It was -14C in New York during fashion week — cue brain freeze and the speedy arrival of flu-like symptoms. Happily (and miraculously), the one thing that didn’t suffer was my skin. Despite everything, it had a particular glow all week. I put this down to the fact that I had lunch with Nathalie, the Chanel beauty PR, before I left, and she introduced me to the brand’s Le Blanc skincare range (from £48). It’s pitched largely at the Asian market, but is on sale at select stores, including Harrods and Selfridges, and it contains that somewhat angst-inspiring word “brightening” in the main product sell.
Nathalie reassured me that it’s not about bleaching or whitening, but giving a clear complexion. And it did. I wasn’t even using the whole range, just the gel cleanser and the lotion on top of my usual serum (which happens to be Chanel Hydra Beauty Serum), topped off with my trusty Erno Laszlo Phormula 3-9 Repair Cream. Amazingly, this combo never caused any pilling (an increasing problem with skincare, I find), and it left my skin glowing like a healthy teenager’s. Consequently, I have decided that the time has come to try a full Asian skincare routine. The downside will be that I’ll likely have to get out of bed half an hour earlier, or, if I’m working out in the morning, cart endless products around with me, but I’m too keen to see the results to be deterred by such practicalities.
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Then it was on to LA for the Tom Ford fashion show. It was a spectacle of far greater excitement and glamour than the Oscars two days later, a celebrity and glamour fest that made the standard frow look like amateur hour. On backstage beauty duty was the effervescent make-up artist Mary Greenwell, who told me she couldn’t remember the last time she had done a show, but agreed the whole thing “was amazing”. Earlier that day, the brand had shown its spring and summer beauty collections, including a new mini version of its bronzer (my favourite), which will be out in May. It will be less bulky to carry, but, as Greenwell points out, the original version is “fantastic as a make-up mirror for your bag”. These seasonal cosmetics collections are becoming ever more noteworthy, with summer make-up ranges now mirroring the importance of resort wear in fashion.
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While in LA, I checked out the new nail brand Smith & Cult, founded by Jeanne Chavez and Dineh Mohajer, the woman who set up Hard Candy. The range combines great colours, funny names (Stockholm Syndrome, a moody grey, is the bestseller) and cool packaging, with dented lids that reflect, explains Mohajer, her years as a beauty junkie and the knocks life has dealt her. “Women relate to my experiences and the dualities we inhabit throughout our lives — from triumph to tears, bliss to heartbreak, and everything in between,” she says. The range will be coming to Net-a-porter’s international site in the next month ($18), and in the meantime, they are working on a lip collection. “All in all,” says Mohajer, “I just love make-up.”