Summer skin

The inspiration is the savage beauty of summer,” says Singapore-based makeup artist Ng Wei Wei of the Chanel Cruise beauty collection. “Healthy, radiant skin like we’ve seen on the Grecian Chanel Cruise collection just weeks ago. Liberation, freedom, not worrying about being under the shade.”

The coral and bronze shades in the skin and lip products of the collection recreate an exaggeration of beautiful skin warmed up. The creamy and highly-pigmented Stylo Yeux eyeliner Terra Rossa (a perfect purple hue) and Inimitable Waterproof mascara in green, both limited-edition shades, make brown eyes pop. The corals and pinks in the nail line complement a perfect tan but it’s the blue-green shimmers in Sargasso that make a great accent, calling to mind cool North Atlantic Ocean waters. During a one-on-one makeup session, Ng reveals how to channel the Cruise collection glow for daily life.

Skincare with makeup

“The modern young woman can already start anti-aging in their 20s. If you travel frequently and are exposed to pollution and stress and late nights, start with a serum to strengthen skin from sensitivity and redness and then target pigmentation,” she says, before proceeding to prep my skin with an arsenal of skincare.

There’s the La Solution 10 (enriched with Silver Needle Tea Extract which reinforces the skin’s barrier function) to calm and strengthen skin that’s sensitized by stress and pollution and the new additions to the Le Blanc range to target brightness, but what’s unique is the technique she uses to apply it.

The Chanel Night Pearl Massage begins with making small circular movements with your middle and index fingers, working outwards from the middle of the face, beginning with the cheeks, then moving towards the forehead and end with the lower part of the face.

“This is detox for the face so you can lessen redness and have a smaller face,” she explains.

Now with your index finger and pinky, smooth the skin deep down working outwards, from the cheeks towards the ears. Repeat on the forehead, the lower part of the face and the neck. Stimulate radiance by making upward revitalizing “press-and-release” movements, with the middle and ring fingers to activate microcirculation. Begin with the cheeks, then move towards the forehead and end with the lower part of the face. And finally, soothe the skin. Gently cover the face with both hands. Place the fingers on the forehead and the palms on the cheeks, glide the hands over the skin from the nose outwards to the ears. My skin already looks more radiant.

Moving on to makeup, she says, “My trick for a fresh glow is to add one drop of serum into foundation or concealer and create a buildable texture.” She does the same to concealer, mixing in half a drop of Le Blanc L’Extrait, a high concentration of whitening active ingredients TXCTM molecule, ethyl ascorbic acid and rose hip oil which act both on the melanin degradation process and on cell aging. More than an anti-aging benefit, she adds, “Because of the sheered-out texture, it is perfect to blend for a midday touch-up. You can also use the mixture for the cheeks for an instant lift.”

Non-touring

“A mistake that a lot of women I work with make is they do not pay attention to coverage. They are afraid of full coverage but with good products and tools, it can look like real skin. If you are happy with your complexion, doing the rest of the makeup will be easy,” she says.

She starts with Le Blanc Makeup Base. “You can add a few drops of it to your body cream for a matte glow on the skin surface that looks natural. You can use it to create a cream blush,” Ng advises, using a flat foundation brush. As opposed to applying with fingertips, she explains, “a brush is ideal to soften the lines.”

Whatever the internet says to denounce Instagram makeup, in our neck of the woods, contouring is far from being obsolete. Instead of the usual highly pigmented contour stick, Ng uses the sheer Les Beiges Healthy Glow Luminous Color powders from the Cruise collection, using the Dark shade in short, light strokes, slowly building the colors softly onto the high points and hollows of the sides of the face. The result is a sun-kissed glow “that also makes the face more petite.” Using the Light shade, she creates a highlight not on the top of the cheekbones and temples as we have been used to, but just under the eye, also in a V shape, to further plump up the center of the face. The best part? None of this even looks like makeup. Only me, just a bit sun-kissed and glowing from within, still with the perennial lack of sleep (unfortunately), and all without the sun damage.

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In the Philippines, Chanel is available exclusively at Rustan’s The Beauty Source