I hate to admit it (I am a beauty director, after all), but my beauty routine has been lacking a little excitement recently. Despite receiving and testing every new beauty product around, I’ve found myself in a bit of a funk with my routine. Rather than indulging in a luxurious skincare routine, taking time with my makeup application and treating myself to everything showers, I’ve been mindlessly slapping on my beauty products without much thought—but all of this changed the minute spring officially sprung.
As soon as the sun started shining and we entered the new season, I took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror and decided it was time to swap out the old in favour of some truly joy-inducing spring beauty products. I’m talking facial tans that make me feel like my very best self, fresh perfumes that put a pep in my step, face serums that boost radiance and hair glosses that leave my strands bouncing sun rays off in every direction.
Luckily, as is the nature of my job, I am inundated with the best beauty products around. I have spent the last couple of weeks testing and trialling hundreds of products to compile an edit of the most joyful and high-performing spring beauty products out there. Trust me—these are the best beauty products to have on your radar this spring.
1. Augustinus Bader The Sunscreen SPF50
Augustinus Bader
The Sunscreen SPF50
Luxury beauty products are sort of my thing, so I apologise in advance for the price of this stuff and a handful of other products on the list.
Now that’s out the way, hear me when I say this facial sunscreen is beautiful. As a daily SPF, it contains high, broad-spectrum sun protection, is suitable for all skin tones (there’s no mineral sunblocks in the formula, so no risk of a chalky cast) and sinks in super quickly. Beyond that, however, the formula contains a concoction of high-tech skincare ingredients true to the Augustinus Bader way. It is full of antioxidant-rich plant extracts that work to nourish and hydrate skin, and also contains TFC8®—Augustinus Bader’s iconic peptide complex that boosts skin vitality and firmness.
Upon absorption, it delivers a light veil of moisture that leaves your complexion with a lit-from-within sort of radiance, rather than a greasy sheen. Plus, makeup applies beautifully over the top. It’s a real winner.
2. Merit Brow 1980 Volumizing Mousse
Most of my spring makeup bag is made up of Merit Beauty products. And while I adore the iconic Merit Flush Balms, the hardest working makeup product I own is, without question, this brow gel. I had gone a few months without using it, and I truly didn’t realise how much I missed it until I secured a new tube. My brows look their fullest and fluffiest with just one coat from root to tip, and I refuse to ever be without it again.
3. & Other Stories Perfect Pistachio Body Wash
& Other Stories
Perfect Pistachio Body Wash
Call it superfluous if you will, but because my bath and shower routine is the most joyful and important part of my day, I like to invest and indulge in seriously luxurious body products. While I’m usually all about £50 bath salts and lavish shower oils, I’m a total sucker for & Other Stories’ more affordable body washes and scrubs. This stuff, for example, is probably my favourite beauty product, full stop, this spring. In terms of formula, it’s nothing fancy—just your typical richly lathering shower gel—but the smell is out-of-this-world good. It smells like creamy white chocolate that has been melted into a pan of warm, musky milk before being poured onto baby-soft skin.
4. Balmain Beauty Blanc Galaxie
Balmain Beauty
Blanc Galaxie Eau De Parfum
Key notes: Cédrat, myrtle, magnolia, cardamom, vert de mandarine, lime, petitgrain, mandarin cœur, patchouli
This perfume has me totally smitten. While Balmain’s previous fragrances have been punchy power scents that fill a room, Blanc Galaxie is lighter in weight but equally as impactful. It is the scent of everything I want spring to be—bright, full of life and sparkling. On first spray, it smells like a Sicilian lemon cut in two, squeezed over sun-warmed skin and drenched in crisp San Pellegrino. After a little while, that citrus juice starts to fade and you’re left with an ice-cold, just-showered sort of freshness that makes you feel alive. It adds a certain feel-good zest to my day that I just can’t get enough of.
5. St Tropez Express Sunlit Face Tint
St Tropez
Express Sunlit Face Tint
Don’t get this stuff confused with bronzing drops—it might look like something you add into your daily moisturiser, but I can assure you it is not. What it actually is is a skin tint, best applied over skincare with a buffing brush. It adds an instant golden radiance to the skin that leaves you looking as though you have just stepped off the beach. (It works for all skin tones as it doesn’t contain notable pigment.) The reason I say to apply it with a buffing brush is because it’s also a pretty fast-working facial fake tan, developing in just 1-3 hours. It has been formulated to be applied every three days, but frankly, the results are so glowy and impressive that I’m having to stop myself reaching for it every day—I just want more.
