7 Beauty Releases You Need to Know About

This Week The Beauty Desk Love...

The beauty desk decamped to France at the beginning of this week where we were blown away by picturesque Provence. From breakfast on the terrace of Terre Blanche to a backdrop of the sprawling countryside to treatments in the huge spa, we think it’s THE spot for a touch of r and r. On our return we were greeted by a plethora of new releases, all of which cushioned the blow of returning to the old nine to five…

THE HAIR: Not a product, but a man by the name of Jack Howard. If you’ve read our 20 questions with him, you’ll know we rate his balyage skills highly indeed. After a colour refresh with him this week, we’d like to offer another little shout out to Jack and his magical hands (which you’ll find doing their highlighting thing at Paul Edmonds on Brompton Road).

THE HAIR (Part 2): This one really is a product – a hairspray, to be exact. Philip Kingsley, who is the mastermind behind the beauty desk’s favourite hair mask Elasticizer, has launched his first aerosol hairspray. While we’ve previously been perfectly happy with a spritz of Elnett, Kingsley’s Finishing Touch Hairspray (£8 for 100ml) has similarly non-sticky, invisible hold properties while also conditioning and offering UV protection and we now can’t live without it.

THE EYESHADOW: A member of our team recently pledged her allegiance to cream shadows because: ‘they never fall under my eyes, I can blend them really easily and if you smudge the edges you sort of get a two-toned effect that would take AGES with normal shadows.’ If you feel the same, get your hands on one of Burberry’s new Eye Colour Creams (out in july, £25, available in 8 shades) – the deep purple Damson is our favourite.

THE HAIR: Do you usually shampoo and then condition your hair? Of course you do. Prepare to flip that on its head if you have fine hair: Kerastase want you to use their new Résistance Thérapiste conditioner first to create an invisible film on the hair fibre, stopping the action of rubbing shampoo on strands from causing damage through friction.

THE BRUSHES: Divisive, make-up brushes are. Some love them (myself included), others think fingers do the job just as well. If you fall into my camp and also have a soft spot for an ethical buy, try Spectrum’s Atlantis collection – each brush is vegan, cruelty-free and soft as a kitten’s paw.

THE ILLUMINATOR: Now summer has well and truly hit, we’re a bit more aware of our slightly grey, weather-worn skin. Step in A La Carte’s Shine illuminator in Nude, £35. This could be used as a highlighter, but we prefer a thin layer under a tinted moisturiser – it makes our skin look like we’ve chosen water over wine our whole lives.

THE SERUM: Noticed there’s a bit of a furore about antioxidants at the moment? They’ve got the beauty world abuzz because they are hugely important in protecting your skin by preventing external aggressors such as the sun and pollution from damaging the outer layer. We’ve been trialling Antipodes Worship Superfruit Antioxidant Serum, £33.99, which contains raw antioxidants derived from superfruits to fortify our skin. So far, we’re impressed by how smooth and calm it's left our skin. Time will tell on the sun damage thing…