Beauty bits: Marc Jacobs Beauty, Allure Youtube, Tom Ford, Lipstick.com, contour mania, the Taviettes, Diptyque, YSL
MARC JACOBS BEAUTY COMES TO LONDON
So Marc Jacobs Beauty arrived in London a couple of weeks ago and no one knew. Not even British Beauty Blogger! I stumbled upon the entire range of it in the Marc Jacobs Mount Street store (after a quick recce of Celine – retail heaven). It’s not cheap but the colours are stunning and the lipstick packaging is right up there with Chanel’s push-click cases. The staff are super helpful and encourage you to try the products, but I haven’t yet. I definitely will soon though…
ALLURE’S (ALMOST) SHOPPABLE YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Allure has just launched its own Youtube channel with ‘shoppable video to come’, according to Womens Wear Daily. Ashley Javier’s Hair Tyrant mini-series is quite the hoot while Editor Linda Wells hopes this channel will be an authoritative couterpoint to the sea of vlogs out there. “People like to relate to the girl in her bedroom, but we can say we’re Allure, we have a more definitive look and a lot of access,” she told WWD.
TOM FORD’S LIMITED EDITION EYE AND CHEEK COMPACT
Tom Ford’s first ever eye and cheek compact got a lot of love when I first showed it on Instagram in February. It’s finally on counter (£68) and features three eye shades – in matt taupe, a shimmery oyster and a rich cobalt blue. The cheek colours are a very pretty coral and a bronzy tan and I’d call this the ultimate holiday palette (lucky you if you’re jetting off anywhere soon). It’s limited edition so unlikely to hang around for long. Buy it at Selfridges and House of Fraser.
GLAMOUR US LAUNCHES LIPSTICK.COM
Conde Nast is certainly ramping up its online beauty offer. Glamour US just launched Lipstick.com, a standalone beauty spin-off, featuring contributors including Coco Rocha and Chanel Iman. Apparently, Conde Nast bought the domain name Lipstick.com in 1999 and has been sitting on it ever since.
NARS EMBRACES CONTOUR MANIA
As part of the no-make-up-make-up generation (think Juergen Teller-esque grunge beauty and Helmut Lang minimalism), contouring has never been part of my regime. But blimey, is there a contouring explosion happening right now. I blame Kim Kardashian and the vlogging phenomenon, it’s certainly not come from the catwalk. I’m sure the beauty brands are rubbing their hands with glee though, a whole new category to exploit! Talking of which, NARS has just released three powder blush contouring duos (£30), exclusively at Selfridges. Each duo has a dark shade for defining and a lighter shade for illuminating. Choose from Paloma, Olympia (above) and Gienah.
MEET THE TAVIETTES
Loved this piece in the New York Times on Tavi’s fashion feminist crew. Especially interesting was Arabelle Sicardi‘s (above) quote on wearing makeup as protection. “All my work operates around feminism, queer theory and makeup — that’s everything I live for,” she said. “To treat makeup as a way to look better for other people is damaging. But I approach it as a way of resistance. I hate getting catcalled, and I used to get catcalled all the time by twerps [‘twerps’!]. But then I started approaching makeup as a weapon, and I would wear it in a way that would freak them out. Then I felt safer in my body.”
DIPTYQUE’S SKINCARE LAUNCHES
So there’s more to Diptyque than natural plant-based fragrances and chic candles. Newly launched is L’Art Du Soin, its equally beautiful skincare line based around ancient rituals and beautiful textures. There’s the rose-scented Infused Facial Water, the Nourishing Cleansing Balm (which doubles as a mask), a Japanese-inspired Radiance Boosting Powder, an Exfoliating Clay and a vitamin-packed Protective Moisturizing Lotion with SPF 15 (samples shown above). Prices from £35, available from Liberty and the usual Diptyque outlets.
YSL BABY DOLL KISS & BLUSH
Baby Doll Kiss & Blush (£27) is a clever new dual purpose product from YSL Beauty. It’s a foam tipped ‘hidden bead’ applicator that delivers a soft, air-whipped mousse to lips and cheeks. The best bit is the colour palette, an array of highly flattering shades in the pinky-red spectrum. As a fan of cream blushes I love it for the cheeks, especially the deeper Rouge Effrontee shade (below) that can be intense on the lips, but delicate on the cheeks (blend with a feather-light touch)…
[Taviettes image by Danny Ghitis for the New York Times]
