Hello bargain-hunters and smart savers, we are ES Best.
We’re the Evening Standard’s Shopping section, the Internet’s best destination to find news and reviews on the latest releases, best buys and top, life-enhancing products you won’t want to be without.
The digital high street is a wild, wonderful yet often bewildering place where you can buy everything from TVs and sustainable tampons to T-Rex fancy dress costumes and everything in between. Naturally, navigating this enormous online world of stuff can be tricky, so we’re here to slice through the noise and bring you only the very best. Best by name; Best by nature.
Bookmark ES Best and make us your shopping BFF: future you will thank you for it. On our homepage you’ll find the latest topical roundups, from seasonal edits to our take on the latest viral sensation lighting up your socials.
From Fashion and Beauty to Home & Garden and Tech, we’ve worked hard to fill ES Best with engaging guides and product roundups to help you decide how best to spend your hard-earned money.
When it comes to high-spend items - things like mattresses, TVs, vacuum cleaners, fridge-freezers and washing machines - we’ve got the skinny on the best models worth your consideration. Our reviews and recommendations are a combination of research and real-world, at-the-coalface testing, always unbiased and independent (with the odd dad joke thrown in for good measure).
When it comes to sales, we’ve got you covered from every angle, whether you’re hoping to jump on a January sales bargain or clean up before Christmas and make your festive budget stretch further.
We also have regular deals roundups that come out at the start of each month for: vacuum cleaners, booze, fashion sales, TVs, mattresses, sofa beds, washer dryers, bedding, laptops, tablets, Nintendo consoles, air fryers, and fridge freezers.
But that’s not all. Every year, we devise a fresh set of bargain and shopping roundups to make sure you’re getting the best deals on Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, and the summer sales. But who, exactly, are ‘we’?
Meet the ES Best shopping team
ES Best is made up of a crack team of four full-time staff, who all possess a radar-like ability to zone in on the latest products, launches and trends. If there’s a deal to be had, we’ll know about it.
As well as the fab four at HQ, ES Best recruits a fleet of freelancers who rigorously test everything from Fitbits and robot lawn mowers to energy-efficient appliances and plenty more besides. We’ve made it our business to seek out the finest writers and most discerning reviewers for practically every product under the sun to ensure your next purchase is as informed as it can be. When it comes to knowing how best to spend your money, you couldn’t be in safer hands.
Without further ado, say hello to the ES Best in-house team.
Ellie Davis, Shopping Editor
Formerly at Glamour and Vogue, Ellie has been on the ES Best team for over six years, and helming the Shopping team since August 2020. She oversees the entire section while also commissioning and editing ES Best content. Her expert eye and insider knowledge mean you can find her writing about everything from gaming gift guides to in-depth standalone reviews on coveted electricals, although you’ll spot her byline on fashion and beauty roundups most.
Ellie masterminded ES Best’s popular Favourite Things series in which celebrities and household names are quizzed about their shopping must-haves, interviewing the likes of MUA Isamaya Ffrench, actress Aimee Lou Wood and fashion designer Rejina Pyo.
Ellie never leaves the house with less than three types of lip balm in her bag and is a skincare obsessive. She is almost always thinking about lunch or her next trip away. Find her on Instagram @EllieRDavis.
Abha Shah, Deputy Shopping Editor
Abha joined the Standard’s shopping desk in 2019 and became Deputy Shopping Editor in August 2020. She concentrates mostly on Home & Garden, Food & Drink and Tech but also occasionally dips into Fashion - particularly inclusive plus-size brands. If you want to shop for a mattress, air fryer or storage solutions, Abha is your gal.
As well as deals, roundups and deep-dive standalone reviews, Abha recruits, commissions and edits freelancers and their content for ES Best. She has also interviewed big names for Favourite Things, including Priyanka Chopra, Freddie Flintoff and Huda Beauty.
Abha writes the ES Best Shopping Shortlist every month and the newsletter version which is dispatched weekly; what she doesn’t know about the latest hot-off-the-press launches can be written on a postage stamp. When she’s not toiling at her desk, Abha can be found plotting her next escape or agonising over home decor ideas. Find her on Instagram @BrimfulOfAShah.
