Keep abreast of latest trends and buy beauty products online. Melanie Morris reviews the best beauty sites.
The Internet is rapidly becoming as essential as tweezers in a girl's beauty arsenal. The industry heavy-hitters such as Sephora and the Estée Lauder group are maximising their profits by offering online shopping, and there are also plenty of niche options on offer. Last year saw a notable increase in beauty-savvy entrepreneurs combining their devotion to products and potions with an opportunity to make a few quid.
And, just as it's no longer necessary to visit a supermarket in person to stock up on life's essentials, it's also no longer a chore to get your hands on that elusive perfume, hair treatment or fake tan. Some, such as hqhair.com, will even deliver your products worldwide - which could eliminate the bulging wash bag that travels with most holidaymakers.
Online browsing for beauty products may lack the fun of running an eyeshadow across the back of your hand, or dodging the perfume demonstrator at the counter, but it makes obscure products as accessible as the ubiquitous Touche Éclat.
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One of the first on-line stores, Sephora is the Tesco.com of beauty. There's a massive choice of beauty brands on sale - from the big hitters such as Lâncome, YSL and Clarins, to the more specialist Du Wop, Pixi and Paula Dorf. Unfortunately, it is still just an American-based site, but it is useful to read about beauty items launched in the US before Europe.
www.atelierdebeaute.com
Atelierdebeaute launched last September selling a selection of the industry's more chi chi names. Vrai, for example, is an excellent French skincare brand, known for its wonderful Hair and Body Argan Oil, while Child is a small British company selling divine perfume oil. Some products have been blended exclusively for atelierdebeaute, such as Louise Bloor's scented oils.
www.zoom.co.uk
A more general website, the beauty section of its online magazine is a fantastic source of information. Offering plenty of tips, as well as advice on what products are best for which jobs, the site commissions one of the UK's most knowledgeable commercial make-up artists, Daniel Sandler, to write on a weekly basis.
www.missgroovy.co.uk
A fun, funky website that is well stocked with cult products, firm favourites and big names. There is advice and myriad options on a huge breadth of subjects - from acne to invisible bras. Not as hot for colour cosmetics as for "fix it" solutions, this is where you'll find those essential grooming staples. The site is easy to navigate and there is also a keen price promise and helpful Bestsellers and Products of the Month sections.
www.gloss.com
A joint-venture by Estée Lauder, Chanel and Clarins, this is the perfect place to gen up on all those big-brand products without having to fend-off enthusiastic salespeople. The site includes Bobbi Brown, Mac, Clinique, Jo Malone, Origins, Crème de la Mer and Stila. Good for research, but doesn't yet ship overseas.
www.myvanitycase.com
This is an online boutique of luxury products, catering for those in search of smaller, hard-to-source specialist companies. Aimed at the upper end of the market, and a great gift resource. If you're going to surf your way through another lunch hour, make sure to explore the free sample service this site offers.
www.makeupalley.com
Not a sales site, but a great place for make-up junkies to gather information. We love the forum and swap sections of this site - the former for the honest product reviews which tell you what people really think, the latter because it's a great way to recyle an unwanted fragrance gift. There's also a clever shopping diary area, where members post their purchases - great for inspiration, but also comforting to know there are others who are even more beauty obsessed than you are.
www.powdersandpotions.co.uk
It is very girlie in appearance, but there's more depth to this site on closer inspection. It was launched by British-based Caroline Burrell to bring a selection of products sold through US-based sites to the UK. Powdersandpotions has an interesting brand list, including Sugar, Bloom, Eyeko and Girlactik, plus other, more instantly recognisable names. There is also a wide range of fragrances, plus some good, must-have beauty tools.
www.hqhair.com
Established by former hairdresser Henry Goldenberg to sell popular, as well as hard-to-source hair products, this site's brands range from the familiar to the obscure, such as Philosophy, Ole Henriksen and Body Bling - the fake tan created by J-Lo's former make-up artist Scott Barnes. The haircare side is equally varied - from Bumble and Bumble to Kerastase and Phytology.
MUDDY BRILLIANT Mud serail, €25 (plus €15 per additional person) at SeaSpa, Kelly's Hotel, Rosslare, Co Wexford, 053-32626. Kelly's re-opens on February 18th and this is a perfect treatment for detoxers. It will soften skin dramatically, and the ingredients in the mud used will draw out impurities at the same time. This treatment can be taken with friends or a partner. Once it has been prepared, the mud solution is self-applied all over the body and you rest in a warm herb-scented chamber while it absorbs - about 20 minutes. After showering, the immediate feeling is of invigoration.
LOVELY LIPS Lâncome Sweet Balm, €16.50 from counters countrywide. Lancôme kicks off the year with the launch of a lusciously flavoured new lip balm that comes with the hint of a pale matte tint. Choose either Lait de Coco (coconut) or Lait Fraise (strawberry), both are incredibly moisturising and comforting, fight the drying elements and help to keep lip lines at bay.