Jo loves... Summer 2019
As Beauty Editors, we get sent a gazillion products to try. But which are the keepers, the ones we’d spend our own dosh on (or perhaps have?) Here are Jo Fairley’s current faves…
Benamôr Rose Micellar Water
I’m a big fan of Benamôr. Such a fan that Portugal has climbed up my bucket list as a must-visit destination, partly so that I can go and check out the home of this wonderful Portuguese heritage brand. (A good place to check the range out here is Cologne & Cotton.) This is my latest love from their collection, though: an ultra-effective micellar water which I use as an eye make-up remover (without any irritation at all). It sweeps everything away without leaving a speck of liner or mascara behind, and it’s a pure pleasure to use. Unlike most micellar waters, Benamôr Rose Micellar Water has a glorious rosy-posy scent that I love, from the organic rose extract. And when I use it for double-cleansing, all over my face and neck (as I sometimes do), it leaves skin beautifully dewy.
Benamôr Rose Micellar Water/£13 for 300ml - buy here
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Eye Rescue
I have real challenges finding an eye cream that I truly love using enough to be diligent with it. And that doesn’t irritate my eyes. And that actually appears to bring some improvement to those fine lines and wrinkles. I’m already a fan of Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream, though, so I thought I’d give this a go – and am so glad I did. It glides on like silk, cooling the eye zone immediately – and I think it delivers some kind of instant cosmetic benefit because the eyes looking back at me from the bathroom mirror are definitely brighter-looking.
Beyond that, make-up glides on beautifully (well, that’s probably not a surprising, since this comes from make-up pro Charlotte), and it’s SO non-irritating that I can even apply Magic Eye Rescue to my lids as well as the eye zone. I’ve almost never been able to do that before (and received wisdom is that you don’t need to, because eye creams ‘travel’ to the eyelid) – but I can and I do with this, and as I’m feeling my eyes need all the help they can get, that makes me happy.
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Eye Rescue/£40 for 15ml - buy here
Margaret Dabbs Shoe & Insole Cleansing Spray
Can we talk about stinky trainers? I was never the one in the family that had Stilton-esque trainers. That was reserved for my brothers. But maybe because I have one particular favourite pair of (Veja) trainers that I’ve been wearing to death – I realised that my trainers were getting whiffy. So Margaret Dabbs has ridden to the rescue, here, with a very pleasant-to-use, upmarket ‘trainer tamer’, scented upliftingly with lemon myrtle. You use it after taking your trainers off – a few spritzes inside the shoe, and the antibacterial ingredients get to work. They’re also anti-fungal, so the spray works to prevent Athlete’s Foot, too. A designer trainer spray for your designer trainers – smart thinking, Ms. Dabbs!
Margaret Dabbs Shoe & Insole Cleansing Spray/£19 for 100ml - buy here
Maybelline Superstay Matte Ink Crayon
How do we find out about fab new products? Sometimes beauty PRs tell us. (That’s their job.) But sometimes we’ll read something by a fellow beauty expert who we rate, and will dash out and buy it to try it for ourselves. So I have India Knight (I am a massive fan of all her writing, from her book The Shops to her column in The Sunday Times Style magazine) to thank for leading me to this lip wonder. A real Duracell bunny of a product, it lives up to its name but crucially doesn’t feel hideously tight on the lips, as so many matte products do. I’ve put some of the colour swatches above (there are 12 altogether), but my favourite is 55 Make It Happen (bottom row, second from right) which goes on an as an intense bricky-red. If I add a bit of lip balm (for gloss and additional comfort), it becomes more sheer and a deep rose colour, which I like, too. And if you want to keep the nib sharp, there’s a little sharpener in the top (easy to miss, that). Thanks, India. Quite often you do the job a beauty PR SHOULD be doing, but isn’t…
Maybelline Superstay Matte Ink Crayon/£9.99 - buy here
Aēsop Rose Hair & Scalp Moisturising Masque
Going back to a product you once loved and thought you’d lost is like getting back with an old boyfriend. Well, obviously, I’m very happily married so I’m not actually going to get back with any of my old boyfriends – but it was nevertheless a delight to rediscover this. (I think at some point it must have dropped out of Aēsop’s range or gone out of stock – and I moved on. As we so often do.) Recently, I’d have a bad case of ‘straw hair’ to deal with – I put it down to the high-in-alcohol volumising spray that my hairdresser was zealously using. (Great short-term results, not so great longer-term.) Deep treatments were called for and honestly, they don’t come nicer than this: rich, luscious, amazingly rose-scented so that it’s complete bliss to lie back and let this work its restorative magic. Gloss and softness definitely restored, senses delighted – and old beauty friends, reuinted.
Aēsop Rose Hair & Scalp Moisturising Masque/£25 for 120ml - buy here
