The New Beauty Products To Shop This Month, According To Our Beauty Editor

Get in baby, we’re going back in the beauty time machine. 

Nope, not 80’s style blush (though we have found a creamy, mono-pigment blush). We’re talking about re-runs and revamps of trusty beauty favourites—from shades, to formula, to packaging. 

Here's all the beauty news you need to know this winter. 

Stirred, Not Shaken 

Remuer Shift Energy Gel | Price Varies

Stylish, yummy, simple and effective practically never join together in the supplement space. So naturally, we squealed for joy when we tried Remuer's signature SHIFT ™ Energy Gel. 

It’s not caffeine, nor a nootropic. But rather an energy gel or functional food that you squeeze directly into your mouth (or drink, if you really wish) to fuel your body’s cells into promoting day-long mental clarity.

One ingredient, the BioSneds is patented (though we’d argue that the flavouring, a gentle and aftertaste-free mango and coconut flavoured gel is also worth keeping under lock and key). Alongside this, there’s Vitamin C. 

The founder herself suggests having one about an hour after coffee. And we’ll take any advice from such a storied, well-tressed and dressed founder.

We’ve Got The Gloss

NAK HAIR Blowout Smooth Mist | $35.99

A simple blowout spray will be your best friend if you plan on sticking with heat styling tools or blowdrying over the silly season. NAK’s signature mist is light in texture, but heavy on heat protection. The kind of no-frills spray we need come summertime.  

The beauty comes from it practically sealing your hair strands, leaving them glossy and bodied and (importantly) free from fly-aways in these humid, humid times.

Throwing Nightshade 

MECCA MAX Nightshades 16-Shade Eyeshadow Palette | $44 

Hark now see the angel sparkle, Mecca Max have brought out their Holiday range. And she’s a sumptuous one. 

The shades lean icy and cool among the colour cosmetics, but have equal parts warm and cool undertones. Sorcery. 

Pardon the pun, but we're seriously eyeing up the Nightshades 16-Shade Eyeshadow Palette. Namely, the most powdery blue matte (Surreal,) an actual jet black (Witching Hour) and the holographic burgundy Wild Thing — a dead ringer for Boss Gloss’ psychedelic Aura glitter shade.  

Sweet Talk

Philosophy Pink Frosted Animals Body Wash | $34.99

While not new new (she’s doing the rounds on Instagram, after all) it’s our royal duty to let you know that that Pink Frosted Animals Body Wash by Philosophy has indeed just landed at Ultra Beauty. 

Lucky Aotearoa, finally getting a slice of the viral pie—and keeping squeaky clean at the same time. 

The scent notes read a little like a pixie’s shopping list: with cakey vanilla, whippy frosting, caramel and a tinge of lemon making appearances.

A Pinch Of Salt

SALT. Halo Pilates Studio | Price Varies 

Pilates quite literally got a glow up, with Remuera’s SALT. studio, offering mat classes set against a sweeping pink Himalayan rock salt wall. 

Pretty? Sure. Mesmerising? Of course. But the real winner here is your respiratory system, which benefits from the salt particle’s ability to improve your breathing and clear congestion by drawing moisture into the airway. 

On the topic of ambience, SALT is an infrared studio, so expect to sweat in a warm room. Salt, warmth and movement combine to create their very own trademark from this blend: Halo Pilates.

Firming Up  

Murad Retinal ReSculpt Body Treatment | $179

Chances are there’s a bottle of something by Murad that you already know, love and reach for in your beauty cabinet. So here’s another one: Retinal ReSculpt Body Treatment.  

It’s a bit of a reverse-uno for creping on your body’s skin, with encapsulated Retinal (a super potent Vitamin A) at its heart. Don’t fret though, potent here doesn’t mean overly grunty: it’s designed to deliver deep into your skin, to both minimise irritation and boost results. 

It joins an expanded ReSculpt retinal-first range, including a tweak of their darling Retinol Youth Renewal Serum.

Masking Up 

Lemon & Beaker Ultra Hydrating Microcurrent Cellulose Sheet Mask | From $10 

Lemon & Beaker’s signature sheet mask has had a little nip and tuck, and now has even more microcurrent threads running through it. Simply put: its serum will glide further and deeper into your skin. We hear it’s even compatible with microcurrent devices. 

In our experience, this mask has some of the best staying power we’ve seen. Zero bagginess when it’s on, and plump and glossy skin for hours once removed.

A Very Fruity Cocktail

Jeunora Renew+ Black Doris | $99 

In what might be Aotearoa’s answer to a visit from the Sugar Plum Fairy, Jeunora has revamped their Renew+ Collagen with a Black Doris twist just in time for Christmas. 

Punchy plum flavour aside, this brew benefits your skin, nails and hair with a cocktail of Vitamin C, Hyaluronic acid and the all-important 6,000mg of Naticol® hydrolysed marine collagen peptides.  

But, like all things mystical, she’s here for a good time not a long time.

