As consumers rebel against the hyper-visibility of digital culture, they are turning toward Unreality, as we explore in our new trend report. One of the more surprising manifestations of this is newfound interest in crystals—formerly a New Age punchline, and now a newly hip ingredient popping up in skincare, branding and even ingestible products.

Rose quartz (one of Pantone’s colors of the year 2016), is enjoying a revival. The wellness site Well + Good recently rebranded with a logo highlighting rose quartz, explaining to readers that “modern crystal healers turn to the pink gem to anchor feelings of love, attune the heart chakra, heighten self esteem, and even release excess fluids and impurities from the body.” Such advice is interspersed with more traditional wellness content about exercise and diet.

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Rose quartz. Pantone's colors of the year 2016

The trend has gotten the requisite celebrity endorsements, with Adele blaming a bad performance on not having her crystals with her. Australian model Miranda Kerr swears by her rose quartz, as she revealed in a recent Twitter Q&A. “People really believe in them, which is exciting,” Remington Guest, co-founder of Advisory Board Crystals, a fashion-inspired brand that creates seasonal collections of crystals based on the stars, told Well + Good.

Crystals seem to be working their way into traditional workout regimens, in perhaps the latest manifestation of SoulCycle-style spiritualism. At a new workout studio in New York, fitness guru Taryn Toomey has embedded amethyst, clear quartz, and rose quartz into the floor, in an effort to create positive energy in the space.

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The Class by Taryn Toomey

Crystals are for drinking, too. Burberry make-up artist Wendy Rowe sips “high- vibration water”—crystal-infused H2O which is claimed to be somehow better at hydrating and detoxifying than plain water. At Triyoga Camden’s Nectar Café, Blue Moon Dream Water is on offer for post-ashtanga hydration and beyond. The tonic is charged with lapis lazuli and infused with the bright blue anti-inflammatory clitoria flower and cleansing sage.

As “higher power” ingredients in skincare products, crystals are on the rise. Wild Medicine embeds gemstones into soaps, while Gemstone Organic uses high-vibration water in its formulae. French beauty brand Gemology draws on a range of powdered minerals as a source of micronutrients for the skin, while Själ is known for its gem-infused anti-aging skincare. The bodycare brand Prismologie pairs specific gemstones, chosen for their different qualities, with aromatic oils and colors in a range of products designed to energize at specific times of the day.

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Handmade soap from Wild Medicine. Photography by George Echevarria
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Handmade soap from Wild Medicine. Photography by George Echevarria
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Gemology

Gemstone-infused skincare brand Kita delivers bespoke formulae through an online questionnaire that’s designed to ascertain a consumer’s elemental profile and subsequent relevant crystal. “Consumers are looking to crystals for products that go beyond the idea of ‘beauty’ and work on an energetic and internal level as well to help people switch off and cut out negativity,” founder Chiara Vania says.

The lauded vibrational energy of crystals made them the obvious choice of material for a range of sexual pleasure products by Chakrubs—dildos, yoni eggs—made from semi-precious stones such as jade and amethyst.

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