#QuarterLifeCrisis: Origins Reinvents Itself for Millennials at 25 Years old
Origins’ newest product, the Original Skin Renewal serum, is made for Millenials (Photo: Estée Lauder)
Estée Lauder Companies-owned Origins and I are both turning 25 this year—and like any other Millennials, we’re looking for an answer to our #QuarterLifeCrisis. By age 25, Origins has already opened over 2,000 stores, helped plant more than 500,000 trees, and explored the four corners of the world in search of botanicals—with exhaustive accomplishments like that, you’d think the overachiever would go into early retirement. But like any other 20-something-year-old feeling anxious about his or her place in this world, Origins is trying to reinvent itself. In order to appeal to a younger customer base, it just came out with the Original Skin Renewal serum, priced at a Millennial-friendly $39—that’s like, 10 lattes. The ingredients include anti-irritant Persian silk tree, chestnut seed extract to refine texture, willowherb to restore glow, and algae to control oil and smooth texture. I’ve been using the serum day and night for the past week, and I’m pretty sure my skin hasn’t felt this soft since I was born.
“In your 20s, skin goes through a transition,” Wendy Brooks, director of global product development, told Yahoo Beauty. “Carbonylation happens, which is a protein change in the skin’s surface that causes it to appear a little yellower and less radiant, so it’s less translucent.” Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to start wearing your mom’s anti-aging cream in your 20s, but you probably want something beyond your teenage acne cream. Your pores get bigger and more visible, and age spots might start to appear, but you are, all things considered, still young and at an age when the right choices are about prevention, not treatment.
Testing the #QuarterLifeCrisis app at the office—turns out, it’s hard to look professional while taking a selfie (Photo: Noël Duan)
Along with the serum, they’ve released a #QuarterLifeCrisis app that you can use to take sticker-decorated selfies. The lead-up to this interactive app was the most extensive consumer research Origins has ever done—they interviewed Millennials in Shanghai and New York, and discovered that in spite of their cultural differences, both focus groups felt like they were in states of transition in their lives. According to their market research, 55% of Millennials take selfies. Selfies decorated with drawings is an especially hot trend in Asia, so the Origins team hired Bee Stanton, a 25-year-old Nova Scotia-based illustrator, to design the playful stickers, which include hashtags, headphones, beauty products, and a variety of hearts. Smart move considering Millennial-made brand Glossier delivers its it-girl products with actual stickers.
25-year-old fellow Millennial illustrator Bee Stanton did all the sticker illustrations for the #QuarterLifeCrisis app (Photo: Bee Stanton)
I’ve been preparing my entire life for my #QuarterLifeCrisis—as a little girl, I imagined that my teenage acne would finally clear up and that my extremely short hair would grow into Victoria’s Secret beach waves. As I approach 25 years old, I now know there are many things in life you cannot control—but with skin, I’m doing the best I can. Gone are the days when lithe 20-somethings slathered themselves in baby oil and sat out in the sun without SPF—if there’s one thing Origins got right, it’s that Millennials care about the long-term consequences of their actions.
Related:
Here’s What Millennials Really Think About Aging and Stress
