PRODUCT WATCH: November's makeup choices
MAC ‘In The Spotlight’ Collection
Strobe Cream is a MAC classic, a highlighter that’s helped create photo-friendly angles for sixteen years.
The formula is loaded with pink pearl-pigments, which can look natural on fair skin but noticeably artificial on darker tones.
This was not a glaring problem back in 2000, when the product was meant for making skin glow on stage or under club lights, but the art of highlighting is so subtle currently that expanding the range makes sense.
The original Strobe Cream is now called Strobe Cream Pinklite, €34, though the formula is the same.
Pinklite’s new sisters — Peachlite, Silverlite, Redlite and Goldlite — each contain light- reflecting pigments the same colour as their prefixes.
Silver and red are party shades but medium and dark complexions look naturally brighter in peach and gold, respectively.
Anti-ageing hydration is the great unsung power of both Strobe Cream and this new ‘Lite’ family.
Packed with antioxidants and plant-based emollients, a fine layer under foundation leaves skin comforted as well as luminous.
The formula is very rich and best suits normal to dry skin. Oily and combination types can brighten up with one of four new shades of Extra Dimension Skinfinish, €31.50.
This radiant face powder is superfine and silky.
‘Show Gold,’ a fresh peach-pink, is especially flattering.
Nars X Sarah Moon Collection
François Nars’ passion for fashion photography lured him from the makeup station to the camera but he still still steps aside to offer a platform to those he admires. Steven Klein’s darkly elegant images decorated Nars’ 2015 holiday collection, and this weeks sees the launch of the brand’s collaboration with Sarah Moon.
The French photographer has been in fashion almost50 years. She has a dreamy, impressionistic style that suited Cacharel, a long-term patron, and Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba.
Her work has also helped to promote Chanel, Dior and Comme Des Garçons.
For Nars she shot models in soft-focus and white light, emphasising through contrast the collection’s blue-red lipsticks, false lashes and smoky eye-makeup.
François Nars and Sarah Moon’s makeup is inspired by the nostalgic futurism of 1927 sci-fi epic Metropolis.
Their 25-piece collection includes eye, lip, nail and cheek products.
Most are colour-updates on existent products but Nars Moon Matte Lipstick, €26, is brand new.
This hydrating full-colour lipstick has a radiant-matte finish and comes in three reds and one nude-rose shade.
The formula contains Vitamin E and hyaluronic acid, both of which leave lips looking naturally plumper.
The collaboration also makes Nars Nail Polish, €19, available in three new reds. ‘La Dame en Noir,’ a deep burgundy, is especially pretty.
The brand’s best-selling powder Blush, €31, now comes is ‘Isadora’ lavender-pink and ‘Impudique’ raspberry.
The Nars x Sarah Moon Eyelashes, €17.50, numbered nine and 10 in the brand’s permanent line of falsies, have a dramatic ‘cascading’ design, with the bulk of the lashes packed on the outer half of each strip.
A stroke of Kohliner, €25, in ‘Witching Hour’ charcoal intensifies the look.
Moon’s imagery covers a selection of gift-edition eye and cheek palettes.
My favourite is ‘Give In Take,’ €55, which contains six shades of Nars Dual Intensity Eye Shadow (one trio of nudes, one of greys) and three Dual Intensity Blushes (pink, peach and a highlighter).
This palette is exclusive to SpaceNK.
Lancôme ‘Auda[city] in London’ Eye Shadow Palette
Getting out and about in Paris or London does not require a plane ticket at Lancôme. Auda[city] in London, €55, which sounds like the title of a romance novel, is the second of Creative Director Lisa Eldridge’s capital-themed palettes for the brand. 2015’s ‘Auda[city] in Paris’ was a 16-shadow selection of nudes and purples that “let you bring the feel of Paris wherever you go”. London colours are more diverse, though the palette is the same size. Four quartets of verdant, khaki, gold, and grey shades are inspired by the city.
The shadows finishes are a mix of mattes, satins and shimmers, there really is something for everyone in the collection.
The compact itself is eminently gift-able.
Its lid is printed with a London skyline and lined with a large mirror. The full-size double-ended brush makes blending and contouring a cinch.
Chanel ‘Synthetic de Chanel’ Collection, on counters November 4
Chanel’s Creative Director Lucia Pica was also feeling city-inspired for this season.
‘Synthetic de Chanel,’ is a limited-edition collection of eye, lip, nail and cheek colours.
At its heart is Exclusive Creation Architectonic, €57, an eyeshadow palette inspired by urban shades.
All five, from matte blue to mirror grey, harmonise beautifully in any combination.
The shadows have a cream-to-powder formula that is very easy to blend and sets to either and intensely-pigmented matte or a metallic satin, depending on the shade.
There is also a lot of bold pink in the collection, run-off from Chanel’s Autumn/Winter women’s wear.
Joues Contrast Powder Blush, €40, in ‘Hyperfresh’ and Le Vernis Nail Colour, €25, in ‘Hyperrose Glace’ are as fuchsia as any of Lagerfeld’s tweed suits. Rouge Allure Gloss, €33, in ‘Super Nude’ pink-beige or ‘Super Coral’ creates lips shiny as perspex.
If you choose only one piece, make it Calligraphie de Chanel, €31, the pot of silky cream-liner.
Its angled brush makes the campaign model’s chic look easy to emulate and the formula does not set immediately, so even practice tries can be perfected.
Laura Geller ‘Sparkle Mist’ Primer, €20.60 at BeautyBay.com, Debenhams
‘Spray primer’ sounds almost as oxymoronic as ‘spackle mist’ but Laura Geller’s latest base is excellent.
The clear liquid works as both primer and setting spray, keeping makeup looking fresh without irritating skin.
The texture is toner-like, too light to fill lines or large pores.
A quick spritz over cakey or settled foundation lets you blend it back to pretty without having to remove and reapply.
I recommend using Spackle Mist as a primer more often than not, as this maximises the benefits of its many anti-ageing ingredients (eg cucumber, hyaluronic acid, lentil seed) and skin conditioners (glycerin, aloe, panthenol).
The formula is fragrance-free and suits all skin types.
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