Each week I share a mix of beauty launches, explainers and articles that stick in my head. It’s a slower, calmer way to keep up with beauty – and a bit of a diary of what’s going on behind the scenes at mamabella.
🤖 You can now book last-minute hair appointments through ChatGPT
🧬 K18’s £110 serum claims to reverse greys and stop shedding
🎄 Four advent calendars just landed on our radar
🎁 This week’s best beauty launches
👌 What I’m loving this week: An £12 toner that’s fixed my face AND feet
📖 If you only read one thing: The hunt for discontinued makeup
K-beauty has dominated for the best part of a decade but there’s a new wave working its way into UK routines and this time it’s coming from China.
👉 C-beauty, or Chinese beauty, isn’t trying to be a cheaper version of K-beauty. It’s colour cosmetics, not skincare, and it’s built on bold pigment, inventive textures and a much older idea of what beauty is for.
At the cheaper end, brands like Judydoll and Zeesea sit around £5–£15. At the top, Florasis and Mao Geping run from £25 up to £80+, where you’re paying as much for the object (engraved bullets and silk-lined boxes) as the formula.
A lot of the products also lean on traditional Chinese medicine, building around botanicals rather than a single clinically-proven active. UK stock is mostly online-only for now but as its popularity grows, expect it to appear in more and more places.
👉 Read everything you need to know about C-beauty →
You can now 👉 ask AI to find you beauty appointments based on your location, timing, budget and reviews across hair, massage and wellness.
To use it, look for the connectors or apps menu in your ChatGPT or Claude settings and search for Fresha (the beauty marketplace) – or just ask a booking question and the assistants will offer to connect it for you.
The AI only handles the search. Booking and payment still happen on Fresha itself, so your card details never pass through the chatbot. It’s a useful shortcut if you’re flexible on who does your treatment as long as the slot and price work.
👉 Read the full Fresha AI booking guide →
I mentioned K18’s FutureIQ Serum as a new launch in last week’s newsletter but I wanted to dig into its science a bit more because its claims are wild.
FutureIQ is a scalp serum for premature hair ageing like shedding and early greying. K18’s own 12-week trial found users had up to 19,000 more hairs and 70% had fewer greys. Note that those are K18’s own results rather than an independently peer-reviewed study.
For this privilege, you need to spend £110 a month and the clinical results are measured at three months, so you’re realistically looking at £280–£300 before you can judge if it’s working, even with the subscription discount factored in.
If you’ve already got early signs of shedding or greying and £110 a month fits your routine, it’s a reasonable bet. If your budget doesn’t stretch that far, a solid hair oil or scalp tonic offers similar basic mechanisms for a lot less. You could even use The Ordinary’s Glycolic Acid toner in my What I’m Loving This Week section below.
👉 Read the full K18 FutureIQ breakdown →
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Jo Malone London is now 👉 available online at Boots and in 39 UK stores. The initial range runs to 18 products, from £24 for 10ml minis up to £164, and includes names like Wood Sage & Sea Salt and English Pear & Freesia.
It’s another sign of Boots’ shift from essentials retailer to somewhere people browse for premium beauty – and with Jo Malone’s advent calendar season approaching, minis at a smaller price point make fragrance layering easier.
👉 Read the full Jo Malone at Boots story →
Cult Beauty x Danessa Myricks Beauty Edit (£64, worth over £105): An exclusive five-piece edit built around her debut skincare launch, with two Cult-only Colorfix Stix Duo shades alongside a Water Powder Serum, Blurring Balm Powder and Linework Eyeliner. Available now at 👉 Cult Beauty →
Miss Dior Eau de Parfum (2026) (from £79): The line has been reformulated by Francis Kurkdjian with a new bottle and a formula that smells like Grasse rose, vanilla, tonka bean and sandalwood. Available at 👉 Boots →
OUAI North Bondi Leave-In Conditioner (£28): Detangles, protects against heat up to 450°F and claims to cut breakage by 52% – a solid pick for the last stretch of summer styling. Available now at 👉 Cult Beauty →
Hyeja Vegan Niacinamide Heartleaf Calming Serum (£38): A new Korean minimalist skincare serum built around heartleaf extract and niacinamide for sensitive, redness-prone skin. Available now at 👉 Cult Beauty →
Fortnum & Mason Advent Calendar 2026 (£275, worth £1,225): Already on sale with 25 products and 24 of them full-size – an unusually high ratio for a luxury calendar, where minis usually do a lot of the padding 👉 Buy now →
Anthropologie Advent Calendar 2026 (£98, worth £400): 25 items, 17 full-size, from a mix including L’Occitane, PHLUR, Patchology, Slip, Freck and Hair Syrup 👉 Buy now →
Bamford Wellness Advent Calendar 2026 (£300, worth £672): 24 doors – 12 full-size, six minis, and six tools including a gua sha, palm stones and a body brush 👉 Join the waitlist →
ELLE Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 (TBC): 27 products, 20 of them full-size, from Beauty Pie, BIOEFFECT, Murad, Sunday Riley, Tatcha, Ultra Violette, Shiseido, ZELENS and Rituals 👉 Join the waitlist →
Want more? See the full best beauty advent calendars guide, or jump straight to skincare-only calendars, luxury picks, or the best cheap advent calendars if you’re on a budget.
I’m loving 👉 The Ordinary’s Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner at the mo. My face looks properly clear despite all the sweating and humidity, and I’ve also started using it on my feet to deal with dry, hard skin and on my scalp between washes. At under £12 for 240ml, it’s one of the more affordable things in my routine that’s actually earning its place three times over.
👉 Shop The Ordinary Glycolic Acid Toner →
The Sunday Times has a great, nostalgic piece on 👉 “beauty hunting” – the growing community tracking down discontinued products on resale sites, sometimes spending hundreds chasing a single lipstick or perfume. So much so that brands like MAC, The Ordinary, Urban Decay and Glossier are all bringing back cult favourites in response.
👉 Meet the beauty fans hunting down discontinued make-up products →
Until next time,
Vicky xx
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