Editor's picks: new beauty hacks to try

SKIN DEEP: I tried La Prairie’s New Caviar Emulsion.

Caviar, for the skin? I rolled my eyes — until I tried it.

When La Prairie launched its new Skin Caviar Hydro-Emulsion I’ll admit I was intrigued and sceptical. The packaging is pure elegance: cobalt blue with silver writing, nothing else — minimalist chic that suits the product, the sort of look that demands a front-row seat on your bathroom shelf. But what really made me curious was its promise — not just hydration, but a sort of “firming veil” for the skin. A bold claim, even by luxury skincare standards.

I swapped my regular moisturiser and began using the emulsion morning and night. The texture surprised me immediately: it’s incredibly light — more like a serum-lotion hybrid than a cream — and it sinks in instantly. No greasiness, no stickiness, no wait time before SPF or makeup, just a soft, hydrated finish that felt, like a good lover, comfortable yet exciting — with a promise of making me feel great about myself.

The eight-week glow up

Over the next few weeks my skin started to shift — subtly at first. The tight, papery dryness I usually wake up to, especially during winter, was gone. My skin felt plumper but not puffy; smoother but not slick and greasy. There was a new bounce to my complexion I hadn't felt in years — that elusive “resilience” beauty brands love to talk about. A bouncing back after a bit of life-induced tiredness.

By week four, the texture of my skin looked more even, especially around my jawline and forehead. The fine lines around my eyes seemed less pronounced. I was still the same me — just … fresher — like I’d slept for nine hours (not a chance) and drunk three litres of water (instead of three Margaritas) every day.

Is it magic? No, but it’s close.

Let’s be clear: this is a luxury product with a price tag to match. It’s not going to turn back time or give you a new face, but it does elevate your skincare routine in a way that feels more like a ritual than a chore. It's so smooth, soft and luxurious that, if you can handle a slightly thinner wallet, it's worth it. There’s something satisfying about using a product that feels designed to work with your skin, hydrating, smoothing, rather than just sitting on top of it.

And while I usually take words such as “firming” and “revitalising” with a pinch of salt, I have to say: La Prairie may have earned the right to use them.

Final thoughts

I’ve tried a lot of products that over-promise and under-deliver. This isn’t one of them. The Skin Caviar Hydro-Emulsion won’t make you look 22 again, but it will make you feel your best, most well-rested self — and in a world constantly asking for more, that, to me, is enough.

If you’re in the market for a treat yourself moment and want hydration that genuinely holds, add caviar to your daily routine.

TREATMENT: I tried the no needle 'Time Rewind' facial brand new at my favourite aesthetic skin clear clinic, Crystal Clear

I’m cynical about beauty trends, but keen to look my best and, to be honest, the idea of anything involving the word “neurocosmetic” sounds a little far fetched, to do with enhancing the brain, not the face. But curiosity (and the increasingly frank comments from my bathroom mirror) won. Which is how I found myself lying on a treatment bed at Crystal Clear, about to try Visible Age Reverse — the French-developed, needle-free procedure that claims to turn back time without so much as a pinprick.

It’s the brainchild of Dr Jean-Daniel Mondin, a French biologist and pharmacist with the sort of credentials that make you think, “Yes, I’ll let you vibrate my skin in the name of youth” . The idea is to restore vitality from within — waking up nerve endings, coaxing fibroblasts back into collagen production and generally reminding your skin what it’s like to be in its 20s.

The treatment happens in three stages, each sounding slightly more futuristic than the previous one:

• Stage 1: cuticle regeneration. My therapist massaged in a trio of neuroactive serums — Life Inflow, Life Influx and Fibrelife — which sound like rejected names from a 1990s boy band, but are, apparently, potent cellular wake-up calls. The texture was silky, the scent faintly botanical and my skin seemed to drink it in like a hungover friend accepting coffee.
• Stage two: wrinkle smoothing. Enter the Vibrosmoothing electrode. Picture a sleek metal wand that hums softly as it glides across your face. It’s gentle, not the least bit zappy, and oddly soothing — like a cat purring directly into your cheekbones. This is where the magic supposedly happens: reducing the micro-contractions that etch fine lines across your forehead and around your eyes.
• Stage three: texture unification. Now the wand changed — the Vibrodermic electrode — which worked deeper, sending tiny intradermal vibrations that felt almost like a massage from the inside out. My therapist explained it was stimulating microcirculation and coaxing my skin tone into something a little more uniform.

By the end my reflection was — to put it simply — suspiciously well-rested. My jawline looked a bit sharper, my cheeks a little bouncier and my skin had that elusive lit-from-within glow I normally only get after eight hours of sleep and a long weekend away from my phone. The real kicker? This was after one treatment.

The science, they tell me, is solid: it boosts microcirculation, strengthens the skin barrier, and revs up collagen production. The numbers are impressive — a 77.9% increase in firmness regeneration and a 10% boost in epidermal regeneration — but honestly, I’m more swayed by the fact that my friend (a brutal truth teller) took one look at me afterwards and said, “OK, what have you done?”

And because it’s non-invasive and needle-free, there’s no swelling, no downtime, no awkward explanations to my family or colleagues in meetings. You could, quite literally, do this in your lunch break and still have time to grab a coffee.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. Not because I believe in chasing youth at all costs, but because there’s something great about finding a treatment that leaves you looking like the best, most well-hydrated version of yourself — without knives, needles or an “I’ve just had work done” sheen.

Sometimes, turning back the clock doesn’t require surgery. Just a clever Frenchman, some neuroactive serums and a couple of vibrating wands. Sounds like a fairy-tale come true.

To book an appointment at Crystal Clear click here