Charlotte Miller, founder of Charlie Betty Beauty, showed us how makeup – that colourful game we love so much – can be a shield to protect you from the world or magic healer. We had a virtual chat to talk about makeup, mental wellbeing and the beauty industry.

Whether it has been a long day at work or a cosy day at home, you should always look after your skin. Having a favourite moisturiser or hair mask which becomes a staple in your bathroom, is going to make you feel better. So just relax, and debrief on your day as we go through some necessities.

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Our favourite items from The Body Shop are going to help your skin appear, smoother, younger and clearer. Pair them with our top tips to get the best out of your skin.

1. The Almond & Honey Body Butter

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A soothing and thick moisturiser that really does butter up your body as it gives the illusion of silky skin. The scent has nutty, creamy notes and it lingers on your body for days. What more could you want than a product which is going to help nourish your skin, as well as make you smell great for days on end? The same scent also defines other products like shower creams, exfoliators and soaps.

Links to products: Almond Milk & Honey Exfoliating Cream Scrub | Almond Milk & Honey Shower Cream - The Body Shop®

2. The Japanese Cherry Blossom Kiss EdT

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A beautiful spray edition for springtime. The fragrance is very light, which is perfect for warmer weather. It is a fruity scent infused with notes of strawberries, amber and peony. Smother your body in the matching shower gel or body lotion, and spray with the eau de toilette for a longer-lasting smell.

Links to products: Japanese Cherry Blossom Strawberry Kiss Eau De Toilette 50ML  | Japanese Cherry Blossom Shower Gel - The Body Shop®

3. Hand Creams

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Especially during a time when you are washing and sanitising your hands more than ever, you need to remember to take care of them. Hand sanitisers are known for drying out your skin and they can also cause blisters in some cases. Therefore, The Body Shop hand creams are going to be a lifesaver, making a perfect balance with soaps, gels and sanitisers. These hand creams come in various scents, so you have many options, whether to match with your existing scent or to try something new.

Links to products: Palms & Pinkies Hand Cream Trio  | Joy & Jasmine Hand Cream - The Body Shop®

4. The Tangle Taming, Nourishing Hair Mask

Source: The Body Shop UK

A thumbs up from us. The formula will really help to calm down your wild hair, whilst making your locks glossy and smooth. The mask also comes in a banana scent, really incredible.

Links to the product: Banana Hair Mask- The Body Shop®

All Body Shop products are vegan friendly and made out of all-natural ingredients. They have also started to become a sustainable company by bringing out new ecological packaging to help save the world.

We hope you are familiar with the concept of Veganuary, as it has been taking place since 2014. But if you do not know in detail what it actually is, in a nutshell, it is an annual event that promotes a vegan lifestyle and motivates non-vegans to try a vegan diet during the whole month of January.

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But why stop only with food consumption and not explore more of the vegan products out there? Here are some recommendations to try a vegan beauty regime.

The Story Of Veganuary

The British entrepreneur Matthew Glover and animal rights campaigner Jane Land started the challenge, but now there is also a non-profit organisation with the same name that officially runs the campaign. What most people like about the campaign is that it is not all about going vegan, it is more focused on educating others about the effect of food on the environment and raising awareness of animal suffering. The campaign started in 2014 and each year more and more people take part, with an estimated 1.3 million people committing to Veganuary in 2019¹.

Diving More Into A Vegan Lifestyle

One of the biggest challenges of the 21^st century is climate change. It is believed by many that a plant-based diet can help fight global warming. If veganism offers so many benefits why not explore more of the beauty of leading a vegan lifestyle? Literary vegan beauty is taking over the industry, as more and more people decide to make more conscious decisions in terms of their everyday life and strive to minimise their carbon footprint.

UpCircle

It all started with a single cup of coffee from a small independent coffee shop. A sister passionate about skincare and a brother concerned with the waste produced from daily activities such as drinking a cup of coffee. The brother and sister duo launched the company in 2016 and they have been growing the brand ever since. A sustainable, ethical and high-performing skincare brand that is focused on incorporating circular economy to the skincare industry. UpCircle "products are unique in that not only are the sustainability credentials unparalleled, they genuinely deliver results for the skin", said Anna Brigthman, co-founder of the brand.

