BEAUTY PICK OF THE DAY: SUNDAY 17 MAY

This is going to be a mini-series of reviews, capturing my thoughts on products I have enjoyed using during the week. Starting with today, for the next 7 days I will post reviews of products from the worlds of skincare, bodycare, haircare and make-up. I hope you enjoy them.

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Organic Surge Nourishing Rose Day Cream – £21.50
I must admit, although this moisturiser is worth every penny, I didn’t buy it for £21.50. I bought two bottles of this lovely, lovely stuff from TK Maxx for £7.99 each a few months ago. Not only was it a bargain of epic proportions, but my instinct to grab both bottles was one I stand by.
I have also tried their Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser, and Organic Surge’s skincare has really impressed me, with this day cream is a perfect example of how to get moisturiser right.
Loaded with quality ingredients including Damask Rose essential oil, this cream tackles not only lack of hydration, but calms redness and improves the skin’s elasticity. Also containing Argan oil and Geranium essential oil, this moisturiser is a workhorse product, dressed in a beautiful scent and gloriously creamy texture.
The consistency of the day cream is particularly well-judged: it will soothe and hydrate dry skin, but doesn’t leave a tacky residue or oily film. It sinks in evenly, providing a smooth, even base for make-up.
I’m loving this moisturiser, and I think it may end up becoming one of my favourites of the year. Find it, buy it, love it.

http://www.organicsurge.com/products/nourishing-rose-day-cream?nosto=pagetemplate-nosto-1#.VViXpZPWaIk

APRIL FAVOURITES

Gentle Reader, this was meant to be posted yesterday…but then this happened and I found myself glued to the television. For HOURS.

As Spring rolls around, I think it’s probably no coincidence that many of my favourites this month are new discoveries.

(l-r): The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil (£13); Tiaki Night Cream; Dead Sea Magik Rich Moisturiser (£7.99)

Tiaki Night Cream – £7.99 at TK Maxx (currently available on Amazon for £32)
Everyone likes a little gamble now and again, and my punt of choice (typed that SO carefully) has to be the beauty aisle of good old TK Maxx.
Sometimes, I strike lucky. Other times, I go home empty-handed. The intoxicating beauty is that I’ve no idea what I’ll find until I start rummaging through those shelves.
The trick is knowing your labels – not so much the big-hitter brands that everyone’s familiar with – but the smaller, boutique brands that are not so well known. I have recently found, in no particular order, beauty products by Estelle and Thild, Nails Inc, Organic Surge and This Works. They were just sitting there – and I snapped ‘em right up.
Other times, I will take the bargain discounts as a jumping-off point to explore new products. Having found some real treats among their European brands, I cast my net wider this month with a New Zealand skincare brand, Tiaki. Specialising in organic products, Tiaki boasts an ingredients page on its website with actual ingredients you will recognise. All of their products contain goodies such as almond oil, rosehip oil, avocado, macadamia and Vitamin E.
I bought the Night Cream without any prior recommendation, review or tweet. To my delight, I found this cream to be a lovely mid-weight moisturiser, ideal for this time of year. Gorgeously hydrating, but non-greasy, it really is a wonderful example of getting the basics right. Tiaki doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel – but just delivers good quality, honestly made products. You can’t really ask for much more, but the Tiaki Night Cream also comes equipped with a gorgeous scent that even my odour-phobic cat doesn’t find offensive – and that might be the most impressive review of all.

Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner – £26
This is definitely the skincare product that requires the biggest fanfare this month. This item was purchased fairly late on in the month, but it wins a place on my monthly favourites list for simply being so damn good.
If the concept of an exfoliating toner is unfamiliar, it’s basically a type of liquid exfoliant that can be wiped over the skin 2-3 times a week, and creates the same exfoliating effect without the need for scrubs. If you’ve got oily / blemish-prone skin, this type of product is frankly a game changer.
It not only deals with the icky dead skin cells, but with the help of gentle Tamarind fruit acids, it helps to smooth out the roughly textured bits that occur with age / lack of regular exfoliation / mild Malteser abuse (okay, made the last one up, but you get my drift).
I have the afore-mentioned roughly textured bits – I keep ‘em at bay with the fabulous First Aid Beauty radiance pads, but the Clarins is a great option that in my opinion even rivals FAB…and they are aptly named.
The Clarins toner is ease personified to use: just swipe over using a cotton wool pad and give it a minute before applying serums / oils on top. I’ve only used the Clarins toner a few times so far and I’m already seeing a marked difference in the texture of my skin. So much so I caught myself admiring my forehead in the reflection of my smartphone earlier this week…sad but true.
With usage, I reckon 3 times a week as an absolute maximum, and that’s for skin that needs a LOT of help. 1-2 times a week will be more than enough for most people – Clarins has a lot of love to go around, there’s plenty for all.
I can see this becoming a dyed-in-the-wool favourite – it yields real, visible results, and is gentle and soothing on the skin. It’s a deceptively simple-looking product, but beneath that quiet exterior beats the heart of a heroic skin saviour.

