The Smart Beauty Edit

The other day I was doom scrolling Instagram, as I often do, and I came across a post by a cosmetic surgeon.

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He was talking about a shift in what luxury looks like. In a world where Rolex watches, Hermès Birkin bags, and cosmetic treatments have become more easily accessible (or at least convincingly replicated), he argued that the real differentiator now much harder to fake: genuinely healthy skin.

Women, in particular, have begun looking increasingly alike. Full lips, fox eyes, pert noses and sharp jaw lines have become the code for beauty. It is hard to find an influencer or Hollywood star who hasn’t been ‘fixed’ and filtered to within an inch of her life. But the public is slowly beginning to tire of this ‘one size fits all’ beauty standard, and the false advertising that comes with it.

Increasingly, I see content creators revealing themselves without filters and layers of makeup, proudly stating that ‘this is what real skin at (fill in the blank) looks like”. Stars and models of the eighties and nineties are making a comeback thanks to their unique features. The Kardashification of beauty seems to be dying.

So how do you achieve the real status symbol, that elusive and impossible to fake thing: great, healthy skin? And especially if you’re of 40 or even 50, like myself? The answer: simple is best.

The morning routine: rinse, treat, moisturise, protect.

The evening routine: cleanse, treat, moisturise.

It truly does not have to be complicated.

The skincare industry can be a confusing world to navigate. And product FOMO is real. I feel it myself. A new launch goes viral, and suddenly I find myself questioning everything I thought was working perfectly well.

Over time, though, I’ve started to notice that the products people rely on most consistently are rarely the ones dominating the conversation. They’re not always new, or particularly exciting. More often, they’re the ones that integrate easily — that don’t require too much thought.

Brands like Skinceuticals, with its dependable Vitamine C serums, or Medik8 which I’ve found particularly good at delivering consistent results without requiring much thought. At the same time, something as simple as La Roche-Posay sits comfortably in the same space — reliable, effective, and almost intentionally unremarkable.

It’s less about finding the perfect product, and more about finding something you’ll use consistently — and then, importantly, leaving it alone.