10 Hottest Skincare and Haircare Drops Available This May

Woman applying a serum to her face — Pexels

Spring has sprung, and summer is on the horizon. With this sense of renewal, you may be looking for what’s new and next in beauty and skincare, and we have you covered. Here are 10 noteworthy product picks you need to try this May.

For your face

Show some extra love to your eyes

Bella Aura Instant Lifting Eye Contour — Bella Aura

If you’re at that point in your life where you’re incorporating eye cream into your skincare ritual to look more awake, Bella Aura has a potent 6-in-1 multitasking eye emulsion to help soften signs of fatigue and reduce the appearance puffiness, dark circles and other signs of aging while nourishing, hydrating and firming that especially-sensitive skin. Star ingredients include jujube (packing more than 20 times the vitamin C found in citrus fruits), moth bean (a botanical alternative to retinol), and levan (a natural alternative to hyaluronic acid).

Instant Lifting Eye Contour, Bella Aura, $130.

For those with blemish-prone skin

Glow Recipe’s Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum is a great addition to your routine if you’re looking to add a little oomph. The serum gently smooths skin and tackles breakouts, while refining pores. The serum is lightweight and great for breakout-prone skin. Key ingredients include strawberry to help reduce excess oil, Glow’s Clarity Acid Complex, which tackles pore buildup while exfoliating dead skin cells, and hyaluronic acid. It’s vegan, cruelty-free and marked Clean at Sephora.

Glow Recipe Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Acid Serum, Sephora, $53.

For those seeking extra-clean ingredients

This luxe, plant-powered and science-driven Aussie skincare brand is available in Canada and offers a range of skincare essentials that are cruelty-free, without parabens or mineral oils — and instead combine clean alternatives in an environmentally mindful way. With an underlying motto that health and beauty are intrinsically linked, you can expect the products to feel good inside and out. Case in point: their Hydra-Repair Day Cream, made with camellia oil, geranium blossom and mayblossom flavonoids, along with other high quality active ingredients. It helps balance your skin, while hydrating and protecting it from environmental pollutants.

Grown Alchemist Hydra-Repair Day Cream: Camellia, Geranium Blossom, Sephora, $65.

You may also like: 10 unique ideas for your next tiny tattoo.

Pacifica is a great option for those looking for clean-yet-affordable skincare, and its Vegan Ceramide Barrier Face cream is both dermatologist- and allergy-tested. It’s fragrance-free, and a great option for those who have sensitive skin. It combines the power of vegan ceramides, amino acids and shea butter to nourish and hydrate your skin while adding a protective skin barrier. To calm reactive skin, the cream also includes amino acids, niacinamide and calendula.

Pacifica Beauty Vegan Ceramide Barrier Face Cream, Shoppers Drug Mart, $24.

For your body

In the shower

This planet-friendly, completely plant-based concentrate is a great addition to the Toronto-based everist’s line of mindset-shifting waterless products. Formed with eco-optimists in mind, the product is not only sustainable (the products don’t use any single-use plastics) but also a great option for those packing for travel or simply looking for a great, natural body wash option. Just add water, work into a paste and you’re good to lather away. The formula includes aloe vera, vegetable glycerin and betaine as well as essential oils (bergamot, orange, rosemary, clary sage and peppermint). The ingredients together gently cleanse and leave you feeling smooth and clean without stripping your skin of moisture. It’s also free of parabens, sulphates, silicones, dyes, synthetic fragrances and preservatives. All everist formulas are as a rule vegan and cruelty-free. The concentrate comes in an aluminum tube along with a zero-waste tube key, giving you upwards of 30 or so washes per tube. Want an even better in-shower experience? Simply pair with everist’s Compostable Konjac Sponge.

everist Waterless Body Wash Concentrate, Indigo, $28.

Get beach body ready now with Boscia’s Papaya & Pomegranate Enzyme Exfoliating Body Cleanser (Boscia’s line also includes a great Fruit Acid Smoothing Foot Peel and Peptide Youth-Restore Firming Body Serum). The citrus-scented energizing cleanser smooths, clarifies and brightens skin, leveraging papaya and pomegranate fruit enzymes and AHAs. You’ll feel a slight tingling, which is a sign the cleanser is working to resurface your skin while locking in moisture. It’s chemical preservative-free, vegan, dermatologist-tested and hypoallergenic. The product is also cruelty-free, as well as free of parabens, phthalates, SLS/SLES, and the other usual suspects.

Boscia Papaya & Pomegranate Enzyme Exfoliating Body Cleanser, Shoppers Drug Mart, $49.

Moisture all the way

Your face isn’t the only body part worthy of care and attention, of course. belif’s staff-fave Aqua Bomb line is now also available as a body moisturizer for this reason (dry elbows and knees rejoice!). The same fast-absorbency and lightweight feel you may already be familiar with in its line of facial moisturisers is also what you can expect with this body moisturiser. It’s all the intense hydration and none of the greasy feel. Packed with niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and Lady’s Mantle, expect your skin to feel smooth and supple – never sticky.

belif Aqua Bomb Hydrating Body Moisturizer, Sephora, $39.

Get that sun-kissed glow (sans the sun)

Even with the sun starting to peak out more consistently, you may still be mindful of the damage those rays can wreak on your skin. Thanks to developments in cosmetics, that doesn’t mean you have to compromise glowing, sun-kissed skin any time of the year. Looking to get a head start ahead of summer-dress season? Try NUDA’s Glow Kit. Customize your glow based on your skin tone with NUDA’s Self-Tanning Mousse for Medium, Dark or Ultra Dark skin using the kit’s Tanning Mitt for a streak-free application. Don’t forget the face with the Face Tan Water for a luminous look, head-to-toe.

Glow Kit, NUDA Canada, $97.

For your hair

Blending French beauty with Moroccan ancestral secrets

This intoxicatingly-scented and award-winning inclusive haircare brand is now available at Indigo with its clean, vegan formulations. Developed in Paris, France, it combines French beauty science with ancestral Moroccan beauty secrets. Employing the nourishing potency of the Moroccan desert prickly pear oil (rich in Vitamin E), the line is perfect for dry and damaged hair. Ideal for wavy to curly to kinky hair, it is made with 98 per cent natural-origin ingredients and uses no silicone, sulphates or parabens. Its Co-Wash is the perfect one-two combo for hair that needs some extra love and hydration. It both cleanses and detoxifies the scalp and hair with one product. The Co-Wash also nourishes the hair thanks to avocado oil, jojoba oil and shea butter.

SHAERI Co-Wash, Indigo, $46.

An overnight solution

If your hair is in need of some TLC, amika’s Dream Routine Overnight Hydrating Hair Mask will do the work for you while you collect those Zzzs. The treatment boosts moisture, reduces breakage and lasts for up to four washes. Apply mid-length to the tips of your tresses before heading to bed, and you’re set to go in the morning (no rinse required!). Ingredient callouts include hyaluronic acid for moisture, bio-fermented coconut water for hydration and polyglutamic acid to help lock in the hydration in the days to come. The Dream Routine is free of parabens, formaldehydes or formaldehyde-releasing agents, phthalates, mineral oil, sulfates SLS & SLES, and other nasties.

amika Dream Routine Overnight Hydrating Hair Mask, Sephora, $40.

All products featured on Slice.ca are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy through links in this article, we earn an affiliate commission.