(l-r): Bumble & Bumble Tonic Lotion Primer (£17); Charles Worthington Ultimate Hair Healer; Percy & Reed Light Foaming Treatment Mask (£20)

Charles Worthington Moisture Seal Overnight Ultimate Hair Healer – £10.99
With a name this epic, you’d expect it to be good –right? Luckily for us, the overnight hair mask created by Charles Worthington is right to be so confident.
Containing Argan Oil, this overnight crème conditioner is applied to dry hair (root to tip), left on overnight (obviously) and then rinsed out the following morning. I’d recommend this as a weekend treatment – if you forget to rinse, it’s a Sunday and no big deal.
The Ultimate Hair Healer recommends itself as a treatment for dryness, frizz or damage. While the intensely nourishing formula is ideal for dry and heat-treated hair, I would say even if your hair’s even in pretty good condition, give this a go anyway: I think you’ll be surprised.
I use colour on my hair quite frequently, and I was amazed at the results of this conditioning mask. My hair felt stronger, more resilient and conditioned, but without feeling tacky or weighed-down.
The product I would compare this to would be Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer – both the Elasticizer and the Ultimate Healer left my hair feeling like it had got its ‘bounce’ back – something I’ve never experienced with other moisturising treatments.
At £10.99, the Ultimate Healer offers you serious bang for your buck. It not only conditions but restores strength and movement which, for me, goes well behind its price tag. The Ultimate Healer has to be one of the most impressive hair treatments I’ve tried in a very long time.

Balance Me Skin Bright Hydrating Face Mist – £20
I have been a fan of facial spritzes through the years: I have very fond memories of Eau Roma from Lush and Nourish’s excellent range of toning mists is well worth a look. Far from being an indulgence, I see these products as an essential as the weather gets warmer. My skin tends to lean towards the more combination/ oil side of its personality and needs a bit of reining in. I switch to lighter textures, crack open the Serozinc, but a facial mist can not only cool in the hotter months; it can treat your skin without overloading it with more product.
The latest generation of face mists come equipped with serious skincare ingredients, and Balance Me’s Skin Hydrating Face Mist may not be the cheapest option, but it gives you a nice hit of hyaluronic acid. Spraying yourself in the face with something containing acid may not seem the most appealing idea, but hyaluronic acid is a gel-like molecule that hydrates skin and hair. We have plenty of it when we’re young, but as we age, the hyaluronic acid depletes. Applied topically, it improves hydration and crucially stimulates the production of collagen in the skin- and collagen is everyone’s friend.
Containing not only hyaluronic acid, but balancing pineapple and rose floral waters, neroli and spikenard (I had to check: it’s an essential oil derived from flowering plants, according to Wikipedia), Balance Me’s Face Mist really does calm and revive the skin. Used regularly, that gentle boost of hyaluronic acid will come in useful as your skin deals with the summer heat. Your skin will feel more hydrated and under control.
It’s definitely a luxe product, but the aroma is worth the price of admission alone: it’s a perfect desk-drawer staple for work, especially when someone’s hogging the photocopier and you’re feeling the rage. A quick spritz of this lovely product and you’ll be a perfectly content working bunny.
https://www.balanceme.co.uk/face/product-family/daily-essentials/skin-bright-hydrating-mist

