The beauty label’s face, Amanda Seyfried was in town to grace the occasion. Click to watch a snippet of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and catch a glimpse of the jewel of a store.
The beauty selection at drugstores of each city says alot about its women and their grooming habits. Judging by what’s available on the shelves at chains such as Boots and Watsons, Bangkok is the place to stock up on mass, colour cosmetics. Thai women (and men) love their bold eyeshadows, lipsticks and full coverage foundation. And because the per capita gross domestic product in Thailand is about US$6,000; US$5 options are aplenty in Bangkok’s beauty stores. So beauty junkies can pretty much expect a wide range of reasonably priced, highly pigmented cosmetics in this land of fabulous drag queens. Eve & Boy, sort of a Sephora equivalent but with both mass and high-end options, is a must-visit if you are keen to find out what’s trending on the faces of Thai ladies. Accented with neon lights, Eve & Boy is located at Siam Square. Besides the regular big-name brands such as MAC, Origins, L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Clinique, NYX and Maybelline; there are plenty of K-Beauty options as well as smaller Thai and American labels. These …
A bottle of perfume, when done right, can lead to magical moments. Such as a chance encounter with a stranger. Or evoke a beautiful memory from the distant past. For Florentine Mirko Buffini, a vial of patchouli-based juice from one of Firenze’s last artisanal perfume workshops, led him to create his own fragrance label. A friend gave him the fateful bottle five years ago. “On the first spritz, I hated it. But 10 minutes later, the scent developed on my skin with a woodiness that was unlike any fragrance I’ve ever worn. I thought it was the best thing I’ve ever put on my skin,” says Buffini. Intriguingly, when he wore the perfume again the next day, it smelled different, but in a good way. He thought to himself, how did the scent change? Is my mind playing tricks on me? Those ruminations set him on a path towards the art of perfumery. Buffini, who was already in the cosmetics manufacturing business with his company Aroma Firenze, had the connections to readily turn his …
While Make Up For Ever’s colour cosmetics are excellent – rich pigments and long-lasting performance – its base makeup range is pretty good too. Generally, MUFE’s foundations are also long-wearing and evens out the complexion without a cakey-ness. Like every major beauty brand, MUFE now has its own cushion compact foundation, a South Korean invention. Soaked in liquid foundation, the cushion – which pretty much works like an ink pad – offers quick and easy coverage, as compared to a powder or cream compact. The UV Bright Cushion gives skin additional moisture, as well as a broad spectrum sun protection factor of 35 PA +++ (with titanium dioxide which is gentler on easily-irritated skin). It also instantly brightens the complexion with a soft glow and dewiness. Available in five shades, the cushion offers light to medium coverage. With just one pump of the cushion, the applicator picked up enough liquid foundation to cover my entire face. It is also long-lasting. One application in the morning lasted me the entire day in the office, and I …
Masking frequently is the best thing you can do for your skin, even when you are on the road. Origins’ new Mix & Mask set lets you pick any six handy 10ml mask pods at $20 with $80 purchase at Origins stores located in Singapore at Ion Orchard, Nex Serangoon, Centrepoint Orchard. Each pod is generous, and good enough for at least three uses. These sample-sized pods are also perfect if you want to give Origins’ range of best-selling masks a try before you decide on a full-sized tube. The options: Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask to treat dehydrated skin through the night: rose, myrtle leaf, and bitter orange flower waters, chamomile flower extract, black currant seed, bitter almond kernel, camphor bark, orange peel, apricot kernel oils; osmanthus flower, rosa damascena, bitter orange flower, aloe leaf, rice, oat kernel, olive fruit extracts; orange peel wax, mango seed butter; apricot kernel, and avocado oils. Drink Up 10 Minute Mask to hydrate thirsty skin in a jiffy: carnauba wax, apricot kernel oil, algae extract. Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask for …
