2024 is the year skincare for the body finally catches up with facial formulas in both importance and efficacy. Editor-in-Chief Katy Sunnassee takes a look at some of the latest must-have products and formulas.
WORDS: KATY SUNNASSEE. IMAGES: VARIOUS BRANDS.
I’ve worked in women’s magazines for 17 years and been a beauty junkie even longer. I scour INCI lists (collated ingredients used in cosmetics), aiming to understand and seek efficacious ingredients and weed out products with undesirable additives. It’s been a huge learning curve, which continues to this day as skincare continues to evolve.
I now shudder to think back to when I would wash my poor face, body and hair in moisture-stripping, sulphate-containing, harsh chemical-filled products. My younger skin was more tolerant, so I had no idea the damage I was doing, but have since learned what tends to dry out my skin (sodium lauryl sulphate I’m looking at you!). Now, with my skin often parched, crépey and flaky like the drifting sands of the Gobi Desert (leg dandruff, anyone?), I need more moisturising properties in my products.
With face care it was always easier to find good products with super nourishing ingredients, but when it came to bodycare, lotions always seemed to be an afterthought in brands’ formulations. While we’d pay a small fortune for a tiny pot of face cream, we’d then slather cheap, watery body lotion all over our arms and legs, the benefits of which (if any) were gone within hours if not less.
Now though, the tide is turning, with Pinterest unveiling the trend for bodycare is up 1,025 per cent this year with people looking for better body skincare routines.
Everything from lotions and creams to oils and even serums are now as good as those we use on our faces. And quite rightly too, as our limbs are often more dry – hands that do dishes can feel dry as a bone, after all!
Here are some of the latest formulas to soothe and nourish your body as we emerge from winter hibernation…
In the shower…
Miller Harris Tea Tonique Body Wash, £26, millerharris.com.
Forget cheap, oil-stripping shower gels. This luxurious body wash softly moisturises with vitamin E and coconut extracts to leave skin revitalised in a gentle haze of fragrance.
Q+A Hyaluronic Acid Body Wash, £6.50, qandaskin.com. Protect your skin’s barrier with this hydrating wash that’s formulated to be gentle on skin – no drying sodium lauryl sulphate. Hyaluronic acid boosts moisture levels, while
