Experimenting with new makeup can liven up the most mundane days and can transport you to a place we’d all rather be. Feel like Cleopatra? Then pile on the black eyeliner. Channeling Gwen Stefani? Love that matte red lipstick.
As a beauty junkie, I toy with all sorts of makeup and skincare products. I fantasize about what kind of girl I feel like being on any given day as I tinker with tubes and bottles, shades and textures. Lately, I’ve been fond of Clarins’ makeup story, In the Mood for Love. Clarins is a French family-run company founded in 1954 and is a major player in the cosmetics and skincare world. How can you not trust a family-run company?
Focusing on the eyes, the collection is romantic but translates well for daytime use and equally for a night on the town. Boasting of delicious, heavenly color, the collection inspires one to recollect and recreate childhood, innocence and, especially, first loves. Clarins’ Eye Color Quartet in blue shimmers contains four pearlized hues that mimic the colors in the sky when the sun is about to set and when that first kiss is about to happen. The palette contains violet, pink and two shades of blue, which are vibrant and playful but tender at the same time, a perfect recipe for long-lasting flirtatious eyes.
Another wonderful addition to my makeup kit is Clarins Soft Cream Eye Colors, which comes in six luminous shades. Applied with the fingertips, they deliver stay-true color that won’t fade away. Cream shadows remain on the eyelid longer as powder ones tend to crease and cake as lids secrete oils. The luster allows adolescence to radiate without the ill effects of puberty. In fact, loaded with vitamins E and C, they offer anti-free radical benefits so that eyes maintain their youthful, fresh appearance.
Like icing on a cake, Wonder Volume Mascara completes the look. An exclusive Clarins cylindrical brush composed of hollow fibers delivers the perfect amount of mascara as you coat your lashes. The Wonder-Full complex from the Clarins’ lab contains a shaping polymer for a thickening effect, acacia extract from Senegal which pumps up lashes by filling in the gap between the keratin of the lash and the mascara’s creamy texture, and candelilla wax that coats each lash for ultimate volume. Nourishing and water resistant, this is one wand you won’t want to be without. Uncomplicated and refreshing, Clarins’ products make memories of my dazzling teenage romance come flooding in.
If the makeup didn’t melt off from the steam of romance, then a good cleansing should remove all traces of makeup. No matter what how tired or tipsy I am, I make it a point to wash up before hitting the sack. Gently washing your face is the way to go, followed by a wonderful toner from Sekkisei by Kose called Seikisho Clear Lotion. Kose is also the parent company of Japanese cosmetics brand Awake, a water-based line catered especially to Asian skin.
This mild-alkaline toning lotion does not just remove all excess traces of makeup and oil, it eliminates old skin to regain clarity and make way for renewed skin. The special alkaline property softens the skin while removing keratinocytes and old skin cells containing melanin and dirt. Unlike most toners, the Seikisho Clear Lotion has a thicker consistency that is comfortable and it smoothly glides over skin without leaving a film or feeling sticky. With a swipe, evenly-textured skin is revealed to be softer and suppler. Now, if only life were that simple!
Composed of four main oriental herbal extracts, this Japanese lotion is the Kobe beef of all of toners. Polygonum bistorta root extract, Kose’s original ingredient, is moisturizing and detoxifying, Chinese pearl barley extract prevents rough skin, peach leaf extract enhances exfoliation while angelica root extract has moisturizing and whitening effects.
Leave it to the Japanese to create a specially-designed cotton pad to enhance the effects of the Clear Lotion. Made from cotton of the highest quality, sandwiching cupra cloth, which absorbs liquid very well, it is a double-sided device designed for exfoliating while toning. One side consists of a herringbone texture created for the T-zone, where most old skin cells and sebum have a tendency to accumulate. Flip it over and you have a side as smooth as a baby’s bum for more delicate areas such as around the eyes and over the cheeks. Once toned and with the moisturizer lapped up, a fab gal can call it a night and revel in all that beauty sampling has to offer.