I went to a lovely beauty dinner organised by Sainsbury’s and it reminded that I was, at one point, doing some sort of supermarket beauty series. I can’t remember the title of this particular series but I’m sure it would have utilised a pun, because I can’t resist them, or there would have been some kind of alliteration going on, like Supermarket Skincare Savers or Best Buy Beauty for your Basket…

Oh wait: just searched my own archives, something I should have done before I started writing the post. It was called – drumroll please – Best Supermarket Beauty Buys. Well I’ve decided to reinstate this series because there are some pretty amazing products in the supermarkets these days – far more than there were when I first filmed.

But back to the Sainsbury’s dinner, where they had recreated their beauty aisles in the restaurant so that it felt as though you were sitting inside a real supermarket. There were mini shopping baskets as placemats and the menu was printed on a Sainsbury’s till receipt and I absolutely loved it. Top marks for inventiveness and just plain old good fun.

More importantly, I had the chance to scan the aisles for new launches. I do this regularly anyway (I do my food shopping at Sainsbury’s 98% of the time) but it was nice to be able to see new launches grouped together and it also reminded me of some favourites I’ve not shown you before.

So here are five top beauty buys from the UK supermarket, brilliant bits to pick up with your beans and your broccoli and your biscuits.

L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara (£8.80 from Ocado here*)

I know I’m at risk of boring you with this one but it really is one of my all-time favourite makeup products with no sign of being usurped at any point in the near future. Fine, flexible comb that gets right to the lashes, good length and separation and easy to remove. It doesn’t tend to flake or smudge on me but note that it is not waterproof. There is a waterproof version but I have no need for it and would rather have speedier removal than additional smudge-security!

No Knot Co The Gentle Detangler (£15 from Sainsbury’s here*)

I’m a big fan of detangling brushes. They’re special brushes designed to slide through hair – wet or dry – to detangle without breakage and they are miraculous things – you’ll no doubt have heard of Wet Brush and Tangle Teezer. I like this offering from new brand No Knot Co; they make tools for waves, curls and coils and this brush is genius in its simplicity. It’s the lightest brush I’ve ever held, so perfect for travel, but it’s just one moulded piece with bristles and so you can wash the entire thing and there’s nothing to trap water in the bristles or handle. It’s massively flexible so really comfortable to use, even when you hit tangles, and it’s a matter of seconds to get the hairs out and bin them. There’s nothing I don’t like about this brush, it’s a holiday must-have I’d say if you usually battle with post-beach hair-washing.

Q+A Grapefruit Cleansing Balm (£7 at Sainsbury’s here*)

Finding cheap cleansers with good ingredients and a luxurious, rich feel is surprisingly difficult. Most lean towards the “face wash” texture, so more of a gel to be splashed off, whereas I almost always go for a sumptuous cream or an oily balm. This Grapefruit Balm from Q+A is excellent – removes all makeup, even eye makeup, massages in beautifully and then removes cleanly without greasy residue. It doesn’t strip or dry the skin, at all, and the fragrance is pleasant (fruity, as you’d expect) but not overwhelming. If you love a balm but want something much, much less spendy than the Emma Hardie and Elemis offerings then this won’t be a disappointment. I also find tubes handier than tubs as I can chuck them in my overnight bag if I’m travelling. Pots and jars feel more cumbersome!

Altruist SPF50 Face Fluid (in store at Sainsbury’s, online at Amazon £9.15 here*)

This is good. I’ve given it a fair old try now and no breakouts (surprisingly common for me when I’m SPF-testing), just solid sun protection from a non-greasy, near-invisible face fluid. It’s lightweight and has top UVA and UVB protection, probably because it has been created by a UK skin cancer specialist. I need to get back on it with my high street SPF trials because every year sees new contenders for the best budget buys and the standard just gets higher and higher – please let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions or favourites.

Hello Toothpaste in Unicorn Sparkle (currently £2.50 at Sainsbury’s here*)

One for the kids. Both of mine love this. The packaging is bright and cute and the toothpaste is bubble gum flavour, which feels very illicit to my kids. They’ve never had real bubble gum because they’re still too little and also we’ve decided to follow on in our respective parents’ footsteps and tell all kinds of overblown lies about bubble gum to put them off it. Why did our parents do this? It’s hilarious. I’m definitely coming out with more and more absolute bollocks as the kids get older and the majority of this claptrap is directly from things I heard in my own childhood. I need to do a list. Not turning on the car interior light because we will get arrested is a favourite fib of mine. I actually did believe it was illegal to have your interior light on when driving. Until relatively recently, which is embarrassing. Such a convincing lie did my parents tell me.

Anyway, I’ve eaten a load of this toothpaste as a taste test (which you should never do because [insert lie your parents told you re eating toothpaste]) and it passes with flying colours. Don’t say I never do anything for you.

Here’s a video of me saying all of the above whilst standing in my bathroom:

The post 5 Top Supermarket Beauty Buys appeared first on Ruth Crilly.

Brilliant skincare buys that you can pick up in the supermarket. I won’t dilly-dally about today with silly introductions and off piste distractions because I have limited time: I just hoovered up a load of moths with the Dyson and I don’t want them flying back out of the pipe.

