Spring best buys: 10 new beauty products we tested and loved this month

Spring clean your beauty routine.

Spring is the perfect time to give your beauty routine a makeover, and April is also a really great time to start getting your summer glow going, especially since it usually takes a couple of months to see any real changes once you start a new routine or start using new products.

Glowing skin is really the most important accessory you can rock this season (take a clue from Hailey Bieber, if you will), and luckily, the beauty world has listened to our prayers and really brought out some stellar new products that will help even the most driest and dullest complexion look their glowing best.

Having tested many, many new beauty products over the past few weeks and months, here are 10 I really, really loved – and will be buying again once they run out.

1. Trilogy AHA Resurfacing Serum

I tried to use nothing but clean skincare products, and have been a huge fan of Trilogy products for years, especially their iconic Rosehip Oil (which even Kate Middleton is said to be an avid user of!).

This year, the New Zealand based natural beauty brand has brought out a skin resurfacing serum that really does what it says on the tin and gently exfoliate the skin throughout the day. Honestly, I was sceptical at first at how big of a difference this would really make, but within days, my skin genuinely looked brighter and the little bit of melasma I have on my cheeks (thanks to two pregnancies) looked paler and less visible.

The Trilogy AHA Resurfacing Serum contains a natural AHA derived from Australian Lime Pearl extract and Prickly Pear that chemically exfoliates your skin (no harsh grains or microbeads needed!) that targets dullness and uneven skin tone. As well as this, it also contains rosehip oil and plant-derived hyaluronic acid to really plump up your skin and add moisture.

I use it in the morning on clean skin, then follow on with a serum and my moisturiser with SPF.

€29, Cloud10beauty.com

2. Ella & Jo Relax & Renew Night Cream

Trust me, you’ll be looking forward to bedtime with this one.

Irish beauty brand Ella & Jo have long since woved us with their fun, yet effective products, and the new Relax & Renew Night Cream is no different.

Interestinlgy, this night cream is one of the first products in Ireland to use Bakuchiol – a natural vitamin A that works just as efficiently as a retinol but without the risk of skin irritation. My skin can normally be a bit sensitive to retinol, but I found zero irritation with this cream, instead my skin seemed beautifully soft and more plump in the morning after having used it.

€50, Ellaandjo.ie

3. Image Skincare Iluma Intense Brightening Exfoliating Powder

For bright skin, we really do need to exfoliate and get rid of dead, dull skincells. And – by doing this, you are also making sure that the skincare products you use actually get a chance to penetrate the skin and do its job.

Again, my skin is in the more sensitive side, so I have often found that a lot of exfoliating products leaves it feeling tight and dry, but this little gem from Image Skincare is now my total go-to.

Just shake out a little bit of the powder in the palm of your hand, add a drop of water and mix until it forms a soft foamy texture, then gently massage your face with it before washing it off with a damp, clean cloth.

The Iluma Intense Brightening Exfoliating Powder helps fade any melasma and pigmentation, as well as more stubborn age spots and uneven skintone, and my skin definitively looks and feels more glowy and even after I started using this.

€43.50, Millies.ie

4. Bio-Oil Lightweight Body Lotion

If you are a fan of the cult product Bio-Oil (I am!), you are about to fall head over heels for their new body lotion too.

It is just one of those products that has no bells or whistles, but just does exactly what it says on the tin – absorbs easily into the skin and does not leave any greasy residue.

My skin feels silky soft and summer ready.

€9.50, Mccabespharmacy.comMccabespharmacy.com

5. Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Superfusion Face Oil

Warning: Once you have tried this face oil, you might be hooked for life.

Charlotte Tilbury’s latest product is the Collagen Superfusion Face Oil that really works hard to leave your skin glowing, plump and healthy from the inside out.

Enriched with a next-generation collagen matrix, powerhouse plant extracts, vitamins, superfood seed oils and soothing essential oils, this oil literally made me feel like I had just had a facial – every time I put it on.

Face oils are great for protecting the barrier on your skin, keeping it soft and prevent water loss, which can lead to dry, sensitised skin, and this oil does just that – and then some.

€72, Charlottetilbury.com

6 Seabody Glycan Enrich Moisturiser

Irish beauty brand Seabody harnesses the power of sea plants to create their powerful and effective products, and having tried a few of them now, I have become obsessed with this moisturiser.

Chock-a-block with multi-functional marine actives, including time release microencapsulated MaraFucoidan™, Vegan Algal Omegas, Phyto-ceramides, Phytosqualane and Vitamins B, C & E, my skin still feels soft and glowing at night, a full 12 hours after I have put this cream on in the morning.

Keen to clean up your skincare routine and opt for products that are kind to your body – and the environment? Trust me, you want this daily moisturiser in your life.

€65, Seabody.com

7. Dermalogica Circular Hydration Serum

Having written about beauty and wellness for a decade, I am the first to admit it takes a lot to really impress me, and I tend to not be tricked too much my fancy packaging and unrealistic claims, but rather look at ingredients and real results.

Dermalogica is one of those brands that don’t need to use any bells and whistles to create attention around their products, simply because they really, really work and once you have started using their products, you tend to keep coming back.

Their latest release is the Circular Hydration Serum, a long-lasting moisturiser serum that immediately floods skin with hydration, works to replenish skin from within, and even helps prevent future hydration evaporation.

I have been using it for about a month now, and simply add a few drops to my face after cleaning it morning and evening, and then add my normal moisturiser or night cream. Having tried lots of serums over the years, this one feels very different as it seems to work better and better – meaning my skin feels more hydrated now than it did just a week ago, and I notice it seems less sensitive too, no doubt as the serum has helped strengthen my skin barrier.

€65, Dermalogica

8. Aliso Beauty Face Skulpting Beauty Tool

Say hello to my new best friend – the Aliso Face Skulpting Tool, a facial massager designed to aid lymphatic drainage, sculpt and contour, and mimic the effects of a facial.

And honestly, this genuinely feels like having a mini facial – every night. The device uses batteries, and the sonic vibrational technology will help maximise the result of your overall skincare routine, not only allowing your products to penetrate deeper, but also by reviving and depuffing the skin.

I use it in the evening, after cleansing my skin and applying a serum or face oil, then I simply run this over my skin, in upwards motions to counteract gravity, and I swear, my jaw looks more contoured and my skin just seems more plump and defined. I am obsessed.

€34.95, Alisobeauty.com

9. Shiseido Synchro Skin Soft Blurring Primer

Ever since lockdown, I find myself barely wearing makeup apart from a little mascara and cream blusher, and prefer instead to let my skin breathe without being clogged with heavy products and foundations.

However, on days when I have meetings or am going out for something, I have started using the amazing Synchro Skin Soft Blurring Primer from Shiseido.

Harnessing over 145 years of Japanese beauty wisdom, it will not only create the perfect base for your make up, but this weightless, water-based primer is also perfect for wearing on its own, and will effortlessly refines the appearance of pores and blur your skin – much like an Instagram filter in a bottle.

I just dab on a couple of drops and blend into my skin and voila, any unevenness and imperfections are immediately blurred out, and if I really want to go out all, I blend a little bit of the primer into my tinted day cream and my skin instantly looks even, glowy and poreless. Such a must-buy if you ask me.

€36, Cultbeauty.com

10. Skin Proud Bright Eye Pomegranate Eye Gel-Cream

Forever waking up with tired, puffy eyes? As a notoriously restless sleeper, whose kids still wake up too early, puffy morning eyes were the bane of my life – until now.

Having never really gotten into the whole eye cream thing, the new Bright Eye Pomegranate Eye Gel-Cream from Skin Proud has changed all that – and I am not going back now.