Trend Taster: retro dinner party edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Skincare drinks are trending
Who wants retro dial-up connections?
Hybrid-electric cars hit 35% of EU registrations
Explainer: retro dinner party revival
Pinball is resurging
Skincare drinks are trending
Skincare drinks are trending: carrot shots, celery juice, turmeric elixirs promising glowing skin from within. Pinterest searches jumped 176%, TikTok videos rack up thousands of views. But nutritionists say the absorption rates don't match the hype, and you'd get better results just eating the ingredients. When did wellness become about performative consumption instead of actual nourishment?
Who wants retro dial-up connections?
AOL discontinued its dial-up service this week, cutting off around 175,000 remaining US users. The move has sparked widespread nostalgia for slower connections, "You've got mail" alerts, and an internet you could log off from. But underneath the sentiment sits a question about infrastructure: monopolised satellites, cloud dependency, and cyber attacks exposing fragility. When seamless connectivity becomes existential risk, is nostalgia just grief for autonomy we didn't know we'd lost?
Hybrid-electric cars hit 35% of EU registrations
Hybrid-electric cars hit 35% of EU registrations in the first eight months of 2025, nearly matching petrol and diesel combined at 38%. France and Spain led growth at 30% and 29%. Meanwhile, petrol dropped 52% and diesel fell 26%. The shift is structural. What happens when the transition point becomes the default?
Explainer: retro dinner party revival
Dinner parties are back but stripped of formality. Gen Z and Millennials are hosting progressive dinners, supper clubs, and themed nights at home, trading restaurant costs and digital fatigue for intimacy and atmosphere. It's not about perfection. It's about reclaiming time that feels real. When did gathering around a table become countercultural?
Pinball is resurging
Pinball's resurging across Germany, Britain, and the US, from 10,000 tournament players in 2005 to 90,000 today. It's shed its sleazy pub image and landed in museums, family halls, and seaside arcades rebranded as heritage experiences. Nostalgia's now cultural infrastructure. Are we preserving the past or just monetising our longing for it?