6. YSL Make Me Bold Blurring Blush
Yves Saint Laurent
Make Me Blush Bold Blurring Blush
Just because I’m a fan of cream blusher doesn’t mean I don’t adore powdered blusher just as much. In fact, I have been in such a routine with cream blusher that I could have very easily overlooked this product if it wasn’t for the impossibly chic leather compact. (If it’s the compact that first wins you over, it will be the formula that makes you stick with it.)
I use shade 44 Nude Lavalliere, and it imparts the most buttery, radiant veil of luminous, shimmering pink pigment over the high points of my cheeks. Although it’s a powder formula, thanks to rosehip oil, it melts onto skin and blends like butter with all-day wear. With new trending blushers cropping up every other week, please don’t overlook this one, it’s exceptional.
7. Lumene Nordic-C [Valo] Vitamin C Glow Boost Essence
![Lumene Nordic-C [valo] Vitamin C Glow Boost Essence 30ml](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tEbViUtSXbDVVEZz6mNjR-1920-80.jpg.webp)
Lumene
Nordic-C Vitamin C Glow Boost Essence
It’s been many moons since I used this vitamin C serum, and I had forgotten just how great it makes me feel about my skin. When I first started working at Who What Wear, all the way back in January 2020, this serum was a team-wide favourite. Everyone from the fashion editor to the commercial director counted this their most loved skincare product, and I still stand by its skin-health-boosting, radiance-promoting powers.
It might not contain the most high-tech forms of vitamin C around, but that’s not always such a bad thing (my skin, for example, breaks out at the sight of a powerfully potent vitamin C). With two types of hyaluronic acid, Lumene’s iconic Arctic cloudberry ingredient, vitamin C and a fresh, orangey scent to boot, it leaves my skin plump and glowing and my mood suitably chirpy.
8. Shiseido Bio-Performance Skin HIForce Cream
Shiseido
Bio-Performance Skin Hiforce Cream
Remember when I said I’m a sucker for luxury? This moisturiser is case in point. The thing is, I know I could use an affordable face cream, but I also know nothing is going to deliver the same level of high-tech, skin-restoring results as this stuff. Shiseido has put years of research into this product, and I could probably write a thesis on all of the scientific claims the brand uses to back it up, but truthfully, it doesn’t mean all that much to most of us. Instead, I’ll tell you this—it works. The rich, unctuous cream applies with luxurious theatrics—it feels whipped like butter, melting into skin with the lightest touch and immediate nourishment.
Looking past the obvious, though, it’s the results that have astounded me. Since using it my skin is looking plumper, firmer and generally healthier. Do you need it? No. But if you’re happy to part with over £150 for a face cream without batting an eyelid, this is the one you want.
9. JVN Revive Rapid Repair Bond Gloss
JVN
Revive Rapid Repair Bond Gloss
There was a moment last year when I panicked that I might never get my hands on a JVN hair product again, but the brand is back and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. This new hair gloss is, without question, the only thing that has kept me going without a haircut or colour in well over three months. I use it once a week as a 60-second treatment after shampoo and conditioner to leave my super-long hair stronger (thanks to a bond-strengthening complex), smoother and glossier than belief.
10. Beauty Pie Happy Face No-Stress Jelly Cleanser
Beauty Pie
Happy Face No-Stress Jelly Cleanser
Price shown is members’ price.
If, like me, you battle breakouts and acne, please don’t let anyone on TikTok tell you to skip your morning cleanse. I have spent ten years working closely with dermatologists and skin experts, and while it’s true that over-cleansing can leave your skin barrier worse for wear, skipping your morning cleanse entirely is not the answer. Instead, you might just want to use a lighter, fuss-free cleanser in the morning—and this is it. True to its “no-stress” name, the jelly formula works to clear the surface of the skin of any harmful bacteria without disrupting its natural moisture levels. It’s a total joy to use, and my skin is so much happier for using it.
