make-up

Business of beauty: who will be the next make-up mogul?



Violette beauty line

With a couple of recent beauty brand launches, it’s interesting to speculate who will be the next make-up-artist-turned-make-up-mogul after Pat McGrath and Charlotte Tilbury. I’m currently enjoying watching the rise of Gucci Westman and Westman Atelier, but next in the running we have Violette Serrat and Lisa Eldridge.

Violette rose quickly from freelance MUA to Estee Lauder Global Beauty Director after growing a dedicated following of her beautifully shot (and very ‘French girl style’) YouTube videos. Her aspirational but relatable style now translates to Violette_FR, a capsule beauty line that includes Boum Boum Milk spray serum, liquid eye shadows and – already! – a unisex musk oil perfume (above). (more…)



Old and new spring beauty



Olverum Pure Radiance Facial Oil

After the longest winter ever, we’re finally seeing glimmers of brighter days ahead. The one thing that’s kept me going beauty-wise has been products that engage the senses. Much as I appreciate purely functional products, I’m far more likely to use things if they look, smell and feel nice.


SKINCARE.
Apart from the odd central heating-induced breakout, my skin’s been surprisingly well behaved this year. My morning routine is fairly simple – oil or balm cleanser, followed by hydrating serum, moisturiser and facial oil. Shiseido’s Vital Protection Radiance Serum* (£106 below) has been a joy to use. Even though it’s a creamy texture, it’s quite ‘wet’, so it gives a good amount of slip for morning facial massage (I use my knuckles but you can also use a gua sha stone). While it’s pitched as anti-ageing (for fading dark spots and firming the jawline), I just use it as an extra boost of hydration. (more…)



Yuzu beauty news – a fragrance, a foundation, and a fabulous fruit-growing lab



Louis Vuitton On the Beach Les Colognes fragrance

Latest update on beauty ingredient, yuzu fruit. Since I mentioned it in my spring trend round up, the Japanese citrus has cropped up in a summer fragrance and a radiance boosting foundation.

The fragrance first. Louis Vuitton’s On the Beach‘ (£200, above and below) is part of its Les Colognes line (colognes but with eau de parfum concentration) and combines a top juicy note of yuzu (the note you smell first), with a herby cocktail of thyme, rosemary, pink pepper, cloves and cypress, plus a floral neroli note. It’s designed to smell subtly coastal rather than full-on beachy (despite the name). Fragrantica has some early reviews here. (more…)



Inside Frank Sinatra’s make-up kit



Inside Frank Sinatra's makeup kit

I’ve inadvertently stumbled down a Bobbi Brown rabbit hole and found her online ‘archive’, which is a kind of blog. I feel it’s about time for another Bobbi Brown book…

Anyway, I love this story…

“One day, out of the blue, a girl walked into my then studio and dropped off a bag and asked the team to give it to me. I’ll never forget opening it and pulling out this cool, vintage makeup kit and reading the note. It was Frank Sinatra’s make-up kit. (more…)