Irene Forte

The cosmetic brand of Irene Forte is just another reason to fall in love with Italy. The Verdura Resort in Sicily is home to the organic farm from which the key ingredients for their products are sourced. Each product is created with ingredients such as organic olive oil, floral hibiscus, fragrant lavender and herbal rosemary from the organic farm at Verdura Resort. Together with the icy fresh mineral water from Sicily’s mountainous Madonie Regional Natural Park they make the product we see today. The low allergenic potential of their products comes from the unique blend of fragrance and feel, along with delivering great results. On top of that, they are also with low allergenic potential. Along with that every stage from manufacturing to distribution is considered for their impact on the planet, the user and the Sicilian community from which our products originate.

Sakrid

A British brand dedicated to eliminating toxins and chemicals from our daily lives. To achieve their goal they use only high quality natural and organic ingredients for their products. That also makes them good for both you and the planet. The brand also strives to implement sustainable practices in sourcing ingredients, packaging and collaborating with suppliers who share the same philosophy. Following their motto “We make good products, using good ingredients, that are good for you and good for our planet”, all of their products are vegan, cruelty-free, organic and handmade in the UK.

Wild Science Lab

The London-based botanical haircare and skincare brand, founded by husband and wife Ali and Zoe, is worth checking out. Wild Science Lab has created innovative, award-winning hair and skin treatments that harness the natural power of the wild. They are driven by the desire to create high-performance, botanical, eco-friendly products that guarantee exceptional results while maintaining an environmental focus. Striving to achieve the highest possible percentage of naturally derived ingredients because they believe that nature offers power and simplicity that can work in harmony with our bodies to achieve effective transformations of skin and hair.

Gallinée

The world’s first skin and hair care line devoted to the health and wellbeing of “Planet You''. Do you know what a microbiome is? This is all the brand is about! A microbiome is the protective layer of your skin which is made up of 1000s of good bacteria. The unbalance and stripping away of the microbiome can result in inflamed and sensitive skin, from which a number of issues arise. Through a patented combination of prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics, Gallinée protects and nurtures your very own microbiome to ensure even the most sensitive and stressed skin can thrive even under the most severe conditions.

The number of benefits from using vegan cosmetics is immense: it benefits your skin, the environment and the animals. Why not make your new year's resolution to be more considerate of the planet? With the growing number of brands that offer vegan products, you have plenty of options to find your new favourite products.

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Charlie Betty Beauty uses colours on a human, more sympathetic scale. Makeup has much to do with our mood and, after all, chromotherapy has undoubted benefits for our wellbeing!

The pandemic has had a huge impact and long-lasting effects on our health and it continues to do so leaving it in tatters. 

The popularity of K-beauty will see no cease in 2022 and we can already tell you what are going to be the next Korean skincare trends that your skin will love this year.

Courtesy of Atomy

Ruby McGrath, MD of Korean skincare brand Atomy, reveals the latest trends that will be big in 2022.

In the UK, Google research on Korean skincare went up by 200%. As its success and appreciation do not stop, K-beauty does not stop to surprise us. Here we have expert Ruby McGrath, MD of Atomy, unveiling the latest Korean trends for 2022.

'Low-irritation' Cosmetics

“Korean skincare has been influenced by a global skin concern: the so-called 'maskne'. As masks become more prevalent in our lives, it’s having an effect on our skin including dryness, redness, irritation and ‘maskne’. ‘Low-irritation’ cosmetics are designed to soothe angry pores and skin troubles.

Ceramides are incredibly popular at the moment, thanks to their skin-soothing and anti-inflammatory properties, which is why we have added them to every step of our The Fame Skincare Set (£85). Also available to buy as individual products, which includes Toner (£19.50), Lotion (£19.50), Essence (£20.50), Nutrition Cream (£19.50), and Eye Cream (£19.50). Ceramides act as a source of strength that protects the skin barrier and keeps skin looking and feeling healthy.”

'Skip Care'

“Skip care is all about using fewer products to get the same results. A lot of the newer formulations are combining the benefits of several products into one. Not only does this cut down on the steps in your routine, but it also contributes to less waste and fewer carbon emissions in transporting products across the globe, which is a key growth area in the industry. We combined must-have skincare ingredients like Niacinamide, Green tea, Centella, Glycerin, and Oat kernel extract to create an effective do-it-all Absolute Ampoule (£36). With this ampule, you're treating your skin to anti-ageing, soothing, exfoliating, brightening, and acne-busting ingredients. Simply top with your favourite moisturiser and SPF and you’re set for the day!”

