The 5 Products Vogue’s Beauty & Wellness Director Needs You To Know About This Week
Each week, beauty and wellness director Jessica Diner brings you her Director’s Cut: a breakdown of new and noteworthy products to add to your routine.
Augustinus Bader X Sofia Coppola The Tinted Balm
If you know me, you know that I am never more than a few metres from an Augustinus Bader lip balm. I always have one in my bag, on my bedside, in my bathroom cabinet, or on my desk. Well, now the brand has entered into colour in the form of a sheer tinted lip version, it has just become even more covetable. And the fact that it has come about as a collaboration with the perennially cool writer and director, Sofia Coppola, who is a longtime fan of the brand, is just the cherry on the cake. Available in three shades, it is the pink tint that has become my new staple.
Dior Solar The Protective Cream SPF50
The sun has come out and so now is the time to elevate and update your suncare. Try Dior’s new offering of Dior Solar which fuses SPF protective innovation with their in-house skincare expertise. It applies seamlessly and invisibly on the skin, does not pill under make-up, has the signature delicate Dior scent and is just a complete delight to use all round.
Ultra Violette Extreme Screen Hydrating Body and Hand Skinscreen SPF50
As per the above, now that we are entering into warmer weather, sunscreen for all the family should be on hand. This supersized 500ml pump bottle is by the door in our house, so it can be quickly and easily applied on the way out for the school run or before leaving for work on exposed limbs and small faces. If you haven’t tried this brand yet, it’s suncare excellence.
MZ Skin Calming Moisturiser
Dr Maryam Zamani in clinic, knows her skin. Dr Maryam Zamani with her brand MZ Skin, knows her formulas. Using feedback gathered from her patients, she has come out with a calming range that uses prebiotics to repair and restore the skin barrier on skin prone to redness or dryness. A friend with rosacea has been trialling this for me and has come back with glowing reviews (quite literally), so I felt it only responsible to pass this information on.
Diptyque L’Eau Papier, Eau de Toilette
This is a herogram for my new favourite fragrance that I am wearing every single day. A musk and mimosa based fragrance, this has been created to emulate the scent of wet ink on blotting paper, it is completely sublime. And speaking of sublime, if you are in the New Bond Street area, be sure to pop into the new Maison Diptyque that is a feast for the eyes and the nose, including an event space for masterclasses and workshops, candle customisation, an archive installation and a pop-up café as part of their collaboration with Parisian coffee house Café Verlet.
Previous weeks’ picks…
Dr Barbara Sturm Glow Cream
Say hello to your new favourite cream for summer. If you’re already familiar with Glow Drops (one of Sturm’s hero products that does exactly what the name suggests – it brings the radiance), this is the sister product in cream form. Still with all the same levels of luminosity you’ve come to expect from the original peach-tinted formula, the cream has the added benefits of being super hydrating and softening the appearance of pores and fine lines.
Vieve Lip Dew – Mirror
Part lip oil, part lip balm, part lip gloss, to try Vieve’s Lip Dew is to love it. Supremely comfortable and nourishing to wear – with none of the stickiness that you might expect from a standard gloss – this used to come only in tinted shades, but now a clear version is available, which is music to my minimalist ears (or actually, lips).
Christian Louboutin Teint Fétiche Le Fluide foundation
When looking for a new foundation, it might not occur to you to shop from a famous shoe brand. But this product is proof that you should leave your preconceptions at the beauty department door, because this Christian Louboutin foundation is exceptionally good. A medium coverage formula, available in 30 shades, it goes on like a flawless dream and gives great glow.
Armani Luminous Silk Summer Glow Bronzer
Creamy, buildable, lightweight and housed in a delightfully oversized compact, there was much fanfare on the Vogue beauty desk when this newcomer landed. Available in three shades that work with a myriad of skin tones, it is essentially everything that you could ask for in a bronzer.
Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face SPF50+ Brightening Sun Serum
I use the original To Save Face SPF50+ every single morning, and was previously of the belief that you couldn’t improve on it: it’s a great base for make-up, brings warmth to the complexion, doesn’t block pores and protects the skin. But that was before this new version came along. It’s enhanced with niacinamide, which, if you wish to address the brightness (or dullness) of the skin, makes this the product for you.
Previous picks…
Typebea GI Overnight Boosting Peptide Serum
Arguably the launch of the week has been Typebea, the haircare brand (in every sense of the term) from Rita Ora and her co-founder, Anna Lahey, the formidable founder of ingestible beauty brand, Vida Glow. Much more than a celebrity beauty launch, it has impressive clinical results that immediately elevate its positioning. The G1 Overnight Boosting Peptide Serum is my favourite of the four product-strong collection, and includes Baicapil, an ingredient that decreases hair loss by 60 per cent within three months. Suitable for all hair types and to be used overnight, I have some time to go before I see the results kick in, but as someone with fine hair, it is lightweight, non-greasy and doesn’t transfer onto the pillow, which means we are off to a good start.
