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.
💆♀️ How to use gua sha properly – and why the stones are taking over
💇♀️ What hair colour actually suits you (with our new quiz)
🎁 The latest advent calendar waitlists worth joining
🛍️ This week’s new beauty launches from Shark, Boots and Glossier
👌 What I’m loving this week: ANUA serum
📖 If you only read one thing: The worrying rise of “cosmeticorexia”
Beauty brands love to tell you how much their advent calendars are worth but that number alone doesn’t tell you whether a calendar’s actually good value – so I’ve built a 👉 dashboard that does!
It pulls together every confirmed 2026 calendar (so far) and ranks them by value ratio. They’re then given a score that adds in how many of those products are full-size, rather than samples you’ll never finish.
Right now, Avant has the highest value ratio, working out at 9.4, while Liberty offers the biggest single saving at just over £1,015. You can filter by skincare, fragrance, multi-brand or mixed calendars, and click straight through to a full breakdown – price, contents, release date – for each one.
👉 Explore my best value advent calendar dashboard →
Even if you’ve avoided the trend so far, you’ve probably seen a gua sha stone somewhere on your feed. Search 👉 data shows searches for “gua sha tool” have climbed 91% over the past year, with “gua sha face” up 24% – and “gua sha” alone now pulls in around 614,000 Google searches a month.
In short, it’s an ancient Chinese technique that uses a smooth stone or tool to boost circulation and ease tension in the face and neck. Used properly – two to five times a week, always with oil underneath – it helps with puffiness and “cortisol face.” In my 👉 gua sha guide, I explain how to use gua sha stones properly and choose five tools across different budgets to get you started.
👉 Read my full gua sha guide →
Hairstylist Paul Edmonds – the colourist behind Margot Robbie’s red hair in Mary Queen of Scots – swears by one rule when choosing a shade: match it to your natural base and eye colour. Brown eyes mean a dark base, hazel or green sits in the middle and blue eyes mean a light base.
If you’re still not sure, I’ve built a 👉 hair colour quiz that walks you through how to know which hair colour suits you – with hair dye shade recs. There’s also a breakdown of levels, tones and try-on apps.
New research is starting to treat skin less like a passive barrier and more like an active immune organ – one that detects threats, sorts out inflammation and repairs itself. It’s a shift that could change how skincare products are designed, tested and even regulated.
Conditions like acne, rosacea, eczema and psoriasis all involve immune activity, not just oil or dryness, and scientists are increasingly using the term “inflammaging” for the low-level inflammation linked to how skin ages.
👉 Read the full piece on skin and immunity →
John Lewis Fragrance Advent Calendar 2026 (£99, worth £305): 12 fragrances behind 12 doors. MyJL Beauty members get first access from 21 September, ahead of general sale on 25 September – see how it compares in my fragrance advent calendar round-up 👉 Join MyJL Beauty rewards →
Tatcha Advent Calendar 2026 (TBC, worth £231+): Only the brand’s second-ever advent calendar, with 12 products spanning cleansers, serums, moisturisers and eye care. Shop from 1 September 👉 Join the waitlist →
Harvey Nichols Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 (TBC, worth over £1,000): 29 products across 25 days, 16 of them full-size, spanning Charlotte Tilbury, Sisley-Paris and La Mer 👉 Join the Harvey Nichols waitlist →
Cult Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 (£245, worth £1,100+): 16+ full-size products, three £1,000 golden tickets hidden inside and more 👉 Join the Cult Beauty waitlist →
Here are some of the beauty launches that have caught my eye this week.
Shark CryoGlow Plus LED Mask (£339.99): The updated CryoGlow mask now has wider LED coverage and three treatment modes. Available now at 👉 SharkNinja. You can also read my review of the original Shark CryoGlow
Glossier Balm Dotcom Lip Balm, I ♡ NY (£16): A new, limited-edition apple-flavoured shade of the cult lip balm, built on the same phyto-antioxidant blend of vitamin E, rice bran and rosemary extracts. Available at 👉 Space NK
Boots K+J Beauty Skin Edit (£35): A K-beauty and J-beauty edit built around Beauty of Joseon, Biodance and Haru Haru Wonder, plus new addition Curél. Nine products in total, several full-size. Available at 👉 Boots
The UK’s swing between sun and humidity has left my skin more flushed than usual and the 👉 ANUA Azelaic Acid Serum (£22) has been helping a lot. It’s calmed things down within a few uses rather than weeks.
If you want to build a full routine around it, I’ve put together a guide to the 👉 best ANUA Korean skincare products for pores, redness and acne, and I’ve posted a quick 👉 TikTok on what all of the ANUA lines are good for.
BBC InDepth has a piece on “cosmeticorexia” – the term dermatologists are using for children as young as seven or eight developing an unhealthy obsession with skincare. It’s an uncomfortable read in places (some children are using active ingredients like retinol, which can cause “retinol burn” on skin that doesn’t need it), but a useful one if you’ve got kids online.
Until next time,
Vicky xx
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