Beauty Director's Edit | Spring 2021

​TESTING | Chanel Lipscanner app

With bullet testers relegated to the stockroom and make-up stores and studios closed, it's been tricky finding your perfect shade of lipstick. However, French fashion house Chanel has just come to the rescue with its new Lipscanner app.

If you've ever mused over a celebrity photograph, a model in a campaign, or looked at your favourite handbag or dress and wanted to recreate that exact colour for your lips, and – more importantly – double-check whether it will suit you, now you can.

Take a photo with the Lipscanner app or select an image from your camera roll and let the tech identify the face, detect and isolate the lips. Instantaneously, artificial intelligence (AI) analyses the colour and texture of the make-up and proposes the Chanel lip product that corresponds to your desires.

Beware, the app is addictive, and you'll lose time scrolling through every shade that the French fashion house has to offer.

The AI is sophisticated; the colours don't look unrealistic or superimposed like some of the apps I've tried before. Plus, I tested it out on an existing Chanel lip product, and it predicted the exact colour, so it has a pretty efficient algorithm. It is undoubtedly beauty with brains.

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IN NEED OF A MAKE-UP REFRESH? My prettifying palette choices for spring | Pixi, Kjaer Weis & Burberry

As we're almost coming out of our Covid cocoon and starting to face the world again, these pretty palettes, new for spring, are just the order to hit refresh on your make-up regime.

Pixi Cream Rouge Palette, £18

Twenty-five multi-use creamy, sheer hues that I apply to lids, lips and cheeks for a translucent, dewy flush that lasts.

Pixi Cream Rouge Palette, £18 – buy here

Kjaer Weis Quadrant Eye Shadow Palette, £33

A sheer refillable powder eye palette that blends into skin seamlessly, is super-easy to use, kind to your eyes and offers good green credentials.

Kjaer Weis Quadrant Eye Shadow Palette, refill only, £33 – buy here

Burberry Essentials Glow Palette in Harmony 01, £62

This is not new, but definitely noteworthy. I've been using this since it launched last year, and it is the perfect, easy go-to palette.

You can use the six powders in a myriad ways: from contouring or a touch of tan to a pinky, romantic flush.

Also, the highlighters are great for brightening the corners of your eyes and adding some glow to the cupid bow. Make-up as easy as 1, 2, 3, that magically transforms you in minutes.

Burberry Essentials Glow Palette in Harmony 01, £62 – buy here

​SPRITZING: A SULTRY SPRING SCENT | Tom Ford Tuberose Nue, £228

Jenny Tobin, a film-set florist whose worked on Aladdin and The Favourite, often fills a room with expertly picked artificial and silk flowers.

However, she always includes a real stem, often a tuberose whose scent will fill a room and bring some realness to the somewhat contrived environment.

Tom Ford's new Tuberose Nue evokes precisely the same feeling of blooms in a room. It's big and bold, but in true Tom Ford style, it also has modernity, eroticism and a splash of humour.

Think elements of pepper, rubber, Play-Doh and latex sprinkled with a silky powder that brings the tuberose out of Grandma's closet and into a whole different genre.

Tom Ford Tuberose Nue, £228 – buy here

INVESTMENT BRUSHES | ​Bobou Beauty Velluto Make-up Brush Set, £120

The best make-up brushes are not only the difference between the finish – that achieved by either a child or pro – but they can also form part of your skin wellness programme.

Bobou brushes, with their striking red velvet design, are also very kind to skin, caressing my contours as I go. They protect the dermatological eco-system, tested for irritation, so they're especially good for sensitive types like me.

And they make applying make-up so effortless that they save time in the morning; they're non-shed, so I don't end up picking up strays hairs from my face all day.

Bobou Velluto Make-up Brush Set, £120 – buy here

​NEW BEAUTY BUY | Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Therapies Egyptian Jasmine Mandarin, £22

I defy anyone not to fall in love with this limited edition, pre-shampoo hair treatment. It gives locks a newfound softness without weighing you down. It also smells utterly divine, and the therapeutic aroma of soft citrus and heady florals – will lift both hair and spirits.

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Therapies Egyptian Jasmine Mandarin, £22 – Buy here