Jo Loves… for late Spring 2023

Our joint editor Jo Fairley’s newest discoveries, from a can’t-live-without-it skin primer to a rich body cream, via a divine range of gut-friendly beans from a female-founded start-up. (Yup, beans can be a beauty product, too…

MORPHE Perk Up Cheek & Lip Colour and MORPHE Blush Balm Soft Focus Cream Blush

There’s been a void in my make-up bag since I teased out the last atom of my Dolce & Gabbana cream blusher with a Q-Tip. SOB! So when I walked into MORPHE’s store in Liverpool in a moment of downtime between engagements, I was auditioning for something new. Both of these have hit a bullseye, the dreamy-creamy swivel-up blusher for the main cheek area and the second (the Blush Balm) as a ‘pop’ of colour on the apples of the cheeks. They’re both super-blendable with fingers and I was torn when choosing shades, eventually opting for Rosy Wishes (Perk Up) and Mighty Mauve, for that ‘pop’; I may well be back for peachier, summery shades because these are fab to use – and extremely reasonably priced for the quality (a fraction of the cost of my late-lamented D&G).

Perk Up Cheek & Lip Colour/£12 – buy here

Blush Balm Soft Focus Cream Blush/£12 – buy here

Trinny BFF De-Stress Tinted Serum

I am now on my third tube of this; originally prescribed by Trinny herself, it is probably the most life-changing make-up product I’ve ever used. I remember bringing this complexion-evening, BB-cream-like primer home from a meeting with Trin, and smooshing it into skin with my fingers. I literally stared at my reflection and went, out loud, ‘F**king hell!’

I told Trinny that, and she joked that was all the endorsement that the cream needed, really: ‘Jo Fairley says: “F**king hell!”’ I wear it on its own at weekends, and never apply foundation without a layer of this underneath: it’s dewy but not shiny, and just incredible for concealing, while still being featherlight. The 12 shades cover the spectrum from really pale to dark; they are quite ‘forgiving’ and adaptable, and I can actually wear Lucy, Claire or Binky (a sandy-beige which I’ll be shifting to, as the weather warms); there’s a photo gallery on the website which gives a really good idea of how different tones work on the skin.

Ingredients are billed as ‘de-stressing’ – but the real de-stressing factor for me is looking at my reflection and feeling about 1000% better about my face.

£39 for 30ml – buy here

L’Occitane Immortelle Karité Pro-Youth Body Balm

Regular readers will know how crazy I am about the L’Occitane Immortelle range – it is a staple in my facial skincare regime. For some time, I’ve been pleading: ‘PLEASE bring out an immortelle body cream!’, and while I’m under no illusion that it was my lobbying that led to the launch of this luscious creation, I’m happy it finally happened. ‘Luscious’ is honestly the only word for it: rich, smooth, easy to massage in, whereupon skin is super-softened and velvety. Incredibly pleasurably, it has the signature, aromatic-powdery scent of the Immortelle range, and is created with 97% natural-source ingredients, housed in a hefty glass jar that has pride of place on my bedside which is used every night without fail. Alongside mega-antioxidant immortelle essential oil, there’s shea, another signature of L’Occitane’s, along with firming pea peptides. It’s definitely skin-plumping and nourishing, and supposedly has firming benefits; I can’t say I’ve noticed that specifically, but when the day comes to throw off the tights and even embrace shorts, as well as short sleeves, I’m feeling very good about the skin that will be on show.

£55 for 200ml – buy here

Heathcote & Ivory Flower of Focus Power Through Drawer Liners

Without wanting to sound like anyone’s granny, I am a huge fan of scented drawer liners. Fact: if you’ve got wonky old wooden furniture, as we do, it saves your precious knitwear and (slightly less precious in my case) underwear from snagging on the often slightly rough base of the drawers. For decades I was unswervingly devoted to bitter orange-scented drawer liners from an American brand called Agraria, but they got discontinued. Ditto some amazing Lime, Basil & Mandarin liners from Jo Malone London. These days, my go-to drawer liner brand (that is an actual thing) is Heathcote & Ivory (which cost a fraction of what those other brands used to set me back). So, when I (slightly prematurely) started my seasonal wardrobe switchover last weekend, I re-lined the drawers with these ridiculously pretty flower-sprigged sheets, which have a wonderful scent of rosemary, lavender and sweet orange. They are, we are told, designed to aid ‘focus’. If my pants or my cardies pull off that mood-shifting feat, I will be terribly impressed – but meanwhile, the scent is gorgeous.

£9 for six sheets – buy here

Bold Bean Co. beans

It might seem odd to include beans in a beauty round-up, but they’re so good for overall health that I want to point you in the direction of a pretty life-changing range of beans. I thought all beans were created equal, but Amelia Christie-Miller’s Bold Bean Co. beans have convinced me otherwise.

These are seasoned as they cook, are super-soft (undercooked beans are the ones that cause digestive issues), and what’s more, their Instagram (@boldbeanco) is constantly updated with easy-to-follow, utterly delicious recipes, which tend to be shared as videos that are easy as A-bean-C to follow. I’m particularly keen on the Organic White Beans and the Queen Butter Beans, but the chickpeas are also off-the-scale delicious; whatever you do, don’t throw away the jellied liquid they come in, as it’s flavoursome and packed with goodness. And those health benefits…? Almost too many to list, but they’re a great source of fibre and protein, iron, potassium and magnesium and more.

Available by the case; lots of bundles available, but try a Mini Pick and Mix of six 325g jars/£21– buy here (also found in Waitrose and available individually on Waitrose.com and in good delis)