BEAUTY MONTHLY FAVOURITES – MAY 2015

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My favourite serums ATM (l-r): First Aid Beauty Uplifting Serum (£35); Vichy Aqualia Thermal Dynamic Hydration Serum (£17); Deciem Hylamide Serum

Deciem Hylamide Serum – £30
A serum so smart, it comes equipped with its own PhD. Well, it should.
To improve the look of your skin, I don’t think many other products get to work as quickly as serums. Layered under your moisturiser, choose the right one and it can take your skincare (and results) to the next level.
As a beauty product, serums are power-packed with ingredients –they can be firming, hydrating, soothing – there literally is one out there to meet every skincare demand imaginable. With such a crowded market, a new serum has to offer something pretty special to get noticed.
Hylamide is a newly-launched product – although it didn’t hit my radar until I read a review on skincare expert Caroline Hirons’ blog that convinced me to get purchasing. (See Caroline’s review here: http://www.carolinehirons.com/2015/05/deciem-hylamide-subq-anti-age.html)
To say that Hylamide is a sophisticated formula may be the beauty understatement of the year. Containing five forms of hyaluronic compounds to give your skin a serious boost of hydration, the serum also excels at resurfacing, with a next-generation Tripeptide which helps to ‘reduce the appearance fine lines, wrinkles and surface irregularities’.
What this roster of ingredients means for you is that the Hylamide serum hydrates, rejuvenates and strengthens your skin. My skin visibly improves each time I use it, and the effects accumulate: I get plumper, younger skin without irritation which is impressive for a product with so many ingredients. My skin also gets dehydrated quickly, so this serum pretty much ticks every box for me, performing at a level I’d expect from a product twice its price.
At £30, it’s not super-budget, but it definitely offers serious value for money. I’m already convinced after a few uses – and will be restocking once I’ve finished this bottle. This product’s a real winner; innovative, high performance and excellent value for money. You can’t say fairer than that.

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Cleansers galore (l-r): SBC Collagen 3-in-1 Cleanser; Vichy Cleansing Micellar Oil (£13.75); Sisley Cleansing Milk with Sage (£65)

 SBC Collagen 3-in-1 Cleanser – £12.50 (100ml)/ £25 (200ml)
This was a bit of a lucky dip purchase: I needed a new cleanser, but wasn’t ready to start using my lightweight, summer-only formulations. My skin needed a halfway house, and SBC have very kindly provided just that.
Their Collagen 3-in-1 Cleanser acts as a cleanser (obviously), a gentle exfoliator and make-up removal system. Designed for dry and dehydrated skin types, this product is a perfect balance of gentle cleansing and reviving exfoliation.
The cleanser is loaded up with plant oils, including Passion Flower Oil (anti-inflammatory); Kukui Seed Oil (moisturising); Papaya Seed Oil (conditioning). Combine that with a Shea Butter base, Vitamin E and collagen and you’ve got yourself a cleanser that only gets to grips with grime, but also tackles the visible signs of anti-ageing.
What I love about this product is that it quietly gets on with the job in hand, leaving your skin thoroughly cleansed, but without that pinched, tight feeling you can get with overzealous formulas. I find myself reaching for this cleanser when my skin feels a little out of sorts, and the cleanser always leaves it feeling soothed, comfortable and hydrated. SBC are more commonly known for their excellent face and body gels, but this cleanser highlights what else SBC has to offer. I’d say what better excuse is there to get acquainted?

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I do love a good scrub (l-r): Good Things Manuka Honey Refining Scrub (£4.99); Korres Wild Rose Exfoliating Cleanser; Burt’s Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub (£10.99)

Korres Wild Rose Exfoliating Cleanser – £18
I do love a hybrid product, and the exfoliating cleanser has to be one of my favourites.
While Korres is by no means a budget brand, it certainly comes in a lot cheaper than my gorgeous Murad AHA / BHA exfoliating cleanser (£34) and certainly much cheaper than my beloved Tata Harper Regenerating Cleanser, which comes in at a hefty £60 RRP.
I always imagine the exfoliating cleanser as not taking the place of an exfoliator proper, but giving skin that needs it a bit of extra help. If you have skin with patches of roughened texture, or enlarged pores, adding an exfoliating cleanser into your routine can really nudge your skin into better condition.
I use mine once a week and it leaves my skin feeling smoother with pores visibly reduced. It’s not at all scratchy on the skin, but does have some grittiness to it. Overall, I think normal-combination skin would benefit most from using this, although I do think a light going-over once a week wouldn’t be the worst idea for dry skin either, as it would tackle sluggish cell renewal quite nicely. While it doesn’t match the peerless perfection of the Tata Harper cleanser, this Korres version is a nice alternative.

