The AnOther Guide to Feel Good Beauty

While the new year is paved with good intentions, many of us lack some of the reserves required for the season’s ubiquitous self-deprecation and general overhaul. An arms-length survey of my nearest and dearest suggests that a certain kind of gentleness and generosity is an increasingly popular approach to this frosty, post-Christmas period. Perhaps it’s consuming a bit less alcohol than usual (or in the case of one friend, clear spirits only), or achieving more, or better sleep that facilitates a feeling of refreshment. I like to pay attention to supplements, switching up my daily routine to target specific deficiencies – at this time of year, that’s energy and mood – but I’m also thinking about resilience and glow, both mentally and physically. Plus popping pills and drinking sachets nurtures my lazy desires for self-improvement. Thanks to a host of newness, seemingly ever-flowing from the health and beauty industry’s gurus, there are lots of quick and easy ways to feel boosted.

Bathe

A failsafe tool for relaxation and replenishment, a bath (phone in hand or not) is a salve to many wounds. Elevate the occasion with Costa Brazil’s Make Sal de Banh – epsom and mineral bath salts combined with detoxifying Brazilian white clay, the delicious scent of breu branco resin, vitamin c-rich camu camu berries and seed oils rich in stress-soothing cannabinoids that will aid restful sleep. Alternatively, try Dreem Distillery’s aromatic CBD Therapeutic Bath Oil, should Dry January be keeping you awake at night. Once you’ve emerged, slather yourself in the most indulgent balm known to man: Mutha Body Butter, an impossibly luxuriant “whipped trifecta” of shea, cocoa, and mango butters, vitamins, fatty acids and pure seed extracts, which has just landed in the UK.

Drink

There’s a reason we love a juice – and that’s thanks to our modern-day passion for optimisation. We’re quite accustomed to maximising productivity and efficiency with speed and ease. Health and beauty innovators know this well, of course, but a recent spike in swiggable skincare suggests we really can’t get enough. While Dr Sturm is known for her super-powered capsule supplements, she’s just introduced a delicious Skin Tea Molecular Herbal Infusion, with spa-like sweet liquorice and peppermint flavour, it’s full of soothing anti-inflammatory ingredients like purslane, chamomile, ginger and fennel to help reduce the stress hormone cortisol. Vida Glow Marine Collagen has become the go-to in powdered collagen supplements – there are fruity flavours like peach and passionfruit but the original is my favourite. Heat stable and flavourless, you can add it to your morning coffee (plus it dissolves quicker this way) for firmer, plumper skin, stronger nails and thicker hair. Throw a couple of these sachets into your handbag and you can add it at any time – up to three times a day if you’re looking for a total overhaul. Augustinus Bader with his award-winning cream has also added a sachet to the supplement party, The SKIN with ERC8. Each packet contains 25 billion probiotic microbes and the antioxidant-rich nutrients they consume in order to thrive and multiply, those microbes release Urolithin A, the only compound known to kickstart the cells’ ability to recycle defective mitochondria (an essential renewal process that ensures skin health and vitality). For a health boost, I love 8 Greens, a green juice in an effervescent tablet – pumped with spinach, kale, aloe vera, wheatgrass, blue green algae, barley grass, chlorella and spirulina. It’s surprisingly fresh-tasting and incredibly convenient – amazing for travel (or hangovers).

Gulp

Newcomer Biocol Labs has gained widespread visibility thanks to a vast range of high-performance ampoules (liquid-filled, sealed glass vials), too. Be that Something for Immunity (a course of five honey-flavoured cocktails of echinacea, acerola berry, shiitake, propolis and copper extracts), Something for the Knackered (a course of ten vials of energising ginseng, magnesium, royal jelly, glucoronalactone, vitamin c, vitamin b6, vitamin b2, vitamin b1); then there are sprays for a cactus throat, for dreaming, capsules for a “bloated tum”, “calorie bombs” or a “mini rehab” (that’s a liver detox). There’s even a 21-day New Year’s Detox, should you be that way inclined. There’s something especially potent seeming about snapping the little ampoule tip and knocking back one of these elixirs and right now many of them are sold out online, indicative of our craving for a chic quick-fix. Meanwhile Boshang’s range of water-soluble drops – from vitamin D3 (boosting recovery from pain and infection, as well as energy levels and bone health), to turmeric (an anti-inflammatory brain booster) and CBD oil – boast 90 per cent “bioavailability”, meaning they have a super-efficient absorption rating and we don’t lose the majority of its goodness on its journey through the gut.