Keeping true to its customised, made-to-measure skincare formulas, Skin Inc has launched a multi-masking series it claims to be a world first. The concept is simple but clever: three kinds of hydrogel masks themed on precious metals are split into half. So you get to mix and match the upper and lower halves based on how your skin feels. Because maybe your eye and cheek areas need extra hydration, while the areas around your mouth and jawline need lifting. Some brands have already produced masks that are split in half for a better fit, but none offer different versions of the halves for a customised masking experience. Skin Inc offers its masks in Rose Gold, Platinum, Black Gold. Rose Gold: For anti-aging and lifting, with Vitamin A, rose extract, gold, centella asiatica, peony root extract. Platinum: For brightening, infused with Vitamin B3, platinum and floral extracts (matricaria, Japanese cherry flower, lotus, lily). Black Gold: To soothe and purify, containing Vitamin C, charcoal, gold, wild yam root, peony root, willow bark, matricaria flower extract, oregano, soybean …
When Sulwhasoo’s First Care Activating Serum was launched, it caused a stir because it was touted as a pre-serum, the very first step in the already elaborate multi-step Korean beauty routine (of essence, serum, emulsion, cream, suncare, primer, makeup). The slightly viscous gel-like serum is lightweight and easily absorbed by the skin, thus priming it for the subsequent skincare products that will be layered on top. The First Care Activating Serum EX, an improved version of the original concotion and a bestseller in the premium Sulwhasoo’s line-up, is formulated with traditional Korean medicinal herbs that promise to regenerate the skin. Made to hydrate and delay skin-ageing, the serum contains rehmannia, peony, solomon’s seal, lotus, and white lily. To celebrate Sulwhasoo’s 20th anniversary, the serum now comes in a limited edition 120ml bottle. To complete the skin pampering, Sulwhasoo also launches its new First Care Activating sheet mask. The paper sheet mask is thin yet absorbent, and adheres relatively well to the skin. It is easy to use as it has a soft and thin mesh …
The red poppy has no scent, yet it is immortalised as an iconic sensual powdery and musky floral perfume launched in 2000: Flower by Kenzo. Over the years, Kenzo has created a series of various iterations of Flower, each one distinct yet familiar with the undertones of the original. This May, Kenzo launches a new version: Eau de Lumiere, inspired by another scent-less blank slate, a ray of light. Like rainbows, the morning sun, a shining prism. Eau de Lumiere is bright, fresh, soft, floral, angelic. Notes of this pink juice: Bulgarian rose, jasmine sambac, bergamot, white musk.
The new range of Pure Color Love lippies from Estee Lauder are clearly targeted at Millennials. Available in 25 shades with four finishes: matte, creme, metallic chrome, and pearlescent shimmer. While most of the collection is made up of regular pretty pinks and reds, there are a couple of bold metallic shades – black (Moon Rock), deep burgundy (Nova Noir), and a dark plum (Pocket Venus). The Beauty Gazette‘s picks from the collection: Strapless, a creamy, sexy pink nude Radial Chic, a soft coral pink with a creme texture Bar Red, a true matte red Pocket Venus, a fun metallic dark plum with shimmer Proven Innocent, soft pink with a matte texture Pigmented and opaque in two slicks, the texture is lightweight. The creme versions are relatively moisturising with a soft shine, while the mattes are super pigmented (full colour in one coat) and are not too drying on the lips either. Layer the textures to give lips extra dimension and colour: like a creme or shimmer over matte, or shimmer on creme for extra …
In today’s crowded global beauty market, there isn’t another brand quite like Lush. The British label is literally one of the most effervescent around: it is energetic, colourful, vivacious, dynamic, and its bestsellers include fizzy bathbombs that release a riot of colours and essential oil blends into the bathwater. Lush is also firm in its beliefs, everything from animal rights to environmental causes; and is loud and proud about it. Founded in 1995, Lush is actually an incarnation of the six founders’ previous mail order business, Cosmetics To Go (CTG) [more on this in Q&A below]. Today, Lush is available in 50 countries across more than 800 stores. Rowena Bird, one of the brand’s founders, tells The Beauty Gazette why, in the face of increased competition, Lush still stands out. Today, the beauty retail market is overcrowded. But what do you think has led to the success of the brand, so it can hold its own? Lush is incredibly unique in what we offer – with creativity and innovation running through everything we do. When …
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