April's Beauty Products

With spring finally here, it is time to shake up our routines and give our beauty kits a well-needed makeover, too. From nostalgic makeup products that blew up on TikTok and sustainable skincare innovations that reshaped our routines to the latest buzzy launches, 2024 so far has been a playground for our beauty editors to rediscover old formulas – and fall in love with new ones.

I’ll admit that, when I first heard of Merit’s new lipstick, I was not immediately intrigued. I am a gloss girl through and through, so why should I be interested in a matte lip? But, when I saw makeup artist Yumi Lee paint model’s pouts backstage at Diotima’s latest show, I was impressed with how comfortable it looked. Not dry, patchy, or stiff like the matte lips I’d become accustomed to. Armed with samples of each shade, I took it for a go. I am shocked at how weightless this feels on, how modern the shades look, and how nourished my lips remain even after all-night wear. Merit, you’ve converted me!

L’Oreal’s latest mascara launch has one of those brushes that delivers well-defined eyelashes but allows you to load up on the formula, if you prefer your mascara on the chunkier front – like me! 

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: you don’t need to spend lots of money on expensive moisturisers when the right formulation arises. I’ve never really been a Simple skincare girl, but this formula has converted me thanks to a ceramide-rich formula, which nourishes and fortifies the skin barrier, alongside soothing cica and vitamin B5. A delight to apply, it’s under £10 – and what could be better than that?

Whether you wear it as a foundation, bronzer or alone on a bare face, one thing is for sure: Dior’s Star Filter grants glass skin. New for 2024, it has that elusive quality of being illuminating without obvious glitters (or perceptible pearly shine) and transforms even the dullest complexion under its hydrating, filter-like finish. Infused with antioxidant-rich iris extract, it’s also as good for the skin as it looks. I like to stipple a shade deeper than my skin tone over the forehead and under the cheeks, where it melts in like butter and gives skin a sunkissed, just-had-a-facial glow. For dewy, dumpling cheeks, combining it with the glow maximiser in Rosy is a must – it has a plush doe foot applicator that gets you the most precise blush placement. I’ve never used another product like it.

I’m a huge fan of Summer Fridays’s Lip Butters and their latest shade, Birthday Cake, is a celebration of the brand turning six.  It’s the same hydrating, non-sticky formula in a very subtle, sugar icing pink tint.  A new obsession.

My blusher obsession knows no bounds, and this is my current favourite. A sheer, ever-so-slightly-shimmery peach liquid in texture, it can be built up for the intensity of blush required, but it’s also the large doe-foot applicator that makes it a dream to apply. Consider this your Spring flush in a tube.