It’s the latest celebrity skincare brand to come to our beauty shelves. Beauty Director SJ has spent the last few weeks trying out Scarlett Johansson’s The Outset skincare products. Here's her honest review
It feels like you can’t move for celebrity beauty at the moment and the latest to join the crammed beauty shelves is Scarlett Johansson’s skincare range, The Outset. It has just landed on UK shores and is available to buy exclusively from Cult Beauty now.
It follows in the footsteps of Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand Rhode, which launched here a few weeks ago and comes just before Lady Gaga’s makeup brand, Haus Labs by Lady Gaga launches here. Plus, following an Instagram teaser from the queen of pop, a Beyoncé haircare range could also be coming anytime soon. And of course, there’s GTG favourite, Selena Gomez beauty range, Rare Beauty, which carries one of the best cream blusher we’ve ever tried.
Scarlett Johansson The Outset: what is it?
But back to The Outset and Scarlett. It is a skincare range consisting of eight products, all of which are vegan and cruelty-free as well as fragrance, paraben and sulphate free. It is a brand that is, in Scarlett’s words, ‘consciously clean’. In terms of price point, thankfully the products don’t carry extremely hefty A-llster price tags. The cheapest product in the collection is the Gentle Micellar Antioxidant Cleanser, £32 and the priciest is the Restorative Niacinamide Night Cream, £54, so this is very much a mid-level range and with its neutral packaging that's recyclable and uses recycled materials. It is aimed at everyone.
So why is Scarlett doing skincare? Well, apart from the fact that beauty brands can be very lucrative, Scarlett says she struggled with acne and sensitive skin for years and that because her skin has been put through a lot, thanks to her job. What helped her re-balance her skin was, she says, "a gentle, simple, and consistent routine. I believe that great skin starts with the basics: cleansing, prepping, and moisturizing skin every day.” And Scarlett is no stranger to the business side of the beauty world. She has previously been the face of Dolce & Gabbana makeup and fragrances but says she stepped back from beauty endorsements five years ago so that she could build a business that aligns with her values.
She has co-founded the brand with beauty entrepreneur, Kate Foster who previously oversaw the beauty arms of Victoria’s Secrets and Juicy Couture as well as creating a beauty website based around word-of-mouth recommendations. But the vision is shared by both women, to create an uncomplicated but efficient and effective skincare regime that doesn’t aggravate and strip the skin feeding it instead with the most natural and ‘clean’ ingredients possible. In an interview with Forbes magazine, Kate described Scarlett’s vision for the brand as “wanting to build the effortless white tee of skin care".
The Outset: the star ingredient
Found in every product is a plant-based alternative to hyaluronic acid, cassia flower seed that they have trademarked to be called hyaluroset complex. It behaves exactly the same way as hyaluronic acid by delivering immediate hydration to the skin which in turn plumps it up, reducing the appearance of fine lines as it does so.
And then some key active ingredients have been added to certain products to give each one a different problem-solving focus.
GTG Beauty Director SJ has tried nearly all the products in the range and this is her verdict.
The Outset: the range and our verdict
@getthegloss Yep, it’s another new celebrity skincare brand. 🤔 This week: Scarlett Johansson - here’s our beauty editors’ verdict @The Outset #scarlettjohansson #scarlettjohanssonskincare #theoutset #theoutsetscarlettjohansson #theoutsetskincare ♬ original sound - getthegloss
“This is my favourite product and the one I think stands out as being slightly different to other cleansers out there. It has a really refreshing watery-gel texture containing micellar particles that are great at removing makeup. It almost turns into a foam when it’s mixed with water, but unlike many foam cleansers doesn’t feel like it’s stripping or drying out the skin. In fact, my skin felt really plump and juicy after using this. My husband has also tried it out and approves too.”
The Outset Firming Vegan Collagen Prep Serum, £46
“This contains the natural hyaluronic ingredient unique to the brand alongside vegan collagen for firming, black quinoa which is rich in minerals and an ingredient called pullalan which is also meant to firm and smooth the skin. I can’t speak for the efficacy of those ingredients just yet as I haven’t been using them for long enough to tell any difference, but what I can say is that it feels very hydrating and it has a slightly thicker and creamier consistency compared to many other serums that I think older or drier skins will appreciate. Is it the most whizz-bang of serums, not really but there’s nothing stopping you from combining it with a hard-working vitamin C serum or using it alongside your favourite retinol at night knowing you’ve then got something that’s working to improve the integrity of your skin.”
The Outset Nourishing Squalane Daily Moisturizer, £44
“I rarely use moisturisers as my oily skin doesn’t get that dry so I roped in my 75-year-old mum to try it out on her exceptionally dry skin and she thought it was wonderful. She said it made her skin feel really soft and like velvet. Yes, there are cheaper options out there but this does come with an element of coolness about it, so if that’s what you’re looking for then this more than ticks the box. The squalane comes from olives and its been paired with edelweiss, which is a really hard-working antioxidant; and red rice extract which acts as a free radical.”
The Outset Smoothing Vitamin C Eye + Expression Lines Cream, £42
“If your budget doesn’t stretch to all the products in the range then this is the one I think you could swerve. Not because it’s not a nice eye cream - it's also being pitched as a targeted wrinkle product but I feel like your serum should be serving that up for you - but it’s not doing anything that you couldn’t get from another product with potentially more skin-improving actives or at a lower price point. This does contain a version of vitamin C to help brighten the skin as well as the patented hyaluroset complex ingredient for hydration and it has a lovely silky texture, but that’s about as excited as I can get about it.”
“Again, my lovely mum helped me out with this one as again, rich night creams aren’t my thing - and this does feel quite rich. She layered it with a serum and said it felt really nourishing and great for older skin. Her one negative is that it doesn’t have any fragrance so she didn’t feel it was the most exciting product to use compared to others I’ve had her try out. However, sensitive skins will appreciate the fact it's unperfumed.”
“Do not be fooled into thinking that this face oil won’t be that oily because it’s a) clear and b) quite watery in consistency. The first time I used it, I applied far too much believing it wasn’t going to have the impact but I massively overloaded my skin so a few drops - three max - is honestly all you need as it spreads very quickly and easily. It’s super hydrating thanks to Abyssinian oil and plant-based squalane plus the hyaluroset complex. And I think this is a very good price for face oil, especially as it could easily last you a year.”
The Outset The Micro Polish, £34
“I had to stop my husband from finishing this before I’d had a chance to try it out, that’s how much he liked it. His main praise is that the exfoliation particles are fine enough that they got in and around his facial hair easily but they still managed to have full-on exfoliating prowess. (He did not use the word prowess, but you catch my drift.) Similarly, I liked how smooth the physical exfoliating ingredient of fine perlite left my skin, without it feeling dry and tight afterwards.”
“Is it weird to want to colour-match a face mask to paint the walls in your new house? That’s exactly what I wanted to do on opening this mask as it has the most gorgeous blue-grey Farrow & Ball style tone to it. Unlike many clay-based masks, it doesn’t feel like it’s sapping every last molecule of moisture out of your skin. This could be thanks to the inclusion of the hyaluroset complex or that it also has brightening niacinamide in it. Either way, you slather it on and leave it for ten minutes or until it has dried (which was longer for me) and then rinse away and my skin felt really plump and smooth after.”