skin

Not only does my skin look plumper, hydrated and generally more radiant, it’s also smoother, less congested, and generally clearer. Containing an innovative blend of retinol and sunflower seed fatty acids, Universal Pro-Retinol delivers the line-reducing, pore-refining, tone-correcting and blemish-reducing properties of retinol, without any of the usual upset. And at the same time, it seems to deliver just the right amount of moisture through glycerin and Mondo grass root extract to keep skin happy and healthy. Is this a seriously high-octane suited for seasoned retinol users? Probably not. Do I think that Universal Pro-Retinol is the perfect entry-level retinol for those who, like me, have struggled with the ingredient in the past? Absolutely. In fact, this has been the only eveing skinca...

As a beauty journalist, I often get a lot of people asking for my skincare and makeup recommendations. I can’t lie—it’s a pretty good feeling. I’m lucky enough to be gifted with new products to try out on a weekly basis, but as someone who’s always had an interest in beauty, a lot of the products I own I purchased myself. There’s truly nothing better than testing out products that catch your eye. Fortunately, even if I try a product that I’m not necessarily fond of, I always have a friend to take it off my hands. My thorough skincare journey started a year and a half ago. I’d had an intense panic attack that left me in bed for a few weeks feeling as though I’d lost all control of my life. However, I soon discovered that creating my own a.m. and p.m. skincare schedules w...

Woke up with an angry spot gracing your face? We’ve all been there. In fact, it serves as an important reminder that our skin is still working away overnight. Whether you arise first thing looking radiant and rested or dehydrated and exhausted, our skin has ways of making it clear to us that, during the eight hours of sleep we’re supposed to enjoy every night, it continues to function. But interestingly, the way it functions is different. “Our skin works very differently at night than it does in the morning,” says Anita Sturnham, MD, a GP specialising in dermatology and the founder of Decree skincare. And the good news is the changes our skin goes through at night are mostly universal, meaning there are actions that we can all take to prevent skin upset overnight and ensure ...

As much as I love my expensive skincare, I do love a good drugstore staple. When you can get an amazing moisturiser/serum/face wash/eye cream that is just as good as the pricier counterparts, why not take advantage of that? In fact, I would dare to say some of the formulas are even better than the more expensive options. Personally, I’m about 50/50 when it comes to my collection of high street and “designer” skincare products. I like to mix and match, and I’m always updating my rotation with new finds. For example, some days, I could use a drugstore makeup remover, daily moisturiser, and face wash but will apply a £126 vitamin C serum. It’s all about a balance, right? But I understand it can get a little overwhelming when you’re shopping the ai...

A good cleanser might be the foundation of any successful skincare routine, but finding the right moisturiser can take your skin to the next level. While celebrities might have access to the very best facials and skincare experts in the business, there’s no doubt that most of the A-list have seriously good skin, and a lot of that will be down to the moisturiser they slather on daily. Although there are celebrity exceptions (Emma Stone reportedly loves olive oil, while Pixi Geldof swears by argan oil), a little bit of digging proved that basically all our favourite celebrities were loyal to one moisturiser. Ranging from £13 to £350, there’s a whole mix of price points and skincare solutions here, but keep scrolling for the very best moisturisers that the likes of ...

Choosing a good moisturiser can be tricky at the best of times. With so many trending ingredients and varying price points to navigate, it can be overwhelming to know where to start—and that’s coming from someone who lives and breathes beauty products. Throw an oily complexion and spot-prone skin into the mix and things get even more complicated. After all, the last thing you want to think about when dealing with excessive levels of shine on your skin is applying another layer of moisture. However, despite regularly skipping moisturiser during my teenage years—when my acne was at its peak—I never found that it benefitted my skin. In actual fact, almost every skin expert that I’ve ever spoken to as always advised me to continue using moisturiser to ...

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love nothing more than finding a beauty product that helps me live my best glowy and dewy life. Be it a highlighter, an SPF or a moisturiser, I’ll happily apply any product to my face to achieve luminosity. Thankfully, I now own several products that will make my skin more glowy and radiant than ever, and they’re currently waiting patiently on my skincare trolley for their moment to shine. Which products am I talking about? Serums, of course.  To be honest, there are so many serums on the market that it can be hard to know where to start. Many are formulated to target specific skincare concerns, so whether you want to reduce blemishes, moisturise dehyd...

There are plenty of bogus beauty devices out there, and I’ve tried a lot of them (due to my line of work, obviously, and if I’m being honest, some vanity). In an age when many of us crave quick fixes in the name of beauty, gadgets and gizmos aplenty can be tempting. Many of said gadgets and gizmos purport high-scale anti-ageing benefits or instantaneous firming perks, but the thing is most of them are flukes, and the majority definitely aren’t worth your hard-earned cash. Face-massaging and skin-tightening tools, in particular, are having a big moment right now, and while the latter are usually pretty high-tech, the former are typically lower-lift when it comes to usage and maintenance. That said, just because they’re lower-tech do...

Pretty much everyone wants hydrated, dewy, plump skin, right? Well, having healthy skin is definitely important to me. After writing about skincare for a while and also just going through life, I think I have a handle on what it takes to keep my skin on track. Some things include eating well, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, keeping up with my skincare routine, and using the right products with ingredients that work for my specific skin type. One ingredient that I’ve learned can be a huge help in keeping your skin moisturised and healthy? Collagen. “Collagen is the main structural protein found in the extracellular matrix of most of our body’s connective tissues,” explains board-certified dermatologist Naissan Wesley, MD. “It is found throughout th...

As a beauty journalist and all-round beauty lover, I’m quite spoilt for choice when it comes to which skincare and makeup products I want to wear. But while I’m sure that some people enjoy mixing and matching the products in their daily rotation, I’m a creature of habit and tend to stick to formulas that I already know and love. However, when it comes to certain products, I’ve found that a little experimentation is key—SPF being one such example. Of course, I totally understand the importance of wearing sunscreen daily—and bang on about it constantly to friends and family—but I’ve had quite a journey finding an SPF that I truly love and is suitable for my skin tone. Because here’s the thing: As someone with dark skin...

When cool New York City–based beauty brand Milk Makeup landed in the UK back in January 2019, beauty editors—myself included—went into overdrive. Despite the fact that the brand only launched stateside in 2016, I felt like I’d already spent a lifetime begging my American friends to hit up Sephora on my behalf for my Milk Makeup fix. And I clearly wasn’t alone—Milk Makeup accumulated an incredible 17,000-person waiting list on Cult Beauty. Yes, this was one beauty brand that had some serious social media hype, and I was already obsessed. Milk Makeup is all about good ingredients, clean formulas and payoff that you can actually see. Every product is cruelty-free, paraben-free and 100% vegan. Many of its products come in the form of twist-up stic...

In fact, my skin gets pretty stressed. More often than not, I’m dealing with breakouts, dryness, redness and/or irritation. And stressed skin makes me feel stressed, which subsequently affects my skin even more. And so, I live in a perpetual cycle of stressed-out skin concerns. As a result, we beauty journalists tend to have a stash of products that we reach for any time our skin starts getting stressed out. We keep cleansers, serums and moisturisers on hand that we know can’t possibly do our skin any further damage, giving it just the right amount of nourishment it needs in order to find its feet again. Whether my complexion is dry and sore or spotty and congested, these are the skincare products I turn to when my skin is stressed. You Deserve to Ma...