Your Star Sign Could Determine Your Beauty Routine — Or at Least Just Make It More Fun
Reading the product descriptions on the back of perfumes designed for your star sign is an exercise in flattery. The box for the libra perfume — my zodiac sign — reminds me that I'm able to balance "elegance, wit and mischief with legendary skill." Another one informs me what scent notes I'm likely most attracted to and warns me that "a libran who wears anything but a romantic or sensual perfume smells off-key."
I don't want to smell off-key. As a libra ruled by Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, rose scents are my best bet, according to an online roundup of perfumes based on the zodiac. "The scent needs to be in harmony, with all elements being synergistic," astrologer and medium Cari Roy told TotalBeauty.com. Good thing plenty of perfumes are floral-based; it's supposed to be my go-to.
It's not just perfumes that have been matched with the 12 signs of the zodiac. These days, pretty much any and every beauty product is up for an astrological makeover. The beauty and fragrance industries are the latest to tap into the fun-loving world of horoscopes by marketing everything from makeup to cleansers to manicures based on astrological signs.
Sure, you might have grown up reading the monthly horoscopes in your favorite magazine, but that's kid's stuff. For the die-hard fans of astrology, there's no limit to what the internet can teach us — if you believe in the stuff — about our careers, personalities, love lives, even our favorite sex positions.
The internet, with its self-loving ways, has only stoked the fires. Look up astrology on Tumblr and you'll quickly see many accounts dedicated to the stuff, with plenty of images breaking down the characteristics of different signs, ready-made for sharing. Tumblr loves astrology so much that the second-most popular meme on Tumblr in 2015 was astrology-themed.
We are eagerly searching stuff that speaks to "us!" — there are only about 550,000 Instagram posts are tagged with #astrology, but around a million photos tagged for each individual sign. Astrology has always caught our attention because it taps into our narcissism, an identity we're happy to adopt, share and "like."
It seems only natural, then, that the world of beauty has caught on. If we believe the stars dictate aspects of our personality, then doesn't it make sense that certain personalities (er, zodiac signs) are drawn to certain products or looks?
Certain beauty companies have tapped into this trend directly, including Demeter Fragrance Library with its Zodiac collection perfumes, Strange Invisible with its Perfumes of the Zodiac and the samplers from the Perfumed Court.
More common, however, are beauty websites and magazines that have expanded the horoscope-mania by soliciting the advice of astrologists to inform product recommendations and makeovers.
As Ophira Edut of Astrostyle explained to PopSugar, zodiac signs can have "beauty personalities," that may inform favorite colors and even shopping habits like bargain-hunting. Since I'm a Libra and value beauty, I'm supposedly high-maintenance and am drawn to pretty packaging, astrologer Deb McBride told Marie Claire. (Full disclosure: I am.)
One manicure salon in Los Angeles has taken the horoscope-meets-beauty concept to another level with what it calls "color astrology," courtesy of astrologist Rose Theodora. The salon, called Enamel Diction, offers by-appointment-only sessions with Theodora, who informs customers of their daily "color scope" and therefore what colors to get in their next manicure.
It's the kind of marriage of astrology and beauty that seems more personalized than the one-size-fits-all approach found in magazines or blogs.
So do the companies churning out products targeting specific zodiac signs actually believe in star signs and the power of the cosmos? Probably not — the idea is instead a light-hearted and savvy one, knowing full well how relatable and fun star signs are for shoppers.
When Demeter Fragrance Library was designing its Zodiac collection, it did so with the knowledge that astrology is relatable, Blair Crames, a company representative, told Mic via email. Each of the 12 perfumes corresponds with a scent meant to "express the nature of its sign and [is] reflective of its personality, characteristics and tendencies," Crames said.
"The collection was designed to simply be fun and playful," she said. Star signs aren't meant to be an exact science, so any mention of products specifically marketed with astrology in mind maintain a lighthearted tone that suggests, "Take this for what you will."
Which, I guess, is the point of it all. Most horoscopes already tend to recycle the same predictions anyway, so the stars can't have that much sway in our beauty routines.
Still, that doesn't mean it's not fun. On a recent BuzzFeed quiz, Which Makeup Brand Should You Use Based On Your Zodiac Sign?, users were hotly debating the site's recommendations. Turns out, even if the stars say it's for us, it doesn't mean we'll want it.
