THE BEAUTY EDIT
The Kit’s beauty director Katherine Lalancette sees a slew of new products every day. She shares her latest obsessions here
The mood-boosting oil
I met uber-cool sisters Alana and Maddie Alper eons ago, while working on photo shoots in Montreal. The makeup and hair artists always had magical potions I’d never heard of in their kit — the kind of stuff Urban Outfitters would wind up stocking five years later. So I was over the moon when I heard they were launching their own line of lovely prods. Their allnatural face oils glide on like a dream, but it’s this bath blend I’ve been reaching for the most. It’s laced with ylang ylang and jasmine, two flowers said to soothe the blues and lift the spirits.
Alper Oils Floral Fusion bath oil, $58, alperoils.com
The hopeful hair tie
I don’t think I can fully explain how happy this made-to-order scrunchy makes me. Somehow, it’s become the beacon of better days to come, days when I’ll feel as light and jaunty as floral organza. I’ll loop it around my ponytail and share a picnic with friends in the park. We’ll greet each other with hugs and eat cheese and grapes with our hands. It’ll be glorious.
Bronze Age oversized scrunchie, $35, abronzeage.com
The fancy lipstick
Here’s some good news for you: Hermès now makes lipsticks! Predictably, the packaging is objet-d’art-level stunning — its mere presence in my field of view has brightened my days. The refillable tube, made of lacquered, polished and brushed metal, boasts that weighty feel that just screams luxury. There’s a matte finish and a satin one — it’s as luminous as a silk scarf — and both coat lips in rich, comforting moisture. They also both come in Orange Boîte, the colour of the house’s signature box since 1942.
Rouge Hermès satin lipstick in Orange Boîte, $87, hermes.com
The sunshine-in-a-bottle mani
Looking down at my fingertips as they type away on my laptop feels a bit cheerier thanks to this polish. There’s the colour, of course, — a merry mix of harvest gold and chartreuse — but the formula also makes my heart sing. It’s a one-step colour and shine lacquer, and it dries, I kid you not, in about a minute. Even better, it’s vegan and 8free, meaning it contains no toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, ethyl tosylamide, dibutyl phthalate, xylene or triphenyl phosphate. Joy all around. Essie
Expressie nail polish in Taxi Hopping, $9, walmart.ca
The pretty palette
Yes, this is the second lip product on this list. Sue me. I’m not exactly putting on a full face right now, but a bright lip feels strangely uplifting. Maybe it’s because it’s not at all practical, but purely about pleasure. And it doesn’t get more pleasurable than Westman Atelier’s latest offering: a compact housing four gorgeous lip powders. Every shade is absolute perfection: the tomato red I’ve been searching for all my life, the brick I never thought I’d pull off, the fuchsia that can brighten my most sallow indoor complexion and the dusty rose that feels anything but dusty.
Westman Atelier lip suede, $114, holtrenfrew.com