10 Best Beauty Products We Discovered in 2018
2018 has been a big year for beauty – especially skincare. We've welcomed several new cult brands onto our shores and tried countless new products. But of course, only a few impressed us enough for us to take into the new year and to make it into this list.
These are the products we raved about through the year, that we still love and find ourselves going back to. They're the ones we bought as Christmas gifts and the newfound holy grails we'll repurchase at every Sephora sale from here on.
Without further ado, these are the top ten products we discovered in 2018.
Sunday Riley Good Genes All-In-One Lactic Acid Treatment
If you've heard of Sunday Riley, you've heard the rave reviews of their most famous product, Good Genes. We finally got our hands on it when the brand launched in Singapore earlier this year and are happy to say it has lived up to the hype.
After just a few uses, we noticed an improved skin texture. This is thanks to high potency, purified grade lactic acid that exfoliates dull, pore-clogging dead skin cells to reveal smoother, brighter and younger-looking skin. We use this at night right after cleansing and before a serum and moisturiser.
Huda Beauty Desert Dusk Palette
Huda Kattan has created a slew of amazing products for Huda Beauty, but this versatile Arabian desert-inspired palette is our favourite by far. There are 18 shades including 8 matte shadows and 6 pearl shadows, which make for some pretty daytime looks. But excites us the most are the 3 duochrome shadows and single pure glitter that really make the eyes pop on nights out.
Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum
Another new cult skincare brand that arrived on our shores this year, Drunk Elephant is all about clean ingredients that are compatible with all skin. This Vitamin C serum contains a potent 15 percent L-ascorbic acid (a pure form of Vitamin C) that helps to firm and brighten the skin. It also has a pH level of 3.3, which the brand believes makes the serum a non-irritating, effective formulation that delivers real results. We use this in the morning for a healthy glow all day.
Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Rescue Mask
Like a facial with multiple benefits, the mask targets dullness, rough texture, uneven skin tone, dryness, and congestion – all in just 5 minutes. Key ingredients include lotus seeds, which help to boost radiance, and lotus flower extract, which helps to refine and smooth the skin’s texture. Kombu seaweed flakes and red algae particles gently exfoliate and refine the skin, while sea fennel extract, which is rich in fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals, helps to smooth and enhance the skin’s suppleness.
Louis Vuitton's Le Jour Se Lève
Le Jour Se Lève translates to “daybreak” in French. Like the warm embrace of the morning’s first rays on the skin, Louis Vuitton’s citrus fragrance by perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud is gentle and radiant with a comforting freshness.
Le Jour Se Lève is a fruity-floral scent encompassing one of Belletrud’s favourite ingredients, the mandarin. Magnolia petals, apricot-tinged osmanthus and a subtly tangy blackcurrant accord stir up the fragrance, which dries down to an alluring chorus of musks.
Light and fresh, it's a scent that immediately lifts the spirits and perfect to wear in our climate.
Philosophy's Purity Made Simple Pore Extractor Mask
With charcoal, clay or other mask types that claim to detoxify and purge pores from the skin, there have been more misses than hits. But we love this one by Philosophy that contains white kaolin clay to extract dirt, oil and impurities, as well as salicylic acid that makes skin feel cleaner and pores visibly clearer. The multi-action mask also contains natural diatomaceous earth, which helps to gently exfoliate the skin as you wash it off. Ease of application is an added bonus – the mask is soft and creamy, so there’s none of that sticky mess that other masks tend to leave.
IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo
A cult haircare brand created by four renowned hairstylists, IGK has three types of dry shampoo ranging from light to medium and heavy cleansing. We went straight for the heavy cleanse and it was love at first spritz. Unlike many other dry shampoos, the First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo was basically invisible after spraying it on. It leaves the roots looking as fresh and clean as it does after an actual shampoo, and for the entire day. This is our go-to for countering post-workout greasiness and just to go longer between washes. Plus, we It has a light coconut scent that we love.
YSL Beauté All Hours Foundation Stick
We like our base makeup like we like our coffee — smooth, creamy and one that effectively keeps us looking fresh and awake all day. By these standards, the YSL Beauté All Hours Foundation Stick is the Blue Mountain of them all. Its oil-free formula blends effortlessly, glides over dry patches, providing a lasting velvet matte finish. Comfortably lightweight on the skin, the formula builds easily to provide medium coverage. Its fuss- and mess-free application also simplifies our morning routines and speeds up on-the-go touch ups. Available in 20 shades, the YSL Beauté All Hours Foundation Stick can also be used to conceal, highlight or contour.
Urban Decay's Naked Cherry eyeshadow palette
Shortly after the discontinuation of the original Naked eyeshadow palette, Urban Decay launched the Naked Cherry. It’s a sweet pink-based palette with 12 all-new shadows in soft mattes, metallics and satin formulas. All very on-trend and suited to all skin tones, the shades include Hot Spot (a creamy ivory), roses, plums, burgundies, and our personal favourite, Young Love, a metallic cranberry.
Peter Thomas Roth Hungarian Thermal Water Mineral-Rich Atomic Heat Mask
The key ingredient in this mask is ancient thermal water from a secret spring deep below Hungary’s Carpathian Valley. Combined with a blend of natural Hungarian botanicals, the mask helps to replenish, nourish, and moisturise skin. Bioengineered botanicals also help to improve the look of fine lines and texture, and visibly restore the skin’s natural moisture levels, strength and smoothness.
After applying the mask on the skin, activate it with water for a soothing, spa-like warming sensation, which will later reveal smoother, plumper and healthy looking skin.
