Product watch - what's new and glossy on the shelves
Rihanna has co-created an extensive new make-up collection with the diva-loving MAC team. RiRi’s MAC reflects the singer’s bold, glamorous style. The line includes two eyeshadow quads in shades of gold and grey, a black liquid-liner, gold highlighter cream, two sets of fluttery falsies and a two-tone blush palette in tan and coral. Lip products include red and plum liners and a creamy red gloss.
Rihanna is a lipstick lover and she’s come up with a great selection of classics. There’s a cool nude shade and a classic matte-red called RiRi Woo. The singer’s favourite is the deep berry-coloured Talk That Talk. Her autograph is everywhere: scribbled across the rose-gold packaging and tattooed in the product. My pick of the lot is the Extended Play Lash in Gigablack, €20.50, a lengthening mascara with a long, slender brush that catches every lash. Ri-Ri’s MAC is on counters now, priced from €14.50-€45.50
Matte-velvet skin is very chic right now. Chanel’s new Vitalumière Compact Douceur, €52, mattifies and hydrates, safeguarding against a chalky finish. Chanel says the foundation’s blend of powders, water and binding ingredients was whipped to get its creamy texture. A combination of red, green and blue pigments diffuses white light, creating a subtle glow. The sponge applicator makes it easy to apply and it feels very light and comfortable. The SPF is low and not broad-spectrum, so do double up with a more protective cream if you give this a try. On counters from Oct 18.
Clinique’s All About Lipstick gets a Pink Lady makeover for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink Ribbon Honey is pretty, sheer pink and comes with a candy-coloured pouch. Apart from benefiting a great cause, this is a suit-everyone shade that makes a lovely gift. Clinique All About Lipstick in Pink Ribbon Honey, €19 (€4 of which goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation) is available at Brown Thomas.
Prevage Treatment Boosting Cleanser, €49, works to enhance the effects of the serum and/or cream it precedes in your skincare routine. This new addition to Elizabeth Arden’s anti-aging range is a foaming, wash-off cream with moisturising shea butter. The most celebrated ingredient is Idebenone Ester, the antioxidant blend the brand has invested in since Prevage’s 2005 launch. This protects skin from environmental damage, while bamboo microbeads, mushroom extract and enzyme exfoliants smooth and purify. Regular use leaves your face more receptive to treatments and makes for smoother make-up application.
Flowers of Love is a cute range of body, hand and lip moisturisers that L’Occitane hopes will banish the pre-winter blues. Each product is 10%-25% shea butter, that anti-oxidant rich natural emollient. There are also some great supporting ingredients, including coconut oil in the hand cream, beeswax in the lip balm and sunflower seed oil in everything. Orange packaging indicates jasmine fragrance, while pink and blue contain rose and violet scented-creams, respectively. Jasmine oil is a potential skin irritant, so avoid the orange if you’re a sensitive type. Proceeds from the sale of the additional shea butter hand-soap will help support eye-health projects run by NGOs in developing countries. The Solidarity Soap, €4, and Flowers of Love Lip Balm, €14, Hand Cream, €10.50, and Body Cream, €19, are available now.
Kiehl’s Super Multi-Corrective Cream, €56, tackles multiple signs of ageing, including sagging, wrinkles and poor texture. This is a battle with many warriors but the difference here is the combination of potent ingredients. Jasmonic acid, fragmented hyaluronic acid and beech tree extract have never been part of the same moisturising cream. Kiehl’s chemists spent 17 months figuring out how to make jasmonic acid — a firming ingredient often used in anti-aging serum — work in a cream base. They scratched their heads over how to lighten the sticky texture of plumping beech tree extract. They strove to balance the two with hyaluronic acid, a component of skin-tissue that can boost moisture content and help prevent moisture loss. Their offering is a light, serum-silky cream that they promise will yield results in 2-4 weeks.
Aveda Tourmaline Charged Radiance Masque, €40.50, This is an excellent smoothing and hydrating mask for normal to dry skin. It contains lots of water, emollients (including avocado oil and murumuru butter), non-irritating plant extracts and the antioxidant lycopene. The formula creates the radiant, refined glow it promises. Best of all, it comes in a large tube and lasts for ages. Tourmaline has no independently proven skincare benefits (Aveda calls it “nature’s most energising mineral”) but the gemstone connotation certainly lends itself to the product’s promise of radiance.
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