This Works Stress Check Hair Shield

We might have trained ourselves to avoid touching our faces while out and about, but it’s still tricky to resist playing with your hair. Problem is, every strand twiddle or fringe rearrangement could potentially transfer bacteria from the fingers onto the hair, which will stay put until your next hair wash. This softly-scented mist works like a hand sanitiser for the hair, blasting bacteria with 70% alcohol, as well as nourishing oils to counteract any drying effects.

Available now.

Shop This Works Stress Check Hair Shield at thisworks.com, £13

Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery Lamellar Water

Bleach is inherently damaging, you already know that. It works by lifting the hair cuticle (its outer protective layer) to allow colouring agents to penetrate deep into the hair fibre. Problem is, the cuticle can have a hard time closing up afterwards, making bleached hair much more prone to dryness and breakage. Dubbed ‘an invisible bandage for your hair’, Redken’s new water-based treatment uses cataionic polymers to coat the hair in conditioning agents, thus forming something of a second cuticle over the strand. Working like a shield, it fills in areas of porosity and reinstates that silky fluidity lost through the bleaching process.

Available this month.

Shop Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery Lamellar Water at Look Fantastic, £29.

The Inkey List Succinic Acid Blemish Treatment

Prepare for a new entry to the skin acid alphabet: succinic acid. “[It’s] been in European medical circles for a while now and we predict we will start to see this ingredient more and more soon within the beauty industry,” explains The Inkey List co-founder Mark Curry. Sparking the trend, the brand has used it in its new blemish treatment, where it helps to ease the irritation synonymous with blemishes and keep cell turnover ticking over. 

Available now.

Shop The Inkey List Succinic Acid Blemish Treatment at Cult Beauty, £6.99

Bare Minerals Original Liquid Mineral Foundation

Few powders are quite as iconic as Bare Minerals’ mineral foundation but if you prefer the texture or application of a liquid, then you’re in luck. The brand has finally translated all the best bits of the original powder (soft focus coverage, mineral-based pigments and a glowy finish) into a fluid version, made with zero silicones, talc, parabens or oil. The antithesis of heavyweight foundations, it glides over the contours of the face, never caking in creases and it also contains olive-derived squalane (a skin scientist favourite) to nourish skin and scaffold its moisture barrier.

Available 22 Jan.

Shop Bare Minerals Original Liquid Mineral Foundation at bareminerals.co.uk, £31

NARS Air Matte Lip Color 

There’s a time and a place for thick, dense, buttery lipsticks, and lockdown 3.0 is not it. Instead, NARS’ new formula feels almost air-whipped, not too dissimilar to Glossier’s Sky Wash, if you’ve tried that before. On the lips it leaves a cloudy matte tint that feels suitably subtle on the first layer but can be built up for greater impact.

Available now.

Shop NARS Air Matte Lip Color at Selfridges, £23

Forgo Hand Wash Starter Kit

We’re yet to find anyone who doesn’t love a posh handwash, but get ready to give this sinkside staple an eco makeover in the coming year. Rather than bulky liquids, Forgo’s soaps arrive as clever powder sachets. Pour into the chic and reusable pump bottle, fill up with water and almost instantly, the liquid turns into frothy, skin-softening soap that smells delicious. Once you’ve used it up, simply buy a set of refill sachets for £20.

Available now.

Shop Forgo Hand Wash Starter Kit at forgo.se, £41

Philip Kingsley Flaky Itchy Soothing Dry Shampoo

If you have a perpetually flake-ridden scalp, you probably avoid dry shampoo at all costs. More often than not, heavy, cloying formulas tend to gather on the scalp, making the problem even worse. Not this dry shampoo, though. Yes, it will mop up excess oiliness between washes, but it also contains soothing ingredients like chamomile and aloe vera to limit itchiness. Better still, it uses zinc PCA, an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal ingredient that works to reduce the build-up causing bacteria. 

Available now.

Shop Philip Kingsley Flaky Itchy Soothing Dry Shampoo at philipkingsley.co.uk, £25

Drunk Elephant TLC Sakuri Babyfacial

Eagle-eyed beauty obsessives will recognise this as the US Drunk Elephant product with the biggest cult following but finally, it’s available here in the UK. Like a facial in a bottle, it melds all the most powerful skin acids (glycolic, lactic, salicylic, tartaric and citric) to melt away dull dead skin cells and reveal the brighter, firmer ‘baby’ cells underneath. 

Available now.

Shop Drunk Elephant TLC Sakuri Babyfacial at Space NK, £67

Neighbourhood Botanicals Simmer Down Serum

The skincare world loves a buzz ingredient, but one that is genuinely worth your attention in 2021 is chaulmoogra. Long used in both Indian and Chinese medicinal remedies to treat skin ailments, the herb is considered an antimicrobial, which is why Neighbourhood Botanicals has included it in its luxe new face serum alongside an impressive list of plant extracts to calm stressed out skin. 

Available this month.

Shop Neighbourhood Botanicals Simmer Down Serum at neighbourhoodbotanicals.com, £28