 

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Argan5+ Morrocan Rose bath soak – £5.99
There are times when a girl’s just got to say no to utility, and say ‘oui’ to a spot of indulgence.
Including a bevy of quality ingredients including Rose Otto oil, Avocado and Moringa oils, this bath soak goes far beyond your usual supermarket fare.
The beauty of this bath soak is not just the heavenly scent (although it’s frankly delicious), but the oil infused formula that leaves your skin feeling silky and beautifully hydrated. Perfect for a lazy weekend treat, (or a weekday treat if you feel so inclined), you can find this bath soak at Waitrose stores nationwide.

Revlon Ultra HD lipstick – £7.99
‘Ultra HD lipstick’ is quite a strange name for a product that’s all about ease of use. This is not, as you might expect, a mega-watt colour that imprints itself on the lips, but a smoother, lightweight formulation that takes the guesswork out of buying lip colour.
Created with a gel base for smoother application and wax-free formulation to give a ‘weightless’ feel, this lipstick is very different to other high-pigment lip colours currently available. When applied it literally feels as if you have nothing on your lips – without the wax, this lipstick becomes a whole different animal. Highly moisturising – it almost shifts into tinted balm territory if it weren’t for the punchy hit of colour.
The modern formula makes bold colour easy to wear – if you’re a bit colour-phobic, this formula is great for stepping up a shade. If you’re new to wearing colour, I’d definitely recommend this lipstick – it’s a comfortable, easy wear that doesn’t skimp on colour definition.
Revlon have been enjoying a real winners’ streak with regards to their lip products: their incredibly popular Colourburst Lip Butters and Balm Stains, the sophisticated Ultimate Suede Lipstick, and I think the Ultra HD Lipstick can added to this roll-call. Big-budget technology for a bargain price, Revlon’s Ultra HD lipstick is a perfect addition to your Spring make-up bag.
http://www.boots.com/en/Revlon-Ultra-HD-Lipstick_1669695/

Balance Me Rose Otto Face Oil – £32
I’ve only been using a trial size of this product, but so far, my first impressions have been excellent.
To get the maximum benefits, I press a small amount of this onto my face and neck after cleansing. I’ve found this to be particularly beneficial if my skin’s going through a reactive phase – it brings everything back into balance.
This oil boasts a wealth of ingredients including Rosehip and Starflower oils to comfort and soothe, and pure Rose Otto essential oil to improve moisture levels. Arctic Cloudberry may sound like a character from a Philip Pullman novel, but it is an excellent source of antioxidant which helps protect the skin from further damage.
I’d recommend this treatment oil for skin that’s prone to bouts of redness and reaction- it’s great at calming whilst encouraging your skin to be more resilient in the long-term. While £32 is not quite in budget territory, a treatment oil that not only tackles immediate problems but enables your skin to better protect itself in the future usually comes with a much higher price tag.
This is the third Balance Me product I’ve now tried, and to be honest, my only disappointment is that I didn’t get on board with this range before.
https://www.balanceme.co.uk/face/product-family/treatments/treatments-rose-otto-face-oil

HELEN TOPE

CLEANSING: THE SKINCARE REVOLUTION

It may not be the most glamorous aspect of your skincare routine, but cleansing has become a beauty hot topic, with editors and bloggers debating the most effective way to get that clear, glowing skin.
Hot-cloth cleansers (cleanser requiring removal with a muslin or wash-cloth) have emerged the clear leaders, with brands such as Liz Earle creating beauty industry standards. The Liz Earle ‘Cleanse and Polish’ is now an iconic product and multi-award winner. The success of Cleanse and Polish has spurred other beauty brands to come up with their own versions, and the spark begun by Cleanse and Polish has grown into a sector of the beauty market every brand is eager to have a piece of.

These cleansers have experienced a massive surge in popularity because they are a great way of tackling impurities and imbalance in your skin. The idea of beating misbehaving skin into submission with harsh, astringent products is slowly giving way to a change in attitude. Treating your skin with quality products will always yield better results, now and in the long-term. Don’t think of it as an indulgence: consider this an investment.
Spending out on a cleanser rather than a moisturiser may feel counter-intuitive, but even the best moisturiser on the planet would struggle to be effective on a poorly-cleansed skin. By the same token, a wildly-reactive skin – thrown out of kilter by an over-stripping product – isn’t going to get the best out of a moisturiser either, no matter how impressive its pedigree.

