Because we all want to know….here are 6 of Caroline Hiron’s favourite beauty products

Curel Deep Moisture Spray £15.60

 "I have used this every single day since I got it in my hands. You need this. I do not say that lightly. Trust me."

Ultra Violet Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial Sunscreen SPF 50+ £34

"This is probably my favourite face SPF in the range. It is hydrating, without being sticky and gives your skin a gorgeous glow."

Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm £28 50mg (part of Caroline’s Winter Heroes Kit)

“It’s one of the first skincare products I fell in love with when I first started blogging. It deeply cleanses the skin, removes all traces of makeup (including heavy eye makeup) and smells incredible.”

Skin Rocks Retinoid 1

 "Your skin will look brighter, smoother and more even, whilst fine lines, breakouts and dark spots will appear reduced."

Sunday Riley Auto Correct Eye Cream £60

“I love this cream and it is one of my all-time favourites. It’s great for improving puffiness, and for that reason, I have not worries about taking it over my area/top of my lids.”

Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm £23

“I’ve tried a lot of lip balms and this is one I always go back to. It has a gorgeous buttery texture that doesn’t feel sticky to the lips, leaving behind a glossy, hydrated shine and plumping out any fine lines.”

www.carolinehirons.com

Believe the hype, these bestselling beauty products are worth every penny

Keeping up with Instagram and TikTok beauty trends can be exhausting, but having tested the products below, I can tell you they work.

Sol De Janeiro - Bum Bum Cream £21

This Brazilian Beauty Secret gained cult status thanks to its powerful ingredients and addictive scent. Potent Guaraná Extract and fast-absorbing Cupuaçu Butter visibly smooth and tighten skin. Now available at John Lewis & M&S

Hailey Rhode Beiber - Peptide Lip Treatment £16

This cult product from Hailey Beiber’s Rhode skincare range even has its own phone case (yes seriously).  This nourishing creamy restorative treatment leaves lips looking glossy and really does deserve the hype.

Drunk Elephant - D-Bronzi Drops £33

Founded by mum of 4 Tiffany Masterson, Drunk Elephant’s clean formulations have gained icon status.  Space NK sell on average 100 a day. A couple of drops of the D-Bronzi drops will deliver a gorgeous glow whilst boosting skins elasticity. 

Refy - Lip Sculpt £18

This dual ended lip liner and setter has been making serious waves. Designed to naturally sculpt and define lips for up to 10 hours.

Tatcha - The Water Cream £67

Deemed the holy grail of beauty products, Tatcha’s lightweight pore refining moisturiser continues to be their best seller.  Launched in the UK in 2022 this cult cream often sells out.   Perfect for oily combination skin, the reviews speak for themselves.

K18 - Leave In Molecular Repair Mask £30

Space NK’s bestselling leave-in mask promises to reverse hair damage in just four minutes — and it’s cult-level status may just verify that claim. Jam-packed with peptides it smooths split ends, repairs moisture, and deposits healthy bounce back into your strands.

How to do the equivalent of 20,000 sits ups and tone your tummy without breaking into a sweat

As a beauty writer you become very adept at dismissing headlines that simply sound ‘too good to be true’.

But then there’s always a tiny part of me that secretly wonders ‘what if’?  Which is why I ended up trying Emsculpt.

I figured, summer’s around the corner, what have I got to loose? A few lunch times and potentially a wobbly tummy?

So the press release read, ‘ this new body contouring procedure builds muscles and burns fat by powerfully contracting muscles to a level that standard exercise cannot achieve.’

I mean, come on, you’d be tempted right?

Especially with the summer holiday and the prospect of wearing a bikini on the beach fast approaching.

Well HIFEM (high-intensity focused electromagnetic technology) delivers the equivalent of 20,000 sit-ups without you having to do a thing.

HIFEM produces high-intensity muscle contractions causing a release of epinephrine that breaks down fat. Activating 100% of the muscle it’s the equivalent of 20,000 sit ups in a 30 minute time period. I mean seriously, has anyone ever actually managed to do that many sit ups?

Surely not even Britney Spears in her hey day was doing that many?

They are big claims. Tempting claims. Which is why I jumped at the chance to try it. With two kids under my belt and a slipped disc in the mix sit ups aren’t exactly top of my to do list these days.

But dazzled by the science I thought I’d give it a go. I visited Riverbanks Aesthetic & Wellness Clinic in Hertfordshire to satisfy my curiosity.

So how does it work?

Dr Ravi Jain explains, "Unlike the traditional approach towards body shaping through freezing or other aesthetic devices to generate fat cell death, this is a non- surgical contouring treatment which uses an electromagnetic field to simultaneously build muscle and cause fat cell disruption. Muscles represent 35% of the human body, but existing aesthetic treatments only address fat.  This is the first device that goes beyond waist-line reduction and addresses not only fat loss but abdominal contouring through muscle tone.”

