skincare

Old and new spring beauty



Olverum Pure Radiance Facial Oil

After the longest winter ever, we’re finally seeing glimmers of brighter days ahead. The one thing that’s kept me going beauty-wise has been products that engage the senses. Much as I appreciate purely functional products, I’m far more likely to use things if they look, smell and feel nice.


SKINCARE.
Apart from the odd central heating-induced breakout, my skin’s been surprisingly well behaved this year. My morning routine is fairly simple – oil or balm cleanser, followed by hydrating serum, moisturiser and facial oil. Shiseido’s Vital Protection Radiance Serum* (£106 below) has been a joy to use. Even though it’s a creamy texture, it’s quite ‘wet’, so it gives a good amount of slip for morning facial massage (I use my knuckles but you can also use a gua sha stone). While it’s pitched as anti-ageing (for fading dark spots and firming the jawline), I just use it as an extra boost of hydration. (more…)



This brand wants to sex up sunscreen



Vacation by poolside FM

It’s happened with skincare, it’s happening with oral care, could Vacation by Poolside FM be the ones to make sunscreen a feel-good ritual, not a chore?

There are many reasons we all love to hate sunscreen. It’s expensive, it’s impractical (who can be arsed to reapply it throughout the day?!), it feels icky or it leaves a white zinc oxide cast on the skin. It’s just not a pleasure.

Enter Vacation by Poolside FM, a brand extension of the 80s throwback online radio station and app. Its premise is to make a sunscreen as nostalgic and joy-inducing as the radio station (more…)



TRP Travel Retail Style Index: May 2021



Tiffany & Co Blackpink Rosé ambassador

Welcome to the latest travel retail column for DRG by Alison Farrington aka The Retail Planner (TRP).

This month’s highlights come from a purposeful social retail pop-up in Hainan, a luxury hometail makeover and the latest TikTok trend.

1/ SOCIAL RETAIL. Societal pressures are the focus for a new type of phygital pop-up courtesy of Japanese skincare brand SK-II that has debuted a retail-tainment destination in the Haitang Bay Duty Free Shopping Centre in Sanya, Hainan.

The pop-up is an immersive representation of the P&G-owned brand’s new SK-II Studio animated anthology series called VS. The film and retail campaign aims to highlight career pressures faced by women and viewed through the experiences of six athletes taking part in this year’s Tokyo Olympics. (more…)



Yuzu beauty news – a fragrance, a foundation, and a fabulous fruit-growing lab



Louis Vuitton On the Beach Les Colognes fragrance

Latest update on beauty ingredient, yuzu fruit. Since I mentioned it in my spring trend round up, the Japanese citrus has cropped up in a summer fragrance and a radiance boosting foundation.

The fragrance first. Louis Vuitton’s On the Beach‘ (£200, above and below) is part of its Les Colognes line (colognes but with eau de parfum concentration) and combines a top juicy note of yuzu (the note you smell first), with a herby cocktail of thyme, rosemary, pink pepper, cloves and cypress, plus a floral neroli note. It’s designed to smell subtly coastal rather than full-on beachy (despite the name). Fragrantica has some early reviews here. (more…)