BEAUTY NEWS

An upbeat fragrance, personalised at-home hair colours, superior self-tanning, a three-step routine to luminous skin, and the best brushes in store.

MULTI-BENEFIT BASES This month we’re ushering in a number of advanced new foundation formulas, and giving them a very warm welcome, given their new-generation, multi-tasking formulas with significant skincare benefits and finishes that are fit for every occasion and skin type.

A medium, adaptable coverage with a natural skin-like finish makes Elizabeth Arden’s Flawless Finish Skincaring Foundation a great everyday option in that it nourishes skin with the likes of hyaluronic acid, vitamin C and vitamin E and wears beautifully, minimising shine for a full day and evening. It’s easy to find a shade to suit with an inclusive range of 40 shades with varying undertones.

Using formulation knowledge gleaned from its considerable serum technology, Clinique’s Even Better Clinical Serum Foundation SPF20 offers moderate to full coverage and goes to work smoothing and perfecting skin tone and texture by calling on three vitamin C derivatives and a patented tyrosinase inhibitor that helps suppress melanin products in areas of hyperpigmentation and dark spots. It also contains salicylic acid to prevent clogged pores, among other talents.

Like an Instagram filter for your face, Shiseido Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation offers a lightweight, medium coverage formula that uses advanced optical filters containing pearls and microcrystals that adapt to any lighting conditions and bounce the light, making skin look fresh and radiant.

The very fluid and light Revlon ColorStay Light Cover Foundation also offers skin a hydration boost while feeling fresh and comfortable. Its light coverage means it’s a great option if you want to even out your skin tone without covering it up completely. HOME GAME

Making life easier for the time poor,

eSalon’s custom home hair colour service is now available here, delivering dye made just for you, to your door. Already well established in the US and the UK, the process is a well-oiled machine. You fill out a questionnaire at

esalon.co.nz with details such as hair colour history, percentage of grey, hair texture, eye colour and your desired maintenance. Add a photo and any special notes or requests and a personal colourist will formulate a shade specifically for you, which is bottled with your name on it and sent to you with a home-colouring kit. It’s slightly pricer than off-the-shelf hair dyes but the level of customisation is impressive, with demi-permanent (lasts 24-28 shampoos) and permanent options as well as a balayage kit if you fancy having a go at your own highlights. Having shipped 9.3 million orders with more than 241,000 unique colour combinations since its launch in 2010, the brand has plenty of experience, however your result, like any home hair colour, will likely come down to your own!

BRIGHT IDEA

Following the success of its brightening Phyto-Blanc Le Concentré Pure Bright Activating Serum, Sisley has created a three-step routine to complement its hero product. Each is designed to target existing dark spots and pigmentation and achieve a luminous, even skin tone, calling on the brand’s patented complex of active ingredients including pea peptide extract, brightening hexylresorcinol, wild thyme extract and vitamin B3.

Phyto-Blanc La Mousse cleansing foam removes impurities and freshens skin, while Phyto Blanc Toning

Lotion’s hydrating, micro-exfoliating key ingredients prep skin to receive

Phyto-Blanc Le Soin, a protective brightening daily moisturiser.

HAPPINESS IN A BOTTLE

An olfactory ode to the joy and beauty of nature is a fitting choice for the most recent addition to Chopard’s Happy perfume collection. Luminous and upbeat, at the heart of Happy Chopard Bigaradia are elements of the bitterorange tree, bigaradier in French.

“Celebrating light by playing with shadows, celebrating freshness by endowing it with texture, this is how Bigaradia was created,” says perfumer Dora Baghriche. “I used Neroli Bigarade Petals and Orange Blossom Water, enhanced with Green Calabrian Mandarine, Petit Grain, Bitter Orange and Carrot. At the heart I put an overdose of Orange Blossom Absolute, enhancing its sweet character with a touch of natural honey from Provence, apricot and fig-milk notes.

“Natural Black Sesame and Patchouli, together with Labdanum, round off an addictive wake.”

NEW TANNING APPROACH

Not content to simply upgrade the packaging of its fantastic existing selection of self-tanning products, Bondi Sands has introduced an entire new line with a focus on sustainable, recyclable packaging made from post-consumer plastics, easy-to-understand ingredients with a skin-health focus and new application options as well. Fear not, die-hard fans will still find the previous much-loved products on shelves but the new Bondi Sands Pure Range includes some useful new ways to apply like Pure Self Tan Foaming Water, the first tanning foam without any metal packaging, Self Tan Drops you can mix with moisturiser for a customisable depth of colour, a hydrating Self Tanning Face Mist and a Self Tanning Sleep Mask, a rich, deeply nourishing cream that can be applied before you sleep as your night cream and is even suitable for those with sensitive skin. Each of the products include beneficial ingredients like hyaluronic acid for hydration, vitamin C for radiance and vitamin E for repair so your skin obtains a boost of care as well as natural, believable colour.

RAINBOW REBOOT

Just in time to mark Auckland Pride Festival, Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male Pride is a rainbow collector’s-edition bottle of the brand’s eternally popular Le Male fragrance, with notes of fresh mint, nostalgic lavender, sensual vanilla and woods.

FOOLPROOF EYE COLOUR

Not a fan of complex, contoured eyeshadow application? Swipe on Ilia’s new Liquid Powder Chromatic Eye Tints and blend with a finger for a sheer shadow wash that sets to a powder, in modern, glimmery shades.

TOOL TIME FOUNDATION

There’s no chance of streaks or harsh lines with this densely packed Bobbi Brown Precise Buffing Brush that creates a soft-focus finish seamlessly.

BLUSH

The key with blush is to not deposit too much colour. NARS #16 Blush

Brush handles the job with aplomb, blending beautifully.

LIPS

A sharp, precise tip is nonnegotiable when it comes to achieving a perfect lip line. The

YSL Retractable lip brush is a handbag essential.

EYE SHADOW

M.A.C’s 224S Tapered Blending Eyeshadow Brush is adept at blending and softening shadows for a naturally smoky diffusion, particularly in the crease of the eye.

EYE LINER

Zoeva’s Rose Golden 322 Brow Line is a multi-tasking brush that can be used to line your eyes, fill in your brows and add definition to your eyeshadow.

POWDER

The soft, round shape and layered, tapered fibres of Dior’s Backstage Powder Brush No 14 allows a featherlight powder application for an even finish in a single sweep.