The Inkey List™ Lactic Acid

I LOVE The Inkey List. The biggest selling point is that the brand is making skincare accessible for everyone, and that accessibility is not just about the very reasonable prices. So many brands have product descriptions so academic you have no idea what they are, or what they do, but The Inkey List is refreshingly straight talking.

There are a few products I like in their range, but I have chosen the Lactic Acid to feature here because it is the one that really targets issues of hyperpigmentation (one of the biggest concerns for those with darker skin tones) but does it in a way that is genial and moisturising, as opposed to harsh and stripping. If you are new to acids, this is good entry-level stuff.

On opening the bottle, the clear liquid is bubble-bath foamy, which is slightly disconcerting. Thankfully, when it goes onto the skin, there is nothing remotely soapy about it. It is like a very light serum that sinks in beautifully but leaves a matte, yet moisturised, finish.

I asked my husband to have a sniff, and he shrugged and said, ‘It just smells like a chemical.’ He’s not wrong (it has ‘acid’ in the name, so you can’t expect it to smell like Morello cherries), but don’t let that scare you.

This is one of the good guys. As it is wallet friendly, it is constantly sold out; so if you do come across it in stock, don’t dither, just buy it.

Sunday Riley C.E.O. Rapid Flash Brightening Serum

There are many things that living in a buzzing city gives you, and one of them is skin that resembles a weary slug crawling off to its deathbed. Of course, if you are one of the world’s superhumans, who always has a brilliant skincare regime that never, ever defaults to ‘I really cannot be bothered’, this will not happen to you. For the rest of humanity, who sometimes take their eye off the ball, at some point bad skin knocks on the door.

I started using this serum when I woke up one day and realised my skin looked like an advert for smog. And, goodness, Sunday Riley really didn’t come to play with this one. The key word is RAPID. I saw a difference in my skin overnight. Prior to this, I had only used two of Sunday’s products: Good Genes, the classic, ingenious exfoliator, and a toner that I banished because the smell was so heinous it threatened to erupt my sinuses. This, on the other hand, is an inoffensive citrus, unless you are one of those strange people who don’t like citrus.

I have since then immersed myself in the world of Sunday Riley, and I trust the efficacy of the products – Sunday is not just a brand founder, she is also a formulator; so, she knows what she is doing. Still, I was stunned at how quickly and brilliantly this serum delivered its luminosity. It sinks seamlessly into the skin and totally disappears, no pale tinge, no matte, soulless finish. Rather, it is gloriously glossy, and after a little while you start to look as if you have twinkling fairy lights sewn into the fabric of your skin.

It also minimises pores, lines and dehydration, and fades acne. The potency is ultimately down to the heavy concentration of vitamin C, an ingredient everyone should have in their beauty arsenal. Do note, however, that there is vitamin C, and there is this stuff, which is gold standard – hence you see the results in a ‘flash’.

By Terry UV Base Sunscreen Cream Broad Spectrum SPF50

In the past I’ve questioned makeup brands that think they can also authentically ‘own’ skincare. Can you really do it all? Can you? Yes, I know we are in the age of the hyphenate and everything, and I’m not trying to kill anyone’s dream here, but there is wisdom in being true to what you do best, ‘staying in your lane’ as it were. But not always.

By Terry (the brand launched by Terry de Gunzburg, the genius behind Yves Saint Laurent’s cult classic, Touche Éclat) is one of the few make-up brands where the quality and tech of the skincare is on a par with many of the bigger players on the market. This sunscreen is excellent, a glossy hybrid between a cream and a serum that doesn’t leave a white trace. It is neither matte nor oily – somewhere in between – and so works well as a skin-smoothing make-up primer.

What Terry de Gunzburg famously does is create products that are steeped in complex, technologically advanced formulations, and she has nailed it here. It is highly unusual to find an SPF 50 that has really great skincare properties – hydrating, anti-pollution, vitamin E – while remaining incredibly lightweight (many traditional SPF 50s will give you a helping of blackheads). I love the fact that it has a delightful fragrance, but as it’s not cheap, it is simply good manners to smell nice.

Original & Mineral Know Knott ™ Conditioning Detangler

When I first went natural, it was an utter nightmare. I had a daily tug of war with the idea of going back to chemical relaxer, aka the creamy crack. I just didn’t understand my hair. I didn’t understand this new look, this new feel. I didn’t understand why my hair wouldn’t react to products the way it normally would.

I had spent years becoming an expert at frying my hair – I owned irons and tongs in every barrel size, for every eventuality – and was constantly called on by friends and family members to sort out theirs. I was a regular fixture in the black-hair shops, telling total strangers what weave brand to buy and the best moisturiser to use prior to frying your hair. And now? I had no idea about hair. And it was disconcerting; I even began to dread washing my hair (which now is one of my favourite pastimes – yes, really).

So I started to watch a slew of those hair-blogger videos, but I wasn’t interested in doing anything fancy with my hair – I didn’t have the time, inclination or the upper-arm strength, for that matter, to spend hours every week doing a twistout using a million and one products. All I wanted was a product to stop my hair resembling Shredded Wheat, and so far nothing was working. And then this landed at my door, and it changed everything.

I’m not quite sure how or why but this peachy-scented spray managed to thoroughly hydrate, soften, detangle and moisturise my hair in one fell swoop. It was phenomenal. Interestingly, it has coconut, argan and macadamia-nut oils in it, all ingredients included in other formulas I had used but that had made no difference to my hair – hence I always argue that a good product is not just about ingredients; the efficacy is in the formulation.

And what a great formulation this is. I’d go as far as to say it is one of the best detanglers I have used. If not the best. Despite being around for ages, this Australian brand is still under the radar and not as widely available as it deserves. At the time of writing I noticed it had sold out in quite a few places. So, if you do come across it, stock-pile.