty brands?

We’ve got Brad Pitt and his skincare brand Le Domaine, which features four products with star ingredients like “grapes from a French vineyard”.

Priced at $659 for a bottle of serum and $137 for a cleanser, it ain’t cheap.

Then you have Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. Less than a week after his wife Kourtney Kardashian was announced as the new “Sustainability Adviser” for fast fashion chain Boohoo, he released five CBD-infused skincare products. The brand, Barker Wellness Co. includes a $154 eye cream and a $102 daily moisturiser. Side note: with almost all the real estate on his body covered in tattoos, I feel like it would have made way more sense for him to release a tattoo care line. Missed opportunity there, Kris Jenner - this latest venture of Travis’ has momager Kris written all over it.

The latest to join them in the beauty game is Jared Leto, actor and 30 Seconds to Mars frontman with his 11-piece skin, hair and body care range, Twentynine Palms.

His eye cream costs $166 and, if you’re into a bit of Sunday self-care, you can nab his clay face mask, which is said to be infused with “desert botanicals”, for $162.

I must admit, I’ve been rather enjoying the press hype and the subsequent internet chatter as people responded to these men announcing their foray into the beauty world. Twitter is my favourite, and I’ve had a few chuckles reading some of the comments and memes online.

One particular hawk-eyed Twitter user, @mattxiv, spotted the most hilarious typo on Brad Pitt’s website copy: “brad pitt releasing a ‘genderless’ skincare line is already questionable but putting ‘no conservatives’ when they meant ‘no preservatives’ is taking me out.”

But my favourite has to be what it says on his Le Domaine Instagram page bio: “Derived of Science and Terroir to be one with both Nature and your own nature. This is harmony. This is respect. This is Le Domaine.” What does that even mean?

I don’t think even Pitt knows, to be honest. In an interview to help promote his new skincare range, he was asked by Vogue to demo his own skincare routine, to which he laughed, admitting he actually doesn’t know how to properly clean his face and that he’d have to be in character to pull it off.

Jared Leto wants us to buy his $166 eye cream, telling Vogue, “I’ve never been really interested in beauty products but I’m interested in the idea of taking care of ourselves in the most natural way possible.”

I think it’s safe to assume that neither Pitt nor Leto are beauty buffs and clearly not that into skincare. So why on earth would they launch beauty brands? Well, the beauty industry is booming. Up from $483 billion in 2020 to $511 billion in 2021 — and with an annual compounded growth rate of 4.75 per cent worldwide — it’s predicted to exceed $716bn by 2025. And $784.6bn by 2027. I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that these beauty novices saw the dollar signs and wanted a slice of the lucrative pie.

In an already saturated market, it will be interesting to see how these new beauty entrepreneurs fare. As much as I poke fun, I personally welcome the idea that more men are joining the beauty conversation and exploring their relationship with beauty and self-care rituals. Well, that’s not entirely true, I’d like someone to tell Elon Musk to keep his Burnt Hair and stick to rocket ships.