Antipodes Vanilla Pod Hydrating Day Cream – £27.99
When it comes to moisturiser, getting a good, thorough hydrator can be trickier than you might think. I need something that tackles dehydration, but without overloading my skin and causing blemishes. It’s a delicate balancing act, and probably quite a lot to ask of a standard moisturiser, but now and again, I find a winner.
While I’ve found stellar products among the ranks of Murad, Liz Earle and Soap & Glory, Antipodes have recently been impressing me with their organic Avocado and Rosehip oil. I tried a mini size of their Vanilla Pod hydrating cream, and I was hooked.
Containing 100% pure avocado pear oil and manuka honey, the cream is loaded with antioxidants including chlorophyll and an extract from a New Zealand plant, Kawakawa. The creamy texture is down to the inclusion of Karite butter from Africa – a lovely addition that explains its intensively hydrating quality.
This combination of nourishing hydration and high-performing antioxidants makes Vanilla Pod a unique beauty experience. It soothes while it protects, making the skin stronger and more resilient.

At £27.99, it does fall somewhere in the middle range of moisturisers, but the key difference here is that Antipodes give you 60ml of product, compared to the industry standard of 50ml. It may not seem much, but bearing in mind how little you need to use each time to see results, this extra 10ml can mean several weeks’ further use. A great little bonus from a product that effortlessly wins you over.

(l-r): Origins Clean Energy Cleansing Oil (£22.50); Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash; REN Rosa Centifolia Hot Cloth Cleanser (£16)

Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash – £16
I promise this is not Favourites as Sponsored By…this is another new discovery that’s just really, really impressing me.
When it comes to cleansers, I can be quite picky. I want something that cleanses thoroughly, leaving no residue but it can’t be too astringent as my dehydration then kicks in and all sorts of sensitivity-related-fun starts happening.
It is, quite literally, a balancing act that has been achieved by a product from Balance Me. Formulated especially for normal / combination skin; this is a gentle cleanser that gets every scrap of make-up and grime off your face without stripping your skin. You think this would be a small ask, but let me assure you – it’s a rare breed that can do one without causing the other.
Packed with quality ingredients, this cleanser includes grapefruit and petit grain to help clear congested skin, plus moringa and rice bran oils to revive and brighten. I’ve found the texture of this face wash to be excellent: it emulsifies beautifully, it’s (crucially) non-foaming and blends out into this gorgeously lightweight, creamy cleanser that treats your skin with respect. After being wowed with a trial size, I’ve now bought the regular size and can’t wait to get stuck in.
I firmly believe that a good cleanser is worth its weight in gold: a well-cleansed skin allows serums and moisturisers to work at their optimum level. Far from being an indulgence, I think buying the best cleanser you can get your hands on is a terrific investment. Balance Me – you’ve just got yourself another loyal customer.

HELEN TOPE

EMPTIES (SPRING 2015)

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle EDP 35ml (£48.50)
Scent can evoke very personal memories: my teenage years can come flooding back with one whiff of Calvin Klein’s ‘Eternity’ (In retrospect, I was one picky teenager).
While some fragrances have come and gone out of my life, there are others that stay the course. Scents that feel so ‘me’ now, I would be bereft without them. While the Stella McCartney delicate rose scent is a firm favourite, top spot has to go to Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle.
I’m not normally one to get suckered in by advertising, but as soon as I saw this advert in 2007 with Keira Knightley being all very Left Bank and super-chic….I knew I had to give this perfume a go.