'Scalpcare’

“In Korea, we devote as much TLC to the skin on our head as we do to our facial skincare routines, and this is only going to become more dedicated in the New Year. It’s the scalp that really controls the health of the hair. So what’s going on in the follicle and the skin around the follicle could make the difference in whether you’re losing more hair, or maintaining your hair, and whether you have healthy hair or brittle hair. Our Scalpcare Set (£23) includes a shampoo and conditioner that incorporates Niacinamide, Neem, Arnica, Shikakai, Avocado, Henna, and Biotin to cleanse, nourish and balance the scalp.”

Oral Care

“In Korea, we are very thorough when it comes to our dental hygiene. Multiply the dedication we have to our skincare by 10! We clean our teeth after every meal as well as after drinking coffee and often carry a toothbrush around with us in our bags. In some places, you can even find free toothbrushes in bathrooms. Our Atomy Toothbrush (8pcs at £8) have super slim, flexible bristles with an anti-bacterial membrane for more effective removal of plaque and also to keep the toothbrush itself clean in between uses. Our Propolis Toothpaste (4pcs at £4) uses green tea and propolis extract as they are effective in minimising bacteria growth, as well as reducing bad breath.”

The Need-To-Know Ingredient

“Last but certainly not least we have the need-to-know ingredient for 2022. In 2021 Korea saw a large increase in supplement consumption, as our knowledge of the benefits of inner health and wellbeing for our outer, increases. Ellagic acid acts as an antioxidant and can decrease levels of inflammation to protect against disease. It can also help lighten your skin by blocking the activity of an enzyme involved in melanin production, as well as moisturising skin from the inside out, which is why we use it in the form of our Pomegranate Mixed Fruit Jelly (60 sticks at £58). Not only will a daily dose give you skin benefits, but studies
suggest that ellagic acid has excellent hair growth-promoting activity.”

Thanks to Ruby and Atomy, K-beauty has no secrets... at least for now.

To boost your health inside and out in 2022, discover the range of Atomy skincare and wellness products online.

Holidays are for relaxation and self-indulgence but your skin is not always that happy with it. Bruce Green, chartered scientist and founder of SOS Serum Skincare, explains why.

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Overindulging during the festive season does no good to your skin. Bruce Green, founder of SOS Serum Skincare, reveals how it goes hand in hand with some skincare dilemmas.

Holidays And Your Skin, What Bruce Says...

"First of all, we throw our healthy habits out the window and enjoy many alcoholic beverages, and eat more sugary treats, fatty foods. Alcohol is a diuretic, which forces water out of the body making it harder to rehydrate. It can cause the skin to look sallow and make pores and fine lines more visible. Sugary foods can result in a quick rise in blood sugar which can cause a spike in insulin. This jump can increase skin and hair oiliness leading to inflammation and potential breakouts. But this isn't me saying not to enjoy yourself! Here are a few tips that can help your skin this festive season."

Rehydration

Image courtesy of SOS Serum Skincare

"This is the big one. For every drink of alcohol, drink a glass of water – the one for one rule. Water flushes out toxins and restores your hydration levels."

Cleanse

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"I know it's tempting after a sparkly social evening to reduce or even skip your facial cleansing routine but DON’T! After hydration, this is the next most important factor to protecting skin from party fallout. But be gentle and use a non-alcoholic, mild or no perfume face cleanser. SOS Cleanse (£15) is perfect for this as it is lightweight and rehydrating."

"Give exfoliation a miss until your skin cell regeneration batteries are re-charged. Follow cleansing with natural non-fragranced serums and moisturisers like our  SOS Serum (£15) that delivers comfort, moisturisation and protection to the skin."

Rest

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"Take advantage of an alcohol-free night in your schedule and have an early bedtime. Your body, mind and skin regeneration is crucial and you will instantly look and feel better for it."

Wait

Image courtesy of SOS Serum Skincare

"New cosmetics, skincare products and perfumes will often come to you as Christmas gifts but don’t slap them all on at once or your skin could have a freak-out! Wait until your skin has settled and balance restored before trying out a new skincare formulation; your skin could reject something for all the wrong reasons."

With these expert tips in mind, you can be sure that 'festive skin' can be healthy and glowy for the new year!

Ageing is a natural part of life, it is inevitable, but there is also truth in the saying ‘we are only as old as we feel’. Listening to your body really helps head off aches down the ages. 

No crystal ball is needed to predict the biggest beauty trends for next year! We have Tia Roqaa, beauty expert and founder of beauty subscription box Roccabox, doing the job for us and sharing her expertise.

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What has the beauty industry in store for us in 2022? Roccabox founder and CEO, Tia Roqaa, foresaw the hottest beauty trends we will see and wear next year.

