In Style 100 Best Beauty Buys

I don't buy In Style magazine regularly as it's fairly rubbish. But anything with 100 best beauty lists gets my attention. So I got this month's and I thought it would be fun to see what I already have (or have tried and dismissed) from this year's list.

Best Night Cream Issima Midnight Secret - Guerlain £51
Oh yes indeed. If you've not tried this and are a party animal, you have to get some. It's magical. You put it on, roll into bed at 4am, wake up at 6.30 to get to work and it will look like you've had eight hours sleep. I don't know how it does it - I guess that's why it is called secret. The bad news is it's expensive. And it doesn't last long. My sister bought me some one year and I guarded it with my life and only used it for big nights out - in my life, not that many of them - and I still nearly wept when it was finished. The only drawback is the scent - it's very heavy and made me a feel a bit nauseous.

Best moisturiser with an SPF Daywear Plus Multi Protection Anti-Oxidant Cream SPF 15 - Estee Lauder £21.50
What a mouthful - does it really need to have such a long name? This is the day cream I am currently using. I do like Estee Lauder skincare. For me this is a winter day cream, it's too heavy in the summer. It's lovely, sinks in, gives a good base for make-up and feels like it is doing you good.

Best serum
Advanced Night Repair Protective Recovery Complex - Estee Lauder - £34
I have a very small bottle of this that I got as a GWP (Gift with Purchase - do keep up). People rave about this. It's alright. I don't feel the need to go and buy a bottle, put it that way.

Best cleansing wipes
Cleansing facial wipes - Simple £2.99
Sometimes you need a cleansing wipe in your life. Camping (not that I would know), airplanes, after drunken nights out when you know you need to remove your make up but standing by a sink is too much effort... I love these ones. Does the job, no fuss and cheap.

Best under-eye concealer
Touche Eclat - YSL £22.50
OK, I don't get this product. But I don't use concealers. I bought this years ago because everyone said how amazing it was and I saw no difference.


Best inexpensive mascara
Masterpiece, Max Factor £7.95
This used to be my mascara of choice and then I moved on to Great Lash. This is good but I find it flakes a bit.

Best powder eyeshadow
MAC £10
Yes. No arguments from me. Once you have used MAC eyeshadow, there is no going back.


Best tweezers Tweezerman £16
Is there any point buying any others? These change your life in a small but significant way.


Best Blusher Blush in Orgasm - Nars £18.50
They are reviewing the powder blush and I have the Multiple (multiple orgasm - tee hee). But it's the same colour and you put it on your cheeks. I've blogged about this before. It's fantastic. Get some.

Best Body exfoliator
Smoothing body scrub for a new skin - Clarins £23.50
This is very good but I don't think it's substantially better than the cheaper alternatives. If someone gives you this as a gift, it's nice treat but you'd be fine with the scrub from Soap & Glory too. I don't think it is worth spending lots of money on body scrubs.

Best shower gel
Morrocan Rose Otto Body Wash - REN £16
Do I need to tell you again? It's heaven in the shower. Put it on your wishlist and then before your birthday, make sure everyone knows. You can't have too much of it.

Best body moisturiser
Creme de Corps - Kiehls £14.50
I have used this in the past and it is nice but as I find with all Kiehls products, never quite as good as you hope.

Best inexpensive body moisturiser
Rich Care Body Moisturiser - Nivea £4.45
Does the job. You have to like the Nivea scent though.

Best moisturiser with self tan
Holiday Skin Body Lotion - Johnson's £4.99
They all smell. And it's a horrible smell. But yes, this works if you can get past that.

Best inexpensive suncare line
Soltan - Boots
The one they do for the face is really, really good and I always buy it. I don't have a favourite sun tan lotion - yet.

Best top coat
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat - Seche £8.95
This is The Business. I've recently discovered it and was going to blog about it anyway. It dries nail rock hard in seconds. Worth every penny.

Best inexpensive hand cream
Norwegian formula - Neutrogena £3.39
This is great for winter hands. Not greasy but very smooth. I'd agree with this.

Best sun haircare range
Soleil - Kerastase - from £14
My hairdresser told me to get this as my colour fades in the sun. It does work when you can be bothered to spray it on before you head out. I do have to wonder how many suncare ranges for hair there are though...

Best hairspray
Elnett Satin, L'Oreal £1.99
Why on earth would you use anything else? This stuff is legendary. I don't use hairspray much but I always have a can of this in the bathroom - it's fab.

So, that's it. My next post will be some of the products that won that I want to try. Bet you can't wait!