See? Even Joss Stone singing a Nat King Cole classic…the magic’s all there. (Begging note to Chanel: please play this advert more – it’s a corker). Released in 2001, Coco Mademoiselle is the younger sister to Chanel’s classic Coco fragrance. In fairness, I am terrible at describing fragrance – I did have to google the ingredients…
Loaded with florals including jasmine and rose, what makes this fragrance so light and easy to wear are the citrus-y top notes of mandarin, orange blossom and bergamot. Blended with patchouli, vanilla and white musk, this is a truly versatile and adaptable fragrance. No wonder Keira wore it to all those parties.
I think that’s why I love Coco Mademoiselle so much: at the time Coco Mademoiselle was launched, I was experiencing migraines which weren’t helped by heavy, musk-filled scent. As much as I wanted to graduate from the teenage, citrus-based fragrances, the ‘grown-up’ scents were far too heavy for me and basically spritzing them on, even with the lightest touch, I was sending a handwritten invitation to my migraines to come on over.
Coco Mademoiselle was, along with Stella McCartney’s original fragrance, the first ‘adult’ perfume I could use without triggering a migraine. Luckily, my migraines over the years have abated, but I still have to be careful of any scents that describe themselves as ‘heady’.
I continue to wear Coco Mademoiselle because we now have an emotional connection; a love that is true and faithful. It’s certainly not a love that is easy on the pocket – Chanel invariably comes with a hefty price tag, but you are repaid with an experience that is luxury from start to finish. The scent lingers on the skin beautifully – and it just feels like a big olfactory security blanket, wrapping itself around you. A good perfume can be like a suit of armour, or as Sali Hughes brilliantly put it, ‘backbone in a bottle’. If it feels like it’s you and Coco against the world, that’s alright – Coco’s got you covered.
http://www.boots.com/en/CHANEL-COCO-MADEMOISELLE-Eau-de-Parfum-Spray-100ml_3629/
Would I buy it again? It’s definitely a luxury purchase, but a good perfume is hard to find.

Korres Black Pine Antiwrinkle and Firming Eye Cream (£36)
I found a buyer on Amazon, selling this for nearly half price a few months ago. Ever the appreciator of a bargain, I weakened, and the credit card flew into action.
I was definitely intrigued by the name: Black Pine sounds like it should be the title of a Scandinavian crime drama. I read up on this eye cream as I waited for it to be delivered, and Korres actually use polyphenols from the Black Pine tree, which strengthens the collagen fibres in the skin, improving elasticity and firmness.
(Beauty Footnote: a polyphenol is an antioxidant phytochemical. A phytochemical is a name used for a wide variety of compounds produced by plants. Who said beauty was brainless? University Challenge’s organic chemistry round can now be your bitch).
I do have some early signs of ageing, but I must admit – I do like a firm eye contour. When the skin around your eye is firmed and lifted, you look refreshed and revived; and it makes make-up application that much easier, especially if you have heavy lids like me.
I did like the firming action the eye cream gave, but I did find after a few weeks of using it, that the product began to plateau. I finished the bottle, but I no longer experienced the impressive lifting effect of the first few applications.
To be fair, I think this was a case of me buying the wrong product. The Black Pine range is chiefly geared towards more mature skin, and I think the eye cream would be more appreciated by an older skincare user. It definitely works – it just didn’t have enough to work on with my skin.
Would i buy it again? Not right now, but in a few years’ times – definitely.

L’Occitane Hand Cream (Shea Vanilla Bouquet) 30ml (£8)
There’s no doubt about it: when it comes to hand cream, things tend to get a little controversial. There will be those of you looking at this price point and scoffing at the idea of spending £8 on a 30ml tube of product.
Normally, I would agree with you – getting value for your money is important – but bear with me.
There are beauty classics, and then there’s L’Occitane’s hand cream. Formulated with a 20% Shea butter content, the hand cream that L’Occitane has produced is a world leader. It soothes, it comforts, it gets to grips with even the driest skin. You need very little and it actually does what it promises. A tube of L’Occitane hand cream is sold, somewhere around the world, every THREE SECONDS. I just want you to digest that statistic for a moment. Admittedly, McDonald’s sell 17 Big Macs every second, but the world is sometimes a strange and baffling place.
While the Shea butter hand cream is good for your skin, buying from L’Occitane is good for everyone. Since the 1980’s, L’Occitane have sourced their Shea butter from Burkina Faso. It is produced and harvested using sustainable methods, and the women responsible for producing the Shea have entered into a Fair-trade agreement with L’Occitane. You get a great hand cream, and they get a great deal.
Even if you still think £8 is too much for your budget, you have to admire a company that adopted fair-trade practices decades before it became a marketing plus. L’Occitane is a beauty company with morals, that won’t sell you (or its producers) short – and you can’t get better value than that.
http://uk.loccitane.com/nourishing-hand-cream-trio,83,1,29776,701938.htm#s=39668
Would I buy it again? Absolutely.