Where hot cloth cleansers differ from gel and foam-based cleansers is in the gently-exfoliating action that occurs while the product is being worked over the face. A wash-off gel cleanser is designed to stay on the skin for seconds, before being splashed off – any exfoliation effect is minimal.
While some cleansers that lean towards a balm formulation are designed to cleanse and soothe dry and sensitive skin, many hot cloth cleansers act by decongesting and gently exfoliating the skin, leaving an oily / combination skin feeling refreshed. The REN Rosa Centifolia and Clear / Calm Clarifying cleansers are both excellent examples, efficiently removing dead skin cells to reveal a brighter, revitalised skin beneath. If you’ve heard hot-cloth devotees enthuse about a post-cleanse ‘glow’, this is how it happens.
You can even double up on the exfoliating effect by using a towelling wash-cloth to remove the cleanser – many products recommend a muslin cloth (and this works just fine), but if you have particularly problematic skin and you’re worried about product residue – the towelling texture of a wash-cloth will lift away any remaining cleanser, leaving only beautiful skin behind.

But if your skincare concern is dryness or sensitivity, a balm texture may be your best bet. If you want the Rolls Royce of cleansing balms, look no further than Emma Hardie. A renowned facialist, famous for her Natural Lift and Sculpting Facial, Emma introduced her skincare system in 2009 – a capsule collection of products that work not by producing a ‘miracle in a bottle’, but by making the skin itself more resilient to the ageing process.
Hardie’s star product is the Moringa Cleansing Balm (£34). A balancing cleanser that can also double as a hydrating mask, this formulation is perfect for calming sensitive skin and revitalising drier, mature skin. Used with a little water which turns the balm into a milky, malleable texture, the product is incredibly easy to work with, leaving your skin thoroughly cleansed and feeling incredibly soft. Not every cult product is worthy of its hype, but Emma Hardie’s Moringa Balm has the industry kudos and stellar customer reviews to back it up. You will be impressed.

If you’re looking for a budget alternative to the Moringa Balm, two of your high street favourites have come up trumps.
Boots Botanics Cleansing Balm boasts a luxurious blend of shea butter, rosehip and jojoba oil resulting in a product that is 97% organic. Formulated without parabens and people tested; this balm ticks all the boxes when it comes to product ethics.
Priced at £8.99, the Botanics Cleansing Balm is a clear customer favourite. Only requiring a pea-sized amount for a single cleanse, this product offers excellent value for money.
However, stiff competition comes from another high street stalwart: The Body Shop. Its Camomile Cleansing Butter is accompanied online by an average customer score of 4.9 out of 5.

This cleanser also sells itself as a make-up remover, and according to the Body Shop’s customer base, this certainly isn’t false advertising. Hailed particularly effective at removing eye make-up, the butter gently cleanses, making it a great option for sensitive skin. Perfumed with a delicate camomile scent, the texture of the product ensures an in-depth cleanse without causing redness or irritation. Along with the REN Rosa Centifolia, the Camomile Cleansing Butter is a great all-rounder. At £12, this is a budget buy with some seriously high-end features.
If you have especially congested skin, all this talk of balms and butters may have somewhat limited appeal. If the mere thought of slathering on a thick cleanser is enough to make you break out, fear not: beauty giant REN have come to your rescue.

REN’s Clear / Calm Clarifying Cleanser (£18) stands apart from the rest of the pack, simply by virtue of being a detoxifying, anti-bacterial hot-cloth cleanser that is tailor-made for oily / combination skin. The clay in the formula soothes any redness and gently cools the skin. Reducing the appearance of open pores, REN’s Clear / Calm rewrites the rules on how to treat an oily skin. By balancing and calming without stripping the skin, Clear / Calm steps in and breaks the circle of oil over-production caused by astringent products. If you want a long-term solution for your problem skin, using a great cleanser like Clear / Calm is a pretty good place to start.
The hot-cloth cleanser is definitely having a moment, but this is no skincare fad: think of it more as a revolution. By placing the focus back on the start of the skincare routine, the basic of a beautifully-cleansed skin means that serums and moisturisers can then work at their maximum efficacy. You get more bang for your buck, needing less and less product to get results, which means that expensive moisturiser lasts a whole lot longer. A skin in good condition will take up far less time to look after; you save money, you save time – just by joining the cleansing revolution. Whatever way you look at that – it’s a win-win.

HELEN TOPE