Hourglass Airbrush Pressed Powder
You may already be aware of how brilliant the Hourglass Loose Setting Powder is (or indeed the brand’s cult-status Ambient Powders), but now all of its mattifying, glow-giving goodness can be delivered on-the-go with this pressed iteration. If there is one thing that Hourglass know how to do, it’s to maximise a luminous complexion, and this very much delivers. *Adds straight to handbag.*
Joonbyrd Little Love Body Lotion
“Affective wellness” is the motto of this new body care line from dermatologist, Dr Alexis Granite. With the purpose of bringing about joy through the everyday rituals of washing and moisturising your body, the range comprises a wash and scrub, as well as a serum and lotion. Infused with hardworking active ingredients to gently refine and support the skin’s microbiome, the sweet scent makes the range sensory as well as scientific. As Dr Granite puts it, “Why should the face have all the fun?”
Lancôme Hypnôse Drama Mascara
Say hello to all of the legacy length and definition of the original Hypnôse mascara, but just with added drama, as the name might suggest. A very worthy addition to the already much-loved mascara franchise, add this to your mascara wardrobe and pull out on big occasions.
Glossier Invisible Shield SPF50
Glossier call this “the sunscreen for people who hate to wear sunscreen” and I think that sums it up pretty nicely. A completely traceless formula (which isn’t always easy to achieve in an SFP50 rating), it is non-comedogenic, you don’t even notice it on the skin and it sits perfectly under make-up. If you like the SPF30 version of this, you will adore this even more. Extra props to Glossier too for reopening its UK Black Beauty Grant Programme in partnership with Black Girl Fest. For the second year running, the brand have pledged to invest a £10,000 equity-free grant to five Black-owned beauty businesses within the BGF community, supporting young talent at a grassroots level.
Previous picks…
Diptyque Café Verlet Limited Edition Candle Set
A collaboration between Diptyque and the famed Parisian coffee house, Café Verlet, the three limited edition candles are homage to the coffee (Café), whipped cream (Chantilly) and biscuits (Biscuit) served on site. A must-have for any candle or coffee lover, of which I am both.
Chanel Baume Essentiel in Mermaid Glow
Chanel’s original Baume Essentiel is one of my go-to day-to-day highlighters, but this new Mermaid Glow version follows in close second. A more peachy pigmented version, with a shot of metallic shimmer running through, it’s the ideal shade to imbue luminosity and radiance for evening.
Byredo Mineralscapes Eyeshadow Palette
Behold this palette of wonders. An 18-shade strong combination of bold and neutral shades, it’s your one-stop-shop for both evening and daytime make-up looks. As striking when the palette is closed, too, the lip is embedded with five mineral crystals that reflect the colours of the shades that lie inside.
Clarins Body Fit Active
With the arrival of spring, the thought of limbs being on display having been under wraps for the winter months is somewhat unappealing. But this iconic cream from Clarins is a staple for a reason. With an instant cooling effect when the cream is applied, the active ingredients of matcha tea extract and plant caffeine get to work to firm and tighten skin, while delivering a serious hit of hydration.
Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush in Trust
Rare Beauty’s hero Soft Pinch Liquid Blush is now available in silky powder form. Available in six shades, each one as good as the other, they apply sheer and can be built up by layering swooshes of your blusher brush, so that your flush preference can be tailored to the texture of your choice.
Previous picks…
Mac Cosmetics Studio Fix Foundation
Sound the alarm, Mac’s most iconic foundation has had a makeover and is even better than before. A few points of note: it now has a pump (if you are a Studio Fix fan, you’ll know that this is a big win – previously you had to pour it onto your hand or brush or buy a separate pump); they have also added to the shade range, now offering an impressive 71 shades for myriad skin tones and undertones; and the formula has been remastered to have a soft-matte finish and 87 per cent of skincare ingredients. One of my favourite things is when a brand chooses to upgrade an existing product with new innovation rather than deciding to bring out something totally new. So if you thought that it was impossible to improve on a classic, then think again; this really is an improvement on something that was already pretty perfect.
Topicals Faded Brightening and Clearing Serum
US-based brand Topicals is now available in the UK to much fanfare. Founded by Olamide Olowe, this purpose-driven brand is committed to changing the language and landscape around chronic skin conditions such as flare-ups, pigmentation and scarring thanks to their performance-focused formulas in smile-inducing packaging. Welcome to the UK, Topicals, we have been waiting for you.
Clinique Take The Day Off Facial Cleansing Mousse
Clinique’s hero cleansing balm now comes in this oil-free foaming mousse version that is ideal for oilier skin types. A unique silky foaming texture that doesn’t dry out the skin or leave it feeling tight once washed off, this removes even the most stubborn make-up like a dream.
Jo Malone London Scented Mementos Collection
This is Jo Malone London at its quintessentially British best. A four-piece collection inspired by British antiques markets, the fragrances are Ginger Beer, Musk Memento, Emerald Thyme and Passiflora (my personal favourite), heroing objects that can be found thrifting with each scent an homage to a trinket. These are likely to become collector’s items for fragrance lovers, so get them before they are gone.
Augustinus Bader Geranium Rose Body Oil
I started using the original of this body oil during pregnancy to keep stretch marks at bay (which it did), and now I am absolutely hooked on this new geranium rose-scented version that, on days I don’t want to wear perfume, delicately scents the skin to perfection.
