By
Asia Milia Ware,
beauty editor at the Cut
who also writes the column “Why Is Your Skin So Good.” She has covered fashion and beauty for eight years with bylines in InStyle, Teen Vogue, Paper, and Essence.
Aesthetician Sydney Utendal is known among New York City girls for giving the best beauty tips, honing in on a routine that is efficacious and simple. “If there were ever a Solange of the beauty world, I’d like to be her,” Utendal says. Her work has also led her to build relationships with brands like Soft Services, which enlisted her help to formulate its cult-favorite Buffing Bar. These days, the New York–born beauty pro is building her own brand, which she’s planning to launch late 2027/early 2028. She’s finding inspiration from everything, even the architecture of buildings, as she thinks about the packaging that will sit on shelves. But more than that, it’s the ingredients and mindfulness of creating inclusive products as a Black woman that she’s focused on as she steps into the next part of her career. As she moves forward, below she shares some of the products, places, and habits that she’s committed to these days.
