BEAUTY CLINIC: Adaptive make-up for summer skin

Jo and Sarah answer real questions from readers: to put your query, go to beautybible.com

Q I’m trying to find a tinted moisturiser for summer that will match my skin as I get a bit tanned. Also: something for my dark circles please.

A At Beauty Bible HQ, we have just been trying a duo of products that should totally do the biz for you. Korean-inspired French brand Erborian, now under the umbrella of the L’Occitane beauty empire, launched their CC (‘Complexion Corrector’) Crème SPF25, £38 for 45 ml, a couple of years back to rapturous reviews, including from Beauty Bible tester panels. 

The CC Crème helps skin looks smoother and more even-toned through the techno-wizardry of illuminating ‘colour controller’ pigments. The clever thing is that the product comes out white and then adapts to your skin tone (in three seconds, they say) so you don’t have any of that faff of finding the right colour for now, then needing to update through the summer.

After trialling the CC Crème, one tester commented it was ‘The best product I have found for evening out skin tone. It seems to make my skin more radiant and look so much better that it gives me confidence. Several people had said how good my skin looks.’

Another wrote: ‘It did what it said, making my skin smoother and more luminous.’ And another tester reported ‘This sits perfectly underneath foundation [as a primer] but I preferred to use it on its own. Wonderful product that made my skin look healthy and radiant, soft and dewy – and gave a good smoothing out of wrinkles, also camouflaged a couple of dark spots.’

The big news is that the CC Crème has now been joined by CC Eye: Radiance Eye Contour Cream, £34 for 10 ml, which is a small work of genius if you have under eye creases from puffy eye bags, dark circles or blue shadows on the inner corners of your eyes. You put little dots from the teeny nozzle around the eye zone, then pat them in and – almost magically – it blurs lines and imperfections such as brown patches, illuminates shadowy areas, and brightens and lightens the whole eye zone. 

It’s an effective moisturiser of the delicate skin round the eye and it also promises that make up will last longer. Oh, and it all looks completely natural… We’re in for the long haul with these.

Beauty Bible loves… 

Spots & Stripes (skincare for teens and tweenagers), £12-14. 

We once did a Beauty Bible book-signing tour of Britain in high street drugstores during which we spent much of our time trying to keep teenagers with troubled skins from buying paint-stripper toners and treatments. In point of fact, what teenage skins mostly need is gentleness, effectiveness – and formulations/packaging which invite diligent use. Ideally, earth-friendly, too – because these things (happily) matter a lot to the younger generation.

And here is a range that ticks all those boxes, founded by an incredibly knowledgeable beauty editor, Charlotte-Anne Fidler, who tested them on her own daughters, Anouk, now 14, and Bo, 10. Spots & Stripes is targeted at boys AND girls, taking into account all the challenges of ‘teenager’ and ‘tween’ skin, with the range covering everything from haircare and bath products to deodorants via great skincare options like Gentle Cleansing Lotion (there’s an option for boys and for girls), and Super Balm (a multi-tasking spot-zapper/lip-smoother/bite-buster). 

These last two have particularly taken our fancy: the works a treat, getting its gentle cleansing power from kukui and coconut oils, while oils of chamomile, lavender and mint work to calm and target bacteria that can lead to spots. And that balm? Just luscious. (No idea how it does on spots or bites, but it’s pretty darned fantastic for lips.)

And with its eye-catching designs featuring spots (for girls) and stripes (for boys), this could be the first time in all of history that parents have been borrowing products from teenagers, rather than the other way around.