Out of the 50+ Beauty Products I Tried Last Month, These 6 Proved the Best
The six beauty empties I totted up last month as a beauty director.
Welcome to The Empties Edit, a roundup of the products our beauty director Shannon Lawlor finishes to the last drop every month. Shannon tests hundreds of products every year, so only the ones she really adores reach "empty" status. Consider The Empties Edit your definitive shopping list of the best beauty products money can buy.
As I write this, it is 20 degrees outside, and for the first time this year, I feel as though spring/summer has officially arrived. And with the arrival of warmer weather, long evenings and brighter days, my summer beauty routine starts to take shape. I'm back to applying factor-50 sunscreen on both my face and my hands, slathering my limbs in body cream every single day and cocooning my dry lengths in nourishing hair masks.
And with my slightly higher-maintenance routine come summer, it's almost needless to say that I begin going through product at a much quicker rate. This month, it feels as though I have been testing more beauty products than ever, and yet only six of them were so good that I finished them to their last drop. (I'll admit, some others are still going.) So, from the winter perfume I finally polished off to the daily moisturiser that has won my heart, this is every beauty product I finished last month.
Article continues below1. Medik8 Advanced Pro-Collagen + Peptide Cream
Ever since first using this moisturiser back in November, I've been hooked. Not a day has passed that this soft, silky cream hasn't graced my face. With growth factors, NAD+ and peptides, it has been proven to help boost collagen production by 45%, increasing elasticity and visibly reducing the appearance of wrinkles. My skin has looked so good since using it that my complexion has convinced several friends and colleagues to buy a pot for themselves, and they are equally as obsessed as I am. It is, perhaps, one of the best face creams I've ever encountered.
2. Color Wow Dreaming Advance Repair and Resurfacing Treatment
I'll admit, it took me a little while to love this product. If you're expecting a standard, nourishing, buttery hair mask, this isn't it. The texture is thick and rich, but it has the consistency of a body butter more than a hair product, so it didn't spread through my knotty lengths in the way I was used to. However, after a couple of tries with it, I realised that after a minute of sitting on my wet hair, everything starts to untangle, and each strand begins to feel smoother and softer. As a weekly treatment, it works to resurface and repair the outer cuticles of the hair to deliver a shinier, smoother result—and it comes with the benefit of heat protection, too. Is it one for coarse or super-curly hair? Probably not—but it works a treat on my long, straight, broken, bleached lengths.
3. Dr. Althea Green Tea Fresh Sunscreen
I have never met a facial SPF that has impressed me as much as this one. I love it so much, in fact, that I've stocked up on a further two bottles since. Dr. Althea is perhaps my favourite K-Beauty brand right now, and this sunscreen is one of the reasons why. If you have skin that often breaks out, turns red or gets generally irritated by SPF, you need to get your hands on this stuff. It has super-high protection, but its thin, lightweight consistency means it never feels heavy. In fact, it feels more like a hydrating, soothing lotion that also imparts the most beautiful daytime glow. I'm obsessed.
4. Aesop Ouranon
Key notes: Frankincense, hay, myrrh
As a fragrance specialist, I own hundreds of bottles of perfume, so I very rarely finish one. In fact, this bottle of Aesop Ouranon is my first perfume empty of 2026. I have a feeling the reason I got through this bottle of warming, spicy, resinous delight so quickly is that my husband was sneaking sprays of it behind my back. Each spritz clouds you in a puff of burning embers and smoky wood. In the winter months, it's a coddling warmer; in the summer months, it takes on a dry, desert-like heat that transports me to Moroccan souks at dusk.
5. Santa Maria Novella Acqua di Rosa Cleansing Gel
Few beauty products feel as special as those produced by Santa Maria Novella (it is the oldest beauty brand in the world, after all—founded in 1221). This rose cleanser is rooted in the brand's history of damask rose distillation and marries it perfectly with modern-day cleansing preferences. Yes, the inclusion of rose delivers a beautiful aroma, but it also offers a burst of glowing hydration. It is the perfect daily cleanser to leave skin clean, nourished and generally happy.
6. Ffern Spring 26 Candle
Key notes: Wild mint, white thyme, valerian root
Ffern is fast becoming one of Britain's most impressive beauty brands. The natural fragrances are produced in Somerset, and the brand releases just four seasonal scents a year in limited distribution. Recently, Ffern has expanded its fragrance offering to candles, and Spring 26 is my favourite yet. With green, crunchy mint and the sense-clearing earthiness of thyme and valerian root, it smells like English meadows and fresh air.
