The Beauty Digest: Nobel Prize-Winning Skincare, a Very Chic Body Brush and the Future of LED Therapy
From Nobel Prize-winning skincare technology to a new generation of personalised LED therapy, these are the beauty discoveries worth knowing about this week.
The Beauty Digest is my Beauty Director’s edit of what’s actually worth your attention. Each week, I’ll be sharing the new launches I’m using and loving, the viral treatments I’m putting to the test (and what I really think of the results), plus my take on the industry conversations everyone’s talking about.
The New Launches on My Radar
The line between skincare and makeup has become increasingly blurred, offering instant coverage and longer-term benefits, and Dior's latest complexion launch is a prime example. The new Glow-Up Skin Tint combines the lightweight feel of a tinted moisturiser with the complexion-perfecting capabilities of a foundation, delivering sheer, buildable coverage and a fresh, luminous finish.
Available in 24 shades, the formula also contains SPF 20, which is always an added bonus, but what I particularly like is that it evens out skin tone without concealing your skin's natural personality, so freckles and the little nuances remain visible. It's the kind of product that leads people to compliment your skin rather than ask what foundation you're wearing—which is, of course, the whole point.
French beauty brand La Bonne Brosse has made something of an art form out of transforming everyday grooming essentials into objects of desire. Best known for its handcrafted hairbrushes, the brand has now turned its attention to the body, collaborating with French skincare brand TALM on a collection of dry body brushes. Designed to exfoliate and stimulate circulation, the N.02 brush combines 70% natural boar bristles with 30% medical-grade silicone tips for a more invigorating massage, while the gentler N.01 is better suited to sensitive skin.
Aside from being an excellent opening act to your weekly 'everything shower', dry brushing has long been touted for its lymphatic drainage benefits and, personally, my skin undoubtedly feels softer as a result. At £98, it's extravagant, but if ever there was a way to make a three-minute pre-shower ritual feel luxurious, this is it.
There aren’t many beauty brands that can legitimately claim Nobel Prize-winning science behind them, but Noble Panacea is one of them. In fact, it was founded by Sir Fraser Stoddart, who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on molecular machines. The brand is built around his patented Organic Super Molecular Vessel (OSMV™) Technology, which in layman's terms, is a very sophisticated delivery system that encapsulates active ingredients at a molecular level, protecting them from degradation and allowing them to be released into the skin in a controlled sequence over time, maximising their efficacy.
The latest innovation using this technology is the RetiNAD+ Renewal Booster, which combines three forms of retinoid with NAD+ and niacinamide to target fine lines, uneven texture, and other visible signs of ageing. In a clinical trial involving 35 participants, the brand reported an 18% reduction in wrinkle volume after just ten days. At £224 for ten doses, it's undoubtedly an investment, but I'm on day seven, and the returns are certainly looking promising.
Spotlight On: The Philosophy of Perfume
Few people can talk about perfume with quite the same infectious enthusiasm as fragrance journalist Alice du Parcq. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry and a remarkable ability to make even the most complex aspects of perfumery feel accessible, she's become one of the most compelling voices in fragrance. Her new book, The Philosophy of Perfume, explores our relationship with scent beyond the notes and ingredients, delving into the psychology of perfume, its connection to memory and identity, and why certain smells have such a profound emotional effect on us.
It's a refreshing departure from the usual prescriptive approach to fragrance, encouraging us to think less about what we should be wearing and more about what genuinely captures our attention and moves us. Whether you're a committed perfume obsessive or simply curious about why a particular scent can transport you back twenty years in an instant, this is an essential read.
The Treatment Trial: Current Body Series 3 Mask
Confession time: I've always been a little sceptical of at-home LED therapy devices. Compared to professional treatments, the light intensity is often lower, and poor skin contact can compromise how effectively the light is delivered. That's not to say they don't work—there's pretty solid evidence supporting certain wavelengths of LED light for skin rejuvenation—but I've often found myself questioning whether the results justify the (sometimes considerable) investment.
CurrentBody's new Series 3 mask, however, addresses some of these concerns, taking into account the factors that influence the efficacy of LED therapy, including wavelength, light dosage and how consistently the light reaches the skin. Where the Series 2 offered three wavelengths and 236 LEDs, the Series 3 has six wavelengths and 750 LEDs, including blue light for blemishes, green for pigmentation and yellow for redness, alongside red and near-infrared light for skin rejuvenation. But the really clever part is its new MyDose technology, which lets you map different wavelengths to specific areas of your face via its app. So, rather than treating your entire face with the same light, you could target fine lines around your eyes with red light, pigmentation on your cheeks with green and breakouts on your chin with blue, all in the same session. The system then automatically calculates and adjusts the light dosage for each area.
It's a major technological advancement, bringing a level of precision to at-home LED therapy that was previously out of reach. I've been using it for two weeks now, and I'm already impressed with the results, not to mention how comfortable it is to wear. It fits snugly against my face without feeling restrictive, and crucially, doesn't hurt my eyes. It's still early days for assessing the longer-term benefits, but so far, it's doing a very good job of converting me.