You Go, Ghoul

LUSH Halloween Collection | Price varies

Sure, it’s scary to think that October is just around the corner. But the launch of LUSH’s Halloween line should surely come as a comfort—if not a sparkly consolation.

This year’s collection embraces all the nooks and crannies of the spooky season. Our usual suspects are back: black cats, pumpkins and ghosties in all their bubbly forms. 

Stealing our hearts (and shower hours) are their extra playful takes on the season. Gummy-soap witches hands (complete with a pink manicure,) a mysteriously metallic moon soap and a medieval plague doctor bathbomb that’s been pulled right out of an art history book. 

Like all apparitions, they’re here for a good time, not a long time.

Brushing Up

Mecca Max Brushes | price varies 

Are these the most pocket-friendly make-up brushes? We think so. 

MECCA MAX has tweaked their entire set of house-brand brushes, and they’ve clearly made for our most in-betweeny makeup needs.

Case in point, the Angled Brush. It’s midsize, densely packed gets your contour riiiiiight into—well, under—your cheekbones. You could put it to work on under eye concealer and to swipe on a first eyeshadow base too. 

Alongside this, a pin-thin eyeliner brush and flat foundation brush that’s (finally) straight out of the early 2010’s join the collection. 

They’ve been designed (basically under a microscope) based on the recommendations of their makeup artists

Locking Eyes

BeauEver’s Luminova Time-Lock Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream | $189

‘Beauty’ and ‘ritual’ are so often said in the same breath, but BeauEver’s Luminova Time-Lock Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream is truly like offering a gift to the gods.

Except you’re the god and your bathroom is the shrine. 

First you swipe on the repair and renew gel, then you swipe the creamy hydrating and lifting formula. It’s a two-formula situation, complete with a special silver spatula  — and truly a devotional moment to oneself.

The level of pomp, science and detail is a refreshing take from a New Zealand beauty brand and we’re keeping a close eye on BeauEver’s next chapter (which, we hear, involves olympian Zoe Sadowski)

Head To Toe Glow

GLOWBOdy’s Signature Massage | Price varies

Ponsonby’s haven of wellness, GLOWBody, has expanded their offering; now offering a suite of massages thanks to therapist Ciara joining the coop.

It’s hard to pinpoint her exact technique, but we think magic does play a part. She’ll stretch out your shoulder blade while somehow releasing pressure in your hip. She’ll noodle your tiniest muscles and unlock a block you didn’t know you had. She’ll deliver a stretch-meets-long-stroke that makes your leg feel like it's floating in mid-air. If you weren’t so relaxed, you’d be doing mental maths the entire time, hoping to make rhyme and reason. 

Simply put, Ciara’s Signature Massage is one of those rare ones that has you tranced but lucid, relaxing but therapeutic, and an inch taller for days to come (seriously, we did rake in a compliment for this).

Repair Mode

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Ultimate Repair Moisturiser | $75

We don’t say it lightly when we say Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream Ultimate Repair Moisturiser—like its namesake balm—might be a travel (and life) holy grail. It’s light, it’s versatile, it’s suitable for all skin types and the gel-slash-cream texture sees it absorbed into your skin in a snap.

Once there, the creams’ Auto-Rehydrating Complex works so that it can sense natural ebbs and flows in your skins’ hydration, and adjust how much moisture it responds with. 

You’ll be stoked to know a 50ml bottle makes it a good contender for your carry-on and handbags.

Girl With The Pearly Whites

Colgate Optic White Vitamin C | $14.99

Skin, body and now teeth: it turns out there’s nothing that Vitamin C can’t make better and brighter. 

95% pure Vitamin C calls the new Colgate Optic White Vitamin C home, and it promises to remove 7 years worth of stains in 7 days (it’s a whitening toothpaste, if you couldn't tell). 

Fear not, this formula is non-acidic, meant for daily use, and the Vit C is stabilised (that’s for you, skincare buffs).

It’s minty, for sure. But in true Vit C style, there’s a hint of Yuzu flavouring. Vitamin C supplements and now toothpaste in one fell Chemist Warehouse swoop? We’ll take it.

Weekend Affair 

Mecca Cosmetica | Weekend Skin Hydra Tint $66 

It’s the skin tint of the season. Maybe even, the whole year. 

A big, bold claim, we know—especially in a year when great skin tints are just falling from the sky—but Mecca Cosmetica’s WEEKEND SKIN Hydra Tint ticks all of our skin base boxes.   

Most obviously, the shades: there’s 20, inclusive and flexible shades that span practically all undertones. Better yet, the tint is bodied enough to apply it with a brush like you would your foundation (a better way to spread the SPF across your face, we find) but light enough to settle in without much buffing. 

And then there’s the ingredients list. Pigment aside, the tint is packed with Vitamin C, plumping Peptides, pearl extract for a touch of dew, and finished with SPF50. 

It’s basically a stand-in for foundation (plus some) and designed to be applied in under 30 seconds. And isn’t that the ease we need from our weekends?

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