Explore the products and rituals bringing a little more beauty to everyday life.
We’ve done the groundwork to find the ultimate health and beauty heroes. These are the products we use and trust for their quality, integrity and results. Thoughtful, effective and worth a place in your routine.
The Perfect Base
Some beauty products become so woven into your routine that you barely remember life before them. Bobbi Brown’s Vitamin Enriched Face Base is one of ours, and the new Face Base+ gives the much-loved original a very clever refresh. The buttery texture and fresh grapefruit and geranium scent remain, while niacinamide, Vitamin C and panthenol bring even more skincare into the equation. Moisturiser and primer in one, it leaves skin nourished, smooth and beautifully ready for makeup. Having used it for years, consider this less a discovery, more a very enthusiastic recommendation from a friend.
View for more bobbibrown.com.au, @bobbibrownanz
Berry Nice
We love it when a product earns its Beauty Heroes spot by actually coming to work with us. Clinique’s Daily Calm Lip + Cheek Colour did exactly that on our beauty shoot this issue, where we used the soft berry shade on Sophie to create that lovely, fresh rosy glow you’ll see in these pages. The soothing balm gives lips and cheeks sheer, buildable colour while helping to support the skin barrier and retain moisture, making it particularly clever for sensitive skin. Pretty, practical and very easy to use. Needless to say, it made the cut.
View for more clinique.com.au, @cliniqueanz
The Night Shift
If retinol has always sounded a little more serious than seductive, Murad might just change your mind. Its Retinol Youth Renewal Serum brings four forms of retinoid together in one clever evening formula, designed to tackle fine lines, uneven tone, dullness and texture while keeping hydration and the skin barrier firmly in the conversation. Murad’s clinical study showed improvements across ten visible signs of ageing in seven days, with further results at 28. Impressive, yes, but we rather like the simplicity of it all: one bottle, one nightly ritual, considerably less bathroom-shelf clutter.
View for more murad.co.nz, @muradskincarenz
Holiday Hands
Trudon’s Médie is like a tiny Mediterranean holiday beside the basin. Created by perfumer Yann Vasnier, its bright grapefruit and green mandarin give way to cypress, jasmine, vetiver and cedarwood, conjuring citrus groves, sun-warmed stone and that particular freshness of somewhere you’d rather be. The light, fast-absorbing lotion contains shea butter, aloe vera juice and glycerin, leaving hands soft and hydrated without the greasy aftermath. Beautiful fragrance, silky skin and a very handsome bottle. Suddenly washing your hands feels rather more interesting.
View for more worldbrand.co.nz, @worldbrandinnz
Softly Does It
What if the secret to ageing beautifully is simply keeping your skin calmer? La Mer’s newly reimagined The Concentrate focuses on the relationship between sensitivity, everyday stress and visible ageing. Its famously velvety formula uses concentrated Miracle Broth™ alongside new Clarity Algae to soothe visible irritation, strengthen the skin barrier and even tone. And because this is La Mer, practicality comes wrapped in pleasure: lavender, rosemary, basil and helichrysum scent, and that gorgeous, cocooning texture. Calm skin, beautiful ritual. We’ll happily take both.
View for more cremedelamer.com, @lamer
Style Intelligence
Styling your hair without quietly wondering what all that heat is doing to it? We’re listening. The new ghd sculpt is the brand’s first interactive styler, using clever HeatAdapt Technology to sense your hair as you style and continually adjust the heat it needs. The result, according to ghd, is styling with zero damage to the hair’s natural structure, plus up to 90% more shine and 2.5 times less frizz. Sleek, lightweight and rather beautiful too. Finally, a piece of AI beauty tech we’re very happy to hand over our hair to.
View for more @ghdhair_anz
Five Minute Face
You know those mornings when you want to look really good, but have absolutely no desire to do your makeup? MERIT gets it. The Five Minute Morning is essentially one beautifully edited makeup bag, with everything needed for fresh skin, flushed cheeks, softly groomed brows, lashes and lips, without disappearing beneath any of it. We especially love The Minimalist, designed to add coverage only where you actually want it, and Day Glow for dewiness minus the sparkle. Easy, flattering and very hard to mess up. Five minutes later, you still look like you. Just suspiciously well-rested.
View for more meritbeauty.com, @merit
The New Eight
Lots of beauty products have history. Eight Hour® Cream has nearly a century of it. First introduced in 1930, Elizabeth Arden’s much-loved multitasker has been a beauty-kit fixture for generations, and now its newest family member feels decidedly 2026. Ultimate Repair Moisturiser pairs that heritage with an Auto-Rehydrating Complex designed to respond as skin’s hydration levels fluctuate, plus squalane and ectoin for moisture-barrier support and dehydrated skin. Lightweight, fragrance-free and refreshingly uncomplicated, it shows that a beauty legacy can grow up without growing old.
View for more elizabetharden.com.au, @elizabethardenanz
Lip Service
If ever there were a season for a really good lipstick, this is it. Weddings, cocktail parties, Christmas drinks and all those nights that somehow run on later than planned call for something with a little attitude. TOM FORD’s Runway Lip Stylo Matte delivers it with a blurred matte finish that feels more modern than a perfectly drawn lip, plus a weightless, hydrating formula and ten buildable shades inspired by the seductive elegance of the runway. Medium coverage keeps things effortless rather than overdone. Consider it the finishing touch once the invitation says cocktails.
View for more tomfordbeauty.com, @tomfordbeauty
One and Done
Do we really need quite so many bottles in the bathroom? Sydney dermatologist Dr Bonnie Fergie doesn’t think so. Her new Australian skincare brand, Bon Elliot, has launched with just one, the Hydrating Performance Serum, and we rather like the confidence of that. Designed with sensitive skin in mind, its AMBR Complex™ brings together prebiotics, probiotics, ceramides and antioxidants, alongside niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, peptides and Vitamin C. It’s skincare for the less-but-better era, and a very chic argument for clearing some space on the shelf.
View for more bonelliot.com, @bonelliot
Download the Issue 44 print pages in PDF format below.
