Hailey Bieber is the internet’s favorite muse. One decision is all it takes for her to inspire a new niche trend on TikTok. She coated her nails in a glossy, chrome finish and became the poster child for dewy, supple skin, adding “glazed donut nails” and “glazed donut skin” to the beauty lexicon; she barely applied concealer and foundation (but packed on blush) to launch a legion of latte and strawberry makeup obsessives. If you peruse recent videos on TikTok’s latest trend—2024 Ins and Outs, not launched by the model—Ms. Bieber’s food-themed trends have landed on either side of this year’s predictions, but she has some of her own. Out for 2024? “Drama in any capacity. Out with the frills, doing too much, overconsumption—we’re leaving it all behind,” the Rhode founder says through a Zoom screen, the sun peering through a window illuminating her clean makeup visage. In for the new year? “Hydration, intentionality, exploration, especially in beauty.” And, of course, more food-inspired beauty. What pairs well with donut-glazed skin? Pineapples, apparently.
When Bieber launched the skincare brand Rhode, her answer to parched, dull skin, in 2022, the brand was built on one pillar: hydration. The four inaugural products were engineered to nourish, hydrate, and protect the skin’s barrier via an essence (Glazing Milk), serum (Peptide Glazing Fluid), moisturizer (Barrier Restore Cream), and lip balm (Peptide Lip Treatment)—the latter we covered, here. All that was missing was step one—cleansing.
Launching today, January 17, is the missing piece to the puzzle and Hailey’s latest food-inspired gift to the world, the Rhode Pineapple Refresh Cleanser ($28). Uniquely designed with a balm-to-lather consistency, the Pineapple Refresh Cleanser meets at the intersection of a cleansing oil and gel cleanser to gently get rid of all the heavy formulas that can wreak havoc on sensitive, reactive skin like Hailey’s. Years in the making, nailing down the right texture is what delayed the cleanser joining Rhode’s initial lineup.
“It took me so long to launch it because I realized there was such a lack of cleanser, as a category within skincare, feeling special and feeling different. I wanted something with a unique texture that felt beautiful and luxurious, almost like this interesting, balmy texture. On top of that, I really wanted it to feel hydrating, not stripping the skin, but also have something that would give you a refresh, add brightness, and help with some smoothness. How can we have it do [all those] things at once?” she explains. Enter: fruit enzymes.
Bieber is as much a skin care nerd as a cosmetic chemist. Qualifications aside, she knows her stuff. Her face lights up as bright as the cleanser’s golden hue as she harps on the inclusion of pineapple. As someone with sensitive skin, she needed a cleanser to have resurfacing properties, sans any threats of irritation.
“I have really sensitive skin. I struggle with perioral dermatitis, so it’s very easy for me to get triggered. I’ve found that those gentle fruit enzymes [in the cleanse] have done that job for me when it comes to wanting a very, very light, nice exfoliation. At the same time, we also packed it with calming and hydrating ingredients. Sometimes, people see the word ‘exfoliant’ or ‘enzyme’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s scary. I can’t even touch that’—me being one of those people. So, I really wanted the story to be you can have the best of both worlds in one cleanser,” she says.
Pineapple Refresh deposits a rich, creamy balm with a faint scent that won’t agitate those who prefer fragrance-free formulas, but will please those looking for a well-rounded sensory experience. When activated with water in the palm of your hands, the balm texture disappears, as a gel-like lather forms to blanket the skin with a cocktail of pineapple enzyme, hyaluronic acid, and sea buckthorn oil. However, Hailey’s favorite ingredient is polyglutamic acid, a humectant that seals moisture from the cleanser’s other supporting stars.
“There was a PHA (polyhydroxy acid) in there originally. Being the tester, I felt that it was too much for me. I didn’t want this to be an exfoliating cleanser. I wanted this to be a hydrating cleanser with a soft exfoliation undertone to keep that skin cell turnover healthy. What excited me other than the pineapple enzyme was the polyglutamic acid in there, which is just such a beautiful hydrating ingredient; it’s an ingredient that I have learned a lot more about and a more interesting one in skincare. I was excited about the prospect of an ingredient that is still doing something great for the skin, even once it’s rinsed off. It’s still leaving hydration on the skin after the fact,” she gushes.
Hailey hopes that the cleanser will become a staple in routines, especially while in the throes of winter season, or Aspen trips. Her winter skin tip? “Use anything that feels calming, and can bring back that moisture that’s getting sucked out when you step outside. Peel it back and simplify, skip an exfoliating day, and reach for a balmy, thicker kind of sleeping mask or something that kind of can give that layer [of hydration] to seal the deal,” she adds. Glazing Milk is one of her go-to winter hydration saviors. And now, the Pineapple Refresh Cleanser.
Nerisha is the beauty commerce editor at ELLE.com, covering all things beauty (and fashion and music). She has a penchant for sneakers and nude lip glosses, and spends way too much time re-watching 90s sitcoms.