Clockwise from top left, Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré Nourishing Moisturiser, £13, Herlum Hand & Body Lotion £34 and Egyptian Magic All-Purpose Skin Cream £13.
Speaking of niche beauty products Herlum Hand & Body Lotion £34 has accrued an underground following, quietly becoming the celebrity manicurist’s go-to product and has been used on the hands of everyone from Margot Robbie to Emma Corrin, Cate Blanchett, Adele and Priyanka Chopra.
The serum-like lotion is infused with nourishing Brazilian murumuru butter with an upcycled fragrance of freshly sliced grapefruit, patchouli and creamy sandalwood making it both luxurious and kind to hands and the environment.
Isadora Belfort, founder of Herlum, says: “I wanted to create a brand that captured my upbringing in Brazil and that enhanced the feeling of wellness whilst respecting the planet. Many of our daily wellbeing rituals focus on the face and hair, and it’s easy to forget one of our most personal introductions to others: our hands. It’s so important to me that they feel and smell beautiful too.”
Meanwhile, Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré Nourishing Moisturiser, £13, has been going strong since the 1950s and sells one every 13 seconds to this day. Affordable and multi-purpose, the moisturising icon that’s rich in fatty acids and nourishing vitamins has been used on film sets and endless photo shoots (including the Emily in Paris set) for decades due to its gentle does-all prowess from soothing sensitivity to removing make-up. It even makes a darn good shaving cream substitute and can double as a baby-care product, making it one of dermatologists’ most recommended creams.
None of the products mentioned here come in a gilded Instagram-worthy pot and you won’t catch them starring in some big influencer marketing campaign. In fact, if you didn’t know how good they really are, you would probably stroll straight past them on the shop floor. But if results are what you’re after, then one of these three humble buys could be your new secret beauty weapon.