Happy Beauty

The six beauty products that will bring optimism to your life this week

Each week, Marie Claire’s Beauty and Style Director, Lisa Oxenham, brings you the lowdown on her edit of products that will add joy and positive energy to your beauty ritual and self-care routine. From uplifting oils and calming serums to relaxing bath-time treatments, these products are designed to give your self-esteem a boost.

Weleda Arnica Muscle Soak, £15.75 | Weleda

I am devoted to baths as my shoulders, neck and legs always seem to feel so tight and achy and a good soak never fails to sort them out. Weleda has some of the most beautiful bath milks in the business, and their new Arnica Muscle Soak infused with arnica and soothing silver birch leaves releases stiff muscles, while the natural herbal smell of rosemary and lavender clears the sinuses, promotes circulation, and evokes wild forest bathing.

Aurelia Resurfacing Serum, £64 | Space NK

A magical elixir of bakuchiol (which offers retinol-like benefits to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, minus the aggravation that retinol can cause thus making it perfect for my sensitive skin), niacinamide (which helps minimise imperfections and redness), and Aurelia’s secret formula that helps reduce cellular damage and boost collagen production. It not only decreases the look of my existing enlarged pores but also helps refine my skin for more even tone.

Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum, £175 | Cult Beauty

I was gutted when this ran out. It may be super expensive, but just a few drops of this 22-botanical oil blend before bed and in the morning after my serum plumped fine lines and imparted a visible glow even for sensitive, dry and mature skin. Formulated with smart-ageing antioxidants, restoring phytoceramides, plumping fatty acids, and illuminating vitamins to revive, strengthen and protect the skin. Unfortunately (at £175) I’m addicted.

Natucain Hair Activator, £150 | Natucain

Whether it’s the intense stress that your body is going through when fighting covid, the emotional, physical or mental stress of dealing with symptoms or trying to stay afloat during a pandemic, there is an increase in cases of hair loss and thinning. Experts are unclear whether it’s more closely related to the physiological toll of infection or extreme emotional stress. So, what's available? There are the medical solutions, but Natucain is definitely another route to consider if you want to go down the natural route. This treatment is made with 100% natural ingredients and patented with a formula that stimulates hair at the root, prompting a long growth phase and minimising the phase where the hair falls out. It also provides ample nutrients to facilitate hair follicle reconstruction, resulting in new hair growth and less hair loss. It contains no hormones, silicones, parabens, or sulphates - and is cruelty-free.

Rhug Estate Wild Beauty Exfoliating Body Scrub, £35 | Rhug Estate

Nothing boosts circulation, eliminates toxins and revitalises skin quite like a great body scrub. I love the whole wild beauty ethos of this brand. Their scrub uses a combination of rosemary, geranium and Rhug honey and is made with organic and wild foraged ingredients from Rhug Estate. The organic sugar is a natural humectant that brings moisture into the skin and it is also rich in glycolic acid to buff away dead skin cells and encourage cell turnover, resulting in skin that’s at its youthful best.

The Organic Pharmacy 10 Day Detox Kit, £99.95 | The Organic Pharmacy

Everything with The Organic Pharmacy is about what you’re putting in your body. “To detox is to allow and support your body to eliminate toxins,” says founder Margo Marrone - and in her view all the junk that builds up from what we eat and how we live our lives (and this includes stress, which creates toxins too) contributes to all sorts of illnesses and malaise. To reset the body, they encourage you to set time aside to make nutritious meals (there’s leaflet from Farmgirl in the kit for quick and easy healthy recipes), and make time to chew food slowly and calmly. This 10-day supplement kit then works alongside to help cleanse and refresh the body, with the nutrients within aiming to calm the digestive tract, aid drainage and liver function, and encourage the metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids, which the vitamins and minerals work to defend cells from oxidative stress. It’s simple: in the morning, take three Detox Capsules at least one hour before eating. Then take two of each Superantioxidants, Phytonutrients+MSM and Essential Fatty Acid+B complex capsules every morning with breakfast. In the evening, take three Detox capsules at least one hour after eating. Keep on top of your water intake (at least eight glasses per day). As you take the supplements, my advice would be to eat mindfully, reconnecting with the flavours and textures of food. By day five I had more energy, no highs, no lows, no dips, no cravings.