Lie Back

Sarah Bradden’s cosmetic acupuncture facial has been described as a “spiritual reset and facelift”. She combines traditional Chinese medicine with modern technology – LED light treatment and oxygen – to give an all-round glow. She adds an incredible facial massage, reiki and ear seeds into the mix, too. The latter is a set of tiny 24-carat gold balls or crystals applied to acupressure points on the ear by stickers (they look like little studs) – depending on where Bradden places them, they can help to promote brain-function, calm and much more, and you can keep wearing and pressing them for up to seven days. This now Insta-famous treatment takes 90 minutes, so Bradden has introduced a 30-minute Boost version, available only at the new Hershesons Belgravia site. With the addition of hand-massage and meditative music during the LED therapy, it feels like someone is ticking off all your new year’s resolutions for you. 

Another luxurious approach to feeling good as we wind through late winter is at The Standard, London. Opt for one of the brutalist building’s famed junior suites and you could enjoy an ice bath on your terrace – great for boosting circulation and blood flow, obliterating brain fog and treating tired muscles, it’s absolutely invigorating. Follow up with an IV vitamin drip, administered in your room by a technician from Get A Drip. Pre or post-party, there’s something on the menu for everyone: Energy provides a welcome hit of magnesium and plenty of fatigue-fighting B vitamins. The Detox is chock-full of vitamin C, B, calcium and potassium with a boost of much-loved Glutathione – a powerful antioxidant (found in all our cells) that fights free radicals and makes your skin incredibly, though temporarily, smooth. Check-out feeling like a new person – even after a heavy night on the roof terrace.   

Pop

There are other new pills to pop, too. Nue Co’s Growth Phase helps tackle stress- or hormonal imbalance-related hair-loss. Famed for its use of active ingredients and prebiotics, the brand uses an impressive 360 approach to boosting hair growth and decreasing breakage: a combination of vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, proteins, peptides, collagen and amino acids. It’s a holistic, multi-pronged defence system, tackling the root cause, excuse the pun, of hair density issues – ie your all-round health and wellbeing. So while your tresses will be looking their best, you’ll likely feel a health-boost too. Dream.

NOMO meanwhile, offers supplements to assist those with self-inflicted damage. For people “who enjoy life” – AKA a drink – NOMO’s activated carbon technology (ACT) tablets are to be taken after a heavy night, but before bed, followed by a fatigue-relieving vitamin medley the next morning. The ACT is designed to absorb acetaldehyde (unlike the similar sounding activated charcoal, which cannot do this), a carcinogenic toxin, which is a by-product of the metabolism of alcohol in your liver. The vitamins simply replenish all the good stuff said acetaldehyde has helped you excrete. I can honestly say that I completely skipped a day of dodginess after a bottle of wine the night before – but I’d be interested to see how they handle a night of truly atrocious behaviour. Per pop, they’re pricey but I would say it’s worth having a mini pack on-hand, provided you remember to take them. 

DIY

Celebrity facialist Joanna Czech swears by the Lyma laser, a cold laser device for use at-home that is said to change everything. And if it’s good enough for her, I’m sold. But in real talk, it’s the first time a laser this powerful has been made for domestic use and it’s 100 times more powerful than usual LED treatment: a medical-grade near-invisible infra-red laser that operates at 500mW of power at the 808nm wavelength, meaning it penetrates not only the deepest layers of skin but also fat and muscle tissue, stimulating cells to regenerate collagen and thus improve firmness, sagging and scarring. It’s also proven to help reduce acne, hyperpigmentation and rosacea (the latter two helped win Czech over). Daily use fst-block-3or a minimum of 15 minutes per day (30-60 mins ideally) for three months is said to yield widespread compliment-inducing results and it’s not just for the face – sagging skin and cellulite all over the body can be overhauled by this little Maglite of a beauty machine. This is the most powerful beauty tool you can use while watching Netflix. At this rate, Lyma is about to take over the world, what with the sci-fi-level promises of performance, radiance and focus of its seriously hyped supplement.