Bliss The Youth as We Know It Anti-Ageing Night Cream (£52)
I am a bit of a sucker for night creams. There’s something beguiling about knowing a beauty product is hard at work while I’m getting in a solid 8 hours.
A box of this night cream caught my eye whilst I was browsing the beauty aisle at TK Maxx. I picked this up for £24…still a pricey buy, but in light of its RRP, it’s definitely classed as a bargain.
I do love Bliss – I’m on my second tube of their Triple Oxygen Mask (too good for words….get it…love it) and I’ve yet to be disappointed by the products that I’ve tried from their range.
The beauty of this cream is that it’s a serious anti-ager, but without the cloggy, overwhelming texture usually associated with anti-ageing creams. Dubbed by their website as ‘delivering twice the wrinkle-fighting power and half the weight’, The Youth as We Know It night cream is a beautifully lightweight texture. A nice, comfortable cream-gel, this product is brilliant for those with combination skin but still have ageing concerns.
Containing anti-wrinkle peptides, collagen and elastin protectors with a good dose of Vitamin A, this power-packing cream repair existing damage whilst helping to protect your skin from future damage. It claims to retexturise, plump out and brighten your skin – and I must say, after having used a pot of this, on the whole i agree. My skin looked better in the morning – my patches of dehydration were gone and I looked well rested. Again, I think this is a product that needs a more mature skin to really flex its muscles and show off what it can do.
Would I buy it again? Without the TK Maxx discount, this cream is right at the top of my budget ceiling. As impressive as it was, I don’t know if I could justify paying full price.

REN V-Cense Youth Vitality Day Cream (£28)
Ah, REN. You are becoming one of my favourite skincare ranges of all time. I had another empty, their Vita Mineral Omega 3 Skin Oil, but that one will be featuring in my next Budget Buys post, where I will be waxing lyrical.
What I love about REN is that they just deliver results without making a song and dance about it. The products are simple and quick to use, and I’ve not come across a duff one yet. They all perform with aplomb. Which is what you want from a beauty product really – lots of aplomb.
I was introduced to this day cream via its night-time counterpart. If you haven’t tried it, the V-Cense Night Cream is a thing of beauty, but the Day Cream isn’t about to allow itself to be overshadowed.
So if your youth isn’t feeling too vital, is this day cream for you? This smart, multi-active cream takes extracts from Arctic Cranberry Seed oil and Frankincense to protect against UV damage and smooth out fine lines and wrinkles. The website highlights the cream’s ability to hydrate and nourish, leaving the skin feeling protected and glowing.
I must say that when it comes to long-lasting hydration, this day cream is pretty difficult to beat. What I loved about the night cream was how it felt so nourishing without being heavy, the balance was just right. With the day cream, the formulation is obviously a little bit lighter for daytime, but the quality of hydration it gives you is unmatched. If you have dryness or dehydration as your skincare concern, I would heartily recommend trying this product. It doesn’t promise you the earth, but it doesn’t need to – it’s brilliant at the basics. You want a day cream that hydrates, soothes and protects – and V-Cense Youth Vitality does all three. You want bells and whistles…go elsewhere. If you want a targeted, intelligent moisturiser – you know what to do…
Would I buy it again? REN have a customer for life.

HELEN TOPE

BUDGET BEAUTY BUYS: £15 AND UNDER

Real Techniques Stippling Brush – £11.99 Now a veritable classic, the Stippling Brush has taken make-up application to the next level. The Real Techniques range designed by beauty bloggers PixiWoo, has taken a good, long look at the mechanics of make-up application. One of the most popular brushes in the range, the Stippling Brush’s flat-top head makes foundation application the work of seconds – you also need far less product as this blends out product niceand evenly. This brush can also be used to create a soft-focus blush effect by ‘stippling’ the blusher gently on. It’s quick to clean (a wash with baby shampoo and warm water is sufficient), and does exactly what a beauty tool should do: make life easier.

http://www.boots.com/en/Real-Techniques-Stippling-Brush_1253416/

(spot the interloper: REN’s Rosa Centifolia Purity Cleansing Balm at £24)

Burts ‘s Bees Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream: £10.99 One of my personal favourites, this cleanser definitely punches above its weight. Applied straight onto dry skin, the cream texture of this cleanser glides on like a dream. But the best is yet to come, as you add warm water to rinse it off, the aroma (Soap Bark and Chamomile) really kicks in. The calming, fresh-clean scent is a gorgeous bonus and is a gentle pick-me-up during your morning cleanse. Its no-nonsense approach to deep cleaning makes this ideal for skin teetering into combination / normal territory – you don’t have to stick with cleansing gels – Burts Bees offers you a delightful alternative!

Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter – £12 I do like experimenting with cleansers, and sometimes a little bit of experimentation can be a very good thing – because it introduces you to products like this.
The idea of using a cleanser with a ‘butter’ texture may seem counterintuitive, but the malleability and lightness of the Body Shop Cleansing Butter is what makes it so effective.
A great choice for dry or stressed skin as a single cleanse, this is also a lovely gentle choice for removing make-up. As someone with more combination skin, I use this as the second part of a double cleanse, to get that refreshed, deep-down-clean feeling. It’s a great winter staple, but if you do have dry skin all year round – this has to be on your ‘to-try’ list….

http://www.weleda.co.uk/almond-products/almond-soothing-facial-oil-50ml/invt/102205

Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Oil – £15.95 (price increase at time of posting! I hope you’ll forgive the extra 95p) Over the past year, I really have been converted: facial oils have to be one of the most useful items in the skincare family. Whereas a few of my favourites could not be classed as budget buys (Sisley Black Rose Precious Oil, I’m looking at you, you little temptress!), there are a few choice options available including Weleda.
I could go on about their body oils – fabulous, easy application and they sink easily into the skin, leaving it feeling gloriously nourished – but their facial oils also deserve some love too.
I picked the Almond Soothing Facial Oil as it is simply a great buy for any skin type. For sensitive souls, it really lives up to its name, but for other skin types, it tackles occasional irritation and redness like nobody’s business.
During the winter, I’ve used it primarily as a layering piece, putting a small amount on under my moisturiser to give my skin a bit of extra help in braving the elements. I think this is a great stand-by product as it quietly gets on with the job of soothing and nourishing without interfering with any other products you’re using. There’s a lot to be said about the strong, silent type – and you can certainly rely on this product to be there for you when you need it the most.

Superfacialist Rose Hydrate Radiance Day Cream – £12.99 I must admit to loving this range, created by facialist Una Brennan. Virtually every product I’ve tried has exceeded expectations, and the Rose Day Cream is my absolute favourite. When it comes to this moisturiser, I am totally won over – and have put my money where my mouth is, having repurchased it several times.
What’s so great about this moisturiser? It just delivers long-lasting, high-quality hydration every single time. it can be relied on to soothe dryness, smooth and treat without clogging the pores or sitting on top of the skin in a superfluous greasy layer. The mid-weight texture is perfectly judged and soaks in beautifully, leaving nothing behind but happy, moisturised skin.
One of the reasons I love this moisturiser so much is that it stayed true to me when I was experiencing bouts of sensitivity (even with products I had used for years). I could apply the Rose Day Cream with absolute confidence – it never caused any irritation and hydrated and calmed my skin where nothing else worked.
Best of all, this moisturiser really earns its bargain buy status: you get 75ml of product for £12.99 – the standard size for most moisturisers is around the 50ml mark. I can’t guarantee, of course, that the Rose Day Cream will work for every skin type – but if you just want a moisturiser that gets on with it, this is definitely worth your time.

http://www.renskincare.com/p/3393/Clarimatte%E2%84%A2+Clarifying+Toner

REN Clarimatte Clarifying Toner – £13 – or this should be re-named ‘Not Your Average Toner’. This is in a different league to the alcohol-filled flowery toners of old – this is a smart toner, which delivers real skincare benefits.
It is an acidic exfoliating toner which sloughs off dead skin cells. I’m well aware that sentence sounds totally scary, but bear with me. There are acids that actually benefit the skin in terms of clarifying, smoothing and decongesting. The REN Clarimatte Toner contains glycolic acid. Only needed in very small quantities, this acid helps to exfoliate and refine the texture of your skin.
This toner (when swept across the skin) is a world away from the toners you may have been familiar with in the past. This product is a workhorse, transforming the look and feel of your skin. Glycolic acid encourages cell turnover, bringing young, fresh cells to the surface and removing the dead skin cells. Result- your skin looks brighter and better. There are other good acid exfoliants out there (one to be featured in my next Budget Buys blog post), but the REN Clarimatte is a great, easy-to-use introduction to the concept. I’ve found adding this step to my skincare routine has really improved the look of my skin as I do have patches of rough, uneven texture. Don’t be concerned about this having the same effect as a chemical peel – an acidic exfoliator contains very low doses of acid – enough to rejuvenate with minimal potential for irritation.

