I may have been in the beauty business for almost ten years, but there’s still nothing that excites me more than a new skincare launch. Trying and testing the latest and greatest launches is always a lesson in ingredient innovation and a great way to see how brands are interpreting the latest skincare trends and technologies.
Of course, skincare is incredibly personal, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a beauty editor and esthetician, it’s that any and every skin type and concern can benefit from a focus on soothing, hydrating, and repairing skin. And so far, that seems to be top of the agenda in 2023. Healing and nourishing products dominate the year’s first skincare launches, so if you’ve got sensitive or breakout-prone skin, you’re in luck. La Roche-Posay have created a face mist version of their famous Cicaplast Baume B5; The Ordinary has a new barrier-strengthening cleanser, and Tata Harper just dropped a dry oil specifically for stressed skin.
This is welcome news for me and my tired winter skin. January is, without fail, the month in which my skin always seems to suffer the most. Between post-holiday season breakouts and cold weather-induced dryness, my skin is dull, tired, sensitive, and officially in need of some major TLC – which thankfully January 2023’s newest skincare launches provide.
Featuring hero ingredients like squalane, cica, peptides, and omegas, you’ll find all the details on the best new skincare products below.
A cocktail of botanical extracts, including cucumber, thyme, olive leaf, and rosemary, with hyaluronic acid and glycerin for a powerful boost of hydration, this is essentially a serum in face mist form. Perfect for dehydrated, sensitised, and acne-prone skin, it helps to reduce redness and soothe multiple forms of irritation.
La Roche-Posay took their famous Cicaplast Baume B5 formula and turned it into a face mist, so you can get the same repairing and hydrating benefits the thick cream, via a lightweight, refreshing spray. Like a liquid plaster, it has barrier-strengthening and antibacterial properties which help to protect broken skin from infection. The best part? It’s light enough to be applied throughout the day, providing instant soothing relief for inflamed and irritated skin.
Launching 13th January. January is the prime time of year to introduce a face oil into your skincare routine since plummeting temperatures and moisture-sapping central heating wreak havoc upon skin. Unlike typically thick and greasy face oils, this one has a silky texture which allows it to absorb quickly and get to work. Clinical trials show that it improves moisture levels by 19% in just one day.
Beauty Pie products always draw upon innovative ingredients and technologies, and their new last growth serum is no exception. It utilises vitamins, peptides, and biotin to enhance the thickness and length of lashes, and prevent thinning and breakout. The result? According to clinical trials, lashes will appear 66% thicker within just four weeks.
Launching 9th March (available now to O Lab members). It’s been months since we got a new launch from The Ordinary, a brand that never fails to impress with its ingredient innovation and affordable formulas. While most foaming cleansers have a bad rep for stripping and drying out skin, this one is formulated with glucoside, which helps to strengthen the skin barrier even as it cleanses skin. If you liked The Ordinary’s Squalane Cleanser, but prefer something that leaves skin feeling a little freshers, you’ll love this newbie.
Launching 11th January. The original Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream features in my winter routine every year without fail – there’s nothing quite like it for nourishing dry winter skin – but this year sees the launch of a new contender. Designed to go a step further than the original, this souped-up version has a balm-to-cream formula which nourishes skin by cleverly mimicking the skin’s lipid structure. It’s perfect for restoring damaged and sensitive skin.
Along with a rebrand of their three year old own brand skincare collection ( a capsule line of affordable skincare basics), Beauty Bay have launched a new addition to the range. Featuring all the benefits of a face oil (nourishing and soothing skin) but without the greasy residue, this lightweight lotion gives dull skin an instant brightening boost. Plus, thanks to squalane, kakadu oil, and grapeseed oil, it works to nourish and hydrate skin in the long-term too.
The latest launch from Summer Fridays sees the brand’s first foray into the wonderful world of retinoids. Proving that the ingredient doesn’t have to be harsh and irritating, this formula combines two gentle but effective forms of retinoid with a cocktail of skin-soothing ingredients – niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, oatmeal, and tiger grass. Clinical trial results show that it not only helps to reduce the appearance of lines, wrinkles, and discolouration, but 97% of users say it also calmed and soothed their skin.
Everyones’ favourite cleansing balm just got a major upgrade. The original – a solid balm-to-oil formula which effortlessly melts off even the most stubborn makeup is a crowd-pleasing favourite beloved by all skin types. However, the new formula is boosted with detoxifying Japanese charcoal, making it particularly beneficial for those with oily or combination skin. Thanks to the charcoal, it gives an even deeper cleanse, removing excess oil but without stripping skin.
Launching 12th January. If your New Year’s resolution was to get on top of your skincare routine and target issues like wrinkles, skin texture, uneven skin tone, and the appearance of pores, then you need to introduce a retinoid to your routine. In fact, this 3.5% retinoid complex is proven to improve signs of ageing within two weeks. Since retinoids can be irritating to new users, this formula is boosted with skin-soothing ingredients like squalane and oat-derived beta-glucan.
This newly-launched cleanser from the brand behind my favourite spot patches has a unique ‘gellified’ texture which makes it a joy to use. It’s soft, soothing, and leaves skin feeling comfortable and not stripped – ‘cushion’ really is the right name for it. Designed to fight acne while also supporting the skin barrier, it contains soothing ingredients like arctic raspberry and sea moss.
This nourishing formula shields skin with a comforting blend of vitamin C and E, oat ceramides, and plant-derived omega fatty acids to help restore moisture levels and repair a damaged skin barrier.
There are three types of moisturisers – humectants, emollients, and occlusives. Humectants work by drawing moisture deep into the skin, emollients hydrate the top layers of the skin, and occlusives form a protective layer on the skin’s surface to prevent moisture from escaping. This mask combines the benefits of all three via a two-step formula designed to nourish dry and dehydrated skin while you sleep.
Waking up with tired, puffy eyes is a year-round occurence for most of us – but somehow always feels ten times worse in January? This ultra-cooling eye balm offers soothing relief (even more so when stored in the fridge) and helps to hydrate the eye area in the process.