Tia knows well which products and beauty trends will be hot next and you should not be surprised by her foresight. Tia Roqaa is a real beauty expert, a woman who turned her passion for cosmetics and experience in PR into a curated and elegant beauty experience. In this blog, Tia delighted us with her 2022 beauty predictions.

Themes

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“Inclusivity across beauty is really gaining pace, which is great to see. From race to gender, identity to ability, the beauty scene is finally responding to our very unique sets of needs and we’re seeing certain brands becoming genuinely more inclusive – rather than just talking the talk. It’s a conversation consumers have been having behind the scenes for a while, and it’s great to see brands are joining the narrative. At Roccabox we champion and support this movement, having already worked with some beauty brands such as Jecca Blac – a gender-free make-up collection that’s truly authentic and innovative in its brand mission of inclusivity.”

Trends

Image courtesy of Roccabox

“There are plenty of trends within the clean beauty movement that show signs of becoming even bigger and more exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing waterless products grow and innovate. Waterless products are products where the water has been removed which make them more sustainable. Water within a product requires a preservative to prevent bacteria from forming, so immediately you’re taking away the need for this preservative, making a cleaner product. You’re also reducing the need for plastic packaging, making them naturally more environmentally friendly. The result is a formula that is more potent as it’s undiluted.

I also love the growing trend for emo-beauty: products that have an additional impact on our emotional wellbeing as they perform their beauty function. It’s a beauty space with so much potential: in fact, we’re planning a limited edition emo-beauty Roccabox for 2022. I also think our fairly recent interest in scalp-care and our shift in perspective on the importance of treating our scalp for better hair health will continue to grow.”  

Trends To Leave In 2021

“TikTok will remain a fun outlet for showing off beauty tips but I don’t think the beauty trends emerging on the platform will continue to hold much weight. They provided a fun distraction during the 2021 misery of lockdowns but I think in 2022 as lives get busy again we will leave those behind.”

Blue Light

Image courtesy of Roccabox

“Just as we came to understand how the sun damages our skin, and now protect it daily, it’s time to now consider other ways our living environment is impacting our skin and how to better protect it. We work in such a technological era - we’re sat in front of multiple screens for most of the day - so it’s time to adapt our skincare to protect ourselves from its potentially skin-damaging effects. Blue light is now proven to increase inflammation, prevent collagen production, and increase hyperpigmentation, particularly in darker skin tones. Both mainstream and smaller niche brands have already brought out some great protective products but I think we will soon start to see blue light protection added commonly to our daily moisturiser – in the same way, SPF is often added. I also think additional protective products, such as serums that offer blue light protection will become far more available, with brands offering us greater choice.”

Nostalgia Beauty

Image courtesy of Roccabox

“The emerging makeup nostalgia trends seem to be all about being as extra as possible: I think it’s a natural reaction to us all socialising again, and wearing all the make-up we sent into hibernation for a year! In 2022 I think we will see elements from different decades that favour high-octane glamour, look-at-me colour and playful looks. So for example high-shine plastic-looking glossy lips will be huge next year: a look that is borrowed from the ‘90s, ‘80s and the disco ‘70s. High-shine nude, lacquered red, vinyl berry tones: we’ll see it all next Spring. Victoria Beckham does a great line in super-glossy clear lip gloss, which we’ve been raving over at Roccabox, as does Fenty Beauty. I also love MAC’s range of lip glosses, including their classic Lipglass.”

Less Is More

“For many reasons, we’re seeing consumers looking to scale down their skincare and reduce the amount of products they use. We’re craving a ‘less is more’ approach to skincare right now and I believe this will continue. It’s going to call the beauty industry into creating more streamlined product lines, for sure, but just because we’re favouring a more simple and more gentle approach to skincare doesn’t mean we don’t expect to see the same results. So I expect brands will create more hybrid multi-functional products and will create cleaner formulas to reduce the chemical load we’re applying to our skin.”

Shopping Online

Image courtesy of Roccabox

“The online beauty shopping experience has definitely improved - online beauty retailers really had to up their game over these last 18 months and now shopping for both make-up and skincare online is no longer as challenging as it once was. Ingredients-search tools are always a handy way to navigate skincare purchasing and a good starting point for skincare shopping. Sites with visible independent reviews of products play an important role too, as customers often want to know how other consumers found the product in real life.

Colour-matching can be tricky online but I’ve seen some really innovative and effective colour-matching options on independent brand websites – the ‘find my shade’ option on ILIA’s website for example is particularly effective: it cleverly gives examples of hair and eye colour, as well as undertone, to help you determine your most seamless skin tone match.”

