Category: beauty

Posted on

the bold lip

Here’s a peek of the face situation for a look going up later in the week. I wanted to dwell on the lipstick for a moment.

IMG_8829

A bold lip is great for autumn/winter, yes, that’s true…but perhaps you’ve noticed how it’s always great, all the time?

I followed the principles of this tutorial by Lisa Eldridge (who we love*), which counsels neutralizing any redness in the face before going for a dark red or bordeaux lip – as any red or purple tones will be highlighted and amplified next to it – then tips for how to approach the task, which can indeed be daunting.

*here is another favorite lip-centric tutorial

I colored in the lips with MAC brick pencil and then went in, straight from the bullet, with MAC Dubonnet lipstick, a beautiful dark claret. Part of the idea of the pencil is to work out the shape of the lips with the more precise tip, which you then follow with the lipstick, coloring inside the lines, as it were. You can do corrections with a pencil – most people’s lips are somewhat wonky, mine definitely so – but I don’t often bother. It’s a lot of work (I find it really hard to figure out which is the part that needs fixing, my face is too familiar),  looks even stranger than the actual shape up close, and…these are my lips. They look nice and human this way. Part of wearing bold lipstick is doing your best and then embracing that harmonious state of mind wherein you let these things (and all the other things that can go wrong) go. OR I go for that vague hazy stain approach, where you pat on the lipstick in a cloud of color, blot most of it away and leave the edges fuzzy: much more forgiving, and it has its own charm.

It takes me kind of a long time to do a bright/bold lip color…I am pretty slow anyway, and like to fuss and fiddle with the intensity and the edges (which are still wonky, after all that…). But I ask myself, do I want to wear it or not? I do, I do, I do.

Posted on

smell this: Clarins Eau Dynamisante

IMG_6149

 

I made my way to a Clarins counter to smell Eau Dynamisante a few months ago after it was featured on Garance Doré’s site. This offering from the French skincare brand, launched in 1987,  is evidently something of a cult classic with men and women alike in France. I can see why.

It opens with a bright citrus note that my nose associates hopelessly with pez but, maybe 10 minutes later (be sure to wait at least this before making your judgment), settles into a light, delicate leather scent with herbal and citrus backup singers. There is, in fact, no leather. What I perceive as leather is (relatively) sweet midnotes of ginseng and white tea hitting a patchouli basenote, then petit grain (the oil extracted from the leaves and twigs of the bitter orange plant) for brightness and rosemary to make things interesting. Patchouli is persistent on the skin and this lingers on me for many hours. Fades over time into a creamy white tea and patchouli accord that is to me in every way pleasant. I got some for myself.

No surprise from a skincare brand, it’s meant to be good for your skin as well, and follows basics of aromatherapy in its selection of essential oils. I can’t tell if it is making good on these claims…but these would be a bonus anyway. I’m inclined to trust in the ingredients and imagine it does have some subtle effect.

It’s hard to imagine putting too much of this on, it is so inoffensive and so light in formulation. At the same time it isn’t, like so many inoffensive fragrances, unforgivably bland. This leans slightly masculine, at least for the American market, but just slightly. This feels like a modern Eau Sauvage (which, for the record, I do not much like), and I would especially recommend it for a no-fuss, post-shave morning spritz.