Welcome to a weekly unboxing session with Hello! Fashion’s Beauty Director, Charlotte Jolly.
An honest, plain-speaking round-up of the latest drops, limited edition launches and cult buys, covering skincare, make-up, hair, fragrance and wellness. This is where you come to find out whether a product lives up to its promises, and price tag.
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The Y2K Gloss
There’s a lot of buzz about US-export Merit. Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber are fans of the beauty brand’s glowy skin tints and dome-like bronzing balms, and you’ve probably spotted its signature make-up bag on Instagram - a slouchy, corduroy pouch that you receive for free with your first order. Well, just last week, Merit dropped Shade Slick Gelées. Moisturising, high-shine lip tints that are giving me turn-of-the-millennium MTV vibes - think glassy, lacquered lips à la J-Lo and Britney. Except, these Gelées have a barely-there feel - they’re glosses without the gloop. And although the pigments look bright in the bottle, they go on as a subtle wash of colour. I love Jete - an earthy, peach hue.
The Hair Saviour
My go-to Glide Hot Brush has had a rose gold makeover, as part of GHD’s limited edition SS23 Sunsthetic Collection. The Glide smoothes and adds shine to my fine, frizzy hair, without taking away its natural movement or flattening the little root-lift I’m able to muster. I also use it to style a bend into my mid-lengths - no sectioning required, and I’m done in less than ten minutes.
The Speedy Tan
I’m really enjoying Tan-Luxe’s new Express Mousse. It looks pink in the bottle but what you pump out is a fluffy white mousse that warms up as soon as it hits your skin. On application you get a subtle, sun-kissed tint, that smells fresh and goes a small way towards evening out your skin tone. It develops into more of a golden glow after thirty minutes, at which point you can wash it off or leave it on to darken over six hours. Formulated with hyaluronic acid and vitamin C, it softens and brightens your skin, too.
The Spring Fragrance
I’m manifesting brighter, warmer days with the latest addition to Loewe’s Aire fragrance collection. It’s a splashy, sports luxe kind of scent called ‘Anthesis’, which is Latin for the moment a flower’s bud bursts into bloom - I love that. While it’s still wet on your skin, it smells fruity, a little tart even, but it soon settles into a more aromatic, amber-y blend.
The Cleanser
I’ve been singing the praises of The Body Shop’s Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter for years (I’m not alone, one sells every 17 seconds in the UK). It melts on contact with skin, I like to massage it in and then lift everything off with a warm flannel. I love the price, the plastic-free packaging and the way it shifts every last scrap of SPF and make-up, without leaving my skin feeling tight. This spring sees the first ever limited edition version, enriched with Japanese camellia oil. It’s the same nourishing formula, just laced with a delicate floral fragrance (at a low enough level for my super sensitive skin to tolerate).
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