Take one former buyer from Barneys (the New York department store), from the era when it offered the hottest beauty shopping on the planet. (And who also worked at Kiehl’s and Prada Beauty). Add a Manhattan design dynamo. What you have is Malin + Goetz: a unisexy brand of skincare, haircare and home fragrance, which is already at Liberty and Bluebird, but whispers are that it’ll hit Space NK soon. (Oh, and Malin + Goetz are also a couple of eighteen years’ standing, so they live and work together: Andrew Goetz + Matthew Malin. Apparently they also give some of the best dinner parties in New York, to which we will be angling for an invite.) Yesterday the boys breezed through London (en route for fish and chips in Brighton this weekend) to talk us through the range at the Dean Street Townhouse. And we like-y. No-nonsense skincare. (Love the Lip Moisturiser.) Covetable bath stuff. (Do not use the Peppermint Body Scrub at night, or you won’t sleep. But in the morning…?) Plus some terrific fragrances – like Petitgrain, Rum Tonic, Synthesized Musk - which can be ‘layered’, to make them even more interesting. We’re also extremely keen on the Dark Rum candle – and we’re not alone: it scooped top honours in the Allure beauty mag ‘gongs’, all warm and soothing and like snuggling under a cashmere blankie. (There’s also a Cannabis candle, which smells green and grassy. ‘Be sure to get a stack of sweet and savoury snacks in when you burn it,’ the guys joke.) Of course, when big brands are snapped up – as Kiehl’s was by L’Oréal, while Matthew worked there – it creates a gap. (A bit like Jimmy Goldsmith’s quip: ‘When you marry your mistress, it creates a vacancy.’) So we’re always thrilled when brands like this come along with something different – created with passion and run with love (plus lots of blood, sweat and probably occasional tears, like any growing business). We think you’ll be hearing a lot more about Malin + Goetz. And we know that pooch-loving beauty fans will also want to log on to their website (see below) and click on ‘product hounds’: hundreds of snaps from M + G devotees of their own dogs. (Well-groomed, of course.)
www.malinandgoetz.com