11. Dior Beauty Dior Addict Lip Glow
What is a spring makeup routine with a Dior Addict Lip Glow, hey? Coming out of winter means my chronically dry lips are even drier than usual, which means lipstick is more or less out of the question. These tinted balms, however, are so good that I never feel the need for lipstick anyway. They glide over lips with beautiful ease, depositing nourishing oils and a diffused hint of colour while they’re at it. If you hate the fuss of lipstick, this is the product you want. Empty out my handbag right now, and you’ll find at least five different variations of Lip Glow.
12. Victoria Beckham Beauty The Cell Rejuvenating Illuminator
Victoria Beckham Beauty
The Cell Rejuvenating Illuminator
I don’t think Victoria Beckham Beauty has ever made a dud product, and this is no exception. I have long waxed lyrical about Victoria Beckham Beauty Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturiser in Golden for its illuminating sheen, but the product has recently undergone a rebrand, and a new shade has been added to the line-up. Introducing, The Cell Rejuvenating Illuminator in Rose. It still acts as a priming moisturiser, imparting enough hydration to keep my skin happy but enough glow to behave as an astounding base for makeup. Most days, however, I wear it on its own. It gives my skin a pearly, sheeny radiance that makes me look like I’m fully caught up on sleep. It’s a luxury addition to my routine, but I feel so much better for it.
13. Malin + Goetz Home Spray
Malin + Goetz
Tomato Room Spray
Nothing says spring to me quite like the aroma of juicy tomato vines, and you better believe I want my entire home to smell great at this time of year. I’ve been finding joy in throwing open the windows on a cool, sunny morning and misting this green, juicy scent frivolously in every room. It’s so good that I even caught my husband spritzing the kitchen with it yesterday. What’s more? Rumour has it Malin + Goetz is launching two new scent additions to its home spray offering (I might have been testing them out already), and they’re every bit as good as this stuff. Watch this space.
14. Susanne Kaufmann AHA Enzyme Body Lotion
Susanne Kaufmann
AHA Enzyme Body Lotion
Susanne Kaufmann is my favourite person in beauty. I know I shouldn’t have favourites, but when she creates bath and body products this good, can you blame me? It’s no secret amongst beauty editors that Susanne Kaufmann body creams are the crème de la crème, and this lotion might just be my favourite yet. It has that iconic silky texture that no other brand has been able to rival, along with a herby, lemony, minty scent that invigorates the senses.
So yes, it’s a joy to use, but the formula itself is also a feat. Containing a trio of acids (AHAs, salicylic acid and pumpkin enzymes), it sloughs away at dead skin cells, fights that dreaded strawberry-leg congestion and leaves skin looking radiant—all without notable irritation thanks to soothing mushroom extract. I think I’m probably this body lotion’s number one fan, and I’m proud.
15. Chanel Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick
Chanel
Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick
I don’t wear enough makeup to justify spending big on super-pearly, high-pigment highlighters—I just want a product to impart some balmy glow onto my cheekbones. And that, my friends, is exactly what this stuff does. It is, undeniably, the most natural-looking highlight ever made. I often swipe it onto my cheekbones with no other makeup on, and it still manages to transform my whole face. It’s one of those products that if you know, you know.
16. The Body Shop Full Orange Blossom Perfume
The Body Shop
Full Orange Blossom Eau de Parfum
I didn’t intend to feature two perfumes on this list, but I’m a fragrance expert, what more can I say? If I were to be honest and feature every perfume that has delivered springtime joy, the list would be never-ending, so I wanted to only feature one fragrance so as not to offend any of the others—but this one just can’t be overlooked. At only £42, it puts other orange blossom perfumes five-times its price to absolute shame. It smells like creamy, sun-drenched orange blossom petals, surrounded by crisp green leaves and warmed wood. Citrusy, creamy, warming and undeniably expensive-smelling, it would have been a beauty crime for me to not include it.
17. Trudon Altaïr Candle
Speaking of fragrance, you didn’t think I’d get through this list without mentioning a candle, did you? At £98, I’m not expecting anyone to buy this on a whim, but if you did, I wouldn’t blame you either. Why? Because it’s a work of art. Not only are Trudon candles the most luxurious, chic and beautiful around, this one is also the best home fragrance I have smelled in a very long time. Yes, there are heavier notes of oud, leather and cedarwood in there, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s going to be a deep, heavy fragrance. What it actually smells like is a cool night in the desert, where the scent of flower oils twirl in the air. It smells rich—but in the money sense, not the olfactory sense.
