Our spring beauty edit places a premium on dewy skin, unconventional floral perfumes and face-refreshing tools for looks that are as bright and beguiling as the season’s sunny weather. Here are the products we’re buying into.
Spring beauty: this season’s essential products
Le Labo's Violette 30 perfume
Le Labo’s speciality is to transform a single, common enough ingredient – matcha, rose, lilies, and, of course, santal – into a fragrance that gets strangers stopping you on the street to ask what you’re wearing.
The brand’s latest launch centres around violet, a note that can be particularly divisive in perfumery because of its particular powdery sweetness, but Le Labo’s take on the ingredient plays off that powdery quality with the addition of earthy and woody notes. Meanwhile a fresh touch of white tea gives it that signature, head- turning Le Labo quality.
Omorovicza's Midnight Renewal serum
For most people, a change of season means a change of skin quality too, with the transition triggering an increase in drying and breakouts as skin adjusts. Omorovicza’s Midnight Renewal serum is an ideal tool to help ease the impact. With an encapsulated retinal, which produces visibly faster results than typical retinol, it kills breakouts and smooths skin without drying. An infusion of Bio Retinoid Mediterranean Microalgae, meanwhile, helps firm and brighten.
According to clinical trials provided by the brand, the serum visibly reduces wrinkles by up to 28 per cent after one use, increases skin firmness up to 44 per cent after four weeks and skin elasticity up to 25 per cent after the same. Our own trial of the product confirms the claims. Skin looks clear and brighter, without the hydration-sucking downside of most retinol products.
FaceGym Pro tool
Speaking of transitions, few things will have a more transformative impact on skin then FaceGym’s new Pro tool. Once only available to professionals at FaceGym’s clinics, the new tool is designed to give you the lifted, brighter, tighter skin the brand’s treatments are known for.
Whereas most microcurrent devices work at epidermis level, the Pro goes deep to work your facial muscles and help you look more contoured after one use. Use for a minimum of once a week to maintain good muscle strength, or, for best results, use 3 to 5 times per week for 10 minutes on the face and neck.
Augustinus Bader's Geranium Rose Body Cream
The arrival of spring means that skin that’s spent months being hidden under sweaters and coats is about to see the light of day. The new Geranium Rose Body Cream from Augustinus Bader will help prepare skin for the reveal with a hydrating and brighten formulation that leaves behind a fresh geranium and rose scent. Best of all, it harnesses the brand's famous anti-aging TFC8 technology to reduce the appearance of cellulite with a few uses.
Rationale SPF make-up
Over 30 years, the skincare brand Rationale has built a devoted following in its native Australia thanks to its impressive ability to prevent and reduce skin ageing caused by sun exposure, and now, the products are finally available in the UK and the US too.
Its expansive range of SPF-infused products includes a number of highlights, but our favourites are the SPF makeup balms, which include a blush, bronzer, highlighter and lip tint. Lightweight and creamy, each balm offers buildable colour and shine with a powder-like finish. Best of all, they are formulated with 30 SPF to offer extra protection on top of your everyday sunscreen.
Chanel N°1 revitalising fragrance mist
Chanel’s N°1 skincare line uses red camellia extract to create its most effective anti-ageing line yet. The revitalising fragrance mist is a toner and perfume in one that can be carried in your bag or kept on your desk and applied throughout the day for a refreshing burst of scent. Formulated with 97 per cent naturally derived ingredients, it provides a fresh, dewy glow perfect for spring beauty.
100ml Solo Traveller beauty bag
Those who are taking advantage of the warmer weather with a holiday would benefit from packing 100ml’s Solo Traveller pack along for the journey. Designed to make packing your beauty essentials a no-brainer, the Solo Traveller features everything you’ll need for a week away in a chic, TSA approved pack. Inside you’ll find a Maude mini vibe and organic lube, an Ere Perez colour pot for cheeks and lips, an Ere Perez Vanilla highlighter and Korres facemask.