For article-only pieces, follow me on Substack!
The mindmap of a serial skincare junkie: first, you battle acne with different potions and lotions, until you realize that gentle is actually genius (who knew?). As your focus shifts from clearing acne, your battle only gets a few-year breather. Then, a tiny line on your forehead starts troubling you. And what’s that—a silver strand? You go from maintaining clear skin and a youthful glow to diving headfirst into pricey creams and high-tech gadgets, all in the name of preserving your “best self”.—Because we’re told it’s impossible to be our best selves when we’re 60 unless we start now.
Eventually, you find yourself going further and beyond peptide-filled ointments and LED masks. You spoil yourself with a seven-wave 36-inch red-light panel mounted in front of your infrared sauna. Your pillbox becomes the centerpiece of your beauty routine, keeping track of all 47 daily vitamins, minerals, and mitochondrial boosters—spilling into a full-blown fascination with not just beauty, but wellness and longevity. Did that spiral off too quickly? Probably. Then again, millennials have always loved a good upgrade.
Millennials worked so hard on looking good that we’re desperate to hold on to versions of ourselves we didn’t think we’d have at our age.
Skincare has dominated the conversation for the last 15 years, peaking around 2018 before surging again during the pandemic, when routines went from indulgence to full-blown ritual. Suddenly, everyone—from seven-year-old TikTokers to your cat—had an intricate grooming routine.
But now, in 2025, it feels like things have actually cooled off for real. All that effort set the stage for something new…
The Next Era of Beauty
Millennials worked so hard on looking good that, with all that time, money, and research spent, we are desperate to hold on to these improved versions of ourselves we didn’t think we’d have at our age. There’s no denying it—millennials do look insanely good for their age compared to earlier generations in their 30s and 40s.
It’s like the green wellness trends of the mid-2010s collided with the boom of scientific beauty and birthed a baby: a fledgling new trend called Longevity.
It’s not about makeup or covering up imperfections anymore.
The most beautiful person? The one with the best sleep score.
It’s the new buzzword in town. The new kid on the block. The next level in the millennial quest to accept ourselves while still trying to shine generationally.
—Truly, we ought to just blame Pluto in Scorpio for millennials constantly trying to improve themselves while standing out, and Neptune in Capricorn for chasing big ideals and new trends all at once.
This isn’t just a trend that defines our routines—it’s likely to shape what we expect from beauty, wellness, and aging for the next decade or more.
The word beauty is going to take on a whole new meaning moving forward. It’s not about makeup and covering up your imperfections, or rotating a chemical exfoliant and retinoid serum to retain a glow.
The most beautiful person in the room? The one with the best sleep score.
Get ready to look and feel young forever—or at least that’s the promise brands and companies will be selling here on forward. And as self-centered and insecure as millennials are, we’re going to eat it all directly from the pale soft youthful hands of a self-proclaimed Longevity guru. Who can call themselves an expert in their so-called field, because they‘ve spent more on their health and appearance than most of us will ever make in a lifetime.—Who said anything about relatability being an upward trend?
As Longevity is all about the long game, trust me—you won’t be missing out. I’ll see you soon on the leaderboard, flexing your speed of aging score, telling everyone how your NOVOS supplement is keeping you young.
