Curating an elaborate, multi-step skincare routine isn't on any new mum's bingo card. Least of all Hailey Bieber's, which is why she's adding the new multi-purpose Rhode Barrier Butter balm to her namesake brand.
“If I'm really running out the door – obviously that's even more apparent now having a child – you have a lot less time for certain things, but I think that you can't go wrong with being minimal,” she says. "Hydration and SPF in the morning is still doing a lot.”
We're chatting over Zoom in her first beauty interview since she and husband Justin announced the birth of their baby boy, Jack Blues Bieber, on 23 August. A mere six weeks later and her trademark dewy skin still looks like the Paris Instagram filter brought to life, as she talks passionately about her Rhode beauty babies.
“The Lip Treatment is your perfect pair of jeans that you have every day," she says. "Glazing milk is a leather jacket – got to have it and never goes out of style when you find the perfect one. It's irreplaceable. The white tee is our cleanser. And then if we were going to add in the perfect cosy sweater, that's Barrier Butter. There's a whole outfit for you right there!”
Hydration remains the beating heart of Rhode's products. Unsurprisingly, the real pull of the new Barrier Butter balm (available to buy on 28 October) comes down to the way it wraps dry, papery skin in rich moisturising agents – hyaluronic acid, a skin-identical ceramide, polyglutamic acid and murumuru butter – to bring it back from the brink.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with GLAMOUR, Hailey Bieber reveals exactly how she uses it to “lock in” her skincare and makeup, her secret for de-puffing tired eyes and why she's moved on from glazed donuts for her beauty inspo.
She’s bringing out the mum accessories….
On her five-minute morning routine
“Honestly, I do feel like my beauty routine is fairly the same as it was my whole pregnancy – and even before,” Hailey says.
"Right now, my routine in the morning is basically just hydration, a little vitamin C if I remember to do it and SPF, and then it's like I brush up my eyebrows and we're out,” she continues. “That was kind of how I did things before and it fits perfectly into the way that life is now.”
On how to add a ‘sealing layer’ to your skincare
Like many of us, one thing Hailey has recently switched up is her moisturiser, choosing to add something thicker as the final step in her skincare routine.
“I get a little bit patchy in the winter,” she notes. “Around my nose, I start to crack a little bit and my skin is going through it, especially if I go anywhere that's snowy or really, really cold.”
That's why, Hailey says, she uses the Rhode Barrier Butter balm strategically around her nose and under her eyes if she needs it, or all over her face. “I use all my steps. I finish with the Barrier Restore Cream, and then I seal everything in with the balm… I love using it under my makeup when I need extra hydration. I also sometimes just take a little bit and tap it on my cheeks for glow after I've done my makeup.”
As Hailey points out, she's spent the last few years waxing lyrical in her beauty videos about using balms to lock everything in, especially in the colder months. “So we honestly have been working on this for a really, really long time. I love rich, balmy-textured things, especially to act as that kind of sealing layer over everything else."
Having been one of the first people in the UK to try the Barrier Butter, I was delighted to find that it glides on like its buttery moniker – but it also absorbs quickly and doesn't feel greasy on my skin. It also, notably, packs a more hydrating punch for skin on the wrong side of 30 than using the Barrier Restore Cream alone.
So I have to agree with Hailey when she says, "the texture is amazing… It feels just super nourishing and hydrating, and it does a lot for helping keep those fine lines more plump and keeping that really deep, deep hydration.”
On her alternative to using retinol
Hailey confesses that she is more thorough with her routine at night but still maintains that “it doesn't have to be too overpowering for the skin.”
To that end, she says, “I'm very into azelaic acid a few times a week. I struggle with using retinol. It's very, very hard on my skin. So azelaic acid has been a really good alternative for me personally with sensitive skin. I use it for [calming] sensitivity and getting that little bit of skin cell turnover without it having to be with a harsh acid or a harsh retinol.”
Everything you need to know about this multi-tasking hero.
On new mum beauty hacks
Given Hailey is a new mum, it seems fitting that the Barrier Butter balm moonlights as a multi-tasking product for the body, too. “When you think about keeping the skin nourished and healthy as you are getting older, you do think about your neck, your chest, your hands, your body,” she says.
According to Hailey, it's amazing on dry elbows but also as a hand cream. “My new mom hack is that I throw the mini Barrier Butter into my little changing bag that I have with me when I go anywhere. And then I have it for my hands. When you spray hand sanitiser – I'm doing that every three seconds these days – you get so dry.”
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The other beauty tool she is relying on more is her Beauty Pie rose quartz eye mask (a good alternative is the Bamford Isla Rose Quartz Eye Mask) that she keeps in the fridge and uses after putting her skincare on.
“I love anything that is cold, de-puffing… and obviously that helps with tired, sleepy eyes right now,” she says. “You lay the mask over your eyes. That feels so good because you have the heaviness of the crystal and then it's cold and it just, oh my gosh, it's such an experience.”
On the beauty trends that will be big for autumn
Hailey previously told GLAMOUR that, “Latte makeup was probably one of the best looks I've ever done on myself”, referring to a video in which she used a mocha-coloured eyeshadow, bronzer to chisel her cheekbones and a glossy brown lip to tie the look together.
Now it seems, it's all about the monochrome cinnamon latte variation. “I've been seeing a lot of talk about these cinnamon colours and cinnamon makeup – I'm very, very into that,” she says. "That's kind of like my whole vibe for the fall.”
Ready for glazed donut skin, a plumper pout and sun-flushed cheeks?
The other viral trend Hailey is leaning into? It seems she may soon be making 'Moo Deng skin' her own. “This cracked me up the other day,” Hailey recalls. “That little hippo Moo Deng. Someone was like, ‘Oh, I want to have Moo Deng skin’. And I was like, ‘Yes, exactly!’."
Think of it as glazed donut skin 2.0. “Move on to Moo Deng!," she says, laughing. "I love it. Hello…the baby hippo looks like a glazed donut entirely!”
On making Rhode iconic
Hailey is a self-confessed ‘90s girl, so it maybe comes as no surprise that supermodel Claudia Schiffer is fronting the new Barrier Butter campaign. Dig a little deeper, though, and it's perhaps the greatest indication of where she is positioning Rhode now that there is a full range of skincare and she has branched out into colour.
“We brought an icon to this campaign, and I think it feels really fresh and exciting,” Hailey notes. “I just think Claudia is the most stunning creature on planet earth. Not only are you looking at someone who's just so incredibly beautiful, but somebody who has been beautiful for several decades at this point.
"When you see Claudia Schiffer, you think of just ‘legacy’ and ‘iconic’, all of those things that I want to emote with Rhode,” she says, before shyly adding, “I feel so lucky that she even said yes.”
On post-pregnancy wellness rituals
“I'm able to go back to cold plunging – obviously I couldn't do that for a long time,” Hailey says. “I love cold therapies in any way, like dunking your face in ice water and the rose quartz mask we were talking about. So I do really, really love cold plunging. I've just been able to start going back to that literally in the last couple of days.
“Honestly, I'm just looking forward to continuing taking care of my body, getting back to being able to work out fully," she adds. "I just really enjoy the ritual of taking care of myself head to toe and I'm definitely going to just stay focused on that, however I can.”
The new Rhode Barrier Butter is available to buy here on 28 October.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
