With many of us credit-conscious at the moment there is nothing worse than spending £25 on a new 'must-have' then shoving it to the back of your draw when it does nothing for you! New products come and go but only very few do exactly what they promise.
Not every product suits everyone, one girl's acne-inducing serum may be another girl's golden ticket to eternal beauty! But nonetheless we have compiled a list of the ten essential beauty products that nobody should be without. These are the outstanding products that have rightly earned their position in the beauty hall of fame!
Read on for our top ten list in no particular order...
YSL Touché Eclat Radiant Touch Highlighting Pen, £23
This cult-concealer is used by celebrities, supermodels, beauty editors and grandmothers alike! With mineral extracts and light-reflecting particles you can use it under your eyes, on the sides of your nose, on browbones or anywhere you want luminous skin! It is tempting to brush it all over your face (Yep, guilty as charged).
From the handy dispensing pen to the luxe packaging and satisfying 'click', this is one product worth every penny.
Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Skin Protectant, £22
The ultimate multi-tasker. This soothing cream moisturises and nourishes your body from top to toe, packed with skin-loving petrolatum (found in Vaseline too) and Vitamin E it can provide relief to a dehydrated face, puffy eyes, sunburnt lips, rough cuticles, dry elbows or even minor burns.
You can also dab it on lips for a wet-look pout, on unruly eyebrows and on lids for dewy eyes. Miss Arden would be proud that nearly 80 years on it's still a beauty must-have.
Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler, £19.50
An iconic beauty tool if ever there was one. Ask any professional makeup artist what their favourite tool of their trade is and guaranteed these will get a shout out! We aren't exactly sure why they curl a hundred times better than the lookalikes (they claim to have ergonomic handles shaped and sized for optimum curl and a patented hinge for precise pressure) but they instantly coil lashes into a beautiful flutter like no other.
Mascara simply does not look as good without these. End of.
Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour, £12
Manicures would become extinct if every woman were to use this nail polish! (Slight exaggeration but it is THAT good) As well as being housed in a spill-proof bottle, the neck distributes the exact amount of fluid, the brush just glides and the polish itself deserves a whole new sentence!
They have a top-secret formula exclusive to Chanel which figures because there is no other polish like it -it is so smooth it applies with professional precision and creates a really glossy colour. If you have a wobbly hand (It's the pressure/stress of painting nails!!) then this really is fool-proof. Plus it dries fast, rarely chips and actually strengthens nails!
Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, £24.47
If anything is going to fake a good night's sleep or hide a hangover this is it. A Clarins bestseller for over 20 years this moisturiser softens, fills lines and creates a radiant complexion.
It boasts a cocktail of skin-boosting ingredients -soothing witch hazel and algae extracts, nourishing olive tree extracts and rice starch to purify skin. Before serums became popular this is the one product that could fake a glow, and as of yet we haven't found one that makes skin look as healthy as this can. It is radiance in a bottle!
Mason Pearson Brush, from £29
We often overload our hair with products to solve a hair-mare when a good brush through with a quality hairbrush will often do. With a mix of their own unique nylon and boar bristles a MP hairbrush cleans and removes dirt from each strand.
They've been making hairbrushes since 1885 and all the legwork has paid off - this hairbush really does improve the look and feel of hair. We've tried styling products that don't style as well as this brush.
Nars The Multiple, £27
Nars' hero product and the original multi-purpose colour stick. Its light cream-to-powder formula provides sheer colour that can be used to create a healthy flush or as a highlighter to contour. It is the easiest way to achieve a shimmering glow with minimal fuss - you can blend it effortlessly with your fingertips.
The shades are all gorgeous but we love Orgasm which has a legion of fans -all with beautifully glowing skin no doubt! Oh and did we mention you can use it eyes, lips and body too? True, it's got a hefty price tag but it will last you a very, very long time.
Bio Oil, £8.80
This specialist oil may not be wrapped up in an expensive looking bottle á la Chanel nor is it very covetable but it makes skin look beautiful so in our eyes is totally exciting!
It contains a new oil (a recreation of an oil that ducks produce!) that is so potent it can minimise scars, stretch marks and smooth out uneven skintones. What impresses us though, and the millions of people who have bought it, is how healthy it makes skin look -smooth, soft, supple, moisturised, glowing. Whether you massage it into skin or add a few drops to your bath you'll instantly notice a difference. If you can't manage 2litres of water a day, don't C-T-M your skin or body brush daily then fake it with this.
Batiste Dry Shampoo, from £1.49
Whether you're off to the festivals or are planning a sneaky all-nighter this is the one product you should always pack/keep in your desk draw. This dry shampoo has been soaking up oil and refreshing hair for 30 years but now it can also be used to add volume, height, movement and texture to any 'do.
Just spray onto scalp, massage in and hair instantly looks clean and revived. The Blush version has girly extracts of peony, tuberose and lily so will instantly mask the smell of hungover hair too. We especially love their new mini sprays which are so small you can take them anywhere.
Vaseline Lip Therapy, from £1.15
This last one is an oldy but a goody. It recently came in at No1 in a poll conducted by Superdrug entitled 'Top 20 essential beauty items women can't live without'. This comes as no suprise as this petroleum-based balm soothes cracked lips and skin, moisturising so intensively that it's become a beauty essential for most women around the world. Our favourite is the pink-tinged Rose but with its sun protection and aloe versions doing the rounds too it's likely this little wonder-balm will be around for generations to come.
