I Have a Crush
It's two gentlemen in New York - Malin and Goetz
This one found me in an unlikely place — the bathroom of my first NYC apartment. My ex-boyfriend, who I lived with at the time, bought a Malin+Goetz peppermint body scrub in an honest attempt to invest in self-care. To this day, this scrub maybe the best thing I’ve ever put on my body. It’s got the perfect grainy texture that doesn’t melt away the second it comes in contact with water and leaves you feeling clean and minty. Working my first job out of college, I wasn’t in the tax bracket or mentality that justified spending $30 on a bath product yet, but I’d steal it from his side of the bathroom shelves every now and then — enough for me to enjoy, not enough for him to notice.
Despite my sneaky affair with the minty scrub though, Malin+Goetz still read to me as one of those coastal millennial brands that were a little too embarrassing for a twenty-year-old “cool girl” to love, in line with Brooklinen sheets and Away suitcases. All I’ve got to say about that now is apologies your honor, I was not familiar with your game.
Malin+Goetz is a brand with a long NYC history. Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz met at a bar in the East Village and years later, had an idea to start an independent brand that doesn’t complicate skincare. Their business style is slow and steady, and everything they touch creatively — the packaging, the stores, the scents — are the definition of tasteful.
If you look past the clean modern apothecary aesthetic, you start seeing the subtle mischief, humor, and flirtation seeping through the packaging, copy, scents, and overall branding. They make a cannabis hand and body wash inspirited by Andrew’s time in Amsterdam that according to GQ, makes you look “a bit fun and irreverent.”They put up messy ads in the subway that take skincare and self-care out of the clean girls’ hands and into the slightly grimy hands and back pockets of your situationship. They collaborated with Brain Dead on a cannabis candle and perfume oil. Quoting Andrew’s The Cut interview, they are “a little bit spicy, a little bit on the periphery of naughty, and hopefully a little bit of humor comes through as well.”
Malin+Goetz doesn’t try to be gender-neutral, it just is. The products are made for sharing between partners, no matter what their skin type is. They’ve got a couple of cute videos picturing couples stealing lip balms and perfume oils off each other that with the right creative direction, could be turned into an even edgier and flirtier campaign. Now that you know that I love stealing from my partners, I also think smells are such a special part of a relationship — over time, you build up a whole library of scents associated with your partner that you want to carry with you everywhere you go. Andrew once told The Cut that love smells like Matthew to him too.
Now that we’ve established that I am Matthew’s and Andrew’s biggest simp, there are also a couple of things I wish the brand would do. To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Malin+Goetz set up a “block party” in Nolita in partnership with other brands in the neighborhood, like Prince St Pizza, Matchaful, and Wine Therapy. While it looks like one of the funnest activations they’ve ever done, I couldn’t shake off the eery feeling that comes with looking at a map that makes a lively NYC neighborhood look like an outdoor mall. From the pictures and videos I saw, it looks like it was a success, but the lines outside of the store in Nolita looked more like one of those NYC for free brand giveaways than a fun celebration they deserve.
Block parties in the US originated in New York. During the Wold War I, people blocked off the streets, singing and parading in honor of those going off to war. The fun block parties we know with loud music, dancing, and barbecues emerged in the 70s and have close ties to the hip hop community. The one thing that stayed the same is that block parties are about people coming together in a local community. New York in general is about the people — the guy who makes your Saturday morning bagel, the sweet old lady that lives below you, and the random friends you make in the unlikeliest of places. Because let’s be honest, the city itself is a tough place to live in.
Malin+Goetz is about the people, and I wish they showed that more. All their products are produced locally in the New York area, primarily by family-owned and operated specialty businesses. The company’s first store in Chelsea was located in the same building where Matthew and Andrew lived, so they used to be there from early mornings to late nights talking to every neighbor and customer that came in, eventually turning the store a beehive of neighborhood friends and local skincare enthusiasts.
It’s tough to replicate this now because their business has grown so much since then, but there is still an opportunity to tell stories about the people who have a special relationship with the brand. I would’ve loved to see the shopkeepers behind the businesses participating in the anniversary block party and intimate street photos of friends gossiping over Malin+Goetz x Matchaful drinks, spring NYC couples putting lip balm on each other, and strangers carrying around peculiar objects sticking out of Malin+Goetz totes. I want to see a cheeky campaign about the people who steal the bergamot hand wash from hotels and restaurants, and a group of chatty girls in the women’s bathroom refreshing themselves with a touch of strawberry fragrance.
By now, we are so numb to GRWMs, brand giveaways, and aesthetic ASMR videos from skincare and beauty brands in general that I am craving something edgier and real. I don’t want to be a clean girl, I don’t want to be a cute strawberry angel, and I don’t want to be spoken to like I am a little girl. I want to have fun, feel confident enough to approach strangers, and move through the world with a single lip balm in my back pocket rather that worrying about not being diligent enough for a six-step skincare routine and occasional fine lines on my forehead.
No margins today but if you work for a brand that’s curious about Substack, could you shoot me an email at vikushavas@gmail.com? I’ve got a couple of questions for you for something coming in the next couple of weeks.
reading this after my shower during which i used that peppermint scrub...
omg as someone who also has a crush on malin + goetz THANK YOU