The ultimate beauty ingredient guide
With all the different beauty buzzwords, ingredients and social media trends that have flooded the industry recently, it's easy to feel overwhelmed picking the right products for you. We're breaking it all down into one easy to understand guide that will help you create the ultimate routine across haircare, skincare and makeup. Whether you have sensitive skin, lacklustre locks or need some mattifying makeup to help with oil control, we've got you covered.
Hydrating heroes
If your skin or hair is crying out for hydration, there's a solution for it all. Replenish moisture levels with hydrating heroes, enriched with rich and powerful ingredients for the ultimate beauty benefits. Arguably the most hydrating ingredient for both skin and hair, hyaluronic acid can carry up to 1000x its weight in water. Naturally produced by our bodies, but broken down daily by environmental aggressors, this wonder ingredient is the ultimate thirst quencher for skin, plumping and smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles, leaving you looking refreshed and replenished.
The L'Oréal Paris Revitalift Filler with 1.5% Hyaluronic Acid Anti-Wrinkle Dropper Serum is formulated with a high concentration of 1.5% hyaluronic acid, working to offer powerful and visible anti-ageing benefits. Use daily to improve the illusion of a plumper, more toned complexion while leaving a radiant-looking skin surface.
If it's your hair crying out for moisture, the Coco & Eve Sweet Repair Repairing and Restoring Hair Mask will work to revive the look of dehydrated strands with a vitamin-rich formula inspired by Balinese fruits. Fortified with vegan keratin, hyaluronic acid and biomimetic ceramides, the mask wraps each strand with hydrating actives to help protect from breakage, deliver a luscious glow and healthier-looking hair.
Brightening boosters
For dull, tired or stressed-looking skin and hair, knowing the specific ingredients that will boost your brightness will help to choose the right products. Revive dull skin and bring back shine to your hair with one of the most powerful and effective brightening ingredients: vitamin C. This wonder nutrient slows down melanin production and supports healthy cell turnover, which helps to create the appearance of natural luminosity as well as reducing any existing dark spots and evening out your skin tone. Not bad for a little vitamin!
For a quick and easy way to deliver vitamin C to your skin daily, massage the NIP+FAB Vitamin C Fix Serum onto a cleansed complexion morning or night. The serum works to deliver a nourishing and potent 5% Complex dose of the brightening ingredient along with a blend of niacinamide and antioxidants to leave a more radiant, luminous-looking base.
Oil busters
Whether greasy roots have created one too many bad hair days for you or you're trying to keep away unwanted shine on your face, a mattifying, oil absorbing formula can help. One of the most talked about products in the industry right now, salicylic acid is the key to a clear complexion. It’s a BHA (beta hydroxy acid), which means it's soluble in oil, and penetrates deep into the pores to help clear out dirt, dead skin and oil build up. The multi-beneficial acid also acts as a chemical exfoliant that helps to keep your skin looking brighter and clearer.
The CeraVe Blemish Control Face Cleanser with 2% Salicylic Acid & Niacinamide is great for blemish-prone, oily skin types as it features a potent 2% salicylic acid formula that cleanses the skin and helps to fight breakouts and unwanted shine. Powered by oil-absorbing technology, the face wash includes hectorite clay, working to diminish excess sebum on the skin and promote a more mattified appearance.
For greasy hair and roots, look no further than The INKEY List Salicylic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Treatment. Achieve a more balanced and healthier-feeling scalp with this lightweight serum massaged into the roots of your tresses, as it exfoliates each follicle and remove dead skin cells that can contribute to excess oil production. The multi-benefit treatment also helps to remove flakes on the scalp and leave your hair feeling more hydrated and nourished.
Deep detoxifiers
If you've become a little lazy with your beauty routine and you’re looking for a serious detox, these deep detoxifiers will help get your glow back. Say hello to unclogged pores and more purified locks by choosing products enriched with charcoal, pure clays, and exfoliating acids that will help clear and cleanse. A magnet for all kinds of impurities on the skin, charcoal helps to lift dirt out of your pores and helps to control sebum production to keep your complexion clear and shine-free.
Especially effective for blemish prone skin, Kylie Skin Detox Face Mask is a rejuvenating mask that helps to draw out dirt and impurities from your skin’s pores using charcoal and kaolin clay, leaving a more mattified appearance and reducing the look of excess oil production and shine. What’s more, glycerin and hyaluronic acid in the mask works to ensure your complexion is left feeling nourished and soft.
For hair that’s in need of a detox, the Umberto Giannini Hair Detox Activated Charcoal Purifying Shampoo is the perfect weekly refresher to give your tresses a refreshed and rejuvenated look and feel. Powered by activated charcoal, the treatment is infused with 6 organic and 15 natural ingredients to create a formula with an ideal pH of 5.5, as it cleanses and exfoliates all hair types to leave a silky-smooth and shiny appearance.
Super smoothers
Say ‘so long’ to wrinkles and uneven skin texture with specially selected ultimate smoothing beauty products that work to hydrate, exfoliate, repair and renew. A form of vitamin A, retinol is a super ingredient that stimulates cell turnover which in turn promotes healthy collagen production and reveals healthier, younger-looking skin that appears plumper and smoother. Highly effective, this regenerating ingredient is the ultimate smoothing saviour that helps to minimise wrinkles, dark spots and scars.
Made with the brand's highest concentration of the super smoother, the 111SKIN Black Diamond Retinol Oil is a highly concentrated night treatment with 2.5% retinol and granactive retinoid blend, making it perfect for breakout-prone skin types as it works to visibly smoothen your complexion’s texture. Topped with diacetyl boldine and micro-fine black diamond powder, the lightweight, silky oil visibly diminishes uneven skin tone and textural irregularities over time.
Soothing saviours
Whether it's on your face, body or scalp, itching and redness are not only uncomfortable but can leave your skin looking stressed. Give your base some serious TLC with essential soothing oat and oatmeal ingredients that are known to help calm irritation, exfoliate and leave skin feeling soft and supple.
Suitable for dry, irritated skin types, the Murad Soothing Oat and Peptide Cleanser is the perfect addition to your nightly regime, as it works to remove impurities without stripping or over-drying the skin. Enriched with micellar peptides and oat extract, the formula delivers hydrating and soothing benefits to leave you feeling cleansed, replenished and nourished.
My large family of mainly women has made me passionate about all things beauty from a young age: from routines passed down from my grandmother, to trying the latest products and trends. After training as an MUA at MAC Cosmetics, my love for makeup has now evolved into making sure my skincare creates the perfect canvas for any look. I love anything that can make my base feel fresh & bright while accentuating my features – Bobbi Brown's Face Base is my holy grail at the moment!