What we're loving: Dior Addict's Lip Glow, Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara and L'Occitane's Lavender Pillow Mist

We round up the items, places and services that the team at Arts&Life are loving this week.

Dior Addictís Lip Glow Credit: Courtesy Dior

L'Occitane's Cleansing and Soothing Shower Oil with Almond Oil

Why oh why is my skin so dry? Ever heard yourself bemoaning this fact? It is a constant problem I face living in the UAE. I don't know whether it is the water, the heat, my washing powder or any combination of the above, but I am always plagued by itchiness and unsightly dinosaur skin. Until I came across L'Occitane's Cleansing and Soothing Shower Oil with Almond Oil. It can be used as a normal oil moisturiser on very dry skin but it's best in the shower. On contact with wet skin, it turns into a gentle foam that cleans and moisturises at the same time. You put it on at the end of your shower, rinse and that's it. You don't have to coat yourself in cream after you get out and your skin is left really smooth. It also smells divine. The upshot is, you simply have to try it.

It's about Dh115 for 250 millilitres.

* Anna Seaman

Dior Addict's Lip Glow and Lip Maximizer

I'm a reasonably intelligent woman. So I normally wouldn't fall for the elusive promises of products such as Dior Addict's Lip Glow and Lip Maximizer. But for this little duo, I credit the ennui of a long flight: when I'm flying Etihad, I'll pretty much buy anything it puts in its in-flight duty-free shopping magazine, and the company was offering this in a nifty little package. My lips were feeling a little dull, as they do most mornings when I don't feel ready for lipstick, and I thought: "Why not?"

I'm not sure they bring my lips any closer to looking like Angelina Jolie's, but they do leave them smooth and glossy in a natural way. I could live without the Lip Maximizer, but I've become a fan of Lip Glow, which pledges somewhat outrageously to enhance your lips' natural colour through its "Color Reviver technology", which somehow "reacts directly with the unique chemistry of each woman's lips before releasing its colour ingredient". (And if that's not enough, it also contains SPF10 and wild mango.) Ridiculous, right?

Well, I put on the Lip Glow, which is more of a balm than a gloss, using my car's rear-view mirror the other morning, and at two or three different stoplights I caught myself admiring their shiny blush-pink colour. Not in a vain way, really: I just had to marvel at the trifling science of it.

* Mo Gannon

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara

It might sound like another one of those gimmicky beauty products that you don't really need, but my Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara has quickly become indispensable. The miniature tube has a little brush that is designed specifically for coating those difficult-to-paint lower eyelashes, even the tiny, hard-to-reach ones towards the inner eye. The result is defined and fluttery rather than spidery, and thanks to a special formula the mascara doesn't smudge (really!), so you don't have to worry about ending up with those dreaded panda eyes. Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara is available in beauty counters across the UAE. www.clinique.co.uk

* Emily Shardlow

L'Occitane's Lavender Pillow Mist

Sleep experts often advise that to have a deep, restful slumber one must prepare for it properly with a few well-placed bedtime rituals - particularly if you have problems drifting off. And so it is that I have become addicted to a few spritzes of L'Occitane's Lavender Pillow Mist before settling in for the night. A bottle, which is Dh99 at the store, also makes a lovely gift.

* Ann Marie McQueen

For more of what we are loving go to www.thenational.ae/whatwereloving