Hannah Betts’ Better… Not Younger: Beauty products you will really use – to the very last drop

• Plastic packaging waste is believed to amount to over 120billion units a year
• READ MORE: On your marks… join the dash for the best beauty Advent calendars

Naturally, on Planet Beauty, there is a focus on what’s new. And while it’s good to keep abreast of trends, what makes even more sense is to concentrate on what’s actually used.

This feels vital given that the industry’s plastic packaging waste is believed to amount to more than 120billion units a year.

At the same time, the cost-of-living crisis is making all of us strive for more bang for our buck.

And so I found myself going through my drawers and cupboards working out not merely what I had tried and tested in 2023, but the wonders I have loved and used up.

Establishing which pots, jars and palettes you’ve relied on is an excellent exercise so that you know what to ask for this Christmas.

Here’s an inventory of my own finished wares.

I found myself going through my drawers and cupboards working out not merely what I had tried and tested in 2023, but the wonders I have loved and used up (stock image)

Skincare Saviours

Nothing feels as nurturing as an oil cleanser. My latest fixation is Bioderma Atoderm Cleansing Oil For Very Dry To Eczema-Prone Skin (now an extremely competitive £11.60 for one litre, boots.com). This corker can be used on face, hands and body.

The first time I sampled it, I wasn’t particularly struck. Now, though, I’m addicted, and my complexion has become plusher and more supple over time.

And I always boast a Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Scrub (£8.67, boots.com) in the bathroom cabinet for times when my skin goes spottily or flakily to pot.

I’ve got through a bottle and a half of the glow-giving, evenness-restoring Beauty Pie Youthbomb 360° Radiance Concentrate Serum (£44 for members, £185 for non-members, beautypie.com), and two or three plumping First Aid Beauty Bounce-Boosting Serums (now £32, sephora.co.uk).

Add in a globe of the calming Faace Stress Faace Daily Moisturiser (£34, wearefaace.com), tubes of Beauty Pie Happy Face Extreme Relief Cica Moisture Cream (£16.50 for members, £70 for non-members, beautypie.com), and Dr Brandt’s iD-Stress Icy Gel Moisturiser (£42.50, drbrandtskincare.uk).

All are brilliant at overnight face rescue, the latter unrivalled at reducing redness.

READ MORE: Hannah Betts’ Better… Not Younger: On your marks… join the dash for the best beauty Advent calendars 

My glass bottle of Sisley’s best-selling, climate-defying Ecological Compound (£131.10, allbeauty.com) is nearing its end. I’ve adored Eco Compound as a pre-sunscreen moisture/protection layer for more than 20 years.

I use gallons of SPF50.

If I want to feel unabashedly fancy, I sport La Mer The SPF50 UV Protecting Fluid (£95, cultbeauty.co.uk). Otherwise, my empties have been the dewiness-imparting, cold-weather godsend that is Thank You Farmer Sun Project Water Sun Cream SPF50 (£20, sephora.co.uk); priming, slap-fixing Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face SPF50+ Superscreen (£16, meccacosmetica.com); and the daily-moisturiser-like Hello Sunday The Everyday One SPF50 Face Moisturiser (£15.06, sephora.co.uk).

Four-plus products a year is by no means over the top – simply how much facial sunscreen we should be using.

Establishing which pots, jars and palettes you’ve relied on is an excellent exercise so that you know what to ask for this Christmas, says Hannah Betts (pictured)

Crucial cosmetics

Spent slap is especially enlightening, given how many barely-used make-up specimens we all tend to harbour.

Of course, there are my Jones Road (concealer pencil and blush stick) and Charlotte Tilbury (powder and lipstick) staples. On top of this, three replacement-ready winners stand out.

Glossier’s Stretch Fluid Foundation (£34, glossier.com) is the base I’ve finished fastest in four decades because it’s so sensationally brilliant. And I say this as a foundation obsessive.

Lisa Eldridge’s The Eyeshadow Palettes (£49, lisaeldridge.com), five incarnations of which were released in January, are my most-used shadow selections of all time, because Lisa’s colour and texture edit is unrivalled.

My Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish Highlighter & Balm Duo in Cyber Orchid appears to be out of stock – and now I need another.

Rare Beauty Positive Light Silky Touch Highlighter (£24, spacenk.com) is also first-rate.

Ditto the Byredo Colour Stick in Purple Stinger (£32, selfridges.com) that I use to contour. (Yes, it’s blue – this works on cool complexions. Warmer-toned women may prefer a tan.)

My icon of the week

Dolly Parton

The singer, 77, famously took her beauty cues from the ‘town tramp’. She sleeps in her slap, cleanses in the morning with Vaseline (£2.50, boots.com) and Almay eye make-up remover pads (£18.99, amazon.co.uk). 

She notes: ‘People say I always look happy. I say, ‘That’s Botox’ [plus] good lighting and good make-up.’ 

Dolly Parton, 77, famously took her beauty cues from the ‘town tramp’. She sleeps in her slap, cleanses in the morning with Vaseline (£2.50, boots.com) and Almay eye make-up remover pads (£18.99, amazon.co.uk)

Revitalash Advanced Eyelash Conditioner (£129, revitalash. co.uk)

Race you to it!

Leading lash-growth product, Revitalash Advanced Eyelash Conditioner (£129, revitalash. co.uk), is celebrating its 12 millionth serum sold since 2006, with one bought every 30 seconds across the globe. 

Much copied, never bettered. Its secret? It works. Buy one and be batting away with the best of them by Christmas. 

Cosmetic craving

Muji Neck Cushion (£19.95, in Muji stores)

Muji Neck Cushion (£19.95, in Muji stores)

I’m calling my Muji Neck Cushion ‘The Treatment Pillow’, as it stops me sleeping on my face, leaving my dermatographic (easily marked) skin with welts and creases.

Why is it my top beginning-of-November tip? With legions of women scoring pre-party season tweakments, this will stop them face planting, or lying on one side overnight, thus ending up puffy or lopsidedly wonky. There are more glamorous incarnations, such as Slip’s Jet Setter striped silk travel pillow (£99, selfridges.com). 

But, I also rather enjoy the snug scarf-like effect, too.

Winter skin wonders 

(£32, cultured biomecare.com) 

A magnificent cleanser-cumskin sorter, its antioxidants bolster cell defence. 

(£19, boots.com) 

A daily soother for reactive faces, featuring glycerin, ceramides and vitamin B3. 

(£65, dermalogica. co.uk) 

Fans will go wild for the balmy, melting texture that instantly calms. 

(£15.75, boots.com) 

A winter saver for inflamed and flaking complexions

(£9.99, boots.com)

Panthenol B5 attracts moisture to leave skin plump and calm. For extra soothing, keep it in the fridge.

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