August has gone and with it, the harshness of a typical Middle Eastern summer. While the heat and humidity won’t truly go away, the latest beauty releases have tapped into helping to release a little bit of that discomfort. Whether that’s fresh scents or heavy-duty cleansers, here are the picks we were gravitating towards this hot month.
111Skin | Precision Peel
111Skin’s Precision Peel is like a spa day for your face. And that’s almost literal, as the brand’s inspiration comes from its clinic’s chemical peels. Featuring a cocktail of AHAs, BHAs, PHAs, glycerin, and salicylic acid, the rinse-off treatment exfoliates and works on repairing the skin barrier. So if the sweat and dust of the month have clogged your pores to no end, let this peel do the work in making your skin feel like skin again.
Clé de Peau Beauté x Lisa Zordan
Japanese brand Clé de Peau Beauté has added to the gift options this year with their limited edition collection in collaboration with artist Lisa Zordan. Taking their cult favourites and adding Zordan’s brushstrokes, the collection features the brand’s Body Emulsion, Hand Cream, UV Protective Cream, and Hydro Softening Essence Lotion in a colourful design of flowers and fireworks. And with each product formulated to hydrate and protect the skin from external aggressors, it works to keep the skin nourished year-round.
Guerlain | L’Heure Bleue
Reimagining one of Guerlain’s classics, L’Heure Bleue is a renewed scent with a softer, more powdery profile than the Oriental Floral iteration. Inspired by the sky’s blue hour, Guerlain bottles that freshness in notes of pear, neroli, iris tincture, vanilla, and musks. The royal blue bottle only adds to its charm, brightening up any vanity it’s placed in.
Gucci Beauty | Flora Eye Palette Sunset Orchid
Part of Gucci Beauty’s limited edition Floral Makeup Collection, the Flora Eye Palette Sunset Orchid comes in 10 sun-drunk shades that range from matte to satin and shimmery finishes. Inspired by the Gucci Flora Gorgeous Orchid Eau de Parfum Intense, the palette is an easy staple, with neutral shades that take you from everyday life to metallic shimmers and earthy moss greens that carry a night out.
Kiehl’s | CollaShot Plump Serum
A collage shot right to the face and no needles required! The latest from Kiehl’s is an ultra-powerful serum that penetrates the skin using Recombinant Collagen Polypeptides, aka a lab-created collagen polypeptide similar to human collagen in our skin. Combined with rhamnose, a plant sugar used to help with skin irritation and firmness, and you have yourself a serum that plumps and uplifts the skin.
Laneige | Flush Pop Lip Plumper
The K-beauty favourite known for its lip masks that double up as a balm, the latest from Laneige continues down the lip line, this time working to plump the pout. On the lips, the plumper delivers a cool effect while hyaluronic acid, peptides, vitamin E, squalane, and other skin-loving ingredients take care of the skin on a deeper level. The plumper also leaves behind a glossy finish and pulls in a natural tinge to the lips, making for an easy applicator on the low-maintenance makeup days.
Rare Beauty | Fragrance Layering Balm – Fruity Pear
Following Rare Beauty’s Rare Beginnings, the Fragrance Layering Balm is the go-to counterpart. Either used to add depth to a perfume or on its own, the nifty tube and texture make it the perfect hack for on-the-go dressing. Its latest version, Fruity Pear, adds to the staple balm collection with a freshness that takes your mind off the summer heat. Notes of pear, lotus blossom, and white wood are what you can find in this balm, keeping the scent clean and open to any sort of layering.
Tower 28 | Swipe Serum Foundation
The foundation that’s been on the tail end of some much-deserved hype, Tower 28’s Swipe Serum Foundation is a foundation built for those with delicate skin. Lightweight, non-comedogenic, non-acnegenic, and across 36 shades, the foundation applies like a serum and stays on like a foundation, leaving behind a natural finish that’s buildable without causing breakouts. Portulaca is the ingredient behind this feat, protecting the skin with its anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.
