Beauty Picks

I need your Discipline

MANILA, Philippines - I’ve gone through three dye jobs in just as many months, and one thing you learn when you lose your virginity (your hair’s, that is) is that while dye jobs can do wonders to refresh your look, they also make your hair a tad more unmanageable than it used to be before it was touched by your colorist for the very first time. (Have you woken up frizzy? I have. It’s a nightmare, like I fell asleep and woke up with crispy ‘80s hair.) I’ve similarly gone through more hair products since then, trying to find the right fit. Dye veterans say to avoid sulfates because they’ll strip the color from your hair. No longer a problem for me now that I’m back to black, but for those of you who continue to live your blonde ambitions, it’s important to keep that in mind.

Your hair needs some discipline. Kérastase’s Discipline line is a range of sulfate-free products that are packed with a high concentration of pro-keratin, which damaged, chemically-processed hair badly needs to continue to look fabulous and to feel soft to the touch. The line restores smoothness and shine, essentially disciplining your hair without the need for other heavy products that will weigh it down — because movement is essential. You want hair that moves with the wind, not an impenetrable helmet. This is how you get it.

You’re so fresh to death

A good number of the Holy Grail items on my expansive beauty shelf (a.k.a. the entire surface of my sink — it’s a mess) are from Kiehl’s. Their Midnight Recovery Concentrate has long been a post-partying skincare savior, so much so that I’ve given a few of my reserve bottles to the friends I’m forever partying with so that we can all look fresh together. (Beauty girls are the best friends to have!) Their Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution is my go-to brightener after a bad acne spell. The latest product to hit their shelves is also the latest to hit mine.

The Hydro-Plumping Re-Texturizing Serum Concentrate was designed to correct signs of age-related dehydration — not really a problem for me or most people my age, because we still get mistaken for jailbait, but prevention is always better than cure, and it’s hard to find a good hydrator that keeps your face looking and feeling fresh and isn’t a tad too wet or oily to the touch. Nothing strips the exhaustion from the skin like a good hydrator, and everyone we know is tired these days.

The serum concentrate, with moisturizing components such as glycerin (which absorbs water from the environment into your skin, keeping you hydrated), and shiso leaf extract (which protects against the degeneration of hyaluronic acid), sinks into skin for instant fullness and freshness and a few years subtracted from your face. Congratulations, you now look 14.

Online shop ‘til you drop

Some girls subscribe to fashion magazines — all of them, not just Vogue (because subscribing to just Vogue would be so basic of you) — but I’m the kind of girl who buys Allure. The other girls in the industry can obsess about what happens from the neck down; I care about the shoulders up: hair, skincare, and makeup. So, after years and years of lusting after all the Stateside-only products that the magazine features on the regular, I’ve finally fallen into the black hole of online shopping. I ordered five bottles of Marc Jacobs’ Hi-Shine Nail Enamel from Sephora when it was first released. I bought Kevyn Aucoin Beauty highlight and contour powders from Nordstrom when I found out that there isn’t a single shop in Asia that seems to stock the brand. And I’ve been tempted since, but shipping is expensive and I’m too impatient to wait the x number of weeks it takes for my beauty booty to get to me. (I have no EQ.)

Finally, though, all my Into the Gloss dreams can come true, because there’s a locally-based online shopping site that carries a whole bunch of the brands I’ve been longing for. I mean, one word: Clarisonic. Another: Bumble (& Bumble). The newly-launched BeautyMNL.com touts itself as “the go-to beauty destination of every Filipina,” but I’m going to call it the bane of my bank account. Just some of the brands on offer: Oscar Blandi, Living Proof (if your hair peg is still The Rachel, you probably need this), Fresh Cosmetics, Tom Ford (it’s just the Neroli fragrance so far, but keeping my fingers crossed for the rest!), Aesop (finally, a source for their bestselling Parsley Seed range!), Eucerin, RMK, Frederic Fekkai, Tarte, and C.O. Bigelow. And yes, that Clarisonic, oh, that Clarisonic. (Apparently your first purchase gets 20 percent off, so yeah, if you want that Mia 2 with a discount…)

Absolutely audacious

Twenty years ago, François Nars — hankering for a wider range of color in cosmetics — launched his eponymous brand with 12 shades of lipstick. Twenty years since then, the brand has grown exponentially, covering the entire spectrum of maquillage must-haves and coming up with cult favorites that every beauty girl owns, like Orgasm blush and Schiap lipstick. (It’s rumored that J.Lo used to get that glow by blending one of Nars’ The Multiples with some La Mer and slathering it all over herself — something I would love to try if I could afford enough La Mer, alas…)

To celebrate two decades in the beauty biz, Nars has released 40 shades of lippy called the Audacious Lipstick Collection, all named after iconic beauties.

Audacious is the appropriate word — Nars has always been out of the beauty box in terms of shade selection, and then some. The campaign for Audacious Lipstick features veteran actress Charlotte Rampling (for whom, I’m guessing, the Charlotte shade is named) — an unexpected and fabulous choice. The 40 shades run the gamut from palest nude to darkest plum, so there’s certain to be a shade in the collection for everybody. They go for P1,450 a pop, and are on Rustan’s counters already. (My picks: deep aubergine Liv, bordeaux Bette, red plum Vivien, and merlot Ingrid.)

Clean up your act

I read an online article sometime last week about Frenchwomen and their beauty philosophy. Every time I come across an article like this, they kind of say the same things: Keep it simple and unfussy, because looking like you tried too hard is the opposite of chic. All you need is a red lip. Work with what you have instead of trying to look like someone else. You don’t need much when your starting point is good as it is. So, basically: wake up flawless. They obsess more about putting together the perfect skincare regimen than they do about finding the perfect foundation, and that’s always a good mindset to have.

That said, I have seen Bioderma on a whole pile of Into the Gloss Top Shelf articles, and it’s one of those you-can-only-get-it-abroad products that my beauty-savvy makeup artist friends all stock up on when they go on trips, so I’m beyond thrilled that it’s finally available locally (at Watson’s).

Founded on the principle of creating naturally healthy skin and assisting it to self-correct, self-heal, and self-sustain, Bioderma has ranges that cater to all skin types: Atoderm for dry skin, Sensibio for sensitive skin, Sébium for blemish-prone skin, and Cicabio for damaged or irritated skin, plus Photoderm for sun-protection nerds like me.

The product that’s going to be on everyone’s shelves, though, is their Micellar Water Solution — a water-based non-rinse cleanser and makeup remover. Apparently, 12 bottles of the Sensibio variant are sold every minute. (And there’s a Sébium variant, too, for the oily-skinned.) Never have I been more excited to go home and wash my makeup off after a long day, and never has that been easier to do than now. (No more excuses!)