Best beauty buys of the month: Which product launches are really worth your money? We find out

The beauty site known for stocking many of our favourite brands has moved into skincare with its own range, which it launched this month. With a minimalist outlook which hopes to simplify skincare for consumers, “by Beauty Bay” is a straightforward, ingredient-led range developed by chemists and “skincare obsessives”. We’ve seen this concept from other brands, with The Ordinary being the most popular example – so how does Beauty Bay’s offering differ?

First off, its marketing is refreshingly diverse. Models with acne, scarring and pigmentation are heading up the campaign. Beauty Bay makes building your skincare routine easy by asking you to fill out your skin type and concerns on its website, it then suggests which product to select from each of its sections – cleansers, skinhits (serums), moisturisers and skin treats which include an exfoliator and clay mask.

We have combination, acne-prone skin with post-blemish pigmentation, and the clarifying serum was our favourite product. It’s infused with bakuchiol – a natural retinol alternative which is kinder to sensitive skin – and oatmeal, both working to tackle blemishes and pigmentation while soothing and restoring the skin. After just a couple of uses, the milky serum left our skin looking clearer, with signs of pigmentation looking slightly reduced and blemishes soothed. With every product in the range costing less than £10, it's an exciting new contender in the skincare game.

Needless to say that Urban Decay’s all nighter setting spray has a serious fan base, we were excited to get our hands on a new adaptation of the cult-favourite. Famed for keeping your make-up put for hours with its temperature technology stopping you sweat off your hard work, Urban Decay has taken the powerhouse spray one step further with the new ultra matte version, in keeping with recent make-up trends that are ditching glowy skin.

We’re pleased to say that the new formula still has all the benefits of the original, but we love that this truly mattifies our look without leaving us looking cakey: we sprayed this on top of powdered skin and it helped set everything perfectly. It absorbs any unwanted oil throughout the day and kept our make-up looking fresh but polished. A must-have for oily skin types and matte skin lovers.

Victoria Beckham’s beauty brand has joined forces with the new face of skincare science in the second collaboration between VB Beauty and Augustinus Bader. A professor in stem cell technology, Bader’s move into skincare was inspired by his extensive research into healing processes, where he worked to help burns victims heal without scarring. VB Beauty previously partnered up with Bader’s skincare brand to create a priming moisturiser, but this is the first serum on the market that features the professor's sought after skincare formula.

It all gets a bit technical form here, so bear with us, but the serum is a powerful mixture of amino acids, vitamins and synthesised molecules found naturally in the body that work to trigger the skin’s natural renewal and repair systems. It essentially boosts your skin into healing mode, tackling signs of ageing and damage, ensuring no environmental aggressors get in the way of the process.

Sounds too good to be true right? Well, given how eye wateringly pricey this serum is, we’re begrudged to say it’s a game changer, but it really did leave our skin looking plump, rejuvenated and healthier with reduced pigmentation and blemishes. We used it for two consecutive weeks and noticed serious results; we’d certainly miss it in our routine if we had to part with it. The pretty glass pipette bottle with hints of tortoise-shell helps soften the blow, too. If you’re into luxury skincare with serious anti-ageing credentials, it's worth it.

Maybelline makes some of the best drugstore mascaras around, but any product that promises the look of false lashes, or in this case, better results than a lash lift, leaves us sceptical. We’re not sure it beats a trip to the salon, but we do love this mascara – the thick, curved brush lifts lashes well, grabbing them from the root to evenly distribute product through hairs.

The formula isn’t thick or sticky, meaning you can build it up nicely. After a couple of coats, we got the same fanned out, fluffy finish people look for in a false eyelash. We did notice it flake off slightly throughout the day, but lashes stayed lifted and volumised. This is as good as other high-end formulas we’ve tried, so is definitely pulling its weight at this price.

Laura Mercier has launched a new “pure canvas” collection, consisting of five primers and an essence which are each designed to address different skin concerns. From an SPF-focused “protecting” formula to an illuminating option, the brand is introducing the targeted skincare trend to its line, promising that these products will look after your skin long-term while giving you the perfect base for your make-up, depending on what look you want to achieve or what skin type you have.

Our favourite formula is the “perfecting” primer – infused with green tea to combat ageing and vitamin C to brighten and even skin tone, the milky, water-based formula felt hydrating when applied but dried quickly to a tacky finish, which is ideal for make-up to grab onto. It helped our foundation apply evenly and smoothly and our make-up lasted longer than usual. All of the primers are silicone free, an ingredient which can clog pores and dehydrate the skin, and are housed in pretty, pastel coloured tubes.

Inspired by its much-loved lip balm, Nars has extended its afterglow range this month, with a cheek palette, new balm shades, and this limited edition eyeshadow palette. The packaging is gorgeous with its shiny, textured lid in a hot tangerine shade, a definite nod to what’s inside. Full of warm oranges, rusty browns and pinks, Nars has turned up the heat with a mixture of shimmer, glitter and matte shades. The mattes are creamy but stay pigmented when you blend them and we didn’t experience any fall out under the eye or in the pan.

The only shade we didn’t like as much was the sparkly bronze “bayadere”, as the glitter particles are quite chunky which meant it didn’t blend easily and the colour didn’t translate as powerfully onto the eye. But we did find it applied much better with a wet brush. Standouts are the hot fuchsia shade which we love to run under the eye for a pop of colour, and “push it”, a champagne gold with lilac reflexes that give an iridescent finish. This is definitely a go-to summer palette.

Extending its range of skin products, Zoeva has launched a concealer with the same formula as its “authentik skin” foundation. Designed to be luminous but buildable, we’d say this is on the high coverage side rather than medium, but it didn’t feel heavy under the eyes, thanks to the addition of rosehip oil which hydrates the skin. It has a thick consistency but is wonderfully creamy, blending like a dream without losing coverage. This brightened up our under-eye area nicely, leaving us looking fresh faced. It’s available in 30 shades which are handily grouped by skin tone on the Zoeva website. The shade names are the same as the matching foundation too.