Lip gloss is back – and better than ever

Lip gloss reminds me of loitering around beauty aisles with a gaggle of girlfriends, trying on cheap, gloopy, reflective things intended to attract boys we fancied. That didn’t happen – such was its stickiness, all it attracted was debris.

These days, brands have a much more sophisticated approach to gloss and they include skin-loving ingredients such as vitamin E, hyaluronic acid and peptides. Better still, they don’t all smell like sweets pumped full of E numbers that have you bouncing off the walls with delusion.

1. Laneige Glaze Craze Tinted Lip Serum £19, spacenk.com 2. Merit Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil £21, meritbeauty.com 3. Gisou Honey Infused Lip Oil £24, gisou.com 4. Makeup By Mario Super Shine lip Gloss £25, sephora.co.uk 5. Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Oil Luminizing Lip Oil N’ Gloss £21, sephora.co.uk

Rain or shine, I wear SPF. This wasn’t always the case. Formulations never considered darker skin tones and I got fed up looking like Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice.

I also believed SPF stopped me getting a decent tan. Every summer I would bake myself for hours on a Sardinian beach until I was as crisp as a jacket potato.

I was really proud of myself; it takes a lot of commitment and cheap body oil to get yourself three shades darker. And then one day my skin came off in my hands. We are now aware of the dangers of tanning, but you needn’t eschew the sun entirely.

My north star has always been a super-protective SPF that acknowledges one’s enjoyment of the sun, helps you get a touch of colour with minimal damage and stops the exacerbation of any hyperpigmentation. Institut Esthederm ticks those boxes.

Their method is unconventional: they don’t have SPF numbers on their products as they believe it is an insufficient indicator of sun protection. Rather, they have a 360-degree approach that considers the full spectrum of sunlight. They also consider what people want. Hence Photo Regul supports the natural tanning process, it enhances and prolongs your tan and minimises existing dark spots while protecting new ones from forming. The texture – light and easily absorbed – is also sublime.

So now when the sun is out I can get a (protected) hit without my pigmentation getting worse. Or my skin coming off.

1. Wash and glow: Infused with evening primrose oil, cocoa butter and a rinse-proof hyaluronic acid, this cleanser (their first launch in 18 months) is worth the wait. Sunday Riley Aquamarine Melt Hydrating Gel-Balm Cleanser, £38, cultbeauty.co.uk

2. Muse alert: Yves Saint Laurent’s much-loved haute-couture fragrance line has been redesigned. A fab new scent, Muse – an inky vanilla and soft iris concoction – joins the roster. YSL Beauty Le Vestiaire des Parfums, Muse, £220, yslbeauty.co.uk

3. Beauty sweep: with walnut-timber handles and synthetic bristles to mimic natural fibres, each of these Japanese-inspired makeup brushes is a work of art. Victoria Beckham Beauty Brush Collection, from £30, victoriabeckham.com

Photograph Filippo Fortis/Launchmetrics.com/Spotlight