Can that happen? I mean, if the suction isn’t on, can insects climb back out of the hoover? God I hope not. That is the stuff of nightmares, isn’t it? It’s the natural world’s equivalent of that wet-haired girl climbing out of the well in The Ring. You just want to slam a lid down on it and hammer in a few nine inch nails.

Luckily for the insects I empty the Dyson outside, so they are (sort of) freed back out into the wild. Though how long a domesticated, well-fed moth would last in the open I have no idea. Going from a diet of cashmere and merino wool to, I dunno, dandelions. It would be like turfing an aristocrat from his club into the back alley and asking him to fend for himself.

“What? No Lobster Thermidor? And who are you, dare I ask? No, I can absolutely not spare a squid! A … quid? What is this quid you speak of?”

Where was I? Must concentrate. If you’re self-isolating and only getting supermarket deliveries, or if you’re trying to keep deliveries to a minimum, then here are some cracking skincare products you can buy at the supermarket. Both online and instore.

I should add that there are far more options than the ones laid out, but I am working with what I’ve got. Products I use regularly and ones that I’ve previously tested. Once we’re all out of confinement, I promise you that I will continue my much-praised (haha) Supermarket Sweep series. I think I only did ASDA and Sainsbury’s before I got totally distracted.

I’ve concentrated on Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Waitrose here – I’m afraid I’m not so up to speed with Lidl and Aldi – they were on my to-do list but it’s impossible to try stuff at the moment!

Note, also, that I’ve avoided the powerhouse ingredients here; you can get various bits and bobs with vitamin C and retinol, but I haven’t tested them extensively enough to give them a proper thumbs up and so I have kept this post to the basics: cleanse, serum, moisturiser.

Cleanse

The supermarket shelves are awash with cleansing gels and foaming gels and wipes and micellar cleansers: there’s a distinct lack of balm, oil and cream cleansers. But I’ve checked, and pretty much across the board you can find one good, rich, creamy cleanser.

At Sainsbury’s I’d go for the Superfacialist Rose Cleanser (it’s also at Amazon here*) which is just gorgeous. I’m a long-term fan and if Sainsbury’s is your supermarket of choice then you’re in luck, because you also have the delightful Balance Me range.

Pricier than your usual supermarket offering, Balance Me have loads of great products – including a very good vitamin C serum, actually. Which is annoying because I’ve just said I’d avoid the powerhouse ingredients in this post!

Balance Me’s Balm cleanser is a treat – unctious, soft, it melts down to an oil and rinses off clean. It’s £20 at Sainsbury’s or LookFantastic here*.

At Tesco, I like the Cosmeticism Cleansing Cream here and at ASDA I really like the hot cloth polish from NSpa, which I couldn’t find online but sincerely hope they have instore. It’s a great budget cleanser.

At Waitrose, you have about a zillion options. Seriously, they have loads of wonderful brands – my pick would be the Weleda Almond Cleanser, which I’ve reviewed here.

Serum

For the serum step I’ve gone for a suit-all crowd-pleaser, good old hyaluronic acid. L’Oreal have a new 1.5% version that has recently launched in the UK, see if you can find it – they definitely have it at Sainsbury’s and at Lookfantastic here*.

The aforementioned Vit C one from Balance Me is great – again, find it at Sainsbury’s, and also online here*.

Olay do a great serum called 3 Point Firming – I tested this extensively a few years ago and it was excellent. Lightweight, non-greasy, plumping, sits well beneath makeup, keep an eye out for it!

Moisturise

My most-used supermarket-available options are below. The Simple moisturisers are a new discovery for me (via Nadine Baggott) and the teeny bottles are deceiving – you get a standard 50ml inside them. Just nifty packaging. I would highly recommend the calming hemp version.

Simple Calming Moisturiser with Hemp, many supermarkets and online at Boots here*.

L’Oreal Revitalift Night Cream-Mask, at Waitrose here* and most supermarkets. I’ve banged on about this one for years and years – it’s my favourite L’Oreal moisturiser and they make a lot. It’s more plumptious and effective than many of the far more expensive “sleep masks” I’ve tried from luxury brands and, with the hyaluronic serum layered beneath, it leaves your face as wibbly and turgid as an overfilled waterbed. 

Treat

If you’re in a spot dilemma and need something immediately, you could do worse than to throw some Clearasil Rapid Action Pads. I mean you could do a lot better, but we are talking fast fixes here and I’ve tested these out a few times before so I know they don’t burn the bejeezus out of your face. I wouldn’t use them all over, because I find them drying, but use on the spot-prone areas and then just leave them to get to work. They’re saturated in salicylic acid so they help to keep pores clear without being to aggro in the process.

OK, I see a moth head poking out of the pipe (not a euphemism) (would be a strange one) so I must go and empty the dust-catcher. I’ve just realised I did a video on this entire post (amazing that someone could actually forget something so important) and so I’ll paste that in below for your watching pleasure.

Please do leave me your own supermarket skincare heroes in the comments – I will definitely be reinstating my video series and so I need to get testing once I can nip to the shops to research and stock up. Especially give me your Lidl and Aldi recommendations!

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