In 2022, the beauty industry will continue along the path toward inclusivity and holistic wellbeing seen during the pandemic. How Roccabox will reflect the new state of things in 2022? We asked Tia again...

Image courtesy of Roccabox

Roccabox 2022

“We’ve confirmed some of my personal favourite brands for 2022 – including Murad and Oskia. We have some incredible limited edition boxes in the pipeline – I can’t reveal much but they include some brand exclusives with a handful of hero brands that I think many of our customers will be really surprised to see! Our monthly boxes will continue to introduce our customers to really effective, results-driven skincare brands. This will include cosmeceutical brands, such as Doctors Formula, which we’ve already started to introduce our customers to – their products are second to none for seeing a genuine change in your skin. We know our customers might not otherwise have discovered this type of beauty brand, or they might have been reluctant to invest in their products given their higher price point, so we think what we do and whom we introduce customers to is really important.

We also plan to introduce our customers to the skincare ingredients that are set to be huge in 2022 – niacinamide is one that springs to mind – with ingredient-focused products that our team of experts have chosen for our boxes because they truly live up to the hype. I’m also really excited about the themes of our boxes for next year: I don’t want to give away any spoilers but the concepts we’ve chosen really tap into what customers are looking for in their beauty purchases right now.”

Meanwhile, In This Month's Roccabox...

Image courtesy of Roccabox

December Roccabox is the editors' wishlist in a box. This month's beauty box contains three full-sized products from brands Laritzy, Doctors Formula and Figs & Rouge, and two deluxe mini samples. This skincare and makeup chest is worth £180 and available for just £15. The beauty experts at Roccabox put these five products together after a year of testing and digging into the best and newest from the industry. December Roccabox 'Winter Wishlist' is all a beauty enthusiast would like for a glowy complexion ready to party and face the cold.

Roccabox monthly boxes and limited-edition boxes are available to purchase online starting from £15. (roccabox.co.uk)

Dark circles are a common cosmetic problem. This skin concern occurs frequently and in all age ranges due to our hectic lifestyle, but what causes them? Above all, can they be eliminated effectively, once and for all?

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In this blog, we are going to shed some 'light' on dark circles and know more about the problem and how aesthetic medicine can solve it.

What Causes Dark Circles?

Ph. Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels

Dark circles can appear in two ways in the undereye area. On the one hand, they may be a periorbital hyperchromia, known as 'dark circles'. On the other hand, they usually appear by marking the bone of the orbit of the eye, leaving a sunken and marked groove under the eyes. These two types of dark circles can appear together or separately, and they have different causes.

The factors behind dark circles can be:

• Lack of sleep. This is the most common of the known causes. When the body does not sleep the hours it needs to recover, dark circles appear.
• Tiredness. It is directly related to the previous cause, although they do not always occur simultaneously.
• Stress. Nowadays, this is one of the most common factors. Our lifestyle is becoming more and more frantic, causing the body not to have enough energy. Therefore, stress favours the appearance of fatigue and dark circles.
• Genetics. Family history always plays an important role in the appearance of certain aesthetic problems, including dark circles.
• Excess sun. Excess exposure to sunlight and radiation makes the skin age prematurely and contributes to the appearance of dark circles.
• Age. Although it is not a determining factor, it can influence this skin concern.
• Food. A diet rich in salt can encourage these unsightly spots to appear under the eyes, sometimes accompanied by bags.

Aesthetic Treatments VS Dark Circles

Ph. João Jesus, Pexels

There are many DIY and homemade hacks to treat dark circles, of course. However, both types of dark circles can be treated with aesthetic medicine. A previous diagnosis is always essential; hence, before starting any treatment, you should go to a qualified aesthetic doctor.

The main aesthetic therapy involves hyaluronic acid. This facial filler is used with great success to fill in deep lines and also dark circles. An even and smooth skin make a youthful look. Hyaluronic acid treatments conceal the orbital sockets of the eyes and give luminosity to your gaze. This treatment is one of the star techniques for dark circles, although it is not the only one. It is necessary to highlight that hyaluronic acid has multiple beneficial properties for the dermis but does not change the colour of the skin, so it is not suitable to treat dark circles hyperpigmentation. Despite this, it does illuminate the area by filling sunken dark circles with volume, thus achieving an optical effect of luminosity and vitality.

Other treatments such as peeling or laser are usually used to treat excess shadow of the dark circles. For this reason, it is essential to go to an expert in aesthetic medicine to determine the best treatment in each case.