SOPHIE SAYS
ELLE BEAUTY DIRECTOR SOPHIE BERESINER TACKLES your BEAUTY WOES and FRAGRANCE DILEMMAS. THIS MONTH, THE BEAUTY SWAG to BAG ABROAD
Going away? Our beauty director reveals the cult buys to look out for on your trip
I want to stock up on cult beauty buys when I’m in New York next month. What should I invest in? SHANNON, OXFORD
Part of my job as Professional Beauty Person includes travelling. A lot. It’s a definite perk, unless you’re prone to homesickness or a fear of flying. Aside from the hotel pillows and air miles, the thing I get most excited about is the beauty shopping. Full disclosure: I do not often buy beauty products. I am sent things to try all the time, and it’s without doubt the hugest perk of my job (journalism doesn’t pay for the lifestyle my skin has become accustomed to, kids). So when I find things I want to repeat purchase, it means they must be good.
Since I know British products inside out, every now and then I like to hunt further afield. In the US, to be precise. Sephora is usually responsible for my post-trip bank-statement blues, because we all know money doesn’t count when you’re in another country – it’s Monopoly money. In America, an $8O bottle of TLC Sukari Babyfacial seems entirely reasonable (though tax is added at the till, so it’s more like $9O, but who’s counting?). But what’s Babyfacial, I hear you ask? It’s currently the only Drunk Elephant product you cannot get in the UK. The cult skincare line has now landed on our shores, but we beauty editors have been stocking up on it overseas for years. This is the most cult of all its products for the precise reason it can’t be sold in the UK – the (literally) illegally high level of actives aren’t compliant with EU regulations. The American regulatory body has different guidelines, so Drunk Elephant can put 3O% AHA plus 2% BHA in its peel mask , which will carefully resurface your skin and leave you, well, baby-faced. I think it’s worth $9O if you can stretch to it. Plus the airfare, of course.
So what else goes in my basket? I was in New York when Glossier Zit Stick launched, so I stocked up since it’s not available here. It’s effective at clearing those annoying spots that threaten to become big ones. That’ll be the illegally high 5% benzoyl peroxide, thanks.
If you’re scared of breaking the beauty law, try Bodyography Glitter Pigments. My very inspiring Insta-friend and make-up artist Katie Jane Hughes introduced me to them via her NYCbased channel before we were real friends, when she swiped one across her lids and I fell in love. Better still, these days you can get them at UK online retailers.
Now that Pat McGrath Labs’ incredible lipsticks are also available here, I prep my lips beforehand using Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask – I love how pillowy they feel in the morning. Finally, a brand I would love to have here is Milk Makeup, founded by British ex-beauty editor Zanna Rassi. The cult eye and lip marker pens I used to buy every New York Fashion Week are no more, but have been replaced by some huge sellers. If you cross the pond and invest in one thing, make it Milk’s CBD-infused Kush Mascara, Sephora’s number-one-selling mascara. I’m so sorry for what I just encouraged you to spend, but you’ll be on holiday so it won’t count. Only don’t quote me on that.
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“WE ALL KNOW MONEY
DOESN’T COUNT WHEN YOU’RE in ANOTHER COUNTRY – it’s MONOPOLY MONEY ”