The Art of Beauty Bed Rot & How To Pull Off Lo-Fi Luxe This NYE

Find out which products we are using while we "bed rot" this Twixmas. PLUS we share a low-maintenance guide to NYE sparkle and the prestige haircare brands to watch in 2026.

A note from Donna 💌

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was unexpectedly quiet as most of my family have got struck down with flu. I’ve luckily escaped so far, but while everyone else is in bed, it has got me thinking about that new trend: ‘Bed Rotting.’

The Art of the 'Bed Rot'

It sounds grim, doesn’t it? But when you peel back the Gen-Z terminology, it’s just a Tik Tok term for that age-old luxury of lying in bed and doing absolutely nothing.

Gen Z calls it ‘bed rotting,’ but Grandpa Joe was the original pioneer. The only difference? My version involves more biotech haircare and less cabbage soup.

My house currently feels like that scene from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - everyone hunkered down in one giant bed, refusing to move until the new year! But it’s common at Twixmas - that weird time between Christmas and New Year - anyway right?

I’m taking a leaf out of John and Yoko’s book this week: Bed Peace and (more importantly) Hair Peace. ✌️🧴

So if you’re finding yourself taking up a bed rot opportunity, flu or not, why not make it productive? It’s the perfect time to let the high-maintenance beauty products do the heavy lifting while you lie low.

The Horizontal Beauty Menu: Productive Resting

The Hair Reset: Apply a deep conditioning mask and let it soak in for hours. One of my faves is Michael Van Clarke LifeSaver Hair Prewash Treatment.

The Skin Quencher: Pop on a sheet mask - it’s the ultimate lazy girl product because it requires zero rinsing so you don’t even have to leave your bed to use one. I love the luxe selection that skincare brand 111Skin offers.

The Nail & Lip Repair: Pamper the parts that are often forgotten like nails and lips. I always keep a tube of Dr Paw Paw Overnight Lip Mask in the drawer next to my bed. It doubles up as a cuticle cream too.

For those of you that are planning not to rot and leave your bed for New Year’s Eve, me and the rest of The Beauty Ed® team are sharing our favourite makeup products to help you get party ready fast. See them in the Goosebumps section at the bottom of the newsletter…

Bed rot or not, I hope you have an amazing NYE!

Donna

x

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🗞️ Beauty News: Why Prestige Haircare is Booming 🧖‍♀️🧴

By Donna

If you peeked in my shower in 2025, you might have noticed how there are no cheap shampoos or conditioners.

I officially “traded up” my haircare over the past year with prestige brands like K18, Olaplex, and Champö, and according to the latest Business of Fashion beauty report, I’m not alone. Prestige hair care sales are on a massive rise, driven by a trend the industry calls “The Skinification of Hair.”

Essentially, we are starting to treat our scalp and hair with the same reverence we give our faces. We’re looking for high-performance actives - peptides, hyaluronic acid, and bond-builders - rather than just “bubbles, froth and scent.” We want long-term health, not just a temporary shine.

Selena’s 2025 Oscars look is the gold standard for the 'skinification' movement.

As we head into 2026, the focus is shifting even further toward scalp longevity and biotech formulas. If you’re looking to upgrade your routine, here are the “Skinification” brands to keep on your radar for the year ahead:

The 2026 Hair Watch-List: Biotech & Scalp Longevity

Crown Affair: For those who want the “slow-beauty” ritual - think handcrafted tools and oils that turn hair care into a mindful moment.

Virtue Labs: I am already a big fan of their Restorative Treatment Mask and they continue to double down on biotech with their Alpha Keratin 60ku - a protein identical to the one in our hair, making it the ultimate “skincare-for-hair” technology.

K18: I swear that their Leave In Molecular Hair Mask is responsible for transforming my thinning hair into a texture that is now thicker and more voluminous, and their new AirWash Dry Shampoo and AstroLift Volume Spray are bringing that same molecular repair to styling.

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🥁GOOSEBUMPS: The NYE Make-up Special

What’s the one makeup step that gets you party ready? The team share their favourites:

🪩 Paloma

Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb

When Donna told me we were talking New Year’s Eve makeup products, the Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb immediately came to mind! To me, sparkles and New Year’s Eve are pretty synonymous, and no one does a sparkle quite like Fenty. It’s the perfect product to take your look from day to night (and maybe even the following morning? 👀)

It’s quite the multi-purpose product - I love to use it as eyeshadow, highlight, and even on my collarbones and shoulders if my outfit exposes them. I am also just learning you can dust some through your hair for little extra shimmer. I always get compliments when I wear it and it truly lasts forever - a little goes a long way!

Some may say it’s too much sparkle but you know what? I say it’s never enough! May all of our years be as sparkly as Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb!

P xx

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💋 Hayley

Dior Rouge Dior Lipstick in 999

New Year’s Eve expectations are so high, glittery, and shimmery right? But how do we keep up with the standard of what NYE expects from us. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and I think a large part of my formative years has been the pressure to be perfect, have the new years “kiss” and being single was always the biggest taboo. As I get older and see the world around me evolving I just realize how silly that all was.

SO WITH THAT SAID!!!! In my ripe age of 34 (could be 14 or 94) there is one hack I truly rely on - drum roll: RED LIP!

There is nothing quite like a red lip to take your look from day to play. Trust me I have tried them all from matte to gloss to shimmer and the ONLY one I always go back to is Dior Rouge Dior Lipstick in 999 - the formula is absolutely buttery and fantastic, the application never feathers or runs and it really just is the power move.

What is it about a red lip that really just makes you feel on top of the world?

Sending love! xoxo, Hayley and Bear

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🖤 Gia

Chanel’s Ombre Essentielle Multi-Use Longwearing Eyeshadow (246)

New Year’s Eve is the one night I let myself lean into a smoky eye without overthinking it. A little messier, a little darker, and very intentional.

If I had to pick one product that does the work, it’s Chanel’s Ombre Essentielle Multi-Use Longwearing Eyeshadow (246). I’ve worn it for years!

I start with a soft nude-brown base (always), then layer the Chanel shade over a crayon liner, smudging rather than placing. It’s something my makeup-artist mother drilled into me early on: depth before drama, or you risk the black-eye effect.

What I like is how unfussy it is. It builds, it blends, it lasts. You can swipe it on at 5pm and deepen it again at midnight without starting over.

Sometimes, one product really is all you need.

Happy New Year!

XO Gia

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Donna

✨ e.l.f. Fine As Fleck Glitter Eyeshadow

I’ve always been a low-key makeup person, and for me, eyeshadow always felt like a bit of a faff - you have to think about blending, which brush to use etc. But for New Year’s Eve, I still like to add some sparkle.

Enter the ultimate lazy-girl NYE makeup product: e.l.f. Fine As Fleck Glitter Eyeshadow. It is the only product I need to get party-ready. It takes seconds to apply - just a quick swipe over eyelids. I also use it as a highlighter on my cheekbones, brow bones and cupids bow too.

If I’m feeling extra fancy, and if I have time, I’ll use the Champagne Shower shade in my eye sockets to add depth and follow up with White Hot across my eyelids and up to my brow bones. If not, I’ll just stick to the one shade all over!

It’s low maintenance but high shimmer!

Happy New Year!

Donna

x

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