Saskia Kemsley, SEO Shopping Writer
Saskia joined the ES Best party in November 2022. She makes sure the lists are in good running order, with accurate prices and up-to-date information so our readers have the freshest information around. The Edinburgh University graduate also gets stuck in with writing roundups, focusing on Food & Drink although dipping into everything from Fashion, Beauty, Home, Kitchen Appliances, Books and Pets.
Saskia is a natural on socials - and you can often find her on the official ES Best Instagram account, whipping up fun Reels showcasing her trials with various products. She’s an excellent cook (watch out MasterChef) and often throws parties for friends when she’s not at ES Best HQ. Find her on Instagram @PeachySas.
Follow us! Our Instagram account @ESBestShopping showcases our Best lists, both offering inspiration on your next purchase plus the latest sales and deals action. Keep your eyes peeled for our giveaways that you can enter by simply tagging a friend.
ES Best - reviews you can trust
Independent reviews
Our M.O is to bring readers the best, most accurate and non-biased product information and recommendations. It’s central to everything we do; every word we type. While we occasionally run sponsored content and advertorials on the section, these are clearly marked as such. All products in ES Best’s regular roundups and standalone reviews are selected as a result of research, expert advice and real-world testing. We never let commercial values taint our editorial judgement.
Real-world testing
When you’re spending potentially hundreds on a product, you want to know you’re investing in the right thing. That’s why here at ES Best, we feel it’s crucial to try products like mattresses, home electricals, kitchen appliances and more before recommending them to our readers. We need to ensure you’re getting the very best for your money. If a product doesn’t meet our standards and isn’t something we would happily buy ourselves, it doesn’t make the cut. Pure and simple.
We tell you about affiliates
Every ES Best article carries the same affiliate disclaimer under the headline: “When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.” We’re open about the fact that some products may earn us a small commission if you decide to buy them, at no extra cost to you. However, we never allow this to influence our roundups. The commission we earn is used to fund journalism and products for the Evening Standard, your free London paper.
Your privacy matters to us
We stick to a strict privacy policy and cookie policy here at the Evening Standard. And when if we run competitions and giveaways, we abide by a set of terms and conditions.
How ES Best tests products
Forget labs: here at ES Best, we put products through their paces in real-world scenarios, because that’s how you’ll be using them. How we test products very much depends on the list we’re writing.
When we’re writing in-depth reviews on furniture like mattresses, we zone in on things like ease of delivery, comfort, firmness and movement isolation if sharing a bed with a partner. For heaters, we look for energy efficiency, noise levels, portability and how quickly they can heat the room.
We test these products as rigorously as if we were buying them ourselves. If they’re not up to scratch, we don’t recommend them.
FAQs
Do brands pay to be featured in ES Best lists?
No. We don’t accept payment from stores or brands in exchange for reviews.
In some instances, we may earn a small commission if you end up buying a product that we recommend. The reader does not incur any additional cost for this; in fact it means you’re helping to support the Evening Standard, London’s best paper. The commission we earn helps to fund journalism across the paper.
Do our journalists pay for the products featured?
Sometimes, however products are sent to our team from brands in the hope of being reviewed, but we are clear that sending items doesn’t automatically guarantee coverage. We won’t feature a product unless we’re convinced it’s worth the money.
How often do you update content?
We’re on it all the time to ensure prices are right and links are working properly. Our monthly deal pieces are refreshed at the beginning of every month, while seasonal roundups - think Mother’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas - are updated closer to the time. We re-write many of our most popular lists to ensure they are as current with up-to-date facts as possible.
How many hours do you spend researching and testing?
This all depends on what is being reviewed. Mattresses go through weeks of testing to allow for the possibility of sagging before we make our assessment. Similarily, the options in our best gaming tablets roundup have been put through their paces by a gaming expert and picked down to the refresh rate to determine the best across all budgets.
Contact us
We love hearing from our readers! Get in touch with us in writing: Evening Standard, Alphabeta, 14-18 Finsbury Square, London, England, EC2A 1AH, or by emailing esbest@standard.co.uk.
Alternatively, follow us on Instagram @ESBestShopping and interact with ES Best there.
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