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.
This October, skin from head to toe is being treated to a much-needed reset. New cleansing rituals are being encouraged across the board, whether that’s the new brand on the block Skin Gym, Coco & Eve venturing into the skincare space, Elemental Herbology giving you the tools for that all-important double cleanse or Augustinus Bader bringing its hi-tech touch to shower gel.
There are also new scents aplenty, be it personal fragrances with Penhaligon’s or home fragrances with Susanne Kaufmann. It’s out with the fresh, summer aromas and in with deeper, cosy and warming notes to have us welcome the colder weather with open arms.
For all this and plenty more besides, see our edit of the hottest beauty drops you need on your radar.
Victoria Beckham Fragrances
The beauty and fashion entrepreneur has entered the scenting space with three fine fragrances. The genderless compositions are inspired by personal moments in Beckham’s life; Portofino ‘97 for her first romantic break with husband David, Suite 302 after a trip they took to Paris and San Ysidro inspired by the family’s time spent in California.
With notes of bergamot and black pepper, Portofino ’97 is a fresh floral aroma inspired by the Italian setting with a twist created by incense, amber, patchouli and vetiver. This captures the power couple during the early stages of their relationship, trying to keep it hidden from the public eye.
Suite 302 is a deeper, more sensual scent with a mix of black cherry, red peppercorn, rose centifolia, midnight violet and musk. It’s inspired by the capital of love and lights, after all. San Ysidro captures the Beckham’s LA stint with an opening of sweet passion fruit and pink peony intermingled with the ocean air, rich rose absolute, saffron flower and agarwood.
The flacons have an antique, vintage feel with enamel coating and gold detailing.
Buy now £170.00, Victoria Beckham
La Mer Lifting Firming Serum
Miracle Broth is at the heart of each of the products in the La Mer line-up. The trademarked component is the luxury skincare label’s secret ingredient for its high-performance revitalising formulas - and it plays a vital role in the Lifting Firming Serum.
This is a targeted treatment for uplifting the six zones of the face to energise and rejuvenate the complexion. As the skin ages, it loses its density and definition, and this lightweight serum is designed to counteract this with the elixir broth that is packed with firming actives and a proprietary ferment that imparts plumping moisture.
Buy now £335.00, La Mer
Elemental Herbology Five Elements Cleansing Balm and Five Elements Vital Cleanse
You’ll find Elemental Herbology in spas around the world, including the close-to-home Nobu Shoreditch hotel. The brand bases its product creation on the Five Elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine aka Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Using high-powered, natural ingredients made all the more effective with new technology, the application of the formulas is a luxurious, mindful process. While the range is divided into the five categories above, these new launches from the label are for all skin types.
Stressing the importance of the double cleanse to effectively remove dirt and grime from the day The Five Elements Cleansing Balm and Vital Cleanse can be used in tandem to supercharge your current first step and ensure every last trace of makeup is removed.
The Cleansing Balm (£43) glides across the skin, using natural oils to dissolve impurities and nourish with vitamin-rich sea buckthorn oil, anti-inflammatory apricot oil and hydrating jojoba oil. Follow this with the Vital Cleanse (£38) which is gently exfoliating to encourage cell turnover and treats the complexion with healing wild flower honey, collagen-boosting vitamin C and protecting green tea.
Buy now £38.00, Elemental Herbology
M.A.C Locked Kiss 24HR lipstick
Make your makeup work harder for you. With the M.A.C Locked Kiss 24HR lipstick, you can slather it onto your lips when you wake up and have the rich matte colour stay firmly in place until you double cleanse at the end of the day.
The brand details this launch as its longest-wearing lipstick to date and the slim stick lippy truly does have real lasting power. It is waterproof, transfer-proof and smooch-ready – there’s no budging here. As is the M.A.C signature, the colour pay-off is immediate and there’s a real depth to each of the 18 colours.
Buy now £32.00, M.A.C
Oskia Clearing Cleanser
Blemish-prone skin types will know all too well that clarifying formulas tend to lack on the sensorial front. These acid-enriched products are typically chemical-smelling, harsh-feeling and overall not the most pleasant to apply. Until now.
Oskia has entered the zit-zapping space with this Clearing Cleanser that saw a reduction in blemishes by (precisely) 35.9 per in two weeks in the brand’s trials. In four weeks, this number increased to 58.6 per cent and in the same time scale, there was a reduction in C.Acne bacteria by 98 per cent.
