BARE-FACED CHEEK
The natural look is suddenly a whole lot more achievable, thanks to three fantastically light foundations:
>ARMANI’s Maestro Fusion Makeup (dubbed the ‘Revolutionary Complexion Perfector’) is light as air on your skin and gives flawless coverage with the sheerest of layers. £36, at selfridges.com
>DIORSKIN Nude Foundation uses translucent pigment to let your natural skin colour shine through, while magically erasing blemishes. £31, at houseoffraser.co.uk
>YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation is as luminescent and easy to apply as its Touche Éclat pen. £28, at debenhams.com
>EXPERT TIP: For anyone who struggles to find a good foundation colour match,BOOTS has launched a dandy (and free) Foundation Match Made service, finding you the correct shade in its relaunched No7 range.
LIP SERVICE
If the shine-free texture of MAC’s Ruby Woo lipstick has long held a place in your heart, rejoice. This season is all about the matte lip (see Victoria Beckham’s A/W 2012 show) and there are some sensational new options to choose from:
>YSL’s new Rouge Pur Couture The Mats is the dream choice if you’re excited by a crimson pout but put off by the thought of keeping it perfect: its ‘stretch’ technology ensures that the colour won’t bleed or stain the creases of your lips, and it stays in place for up to six hours. £23.50, at debenhams.com
>The new KEVYN AUCOIN Rouge Hommage matte lipstick is paraben-free with a velvet finish, and helps to repair damaged lips. £22, at uk.spacenk.com
>HOURGLASS Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Raven is the perfect pillarbox red.£23, at liberty.co.uk
SPACE-AGE SKIN
The celebrated Dr Yannis Alexandrides has taken a NASA formula designed to protect astronauts’ skin and incorporated it into new brand 111Skin, offering UV protection, anti-ageing and hydration. CLARE PETERS has incorporated 111SKINinto her Flash Bulb Ready Facial, which also uses a magnetic pulse to stimulate elastin production, helping to reduce wrinkles and leave you looking radiant. £140, at nevillehairandbeauty.net
NICE PINS
The KIRBY GRIP takes centre stage this season, as seen on the Cacharel A/W 2012 catwalk. Use them for topknots, twists and buns, or simply to secure a stray fringe. Think of them like lingerie: nice girls used to hide them, now with a bit of attitude, why not keep them on show?
ROUGH IT OUT
Just as you can’t paint an uneven wall, it’s best not to apply make-up to unexfoliated skin.
>Naomi Watts and Heidi Klum heart the CLARISONIC Mia 2, a brush that oscillates over the skin, removing dirt and reducing pores and fine lines. Magic. £130, at urbanretreat.co.uk
>For a more old-school approach, OSKIA’s Micro-Exfoliating Balm (pictured) gives just the right amount of — gentle — abrasion: our sources say Eddie Redmayne and Hugh Jackman use it before their close-ups. £46 (oskiaskincare.com)
CLEAR CONSCIENCE
>Bono’s eco-campaigning wife Ali Hewson has reformulated all the products in herNUDE beauty line. Products are ideal for dry skin, as they are rich in hydrating omega oils.
>LIZ EARLE has launched a new, Prince’s Trust version of her iconic cleanser to raise money for the charity. £18.25 (lizearle.com)
>Don’t miss CHANTECAILLE’s beautiful L’Elephant Palette: four lustrous ‘bush’ colours, with a chunk of the proceeds going to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust providing havens for orphaned African elephants. £74, at uk.spacenk.com
BLUE-EYED GIRL
For an instant beauty update, reach for that 1980s classic blue mascara. Give it an all-important A/W 2012 twist by pairing with pulled-back hair and minimal make-up.BY TERRY’s Terrybly Mascara has a strong colour and cleaves to each lash without clumping or dropping — so no blue under-eye smudges. £31, at uk.spacenk.com
SPACE INVADERS
London’s great emporia have gone head-to-head to outdo each other, investing millions of pounds on newall-singing, all-dancing make-you-gorgeous beauty halls.
>SELFRIDGES launches its revamped Beauty Hall tomorrow — and it’s triple its previous size: 5,000 sq ft of beauty mecca, housing 50 new brands on top of all your old favourites, as well as a Beauty Workshop where you can be tanned by St Tropez or blown-out by Hershesons.
>HARVEY NICHOLS' BeautyMART opened last week. An addition to the beauty area downstairs, the MART sits with the fashion on the third floor, with products curated from around the world to help you get different à la mode looks.
>Also worth visiting is the 18,000 sq ft Beauty Hall in JOHN LEWIS’s Oxford Street branch, and, on Kensington High Street, M&S Your Beauty, where MARKS & SPENCER has complemented its in-house ranges with international brands such asDR MURAD, an LA brand prized for its power to stave off the wrinkles.(marksandspencer.com)
POWER HAIR
The Sixties silhouette is big this season, from primped hair at Carolina Herrera to smooth — but, crucially, voluminous — at Prada. Your tool? L’Oréal Professionnel’s Super Dust. Simply puff into your roots, then work in with your fingertips (or backcomb) for lasting height. £12.60 (lorealprofessionnel.co.uk)
RELAXED AND CHIC
Three new massage-based treatments to restore health and happiness:
>Budapest-based brand OMOROVICZA exploits the healing and cleansing properties of local spa water. The brand’s facial includes moor mud to draw out impurities, followed by a facial massage that leaves skin glowing. £160, at liberty.co.uk
>THE SANCTUARY’s Active Reverse Facial, designed by über-facialist Nichola Joss (who counts Scarlett Johansson, Gisele and Gwyneth Paltrow among her regulars), involves a deep facial massage, lifting the face and instantly improving texture and tone. £90 (thesanctuary.com)
>USHVANI’s Kaffir Lime Reinvigorating Ritual is a detoxifying scrub followed by a deep and restorative acupressure massage that will leave you ready for anything.£180 (ushvani.com)
DO LINES
The good people at CLARINS have made the graphic eyeliner look, as seen this season at Lanvin and Erdem, easily achievable with its new 3-Dot Liner. Its three-pronged tip makes it easy to get a perfect line close to your lashes — or to build for a bolder, more geometric effect. It also boasts great staying power. £20, at boots.com
BACKSTAGE SECRETS
>The wunder-cream of the A/W 2012 shows came — no surprise — from MAC. Its Pro Sculpting Cream is the make-up artists’ choice for accentuating facial definition, as seen at Balmain. £17.50 (maccosmetics.com)
>Another fresh take on contouring comes from CHANEL: its Joues Contraste Blush has a fresh, almost futuristic grey tone, and can be layered under the cheekbones as well as used as an eyeshadow. £31, at selfridges.com
Original article published in ES Magazine, in September, 2012
