Dior’s new Sauvage skincare line — formulated using cactus extracts — promises that looking good only requires one to do the bare minimum.

Every couple of days, I will notice the post-pandemic habits of my friends who have sprouted green thumbs are still flourishing. Their selection of sprouts, however, is highly specific; there are the fiddle leaves, philo birkins, and ponytail palms, but a plant that does not seem to flourish within their imagination is the cactus. Never mind the continuous surge of interest in the horticultural where anything goes as an antidote to alienation due to our digital age.

The succulent perennial plant — or Cactaeceae — is more than just a squat bulbous plant. It sprouts in a slender columnar form that decorates the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech (fashion people refer to it instead as Monsieur Saint Laurent’s abode), while rotund barrels and alien-like versions litter the Ethnobotanical Garden in Oaxaca. The one commonality cacti have — no matter their girth, geographical location or silhouette — is that their flowers lend incredible hardiness as it allows the plant to retain as much moisture as possible, a feat that was not lost on Dior when it came to creating its newest skincare line.

Each product is formulated with cactus watery extract to assist the skin in absorbing water and cactus oily extract to prevent dehydration. If one takes both properties and applies them across the products (The Cleanser, The Toner, The Serum), he will get the Sauvage skincare line. The concept of the line is even simpler — the former cleanses without drying courtesy of said cactus extracts and natural charcoal, the middle soothes the skin like one is taking an ice bath, and the latter is even more straightforward as it spreads across the skin to deliver continual hydration for 100 hours. What is more minimal than using just three products to condition the skin? Perhaps adding sunscreen to one’s morning routine or a night cream if he has dry skin, but that is for another article. In the meantime, this trio should suffice.