Tried and tested: Mascaras, Cuticle treatments, spot preventing creams
Clinique excels at skincare and treatment foundations but their makeup collection is less enticing, particularly displayed near the colourful counters of its sister brands, MAC and Smashbox.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the dramatic effect is of High Impact.
The formula quickly builds serious length and thickness without clumping. It is safe for sensitive eyes and doesn’t weigh down or flake from naturally long lashes over the course of a day.
Note that Clinique also does an Extreme High Impact Mascara that is more expensive but creates a no more voluminous look.
Dr Perricone is best known for his eponymous fish and supplement-heavy diet, but the nutritionist is also a dermatologist with skincare and makeup lines.
This mascara is part of a collection in which all the products have Magritte-esque names: No Foundation Foundation, No Shadow Shadow, etc., presumably to highlight their capacity for natural enhancement.
No Mascara Mascara can deliver thick, well-defined and very noticeably mascara-d lashes. It’s a genuine gem of a buy.
The name is a real shame, as women looking for these results will more likely plump for something called “Full Fat Lashes,” while those after the suggested understated look will get 5-star va-va voom.
Rimmel makes some big claims of this mascara’s curve-tipped wand, including that the arch can volumise and load lashes with product while the flat side lengthens and separates.
The tip deposits quite a clumpy initial application that needs immediate q-tip correction. The formula contains several conditioning ingredients, so it is nice to coat lashes properly.
They do look thicker after two coats. This mascara flakes a bit as the day progresses, so do check for flecks periodically.
This is another mascara rich in conditioning ingredients, so many that it can be a little smudge-prone.
The light-hold formula leaves lashes feeling super-soft and looking nicely bulked up.
All those nice emollients make it difficult to hold a curl, which is annoying if you’ve bothered to clamp on your She Uemuras first.
This mascara’s black colour pigments have a slight sheen to them, giving your flutters an attractive, flashy quality that really won me over.
This oil looks pretty unglamorous, especially compared with Sally Hansen’s many other cuticle treatments.
This little gold bottle offers good value for money, especially given that most women won’t want to spend much on such a small part of their regime.
It is fragrance-free and contains lots of Vitamin E, as well as soothing aloe and several water-binding extracts.
Brittle nails cannot be remedied by cosmetics if you have a medical condition that causes them. Still, a moisturiser like this will keep cuticles in good shape and help prevent nail-splitting in most cases.
This Dr Hauschka treatment’s most prevalent content is peanut oil, a good but cheap emollient often used as filler in bargain peanut butter. Neem, the eponymous extract, is not known for its skincare benefits.
There are much smaller amounts of apricot and chamomile in the formula, as well as perfume. Fragrance is no friend to sensitive skin or torn cuticles.
Launched in California in 1981, Solar Oil used to be a cool holiday buy, something special you snapped up along with Lucas’ Papaw Ointment before e-commerce stole such shopping’s caché.
Now it is easy to find online and in salons (see www.loveCND.com for stockists). Gels, acrylics, silk wraps, etc, all task your nails in a manner that can be countered with good cuticle maintenance.
CND embraced synthetic nail “coating” from its inception and currently offers both DIY and professional ranges.
While the brand recommends that this oil be partnered with any enhancements, it is useful whether or not you wear nail extensions.
I expected this product to be packed with apricot kernel oil but it is a far more complex blend of retinol, Vitamin E and soybean and cottonseed oils.
Cottonseed is the most prevalent ingredient and very high in essential fatty acids.
The other three are all great sources of antioxidants. Weirdly, the formula is only apricot-scented.
The fragrance is extremely mild and shouldn’t bother sensitive skin. This oil absorbed more quickly than the other three.
Age spots and patches of dark pigmentation are caused by UV damage.
Fading them with topical products at home requires regular use of a good Vitamin A (retinol) or Vitamin C product and daily applications of broad-spectrum sun protection with SPF25 or higher.
The protection is vital both for healing existent damage and preventing future issues. Smashbox’s CC Cream shields skin with SPF30 and temporarily neutralises pigmentation with it’s flattering tint.
The formula also contains a broad range of soothing plant extracts and proven antioxidants, including green tea and a form of Vitamin C.
This is a very good SPF day cream generally and a fantastic one compared with other specifically male-targeted options.
While women can enhance their skincare with SPF-boosted makeup, moisturiser is men’s first and only line of defence against UV damage.
Men’s skincare brands really need to ditch alcohol and fragrance-heavy moisturisers with inadequate SPF and up their antioxidant games.
Rant aside, this product has some good reparative ingredients and the strongest possible environmental shield. It is lightweight and easily absorbed.
This moisturiser has lots of shea butter and glycerin, both of which are good for dry skin.
The broad-spectrum SPF is not strong enough to use as your sole daily protection and needs to be married with another product with SPF10 or higher. No topical product can lift your skin.
This moisturiser is illuminating but only because of a substantial amount of mica, a light-reflecting pigment. Mica is more commonly found in makeup and does nothing to effectively colour-correct sun-damaged skin.
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Ideally this product would include broad-spectrum SPF 25 or higher. This moisturiser is very lightweight, so you will need to apply it liberally even to take full advantage of the SPF20.
However, there are also several reparative extracts and antioxidants in the mix, including green tea and niacinamide, both of which work to lighten age spots in an authentic fashion. A form of Vitamin C is present in a moderate amount.
This product still seems overpriced, especially as you will need to supplement the sun protection.
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