In an attempt to give all of my Instagram videos a safe and permanent home (ie, at a place I actually own, not a platform I have no control over) I’m slowly getting into the habit of uploading them onto Youtube before embedding them into blog posts here on the website. It’s complex and time-consuming and I think I must have finally lost the plot because the last thing I need is more admin, but it satisfies my need for neatness and order.

God knows I don’t have neatness and order in any other aspect of my life!

Anyway, I’m aware of the fact that some of you only like to come here to read, so I’ll always try and do a little blurb with the videos to soften the blow – I’m doing a bit of website restructuring soon, too, so that should help you recognise video posts and skip them should you want to.

5 New Beauty Launches: April 2022.

Liberty Candle in Faraway Palm, £48 here*. This is a beauty of a candle; it smells like ancient wood and old perfume bottles, a bit like the actual inside of the Liberty store. Gorgeous. There are a few in the range and they would all make excellent presents, if you needed to buy something spendy for someone special.

This is Silk Silk Cream Cleanser, £39.99 here. The absolute surprise find of the month; I had no expectations at all, had never heard of the brand and it’s not even wholly a beauty brand, but the smell and texture of this cleanser is just utterly sublime. I gasped. Gasped I did. It’s like a concentrated version of the Queen of Hungary mist from Omorovicza, scent-wise, and the texture is creamy and nourishing but melts into this silky, slidey sumptuousness that does a great job of makeup removal. Just lovely.

Rare Beauty Positive Light Tinted Moisturiser in 26N, £26 at SpaceNK here*. If you’re after a tinted moisturiser to take you into summer then make sure you watch the video to see this going on. It’s pretty sheer but the finish is robust and non-slippy so it’s great for oilier skin and it has a lovely sheeny luminescence to it without being overtly glowy. If you were very dry I’d moisturise well first, but I think many will welcome a sheer base that doesn’t have the typically dewy finish. It’s in lightweight packaging too, so great for throwing in your makeup bag when you’re on the go.

Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Lift and Firm Day Cream, £66 here*. Elizabeth Arden have launched – and relaunched – quite a few products this spring and the Advanced Ceramide moisturisers are just lovely. The day cream without SPF added is my pick of the bunch; it has that nice, springy, gelatinous sort of feel that is fresh-feeling on the skin but really nourishing and satisfyingly hydrating. The Ceramide element here is the important bit to note, because a) they are good for helping to keep the skin barrier functioning in a healthy way and b) Elizabeth Arden have always done Stuff with Ceramides (trademarked) really well. 

Elemis Morning Matrix Moisturiser. Oh my giddy aunt I read the price of this incorrectly when I first tried it and completely missed the fact that it costs £125. Wowzer. It’s a beautiful cream with a herbal, invigorating scent and that springy, gelatinous texture again but it’s twice the price of the Elizabeth Arden offering. The selling point with Morning Matrix is that it’s supposed to help protect the skin against the effects of exposure to blue light – laptop screens and phone screens – but I have to admit I’m still a bit cynical about that one on the whole! Nevertheless, if you were after a luxury cream then this is gorgeous. 

I’ve just been looking at the original Pro Collagen Marine Cream, the one with the iconic scent that I associated with the word “luxury” all the way through my twenties. That one seems almost a bargain compared with the new Matrix versions – and it’s £89 for 50ml! 

Can I just say: I love the way that Elemis do their product shots. With the creams or balms or what have you poking up in a whipped swirl above the edge of the pot. It makes me want to buy everything and it’s as though you can almost feel the product just by looking at it in the photo. It makes them look edible. Very clever. You can find Morning Matrix here*.

Sali Hughes’ Skincare range with Revolution launched this week and it’s a brilliant capsule collection containing everything you really need, nothing you don’t. Two cleansers (one lightweight and splashy, the other sumptuous and massage-y), a serum and a moisturiser, everything packed with hyaluronic acid so that it’s deeply hydrating but not greasy. Making it suitable for everyone. There’s also an exfoliating liquid with a clever blend of six different acids that can be used daily, if you like (it’s gentle enough) and that’s also an essential, because as we know, sloughing off dead skin cells helps all the other bits of the routine work that much more efficiently. 

Sali didn’t include a sunscreen as everyone’s needs and preferences are so different and the range was designed to be straightforward and concise and retinol is omitted from the line-up, wisely, because if you want customers to be able to pick up a range and use it with no fuss or skincare knowledge then retinol adds a complication into the mix. 

Everything in the range is under £15, vegan and easy to get hold of – Superdrug has it instore and you can get it online at LookFantastic here*.  

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