Product watch: Chanel’s ‘Poetic States’ Collection
Poetry was among Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s many passions. Between the wars she enjoyed friendships with Jean Cocteau, Colette and Pierre Reverdy. Chanel chose this aspect of the founder’s seemingly infinitely faceted personality (she was a veritable disco ball, that one), to inspire Collection États Poetiques, the make-up brand’s autumn line. Eyes are dramatic with yellow, blackcurrant, pink and monochrome shadows and the excellent, felt-tipped Écriture de Chanel liner, €33.50, in black and brown. All shades of pink are available for lips: pale and shimmery, bold and raspberry. Grey and bisque Le Vernis nail lacquers, €23 each, are “a reminder of the capricious nature of love”.
Available from August 15.
Elizabeth Arden is a major proponent of ceramides in skincare. Ceramides are naturally occurring fats that make up about half of the barrier system that protects skin’s moisture reserve and are depleted by UV damage, harsh cleansing and poor lifestyle choices. They are powerful wrinkle-plumpers but what makes Elizabeth Arden’s ceramide products so desirable is that they put more than one star ingredient in each formula. The brand’s best-selling Ceramide Youth Restoring Capsules come with a long list of top-class antioxidants, emollients and skin-repairers, all stably packaged and free from alcohol or fragrance.
The new Elizabeth Arden Flawless Future Range is similarly well-stocked but with slightly less emollient ingredients. Flawless Future Moisture Cream SPF50, €49, Caplet Serum, €59, and Eye Gel, €52, are lighter ways to enjoy the benefits of some excellent fat.
I think most women feel New York is their spiritual home at some point in their lives. Who wouldn’t gravitate towards such a high concentration of glamour, culture and fabulous people? MYNY is DKNY’s latest attempt at bottling the excitement of the Big Apple. The DKNY MYNY Eau de Parfum, €83/100ml, is irrepressibly feminine, combining raspberry, green apple, pink pepper, orris, patchouli and vanilla musk. The bottle is a pink glass heart with a silver, sky-line shaped cap.
Christian Louboutin’s red soles were born when the designer impulsively lacquered the base of his Pensée pump with an assistant’s nail polish. Twelve years on, he wants to “give back to nails what the shoe took from them”. Rouge Louboutin, €45, is his first nail colour, a brilliant red bottled in moulded-glass with an 8-inch, spike-heel cap. The colour is formulated to shine like 20 layers of traditional lacquer with just two coats. It is extravagant, elegant and sold in the shoe department.
Available at Brown Thomas from August 7.
Having replaced squeeze-y and swipe-y glosses as our handbag essentials, creamy-leaded make-up sticks are rolling out in more shades than Crayola can generate each season. Clinique kicks off the autumn offering with four new Chubby Stick Cheek Colour Balms, €24 each, and four Chubby Stick Baby Tint Moisturising Lip Colour Balms, €19 each. The cheek stain contains skin-improving lecithin, squalane, and vitamin E while lip tints supply sheer colour and smacker-softening vitamin C, shea butter and jojoba seed oil.
Flat hair is to glamour as flat champagne is to bellinis: ruinous. Here’s how to fatten up your blowdry:
* Wash with a protein shampoo that leaves thickening deposits on each strand. Try Viviscal Gentle Shampoo, €11.96.
* Use a light, gel-based conditioner like L’Oréal Professionnel Absolute Repair Lipidium Conditioner, €13.60, on the ends only.
* Prep hair for styling with a thickening spray that contains panthenol or resin (to roughen the cuticle, effecting fatter strands). Try Kérastase Resistance Volumifique Spray, €21.60. Use a heat-protective spray through the ends, avoiding the roots.
* Flip your head upside down, remove the nozzle from your dryer and rough dry on a medium setting, brushing hair through with a vent brush.
* When hair is 90% dry, flip your head up and finish by smooth drying hair back off your face with a round, boar-bristle brush. Wait till the last minute to create a parting.
* To add more volume, switch the dryer to cool and lift sections of your hair with your fingers, blasting the roots with cool air for several seconds.
* Use a hot oil treatment once a week to strengthen hair. Hot oil coats the hair cuticle, preventing breakage without weighing hair down.
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