Late nights, fast food, a lack of H2O and stress in its various guises all contribute to the skin looking dull and feeling coarse. While foundation and concealor can disguise a multitude of sins, wouldn’t it be nice if the slathering on of cover-ups day in, day out could be avoided (or at least reduced). So while eating a market stall of fruit and veg and drinking buckets of water should ensure glowing skin, here are a pick of the best skin radiance fixes almost certain to minimize the damage of modern life.
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The Iconic Cream
Strobe Cream by MAC, £21.50, www.maccosmetics.co.uk
It’s not often that a beauty product achieves iconic status; Chanel’s rouge noir nail polish, YSL’s touché eclat and Clarin’s beauty flash balm are among the chosen few and sharing the stage is Mac’s strobe cream. Any make up artist worth a damn will have at least one tube in their kit. It turns pasty looking models into radiant goddesses and enhances the skin in any light. Best applied after moisturiser, it goes onto the skin thickly and pearly white, but is quickly absorbed, leaving a luminous sheen that is neither glittery nor shimmery. The skin looks even, lines reduced and pigmentation marks are lessened.  It makes a great base for the application of foundation and I recommend mixing strobe cream with your foundation for a picture perfect complexion. The results aren’t merely superficial. The formulation contains mulberry extract that over time helps even out skin tone, while grape and green tree extract are full of anti-oxidants to help with anti-ageing. And a top tip for summer; mix a little of the formulation with your usual body cream then slather on limbs for a subtle sheen.

The Indulgent Purchase
Stimulskin Plus Rejuvenating Lifting Serum by Darphin, £142, www.darphin.co.uk
This is a hard-core product for skin showing the effects of ageing, but is worth the investment as it claims to renew, rejuvenate and repair. An impressive list of ingredients including collagen fragments to boost collagen production, avocado oil rich in the youth enhancing mineral potassium and rosemary extract full of anti-oxidants help to reverse dullness, wrinkles and age-spots. As I’ve just entered my early 30s I initially used it once a-day on my forehead which is beginning to show signs of ageing and pigmentation. The air light consistency barely needed rubbing in but the softness is instant. Peachy in colour it contains light reflecting particles to further dispel the signs of ageing and damage. After only a few days the positive effects of the cream on my now glowing forehead meant I wanted the results below my eyebrows and after only a week of application my face was brighter and more supple.

The Fast Acting Treatment
Resurfacing Gel Peeling by Decleor, £45, www.decleor.co.uk
When your skin is in need of a thorough but quick pick-me-up, this 5 minute face mask holds the key to smoother, fresher skin. In independent tests 93% of women reported immediate smoothing effects, due to a potent blend of botanical ingredients. And it doesn’t disappoint. It has the consistency of runny wall paper paste that when applied to the face and neck can create a tingling effect due to the active ingredients, so be careful not to go too close to the eye area. The skin is stimulated with aloe vera and rose concentrate, cell renewal is boosted by iris and maca extract, while the smoothing effects come courtesy of fruit acids from pineapple, grape and passion fruit. And the smell, oh the smell. It’s like the spas I wish I could afford to visit on a weekly basis. Instead I shall be applying this once a week to give the appearance of regular spa visits.

The Best Seller
Turnaround Concentrate by Clinique, £30, www.clinique.co.uk
This best seller from the Turnaround range lives up to its claims and gives instant results. A small squirt of the white light liquid immediately creates a velvety soft surface, perfect for applying make up or just sitting at home stroking your cheeks. It contains salicylic acid that helps to shed skin cells and give brighter looking skin. A plus point to the acid means it quickly helps speed up the disappearance of break outs and blemishes, I had a few on my chin and the redness faded far quicker than normal.  The product also contains chestnut seed extract that is rich in B vitamins that promote healthy skin tone and cell renewal and wheatgerm extract that boosts moisturising and repair. An excellent product that improves the health of your skin and will have you wondering how you ever lived without it.

The Multi-Tasker
Vitazing SPF15 by Origins, £25, www.origins.co.uk
Upon initial inspection the slightly gloopy and grey flecked cream that oozes out of the tube looks incredibly uninspiring. But don’t be fooled, this multitasking product delivers skin boosting results on many levels. Firstly the ingredients list is bursting with healthy skin enhancing products. There’s the anitoxidant rich mangosteen and bitter orange, camomile to soften and relieve dryness, grapefruit oil to energise, almond oil to delay ageing, rose oil to renew and hydrate and ginseng root to firm the skin. After applying this concoction to your skin the results are noticeable, couple it with SPF 15 and the skin is also protected. But what makes this cream a real multi-tasker is the hint of foundation that kicks in when you start blending the cream onto the skin. It gives sheer coverage that makes this a perfect cream to take on holiday when you need to save on space and shouldn’t need a heavy foundation. However, if like me you do need a little extra foundation this won’t interfere with your usual make up routine.  And at £25 this glow inducing cream is great value for money.