Innovative New Beauty Products

Real beauty breakthroughs that are worth the investment

Beauty companies collectively spend billions of dollars a year on research and development to keep us continually asking “what’s new?” Sometimes there are new formulas or textures, a lot of times it’s about keeping up with colour trends, but once in a while there are truly innovative products that leap off the shelves as clear ‘Best in Show’ winners.

Read on for 10 recent innovative beauty products worth trying.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres, $36

YSL’s Vernis à Lèvres (glossy stain) is truly a quantum leap forward for lip gloss. It initially provides a lightweight, glossy slick on the lips and then gradually wears down to a stain. The original lineup is an assortment of fashion-forward, richly pigmented colours, but more recently YSL’s launched a new collection called “Rebel Nudes,” a collection of muted, more office-friendly colours. Genius.

T3 Featherweight Luxe 2i, $280

T3’s newest Featherweight Luxe 2i hair dryer is the result of a lot of research and technological advances. This humble hair appliance is a bit of a game changer – especially for those who thought all hair dryers were damaging. Its engine is so powerful and generates so much heat that it evaporates surface water from wet hair well before it can cause any damage. Third-party lab testing has shown this hair dryer actually decreases frizz (79 per cent) while increasing shine (21 per cent), body (93 per cent), comb-ability (36 per cent) and style retention (52 per cent).

Clarisonic, $180+

The Clarisonic cleansing brush is quickly becoming a beauty staple. Using sonic technology, this portable device oscillates between 200 to 350 times per second to help clean, polish and exfoliate your skin. It was originally designed for professional use, which means you can expect to achieve softer, smoother and clearer skin all on your own.

Revlon File ‘n Peel 6-in-1 File, $4.49

Revlon’s new peel-away file is proof that some of the best ideas are the simplest. As your file becomes dull, simply peel away the top layer to reveal a fresh filing layer underneath. It’s doubled-sided (one for shaping, the other for filing), with three sheets per side. The file comes in various colours and patterns, including limited edition designer collections.

MAC Masterclass Brushes, $30-$50.50

These revolutionary new makeup brushes by MAC were launched in early 2014. At first glance they more resemble a toothbrush than a traditional makeup brush, but after you’ve had a chance to work with them, you’ll see the genius in their ergonomic design. Instead of holding them 90 degrees to your face, which often obscures your view, you hold these parallel to your face as you sweep across your eyelids and cheeks. These brushes are also absolutely brilliant for those who need glasses or a magnifying mirror to apply their makeup. So far, these come in three varieties: two for the eyes (Linear 1 and Oval 3) and one for the cheek/face (Oval 6).

LUSH Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner, $32.95

Named after its inventor, Rowena, it’s just a coincidence that Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner smells like roses. This pot of pretty pink cream is a luxurious body “lotion” that you apply while in the shower. After washing up, decadently slather Ro’s on as you would icing on a cake, then as the shower rinses it off, your entire bathroom suddenly smell like a garden of sweet roses while your skin magically  remains luxuriously moisturized. It’s a treat for all the senses.

CND Shellac Nail Polish

When CND Shellac first launched a few years ago, it revolutionized manicures and pedicures with its chip-free, high-shine, zero-maintenance nail polish system. For the first time, you could truly depend on its promise to deliver fresh-from-the-salon results for a minimum of two weeks. The various layers are all applied like traditional polish, but each component is cured under a UV lamp, which is how it achieves its stupendous results. Regular manicure? Why bother? Available at CND Shellac Pro certified salons.

Conair Curl Secret, $99.99

Conair’s new Curl Secret device takes all the fuss and guesswork out of curling hair. It looks odd, like a flat-iron with a bulbous end. That chamber holds the curling engine (made with ceramic tourmaline technology to protect the hair) that, once you clamp down on a section of hair, will automatically slurp up the entire strand inside, where it’s beautifully and neatly curled. There are three different settings that will give you everything from loose beachy waves to tight uniform spirals.

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara, $12

Clinique’s Bottom Lash Mascara is so brilliant at filling a niche (yet gaping) void in most beauty routines it’s astounding that a) it wasn’t developed sooner; and b) there hasn’t been an avalanche of copycat products since. This teeny-tiny mascara wand perfectly manoeuvres around that delicate fringe of bottom lashes, catching each miniscule hair with nimble ease. Even better, it’s a tubing formula which means it’s smudge-proof, oil-proof, sweat-proof and resistant to cold water. And yet, at the end of the day, it comes off easily with a splash of warm water. 

Sephora + Pantone Color IQ

Sephora (the makeup expert) and Pantone (the colour expert) have teamed up to produce Color IQ, a handheld device that digitally “reads” your skin from several makeup-free areas on your face to calibrate the perfect foundation match for you. Or, if you’ve already spent years in your own personal trial-and-error experiments to find the ideal match, you can enter your brand and shade into Sephora’s website to find other formulations that will offer comparable shades. Sephora and Pantone have catalogued more than 1500 foundations for this system, taking the guesswork and disappointing mismatches out of this equation. Free service available at Sephora stores.