A fan of the treatment he also explains “What I love about HIFEM is that it's so simple yet incredibly effective – with noticeable results in muscle tone and strength after just a few sessions. With HIFEM, I am offering my patients a safe and pain-free treatment that will make them feel stronger from the very first session. They can also leave the clinic and immediately resume their normal routine, with no aftercare or downtime required. This makes HIFEM an easy and convenient option for anyone looking to build strength, confidence, and comfort in their body.”

The principle is that by dramatically increasing the metabolic rate of what’s going on around the muscle and with the hyper contraction of the muscle, the fatty acids on the muscle cells leak out. This results in a 15% fat burn on top of the muscle building.  The fat-burn effect is more of a residual effect from what the device is doing to your muscles.

What does it involve?

The process is relatively painless. A typical treatment takes around 30 minutes and a course row 4 sessions is recommend for optimum results. The device straps on over your stomach area and then a practitioner turns up the power.  Dr Ravi Jain started at a lower power then worked up. Starting at 80% or 100% can hyperstress the muscle.

It’s essential you find a trained practitioner who knows exactly how to handle the device. The contractions occur a few seconds apart and feel strange, like a super-intense vibration that reaches your very core. There is no downtime so you can return to your daily activities after each session. Expect to see results two to four weeks after the initial session and you will continue to see improvements for several weeks following the procedure.

It’s not an alternative to exercise and a health lifestyle but it’s an effective treatment for targeting the tummy.

Best results will be seen after 3-months with continued improvement over a 6-month time period.

Who’s it good for?

Anyone that wants to tone their tummy or thigh area.  It's also proving popular with women struggling with diastasis recti, which is when the two muscles that run down the centre of the stomach separate after pregnancy.

This treatment does not claim to be a dramatic fat loss treatment. I liked it because it targeted the deeper muscles that I was unable to work out because of my back problem.  After the course I felt able to start moderate exercise and I am now spinning twice (?) a week. So for me it helped me get back into exercise. Do I have a 6 pack?  Don’t be ridiculous.

How Jell-O is your skin looking?

It’s the viral TikTok beauty trend everyone’s talking about but what is it and more importantly how do we get it?

Jell-O skin refers to the bounce-back-ability of your skin.  Named after the American version of jelly, anyone that’s had the mis/fortune of eating it will know that it has a soft but firm consistency that bounces right back when prodded. The Jell-O skin test is similar to the pinch test used by doctors. This involves pinching the skin on your cheek or the back of you and for 5 seconds, letting it go, and seeing how long it takes for the skin to flatten out or bounce back.

Hydrated, healthy skin with sufficient collagen and elastin will bounce back instantly, just like Jell-O, hence the name. Plump with hydration, well-upholstered with collagen and supple with elasticity…this is what we should all be aiming for. Dehydrated skin that has lost its collage and elastin will take seconds to return. The test can be used to determine your skin age, which may or may not match your actual age.  1-2 seconds suggests a skin age of 30, 3-4 seconds skin age 30-44, 5-9 seconds suggests skin age 45-60, 10 seconds suggest a skin age of 60. If your skin pinch test isn’t matching your chronological age…it’s time to act!

How to achieve Jell-O skin

Achieving healthy skin requires a holistic approach. Skin health is greatly influenced by what you feed it…water and a varied diet that’s rich in nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins.

Keeping hydrated, (drinking approx 2 litres of water daily) is crucial. Cut out processed food and sugar. These are known to age the skin cells by progressively reducing the quality of skin cells each time they divide to provide fresh layers of skin.

The harsh reality is that after 25 we start to lose our collagen by 1% every year. Production  slows down as fibroblasts in the deep dermal layer of skin slow down. This is why we should aim to prevent collagen breakdown, as stimulating production is not as simple as one would hope.

Diet is key, but it takes approximately 7 days for vitamins to be delivered to the deep layer of skin once they are absorbed in your intestines. Therefore, you can’t reply on diet alone.  The main ingredients that make your skin radiant and plump are humectants, emollients, and occlusives. Humectants (AHA’s, Hyaluronic acid and Salicylic acid) work by drawing water from the dermis up to the epidermis where dehydration occurs.  

Emollients (Aloe Vera and Shea Butter) work by smoothing and softening the skin by filling in the gaps between dry skin cells with hydrating oils and lipids. They stay on the skin surface and help your skin hold on to the humectants you’ve just used. Aloe vera is an amazing natural product that is not only incredibly moisturising but helps to seal all the goodness within the skin including Vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, Vitamin C and Vitamin E.

Occlusives (Beeswax, Lanolin, Cocoa Butter and Jojoba Oil) consist of large molecules, so rather than attracting water they repel it. Like emollients, they seal moisture into your skin where it belongs, the difference is that occlusives are heavier, and therefore better for drier skins, while emollients work best for those with oily skin.

And finally, for Jell-o skin we recommend another viral Tik Tok trend slugging (slathering your face) with petroleum jelly as the last step of your evening skin-care routine. The practice leaves your face as slimy as slug mucus (hence the name).

But don’t expect to see results overnight. The full skin cycle (where new healthy skin cells rise to the surface) takes on average 6 weeks.  Therefore, the best results will be seen around 4-5 months if you are patient and stick with a regime. May the force be with you.