Beauty: Meet my beauty stars for 2021
Those game-changing products that have just been launched have refreshed my make-up bag
The beauty industry doesn’t need seasons for reasons to launch new products; they can – and will – happen at any time. But January always sees a few new things and here are my five favorites…
1 Base Glow Caring Skin-Caring Givenchy Prisme (£ 40, harrods.com). More like hydrating skin care with pigment added to just the foundation, I like this foundation. Moisturizing and lightweight, it also has a capucine extract to stimulate cell oxidation – it basically helps your movement look even brighter. The slightly matt finish leaves skin perfectly made. Full marks. Available in 30 shades.
2 Blamish Succinic Acid Treatment Inkey List (£ 6.99, theinkeylist.com). Prejudice treatments have been successful as many of us suffer fractures due to mask wear (aka mascne). This Inkey List offering focuses on a lesser known ingredient: succinic acid (although it is well known in medical circles), which helps to cleanse pores and pores quickly but is kind to skin. It also contains salicylic acid, good for exfoliating, sulfa powder to reduce excess sebum without drying out skin, and chlorophyllin-copper complex that reduces inflammation and gives the unusual green color to the treatment (invisible when applied).
3 Elizabeth Arden Flawless Start Hydrating Serum Primer (£ 28, elizabetharden.co.uk). With a very light gel texture, this acid-based hyaluronic serum helps hydrate and plump skin and acts as a great prep before you make it up. The formula contains thyme oil, which offers antibacterial properties and adds a glow but does not feel irritating.
4 Filler Fiber Brow Revlon ColorStay in Clear (£ 8.99, boots.com). There are color versions of this slope filler but I am currently happy with the clear one. You press it on very much like mascara and it falls up and crushes brows. If you put colored fiber on a surface they will look even fuller and firmer – but still natural.
5 Charlotte Tilbury Happikiss, (£ 25, charlottetilbury.com). A new entry into the hybrid lip section where tinted balms meet a gloss-like finish and straight colored lawns that soften as they go. But this is a very delicate and interesting option and contains hyaluronic acid to aid irrigation. I love the shade of Pillow Talk, Charlotte’s classic nudey-pink. Be warned, when you wake the bullet you can’t turn it back so you don’t push more than you need to.
@edwinaingschambers
NATURAL LIFE True
New to these beaches from Italy is Florena’s affordable skin care brand (it’s under the umbrella of Beiersdorf, which also brings us Nivea, Eucerin and La Prairie). Florena is a Cosmos certified natural and vegan brand with a focus on flour and ferment ingredients and a mission to prove that natural skin care can be effective.
The face oils are super-heroic products and contain pieces of flour – obtained by heat treatment rather than any chemical process – and the labels also have hanging petals. I like the Lightening face oil (£ 24.99, boots.com), which contains both pink helichrysum, a flower used from the 19th century for skin care, and ferment safflower oil to hydrate and brighten skin.
The front surfaces follow similar sequences. The Anti-Wrinkle Day Garlic (£ 24.99), another heroic product, contains hydrating hyaluronic acid, fermented honeysuckle (to reduce oxidative stress that can cause inflammation and breakdown of collagen) and ferment olive oil.
Why ferment ingredients? Essentially the copying process strengthens the efficiency of the ingredients and changes the molecular structure so much that they require a different ingredient name. So olive oil, for example, once it has gone through the fermentation process, contains ten times more antioxidants than it does in its normal state.
The area also has an environmental focus. Packaging uses recycled materials and can be recycled. In addition, sizing has been brought back to a minimum so that a standard 50ml pot almost looks like a sample size and weighs around 7g instead of the more normal 40g.
I SPRITZ NEW HIT
I recently wrote a little ode to Sisley’s classic Eau de Campagne fragrance. For, while Sisley may be related to skin care, it also creates some wonderful fragrances. So I would also like to recommend his latest one: Izia La Nuit, a warmer and sultry version of the original rose-based Izia. This has added oak moss and patchouli for elegance, depth and sum but also some positive notes of mandarin and black currant to add an element of clarity and hope to the mix.
From £ 94.50 for 30ml, sisley-paris.co.uk