skin

Very rarely in the world of beauty does a new, game-changing ingredient come along. Sure, there are new technologies and patents being developed every single day, but as far as seriously efficacious, ingredient-led discoveries go, they’re few and far between. Before the likes of super-hydrating hyaluronic acid, glow-boosting alpha hydroxy acids and fine line–reducing retinol were discovered, I wonder what was worth writing about. However, it’s been a good few years now since any ingredient made waves in the skincare world, and I think we’re overdue a discovery. With that being said, over the past few months or so, one particular ingredient name has been popping up more frequently on ingredient lists and in conversations among experts. Tranexamic acid is heralded by experts and ed...

If you ask me, great skincare shouldn’t have to come with an eye-watering price tag. Unfortunately, when it comes to anti-ageing products, more affordable brands often get written off as ineffective because of their overuse of the phrase “anti-ageing” in their ads. And sure, while so many affordable products that claim to rewind the clock do little more than give your skin a hefty hit of moisture, there are many that do actually contain the rare ingredients older skin might genuinely benefit from. So to save you from having to try out every single budget anti-ageing product out there, keep scrolling for the affordable options that contain powerhouse ingredients. Oh, and they’re all under £27. You’re welcome. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimag...

Some beauty products fill me with total, unadulterated joy. In fact, whenever I need a little boost in spirits, beauty is the first thing I turn to. And it sounds shallow, I know, but it really does work for me. When I start the day on a downer, there are very few things that can actually improve my mood. I mean, a slice of freshly-baked Victoria sponge and a cup of tea can only keep me content for so long. And I’m not one of those people that can power through a situation regardless of their mood, either. If I’m sad, anxious, grumpy or just plain angry, it’s an all-encompassing sort of situation. I have found that over the years, the way that I’m feeling has a lot to do with how I’m treating myself. With a solid beauty routine being one of...

However, a few weeks ago, a Charlotte Tilbury parcel turned up at my door. I had a pencil in my diary for a Zoom webinar to celebrate a new launch from the brand the week after, but at the time, I had no idea what the product was set to be. The product, it turned out, was Charlotte’s Magic Cream Light (£75). That’s right, people. She heard us. A Magic Cream alternative for oily skinned guys and gals that delivers skin-perfecting radiance but with a matte, natural-looking finish is finally here. And for the last few weeks, I’ve been giving it a go. Unlike the serum, Magic Cream Light is very much a heavy-duty moisturiser. It’s formulated with vitamin E, SPF20, anti-blue-light technology and the brand’s patented peptide-based smoothing and perfecting ingredient, Replexium. On top o...

When you see a Neighbourhood Botanicals product, you won’t forget it quickly—the glass bottles double as ornaments for your bedside table or bathroom display, as each product has a special illustration as a label that looks like it should be blown up as a wall print. But the brand is much more than Instagrammable packaging—founder Micaela Nisbet works on the formulations from her small lab in Leyton in East London. Her motto is “pure skincare rock’n’roll”, and she strives towards sustainable and ethical practices in all aspects of the business. The range is vegan and cruelty-free and all the packaging is recyclable—”there’s no animal testing, no big-pharma, no crazy markups, and no unnecessary ingredients.” You Deserve to Make Money ...

Chances are, at some point over the past few months, you’ve looked into giving yourself a spa-level facial at home. And while nothing beats the feeling of a good, deep cleanse with a luxe, dreamy-smelling cleansing balm, if you really want to reap the benefits of a great at-home facial, you need to know the moves. That’s right, you know those crazy hand movements and massage techniques that facialists carry out while you’re either fighting off sleep or flitting in and out of states of relaxed consciousness? Yep, they’re super important if you want to see drastic anti-ageing results over time. “It’s often news to people that over 40 muscles make up the scaffolding of our face,” says Inge Theron, Founder of FaceGym. “Just like the muscles in the body, the more you mo...

There are very few high-street shops that manage to embody French-girl style as perfectly and effortlessly as Sézane. Over the years, the brand’s pretty pastel knits, laid-back crochet and iconic boxy shirts have come to epitomise French-girl style, and frankly, I couldn’t be more on-board with the whole aesthetic. It’s laid-back, easy and takes chic to a whole new level. However, with that being said, I was always aware that the brand was missing a pretty major trick.  While I admit that French-girl style really is an art form, if you ask me, it’s the French girl’s approach to beauty that inspires me the most every day. For a brand like Sézane, which embodies all of the chicest, most stylish things about the French way of life, to not have a beauty offering always upset me ...

As a beauty editor, I’m lucky enough to have seasoned skin experts examine my complexion on a regular basis. For years, I have had facialist after facialist tell me that my congested pores need a little help. And it’s true; they always have. Unlike those that are blessed with buttery complexions, my T-zone is plagued with blackheads, and where they aren’t present, my pores appear like cratered pinpricks all over my face. Usually, it doesn’t bother me all that much. Not because they’re not evident but because every time things start to get a little out of hand, I can go running to a facialist who I know will fix it for me. However, the last few months have seen my pore situation get out of control. Without the option of going for regular facials (honestly, who do I think I am?) and since th...

With the power of social media, it is very rare in the world of beauty that any brand can be regarded as “under the radar.” You see, every time a person of note likes something and posts about it on their Instagram, they set the whole beauty world on fire. While this is most certainly the case for the majority of brands and products, even in 2020, not everything great breaks the internet. I know we’ve discussed this before, but the reality is even when a product is really, really great, if it doesn’t look the part, the chances of it making it onto the Discover page are low. How do I know this, you ask? Well, because I’m very much in the midst of it. When you spend a lot of time around friends and colleagues who are also beauty editors, experts and specialists, you soon realise that th...

But then, one afternoon a couple of months ago, as I cleared out my beauty stash, I stumbled across a pack of three single-blade women’s facial razors in my bathroom cabinet. They had been sent to me by a brand many moons ago when I was writing a feature about the new-at-the-time beauty fad of dermaplaning. A form of professional, mechanical exfoliation popular in salons and clinics, dermaplaning is the beauty industry’s fancy name for face shaving. Usually carried out with a single-blade razor, it works to remove dead skin and, more importantly for me, vellus hair (peach fuzz) to leave your complexion looking smoother and brighter.  And I say that dermaplaning was a “new” treatment but in fact, from Cleopatra to Marilyn Monroe, rumour has it that some of beauty’s most influential wom...

Despite my love for foundation, I find that it does have a tendency to suck the life out of my complexion. While some totally eradicate any hint of glow, others might cling to dry patches, crease or create an unwanted layer of oily sheen. Because of this, over the years, I have found it very difficult to achieve a perfect, seamless base with speed and ease. That was until one day a few months ago, I started trialling a new skincare product. The minute I put it on, I realised that my skin felt smoother and looked perfected and glowing. And as I continued to use it every morning for the following few weeks, I noticed that my base went on like a dream. I didn’t find myself having to reach for powders or liquid highlight—it just looked glowing and healthy, first time, every time. Intrigued, I ...

If we had to pick out what we believe to be the biggest beauty movement of the last couple of years, there’s no doubt that we’d settle on clean beauty. More so than ever, we all want to know exactly what it is we’re slathering on our faces. From preservatives like parabens to drying foaming agents like sulphates, as consumers we are increasingly starting to question the purpose (and side effects) of certain ingredients in our skincare and makeup. It’s therefore no surprise that the clean beauty movement has really started to take off. People are starting to switch on to the fact that actually, some of the ingredients in our products might not be necessary. And, while over here in the UK we adhere to strict EU safety laws (at least for now), elsewhere in the world, the levels of p...