(nb: Embryolisse product pictured is Special Edition larger tube at £22)

Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentre Nourishing Moisturiser – £13 ‘Embryolisse’, literally translating as ‘baby’s bottom’ is proof that cult brands aren’t always the pricey option. This conditioner is especially good at dealing with dry patches of skin – and will make your skin as smooth as a proverbial baby’s rear. It’s been a make-up artist’s secret for years as it makes an excellent make-up base, smoothing and preparing the skin. I will be switching to this as a lighter hydrating option as we transition from Winter into Spring – it provides a great hit of moisture without any heaviness. I’ve always been a bit wary of cult products, as I have found many of them don’t live up to their hype, but Embryolisse definitely delivers on its promise. A tube of this in your skincare kit will prove itself worthy over and over again.

http://www.boots.com/en/Tangle-Teezer-Aqua-Splash_1274822/

Tangle Teezer Original – £10.99 / Tangle Teezer Aqua Splash £13.99 My hair, if left unchecked, will roam wild and free like nobody’s business. Regular cuts / taming products certainly play their part, but for day-to-day care, a good quality brush is a must-have. The Tangle Teezer is a modern beauty classic, and with very good reason. Its ergonomic design combined with the gentle but effective combing teeth make this a great product to tackle wayward barnets. But I’ve had mine for years and it still works as well as it did when I first bought it.
I’ve now also branched out and purchased the Tangle Teezer Aqua Splash – fabulous for combing out tangles that occur during shampooing, but also great for working through conditioning treatments or oils that need to coat the hair evenly but thoroughly. The Aqua Splash in particular I’m using almost on a daily basis as it’s just so effective at de-tangling wet hair without pulling or breakage. A hairbrush may not be redefining the beauty wheel, but it’s an essential, and the usefulness of a good quality essential should never be underestimated.

http://www.marksandspencer.com/philip-kingsley-elasticizer-75ml/p/p22171853

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer – £15 for 75ml (available at Marks & Spencer)
Regularly featured on Best Beauty Buy lists, world-renowned trichologist Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer is the original pre-shampoo treatment – accept no imitations.
Originally created by Kingsley for Audrey Hepburn, this iconic product is designed to bring back the elasticity and movement to hair worn down by repeated colouring and heat damage. Containing glycerin and olive oil to lock in moisture, this clever little multi-tasker also contains a sunscreen to prevent future UV damage.
It helps to think of this as a hair mask in reverse – applied before shampooing and left for 15-20 minutes before being rinsed off, the Elasticizer has stood the test of time by simply being better than its competitors. This treatment really does bring the bounce back to your hair – you can certainly fake good hair with styling products, but if you want the real thing, you have to go back to basics.

http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/product/shaded/151/1347/Products/Eyes/Liner/Technakohl-Liner/index.tmpl

MAC Technakohl Liner – £14 Let’s face it: eye liners are ten-a-penny. Every make-up range has them, but finding one that isn’t scratchy, difficult to blend, or worse still, non-committal when it comes to colour payout, is another task altogether.
While there are some great eye liners at lower price points (Soap and Glory and Rimmel are well worth checking out), sometimes you want a bit of luxury, an eye liner that gives you definable colour with a silky finish – and MAC’s Technakohl liners do just that.
In a twist-up tube, the kohl is delivered in a razor-sharp nib that gives you maximum control over the line you’re drawing. This is a perfect choice for the nervous or first-time user – the finish can be as defined, or blended out, as you want. There’s no brush or technique you have to master – if you can hold a pencil, you can work the Technakohl quite easily.
The other plus is the range of colours: MAC never short-changes you on its colour selection and the Technakohl has burnished bronzes, zingy aquamarines and gorgeous plummy hues galore. My favourite? It has to be Cool Jazz, a cool-toned midnight blue that perfectly accentuates brown eyes. I’m officially hooked.

Well, the next post in my Beauty Buys series will be items £20 and under. This will feature picks from First Aid Beauty, Clinique, REN and La Roche-Posay.

HELEN TOPE