Something about the beginning of a new year makes us all want to be better people. Unfortunately it’s around this time in the year (the middle of the first month!) that we suddenly realise this is both hard and boring. So we settle to smaller, achievable goals. Ways to make us feel like better people, without having to actually do anything too strenuous. The perfect example: skincare! Something about having a clear face, an absence of dark circles, a vague glowiness… it just makes us feel happier and better about ourselves as we go about our daily tasks, ignoring the fact it gets dark at 3pm and our energy bills cost thousands of pounds. Not worth investigating why that works, honestly!
But starting a skincare routine is in itself ominous. So to make it less of a daunting, arduous task; to make your life easier and your skin better and potentially even repair your soul; we’ve compiled a list of the best products to buy and the best ways to use them. You’re welcome!
For the hard partying one
Some of us might have embraced wholesomeness in the form of Dry January, but the hardcore amongst us are still partying as hard as they were last month. For the person who manages to power through on school days with Berocca, Pret cheese toasties and sheer force of will, a suitably hardcore skincare routine is needed: Byoma have just released a new Hydrating Recovery Oil that will do the trick. Why get antioxidants from their diet when they can get nine in this! And for all those bitter nights spent powering through on Aperol Spritzes (“It’s not seasonal, you can have it any time of the year!”), some Dr Jart+ Ceramidin™ Ectoin®-Infused Cream will help replenish some extreme moisture into the most chapped, dry skin, while Morphe’s 2 Clear Things Up clarifying serum uses niacinamide and white shitake mushrooms (!) to help with the hungover breakouts. If you’re not into niacinamide, Biossance has a rose and vitamin c oil instead that smells lush enough to mask the booze breath. Just don’t forget to take off your make-up before you go to bed (Tatcha Rice Wash will do it).
For the victim of a January heartbreak
Oh babe. It’ll be okay. You don’t need them anyway, or something. Everyone knows New Years is the worst time to be unceremoniously dumped, and so they’ll have spent the beginning of the year surrounded by tissues, carbs, more tissues, perhaps La La Land on repeat. We’ve all been there. But constant crying can wreak havoc on skin. For puffiness (and broken hearts) we recommend the cicaplast baume from cult fave La Roche-Posay, which works on everything from post-shaving, burns, spots, nappy rash and crying rash to stress-induced eczema flare ups. For all the sleep you’re losing while watching TikTok tarot readers tell you your ex is coming back – stop doing this – Haeckels Bio-Restore Eye Mask uses seaweed infused with hyaluronic acid to reduce signs of tiredness. Most importantly, now is the time to treat yourself nicely. Do a face mask (Skinceuticals has a great one). You’ll be alright. And when you’re back on Hinge, Fenty Beauty’s new intensive recovery lip mask will have you kissing losers once again.
For the Veganuary advocate
We get it, we get it, you care about the planet. You’re suddenly an advocate of Oatly and vegan leather Doc Martens and telling yourself Quorn tastes just like chicken (it doesn’t, but that’s okay). In years past, skincare was a minefield for both the new and established vegan, but luckily a glut of new products from the eco-conscious and animal friendly are here to help you in your new journey. If you already love Linda McCartney’s sausages, then you’ll be bang into daughter Stella’s range created with Space NK. Her travel essentials kit is created with an exclusive recycled nylon tie-top cosmetics bag, with all the products housed in reusable travel-size bottles made from recycled glass. For cruelty free products stuffed with vegan probiotics, there’s also The Seated Queen’s vanity cream. Want to go one step further (course you do, you want your vegan credentials)? Why not try Beauty Pie’s Green Me Up Supplement. It’s not technically skincare, but it kind of is, because it’s filled with all these very green, very good for you vegan bits like spirulina and matcha to make you feel as healthy as you’re saying you are. We know you’re hungry. Eat more protein. While you’re at it, eat The Nue Co.’s SKIN FILTER — an ingestible (and therefore irritation-free) retinol that comes in capsule form and promises to smooth lines and calm blemishes.
