Kate Demolder: A look inside my beauty bag and my everyday skin and make-up must-haves

Being a woman in this world is overwhelming (it is for men too these days, but X-chromosomes got here first) so, with this column, I hope to provide a space where you don’t feel you have to buy products to succeed, but enjoy where you are with whatever you have — be they Biologique Recherche masques or ice cubes from your freezer.

My journey with beauty has been a bit of a trip. I started with Body Shop lip balms and, today, find myself paring things back, and enjoying the beauty process more and more as I age. 

It took me years to enjoy my mirror image instead of being repelled by it (still on a learning curve), and now I feel like I can exist alongside products and treatments rather than feel I need them. 

I imagine that’s a familiar path for anyone reading this, so please feel welcome here, because it’s for you and me.

For my first beauty column, I wanted to introduce myself via my everyday skin and make-up must-haves.

SKIN

I’m a pharmacy girl. Department stores make me feel like I’m going to break something expensive. My greatest love affair, from pharmacies, is the La-Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume (€9.49, 40ml, Boots). 

I go back to it all the time and layer it as a mask at night when I need extra juice. I’m an SPF demon. 

I was told before by a dermatologist that you should only buy suncream from a company where it’s the hero product, and La-Roche Posay’s Anthelios SPF50 (€21.45, 50ml, McCabes Pharmacy) is just that. It pairs beautifully under make-up, has zero white cast for my dark-skinned girls and can be added during the day on top of a full beat. Also, Kate Moss uses it, so there’s that.

As for serums, cleansers and chemical exfoliants (if you’re still using a microplastic, physical exfoliant in the year 2023, DM me personally) I chop and change regularly, but a shout out goes to Sásta Microbiome Booster Serum (€45.00, 30ml, Meaghers Pharmacy).

MAKE-UP

I hate the feeling of heavy makeup on my skin — I just look like a child who got lost in lipstick. 

So I use Charlotte Tilbury’s Flawless Filter (€40, SpaceNK), but the e.l.f Halo Glow Liquid Filter (€16.50, Millies) is also good, and one-third of the price. 

I use YSL Beauty Touche Éclat Illuminating Pen (€35, Boots) under my eyes, and a cheap rotation of concealers (you do not need to spend €€€ to conceal spots). 

Then Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Setting Powder (€33, Boots), L’Oreal Lash Paradise Waterproof mascara (€16.95, McCauley Pharmacy), and Lukey Lukey Crème Blush Dream Cheeks in Blossom Bloom (€30.28, dollfacehouseofmakeup.com) which is Irish, queer-founded and the cutest thing I own. 

The Chanel Les Beiges (€47, Brown Thomas) bronzer is spenny but has genuinely lasted me 18 months and is nowhere near finished. 

I use it on my eyes too, as well as a swish of blush if I’m feeling fancy. I also use Weleda Skin Food as a highlighter, iykyk. 

Oh, and the best eyebrow product I’ve ever used has been the e.l.f. Ultra Precise Brow Pencil (€6.84, Feel Unique). 

I use Taupe which is a great cool shade for the fair-haired, and it’s under €10 anywhere you buy it. That and a spoolie is all you need. 

I’ve started using my boyfriend’s hair pomade to set them and that’s been great — some brow gels are too wet, whereas a matte hair pomade seems to get it right.

My eyelash curler is my Desert Island product. Mine is just from a random pharmacy and it’s what I rely on the most to make me look together and alive. 

That with SPF and a somewhat combed brow (I do mine myself and have learned to pluck less rather than more, not dissimilar to Eugene Levy) is my everyday face.

HAIR

I’ve ashamedly only recently gotten into haircare, following a decade of bleach. I wash it every 3-4 days and use either Kevin Murphy or Olaplex products, but Act + Acre Stem Cell Serum (€88, 65ml, Millies) has really made a difference in hair growth where the blonde has obliterated the vibes. 

I air dry 90% of the time and use a myriad of hair oils that are either formulated for blondes or entirely clear to avoid staining. 

For a scrub, I mix sugar with oil and do a hair scrub in the shower. 

Then, after, I’ll use the Shu Uemura Extreme Repair Treatment masque (€70.95, 200ml, LookFantastic) which is expensive but genuinely a religious experience. You also need the tiniest drop so it lasts the test of time. I have mine a year and just under half is left.

FRAGRANCE

Finally, for scent, I tend towards the earthy and essential oily. Perfumes are expensive, and though there are ones I die for –– YSL Libre, Glossier You, E11even –– more often than not, I’m wearing rosewater or patchouli. 

But if anything blows me out of the water, you guys will be the first to know.

Next week, we’re gonna kick things off with some new releases that are worth your time––as well as the ways to achieve the looks associated with them on a budget. Now, reapply your SPF and chat next week.

Product prices are subject to change and may differ across retailers.