Last Updated on March 14, 2026 by omgbart

Five new launches have been competing for space in my routine lately. D.S. & Durga Debaser in Bloom started it all.

DS & Durga Debaser in Bloom

I had ten minutes to kill before our lunch reservation. The restaurant next door was not open yet so I ducked into the perfume shop next door, not looking for anything, definitely not prepared to buy. We were also, as it happened, celebrating a small anniversary. One year since my first visit to Madrid. Ten months of actually living here. The kind of day that earns a little something.

Debase in Bloom was on the counter. I knew Debase well, had spent a long stretch on the DS & Durga media list before a PR switch up ended that, and had been following the brand from a distance since. I sprayed it mostly out of curiosity.

I wore it to lunch.

If you know Debase you know it does not behave like a fig scent should. No sweetness, no obvious fruit. It is sharp and green, all leaf and stem, like something freshly crushed. Debase in Bloom does not sand that down. It just lets a little light in. The white florals are led by gardenia, which on paper should worry anyone. Gardenia can go powdery and suffocating fast. Here it stays clean and almost skeletal, stripped of excess, paired with musk and coconut husk in a way that keeps the whole thing airy and modern.

The detail I keep coming back to is the cassette tape accord. DS & Durga built it from white currant and rosemary tuned so precisely into each other that neither reads as itself. What comes through is a composite, something that smells unmistakably like the early 90s without being able to explain why. Born in 1980, I did not expect a fragrance to make me feel something about a dead format.

It was a good ten minutes.

$225 (50ml) and $300 (100ml) at dsanddurga.com

Paula’s Choice CellularYouth Longevity Serum

If you had told me back in 2001 when I first started using Paula’s Choice that the brand would one day have a department store aesthetic, I would have told you to put the drugs away. Paula’s Choice was always about efficacy over elegance, the anti-fancy. The CellularYouth Longevity Serum is the fanciest thing they have ever made, it comes in a glass bottle which may actually be a first for the brand, and it looks every bit the part.

Firming is the primary objective and Acetyl-Tetrapeptide 2 leads that charge, working to keep the dermis infrastructure tight and comfortable. A superfood edit of goji berry, reishi mushroom, and sunflower sprout extracts amplifies hydration and antioxidant protection. The slightly pink-pearlescent texture lands almost weightlessly on skin. It works morning or night, layers clean under SPF or under a richer moisturizer for PM use. For a serum with this level of ambition, that flexibility is not nothing.

$72 (30ml) at paulaschoice.com and sephora.com

African Botanics Intense Recovery Cream

African Botanics built this one specifically for nighttime, and the logic is sound. Skin in its overnight state is at its most recuperative, which means the right formula applied at the right moment can work harder than it ever could during the day. This cream works very hard indeed. The texture is rich without being greasy, a harder balance to strike than brands make it sound, with a light clean scent and a finish that absorbs cleanly and leaves skin feeling replenished rather than just coated.

The ingredient list is where this one gets serious. One percent retinol, vitamin C in THA form, azelaic acid, ceramides, peptides, and stem cell exosomes form the active backbone. Layered over that is a botanical medley that reads like a roll call of African biodiversity: calendula, baobab, kigelia africana fruit extract, rooibos, marula, rosehip. Sensitive skin types should ease in slowly, once or twice a week, and build from there.

$249 (50ml) at africanbotanics.com

Votary Super Barrier Balm

Do not let the 30ml tube fool you. It looks travel-sized at first glance but a balm this dense requires very little per application, so that small tube goes considerably further than it appears.

Unscented but far from joyless, the Super Barrier Balm is Votary doing what Votary does best: straightforward, effective skin calming with no unnecessary noise. The formula leans into restoring compromised or irritated skin almost immediately, fueled by cica, buriti fruit oil, kelp extract, squalane, echium seed oil, and cardiospermum halicacabum among others. Anti-inflammatory, nourishing, and redness-reducing across the board.

I reach for it in two specific situations. In-flight and post-flight, when recycled cabin air does its worst, and on tretinoin nights to buffer the more reactive areas of my face before any irritation has a chance to take hold. It handles both without missing a beat.

If your barrier is unhappy, this fixes it fast.

£35.00 (30ml) at spacenk.com

Remedy For Dark Circles

Let me start with some shade. Remedy’s website is currently showcasing a before and after for this product where the lighting differential between the two shots is so extreme that a black hole in space would glow in comparison. It is one of the more egregious examples of B&A manipulation I have seen recently and worth calling out.

The actual product is pretty great, which makes the bad marketing more frustrating than it needs to be.

I am already a fan of Remedy For Dry Lips and Remedy For Pore Size, both of which are spectacular, so this was not a cold introduction to the brand. For Dark Circles brings six brightening agents to the undereye area: kojic acid, niacinamide, hexylresorcinol, ascorbyl glucoside, licorice, and turmeric extract. Caffeine extract handles depuffing, algae extract and Matrixyl 3000 firm, and hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid alongside squalane do the plumping work. It is a thorough formula that does not cut corners.

The texture is creamy with a comfortable glide, fast absorption, and a no-slip finish that actually works under concealer. My undereye area looks noticeably more alert in the mornings, which for an eye cream is the whole point.

One note: the ceramic cooling tip is included and positioned as a selling point. I find it gimmicky and dispense onto my finger instead, which I also consider more hygienic.

$24 (15ml) at remedyskin.com

Final Thoughts

It is not often that five new products land in the same week and all of them stick. Madrid, it turns out, is good for a lot of things. Including knowing when to duck into a perfume shop with ten minutes to spare.

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