Gwyneth Paltrow on post-lockdown beauty and how Goop took the ‘dirtiness’ out of vibrator sales
Celebrating her 50th birthday last month with a bold gold body paint photoshoot, Gwyneth Palrow is still pushing boundaries as a beauty and wellness maven. At the launch of her collab capsule collection with compression activewear brand CopperFit on Wednesday, Paltrow talked about what’s on her radar for beauty and wellness as she gets back into the swing of IRL Goop summits and looks to new categories for growth.
Why did you decide to work with CopperFit?
“I wasn’t that familiar with the brand. They were thinking about ways to reach new audiences and more female audiences, and so they sent me a box of their product. I started always hiking with it, and then I started using a bunch of the other stuff. And I was like, “This is actually really good stuff.”
You were just here at the Santa Monica Proper last weekend for your In Goop Health Summit. How do your in-person events now compare to pre-pandemic times?
“There’s a level of appreciation for connection. Before the pandemic, there were so many events all the time, and now, it feels special. Because of the pandemic, we’ve been keeping them a little bit smaller, which felt really good. It’s more intimate. I’m sure we’ll go back to doing the bigger ones. But there’s just more of an appreciation for the community, as well. So it’s been nice to get everybody back together.”
What is of interest to your members since the pandemic reopening?
“There’s a lot of focus on relationships, especially long-term relationships, and how to keep them connected and vibrant. The pandemic was hard on a lot of relationships. I would say that’s something that’s coming up a lot for people right now.”
You also talked about the concept of aging at the summit. How do you approach the term “anti-aging” with beauty products at Goop?
“There’s been a movement that makes a lot of sense around not using the words ‘anti-aging,’ because aging is natural. It’s something we all do, and it’s not anything to be ashamed of. But at the same time, women want to combat the signs of aging. We try to sort of frame it more like ‘youth-boosting’ than ‘anti-aging.’”
What new beauty products are on your radar these days?
“As you can imagine, my routine is very Goop-heavy. I love the products we make. I’ve been very into it. We launched this sleep milk at the end of the summer, which is amazing for fine lines and wrinkles. Also our face oil, which I’ve been using basically twice a day since we launched it. I really like this new Augustinus Bader lash and brow serum. I’ve been using that, hoping it’s going to make my lashes longer. And I just got the new face Theragun that we sell on Goop; it’s got all these fun attachments.”
What have you seen regarding the self-care effect that took off during the pandemic? Now that people are back to busy lives, how are they approaching self-care?
“The pandemic was long, and people liked carving out time for themselves. I’ve been asking people, ‘What from the pandemic have you kept?’ People have tended to keep some of those routines and those self-care things, like doing their face masks or a long bath at the end of the day.’
On Goop, what are your best sellers in beauty, at the moment?
“Our best sellers are our microderm, which is a little microdermabrasion in a jar, and jelly cleanser, which is great. And — I think it might sell well, because it just sold — the face oil, which is finally back in stock, thank God.
And what’s your top category right now?
“Beauty is our top and fashion. Those are our two strongest at the moment.”
What are your plans for product launches and categories in the coming year?
“We have some really exciting launches in the beauty category and in the sexual wellness category, as well. We’re focusing on some different kinds of products in sexual wellness, not just vibrators. So that’ll be fun. We have a pretty robust roadmap coming up in beauty, as well.”
What do you think is driving the growth in the sexual wellness category?
“It’s an important part of your overall wellness. And obviously, I look at it from the female perspective and think how, for us, pleasure has not been at the forefront of a conversation. And it’s been very taboo for women to think about their pleasure, or their sexuality even. Honestly, I’m proud of it. I feel like the team at Goop has played a really big part in breaking down that taboo and talking about the importance of pleasure and knowing yourself sexually and what that can bring to the rest of your life. We sort of kicked the door open a little bit. We took some of the ‘dirtiness’ out of it and made it a little bit more respectable. Now, lots of people are stocking sexual wellness and talking about it. So I think it’s great.”
And we’ve been hearing about makeup sales seeing a rebound; like what are you seeing with that?
“People are definitely back into color. For a while, there was very little activity there. And then there was a lot of lipstick buying for Zoom calls. But now it’s fully back.”
Is Goop interested in launching color cosmetics?
“I think, at some point, yeah. We would very much stick with our ethos around: ‘It’s all about this skin.’ It would just maybe be more natural, in the vein of what we already do.”
