May's best beauty buys

Great beauty buys always tempt us. This month, lips and cheeks are in for the prettiest of tints. A hard-working skin serum helps brighten dark spots and diffuse pores, while a favourite foundation is now stacked with skincare ingredients. Editor Trudi Brewer shares the best on offer this month.

 

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From a pocket-sized mani set with the best hand cream to a luxe-y new lip liner, lip and cheek tint, and a serum to banish those post-summer dark spots, here’s what’s landed on our desks and hitting stores in May.

MOR COSMIC MANICURE GIFT SET, $44.

 

This cute limited-edition manicure set includes a great travel kit with all the tools you need to keep your nails looking on point. It also contains the nourishing Hand & Nail Cream, which is stacked with goodness, like shea butter, almond, sesame, and macadamia oil. Bonus: It’s sweetly scented with MOR’s famous Marshmallow fragrance. 


 

Revlon's latest cheeky beauty buy is makeup bursting with skincare benefits. The formal boosts a superfood of vitamins and hydrating glycerin to instantly smooth and moisturise the skin while adding a fresh pink colour to the cheeks. But what we love most is that it glides on smoothly and blends evenly. Apply a dot on each cheek with your fingers and blend it with a fluffy brush. There are four shades pictured here: Striking Rose.


 

We are Glow Recipe fans, and this newbie landed at the perfect time. Winter is the season to reboot your skin with some skin-clarifying ingredients. This new serum is stacked with AHA+BHA fruit acids and mandelic acid, a potent but gentle combination that buffs away dry skin, clears breakouts, and refines pores for clear, hydrated skin.


 

The latest New Zealand brand on our radar is Milou. Currently, three products are in this science-backed, plant-based natural skincare range. Our pick, this gorgeous beauty oil, can be used on the face, hair, and cuticles and contains a potent blend of evening primrose oil, bakuchiol, a natural alternative to retinol, and vitamins C, E and K from prickly pear.
The skin-nourishing omegas 3, 6, and 9 instantly hydrate any parched complexion. Oh, and did I mention it smells divine, thanks to the blend of pink grapefruit orange, jasmine and ylang-ylang?

 

There’s always a reason to grab a new lip gloss, and this tinted treat is hydrating but kiss-proof. So, this newbie has answered our call to get that juicy look on your lips without it catching in yoru hair or ending up smudged. It is long-wearing, lightweight, and comes in six gorgeous colours; the Honey Mooner shade is pictured here.


 

As far as lip liner goes, this is a great beauty buy. These gorgeous skin-toned shades offer precision lining for defining and contouring lips or filling them in as a base to gloss or lipstick. To help boost volume and achieve a fuller-looking pout, we’re hooked on the colour Smitten (pictured here); there are ten great shades to choose from.


 

This top-selling foundation has just had a revamp. It is still lightweight, with a buildable, breathable cover that leaves a soft matte finish in 71 diverse shades. But why do we love wearing it again? It is packed with skincare ingredients. A whopping 87 per cent of the formula is skin-loving ingredients, including red algae, sugar kelp, and hyaluronic acid. It is designed for all skin types, even oily.