For the person with a milestone birthday in 2023
No babe, listen, you don’t look old. No honestly. And age is a construct and feeds into the patriarchy and – okay you’re not listening. Fine. Here’s some things that will make you feel better or at least shut you up until you start crying under a pair of pink number balloons that inspire an existential crisis. Fresh has a Black Tea advanced age renewal cream that basically acts as a retinol, and corrects a decrease in collagen. Convinced? Okay, well there’s also the Celestial Black Diamond Body Cream from 111Skin, which promises to improve elasticity everywhere, making you appear brighter and more supple as you sob into one of those 1950s inspired birthday cakes you’ve been saving on Instagram all year. And Shiseido’s uplifting and firming enriched cream comes with a choreographed massage meant to make you look like you’ve just come out of the womb. Blow out the candles and cheer up. It’s not that big a deal.
For the person who doesn’t ‘do’ skincare
We all start somewhere! Maybe your New Year’s resolution this year was to get into or at least understand the products you should be using. Luckily there are plenty of sets you can use as an introduction to this brave new world. Instagram fave – and we’re sure you get most of your skincare recs from there – Drunk Elephant have just launched their Little’s 6.0 Set, which features an AM to PM collection of their best-loved and essential products, promising to last you thirty full days. The Ordinary are on the same hype with a Bright Set, which includes some of their best and brightest (sorry), with a squalane cleanser, toner and glycolic acid. Are you on TikTok frantically trying to find out what all these acids are? Yes, but at least now you have the acids, you know? Stick to things that promise to work for all skin types while you work out what yours actually is; Bondi Sands have a new gel moisturiser which promises to hydrate you no matter what’s going on on your epidermis. There are a couple of old reliables you’ll never get tired of – like Egyptian Magic. And now that you’re into skincare, you might as well tell the rest of the world that. We don’t hide our spots anymore, we put Starface Hydro-Stars on them instead. Starface also have their Clear As Day SPF 46 which, if you take one thing away from this journey, is the most important thing. As Baz Luhrmann said, always wear sunscreen.
For the one who really, really does
For every novice, there’s an extra. The person who knows how to get tret off prescription, the one who trawls Parisian chemists for cult products and knows that some things are just worth investing in. This person knows their ageless celebrities, and so the Human Race three minute facial (which promises to distill over 20 years of Pharrell’s skincare wisdom into an easy, three step routine — and look at his skin, he knows what he’s doing!) is right up their street. These people are particular. They probably change their skincare routine up by planning it on a calendar. Their shelfies are enviable. They already know about the Skinceuticals Phyto corrective mist, it doesn’t matter that it literally just launched. They’ve got their old favourites (a long list of Bioré) and their holy grails (an even longer list of Sunday Riley acids, probably glycolic). By February, they’ll have already rinsed the latest tub of Eve Lom cleanser (iconic, five in one), and they’ll be on the hunt for newness. Keep this person close, and try to impress them with your own knowledge (“Rare Beauty just released a powder version of their liquid luminizer highlighter you know”) because it’s probable that at some point a product won’t agree with them and they’ll pass it off on their grateful friends (you).
For the one who cancelled their Botox appt
What’s skincare compared to peels, lasers and injectables, right? Well, potentially. The cost of living crisis has come for us all this January, and even the most hardcore amongst us are suddenly looking around for a less nuclear option. That might take the form of a fringe (to hide the reappearing forehead lines) or something a little more hi-tech. Perhaps the NuFace Trinity+ toner device? It launched this month and is an impressive step up from your tired old fridge gua-sha. For the scientifically minded amongst us, there’s also fjör, a line pioneered by bioscientists who promise their gender-neutral serums will unleash the ‘power of the hydrolytic enzyme’. If you’re not ready to go quite so Matrix-esque, why not return to the old faithful; acids and peels? RéVive have put a whole bunch of them together, a kind of uber-acid face mask, AKA their Masque de Brilliance resurfacing multi-acid mask. There’s a blend of glycolic, salicyclic and lactic that promise to heal your skin and soul and keep you away from the syringe. And it’s not all about the surgical options anymore anyway. Stella McCartney have just spent two years perfecting their new after-care serum that’s meant to improve the health of our skin, which after piercing and prodding it for so long, it definitely deserves. Give her a break, she’s your biggest organ!