The purifying formula contains hero ingredient salicylic acid to purge the pores and brighten the skin but sets it alongside colloidal silver and prebiotics to feed the skin’s microbiome and micro-plankton complex to balance sebum production. To ensure that it is still kind on the complexion, pro-vitamin B5, betaine, prickly pear extract and MSM are called upon to repair and soothe.
Buy now £34.00, Cult Beauty
Coco & Eve skincare collection
Coco & Eve has entered the skin space. The female-founded brand known for its Like a Virgin Masque and Sunny Honey Bali Bronzing Foam has brought its signature use of Balinese botanicals to power our complexion care.
The label has started at the start with double the cleansing goodness. The Power Couple is made up of a seed-oil cleanser and fruit enzyme cleanser that are designed to protect against free radicals and leave a glow as if you’ve just visited the Indonesian islands. Follow with antioxidant-rich Milky Toner (£26) to hydrate and strengthen the skin’s barrier.
Buy now £32.00, Coco & Eve
Skin Gym
Skin Gym has garnered a celebrity following in its hometown of Los Angeles and now the brand is available on this side of the Atlantic at Boots. The female-founded, family-owned skin tools brand counts Hailey Bieber, Vanessa Hudgens and Bethenny Frankel among its fan base who no doubt praise the effortless application of the face workout equipment and the eight-strong skincare collection.
The Workout Face Serum Sticks can be applied finger-free directly onto the skin and on-the-go. They each spotlight the buzziest beauty ingredients - Vitamin C, Hyaluronic Acid, Retinol, and Collagen – and combine with peptides and fruit extracts to solve common concerns like dullness, dryness and loss of elasticity.
Buy now £19.00, Selfridges
Augustinus Bader The Body Cleanser
Your daily ablutions are about to get a serious upgrade. Augustinus Bader is elevating your shower caddy with a hydrating gel body cleanser that harnesses the power of the brand’s trademarked complex, TFC8. This technology encourages skin cellular renewal and is thus lauded for its anti-ageing properties.
As it is combined with the nourishing combination of coconut oil, ceramides and hydrolysed rice protein which are all chosen for their soothing and smoothing properties, the product can be used by all skin types. It has a subtle eucalyptus aroma that makes it an invigorating sensorial product to start the day.
Buy now £43.00, Augustinus Bader
Penhaligon’s Potions & Remedies collection
Luxury fragrance label Penhaligon’s has unveiled its biggest launch of the year, a new line-up of heady aromas dubbed the Potions & Remedies collection. There are five new fragrances incorporated into the brand’s offering of complex, decadent eau de parfums, each of which is designed to ignite a particular mood or emotion.
The Vra Vra Vroom with its notes of osmanthus, magnolia, apricot and leather should amp you up, invigorating your olfactories to get you ready and rearing to go. Eau The Audacity should send you on a journey of self-discovery, to dare without fear with the bold combination of incense and orange absolute that are spiced with saffron and Turkish rose and finished with a seductive base of leather and vanilla.
The addictive aroma of A Kiss of Bliss is happiness in a bottle. Green clover is energised with matcha, heliotrope and moss, a floral concoction that is warming and spring-like. This revitalising scent is contrasted by A Balm of Calm where a relaxing mix of lavender, sandalwood, geranium and clary sage will encourage you to forget your troubles and enter a state of serenity.
Rounding off the collection is Liquid Love, an aroma you’re sure to fall head over heels for. The seemingly contradicting notes of rose, ginger, chilli and green hazelnut are combined to reflect that sense-tingling, cloudy state of falling in love. It lulls you into a false sense of freshness before you are hit with the spice.
Buy now £30.00, Selfridges
Susanne Kaufmann Balancing Candle
One whiff of this candle from Susanne Kaufmann will transport you to the luxury label’s Austrian HQ. The spa is in Bezau and it is this setting that inspires the room-filling aroma of this home fragrance.
The woody note of cedarwood is intermingled with ylang-ylang and patchouli incorporated in essential oil form to uplift the senses, promote a feeling of calm and create a cosy, welcoming space. The candle has been hand-poured with an all-natural soy wax base and set in upcycled glass.
Buy now £60.00, Susanne Kaufmann
