In our monthly Let’s Make-Up round-up, we bring you a selection of the tried-and-tested, freshest, and buzziest beauty launches that are worth adding to your basket.
All types of lotions and potions across makeup, skincare, haircare and more land on our desks and we take it upon ourselves to review them all so you don’t have to. If we include it below, you know it’s a good ‘un.
Bodycare is getting more and more advanced, and December’s launches demonstrate that with NATURIUM adding yet another high-powered ingredient to its ever-growing selection of body washes and lotions. Vieve is also entering the space with BATHLEISURE, transforming your hygiene practices into a luxury experience.
It’s a stellar month for candle launches with Glossier, Santa Maria Novella and D. S. & Durga making a convincing case to treat each and every person on your Christmas shopping list to a scented illumination.
Speaking of festive gifting, it’s not too late to knock it out the part with Victoria Beckham bundling her beloved liners and Clé de Peau Beauté revealing show-stopping packaging.
For all this and plenty more besides, see our edit of the hottest beauty drops you need on your radar.
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Glossier Sandstone Scented Candle
There’s a new Glossier candle to add to your mantelpiece. The brand’s third signature scent, Sandstone, takes inspiration from California's Big Sur and is now available to fill your home with its notes of sandalwood, clary sage and fig leaf.
The fragrance joins the Orange Blossom and Glossier You with a green vessel that can be reused long after it has been burnt. Speaking of the latter, the bougie is made from a non-paraffin, soy-and-coconut wax blend and should last for about 45 hours.
Buy now £45.00, Glossier
Naturium Retinol Body Lotion
NATURIUM has been busy expanding its body care collection and the latest stars one of skincare’s most buzzed-about ingredients. Retinol is at the heart of the new body lotion, providing a high-performing, anti-ageing solution rarely found in products for below the neck. The vegan formula is made up of an encapsulated stabilised pure retinol complex that is set alongside allantoin to nourish the skin and leave it soft, supple and without irritation.
Buy now £27.00, Space NK
D. S. & Durga Pasta Water Candle
D. S. & Durga’s eccentric approach to scent formulation has spotlit an unlikely note. Pasta Water is our new favourite in the NYC-based artistic fragrance brand’s collection, ready to treat the carb lover in your life for Christmas. Founders David Seth Moltz and Kavi Ahuja typically take their inspiration from unlikely places and this is no different. It has a top note of saline water and a heart of semolina wheat. You have to smell it to believe it.
Buy now, D. S. & Durga
Victoria Beckham Beauty Satin Kajal Liner Greatest Hits
The Victoria Beckham Beauty Satin Kajal Liner is a cult product. The former Spice Girls has created an eye product unlike any other on the market with a silky soft texture that glides across the lid with ease. The colours are intriguing yet wearable and you’ll find eight of the bestsellers housed in this luxe travel cylinder case – the icing on top of the cake.
Within you’ll find the Sequin Green, Bronze, Cocoa, Sea Grey, Olive, Black and Night Flash. There is also Cinnamon - a warm brown shimmer, a new hue that has already sold out.
Buy now £195.00, Victoria Beckham Beauty
Vieve BATHLEISURE
Makeup artist Jamie Genevieve has expanded her eponymous brand into the realms of body and the collection is spearheading a revolution. BATHLEISURE, as the collection has been dubbed, is all about elevating our daily ablutions and this is made possible through the offering that includes a Bath & Body Soak, Bath, Body & Massage Oil, Bath Salts and the sumptuous VIEVE Robe. To round it off, a candle to set the ambience for your tub time featuring the notes that you’ll catch a whiff of throughout; amber and santal.
Buy now £25.00, Vieve
IL MAKIAGE Uncensored Lip Plumper
Plump up your pout with IL MAKIAGE. The Uncensored lip hero is on hand to give an enhanced lip look with no injectables necessary. In fact, you only need one swipe of the formula for a visibly bigger pout. This is achieved through the combination of peppermint oil, caffeine and natural peptides that feel tingly and minty as soon as you layer it onto your lips.
It also creates a high-shine finish, in line with the revival of the 90s gloss but without the sticky feeling that came part and parcel of these products the first time around. There are five shades that include the clear gloss pictured.
Buy now £31.00, IL MAKIAGE
Clé de Peau Beauté The Luminizing Face Enhancer
For a show-stopping gift this Christmas, look to Clé de Peau Beauté which has revamped its line-up with striking packaging designed by American artist Katie Rogers. The redesign demonstrates her style of combining magic and nature and the result is an underwater scene with a mystical twist. The limited-edition collection includes the Luminizing Face Enhancer with its stunning illuminating effect.
Buy now £79.00, Harrods
Innisfree Hydrate and Glow Face Care Set
Innisfree has made a splash on UK soil. The brand comes from South Korea and is an all-natural way to tap into the signature K-beauty dewy appearance. The Hydrate and Glow Face Care Set houses three of the most sought-after products in a limited-edition package to provide a three-step process to bring a glass skin look throughout the Christmas period and beyond.
It begins with the Green Tea Hydrating Amino Acid Cleansing Foam that is deeply cleansing without stripping and continues on to the Green Tea Hyaluronic Acid Serum that is soothing, reparative and regenerating. To round off the trio is our personal favourite, the Dewy Glow Jelly Cream which leaves skin with a healthy glow. Cue the compliments.
Buy now £29.90, Sephora
Skin Rocks by Caroline Hirons The Rich Moisturiser
With each new launch, Caroline Hirons has broken the internet. This was especially true for The Moisturiser, a hugely popular product. But now the skin expert has given the people what they wanted with an even more nourishing product to tackle dryness once and for all.
The Rich Moisturiser contains more ceramides than its counterpart to shield and enrich the skin barrier and prevent moisture loss. As the name suggests, it’s thicker and thus better suited for the evening and can be used by all skin types, especially those with dry, dehydrated and sensitive skin.
Buy now £65.00, Space NK
Santa Maria Novella 1221 Firenze Candle Collection
The oldest Officina, Santa Maria Novella has turned the traditional Christmas scenting on its head, unveiling eight new candles for the festive season. Each is beautifully decorated with architecture and paintings that you’ll find in the establishment’s home city of Florence. The Tuscan brand seals each with a seal that nods to the Medici Coat of Arms and a terracotta-hued wax.
The fragrances extend to Acqua della Regina, Pot Pourri, Melograno, Fresia, Angeli di Firenze, Tabacco Toscano, Rosa Novella and our personal favourite, Rosa Gardenia. The latter offers a floral spicy olfactory experience with notes of lemon, petitgrain, centifolia rose, gardenia and jasmine and a base of cedarwood, musk, patchouli and sandalwood.
Buy now £75.00, Santa Maria Novella
