Psst: Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Launches + Freebies!

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

advanced night repair eye

We love a new product.

We love Advanced Night Repair, Estee Lauder’s acclaimed evening-time wünder-potion.

Needless to say, a combination of the above three things, culminating a chance to try the new Advanced Night Repair product, is something that’s guaranteed to please.

Joining the Lauder line-up today is another shiny brown pot of goodness: eyes are the next thing targeted by this high-tech range. Overhauled last year, it’s now Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Complex, and is the sort of product beauty editors and skincare junkies get breathy about and for good reason: it’s a sciency brown serum you slap on before bed and it works over time as you sleep to betterise your complexion.

The eye product promises more of the same, except with a texture and formula suited to the more delicate skin around your peepers. I’m of the opinion that until you really need more – and you’re using the right moisturiser for your skin – you probably won’t need a separate eye cream until it starts to become obvious your routine needs to be cranked up a notch, with the appearance of puffiness, dryness etc. I’m (sadly) at that stage now, and after years of Not Really Seeing the Point of Eye Creams, the sight of my encroaching crows feet in bright light and mirrors are changing my opinion on eye creams rapidly.

Handily, I reckon this isn’t a product aimed at a younger audience anyway; think 35 plus, given the price-point (€49) and what it’s designed to do. It’s always good to try before you buy though, eh? Here comes the freebie bit: TODAY only, from 4pm at Estee Lauder counters nationwide, you’ll be able to pick up a FREE five-day supply of Advanced Night Repair Eye, exclusively available from 4pm this afternoon. Get in quick – the offer only runs today, only while stocks last, and is limited to one sample per customer.

There’s more: if you buy Advanced Repair Eye, you’ll get a 7ml Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Complex sample for free – that’s a ten day supply.

Tags: estee lauder, eye cream, free
Posted in Anti-ageing, Beaut.ienomics - brilliant budget buys, Skincare | 16 Comments »

I come round to Trilogy with Age Proof CoQ10 Booster Serum

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

I’ve been a bit lacklustre about Trilogy – just not getting why everyone raved so much about this brand (Read the millions of love for Trilogy here). So when I got this new oil to try out I shrugged my shoulders and thought, sure I’ll give it a go, not expecting too much.

“Created to boost skin radiance, this 100% natural elixir with CoQ10, Tamanu and essential oils combats dull, tired or dehydrated skin” trumpets Trilogy and I have to say it’s doing the job. I have a terrible time trying to keep my dry skin from dehydrating and this is just like a drink for skin. Quickly absorbed it really does refresh and soften. I’ve been letting it sink in, and because it’s been fairly sunny applying a high factor sun screen on top and that seems to be a fine base for makeup. At night I’ve been using it with a night moisturiser on top – and can I just say there were fine lines that were starting to freak me out that are no longer in evidence.

Packed full of natural ingredients to nourish skin, I’m really liking this dark liquid.

So I’ve come round to Trilogy. Who would have thought it eh?

Buy Trilogy from Lovelula* (this product €34)

Tags: Anti-ageing, Trilogy
Posted in Anti-ageing, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Skincare | 8 Comments »

Beaut.ie Exclusive: RoC Sublime Energy

Friday, August 13th, 2010

RoC Sublime Energy

Now, this is a real ‘here comes the science‘ post.

It’s also a post about something genuinely new in skincare – and we don’t get to say that too often.

RoC’s a company that’s always been hot on technology and effective ingredients like retinol but equally, the brand’s been kind of shy about shouting about it. That’s all changing with the launch of Sublime Energy, its new anti-ageing range.

I sat down with boffin Samantha Tucker Samaras a couple of weeks ago to get the back story. Over from America for the launch, she’s associate director in research and development for Johnson & Johnson and is responsible for technology development to support ageless and body skin care technologies. In simple terms, she works to create new and innovative skincare, and this is super-new and super-innovative skincare.

The inspiration for the Sublime Energy trio of skincare products came from wound care. Scientists know that when skin is split, as it would be when you get a cut or a graze, the cells on either side of the divide send electrical signals to each other, with instructions to create new building blocks like collagen and elastin to repair the gap and heal the wound. In other words, Samantha says our cell-to-cell makeup is basically one great big communications device, and it’s this network that’s being harnessed in the products.

“We thought about how we could get this bioelectricity to work for topical skincare products,” she told me. And you can immediately see how it could work – after all, this is what facial lasers do: wound to stimulate a healing response – but with more physical and financial pain. The idea is so smart and the possibilities are so endless in theory, but of course, as with anything new, this didn’t happen overnight. In fact, the technology has been eight years in development.

Equally, the team didn’t know how well sending signals to otherwise healthy skin would fare. Would anything happen? Nothing? One thing was certain, they knew they needed something to conduct the signals and that’s why they created e-pulse technology, a major feature of these products, and which is used to send messages to the skin in the first place. It works to stimulate your skin’s own rejuvenation process.

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Tags: RoC, Skincare, technology
Posted in Anti-ageing, Here comes the science, Skincare | 12 Comments »

Kiehl’s Acai Damage-Repairing Serum – an antioxidant feast for the face

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Kiehl's

When Kiehl’s opened up its first Irish store on Wicklow Street in Dublin recently, I was among the many who couldn’t wait to get in and browse the shelves of this New York-born, apothecary-style skin and haircare company. As well as buying some much-loved items I’d previously tried on trips to the US in the past, I also came away with their new Açaí Damage Repairing Serum, €43.

You’ve probably been living under a rock if you haven’t heard of the açaí berry before now. Goji berries are so 2007 and you can forget about the humble blueberry, because açaí is where it’s at these days. Pronounced ah-sigh-ee (in case you wondered), this little wonder-fruit is packed full of antioxidants (more than any other known fruit, apparently), as well as being rich in essential fatty acids, Omega 3, Omega 6, Omega 9, plant sterols and Vitamin C. They make an ideal skincare ingredient – the antioxidants help to eliminate the free radicals that cause skin ageing and the essential fatty acids help to moisturise the skin and smooth the appearance of fine lines.

I must admit that I approached it with a slight sense of scepticism. Very often skincare products shout loudly about the inclusion of certain active natural ingredients, only for those ingredients to be listed very far down in the list, meaning the concentration is so low as to be meaningless. That’s not the case here, however, with the açaí pulp powder listed quite high up in the ingredients – a promising sign.

The serum is a brownish colour and is water-based, so it sinks in very easily and doesn’t leave the surface of the skin feeling oily (although it does contain many beneficial plant oils). There is a strong, slightly medicinal lavender fragrance to it, and although I wasn’t that keen on it to begin with, I’ve become used to it.

So does the serum live up to the claims made for the miracle berry? Well despite my initial scepticism, I must admit I’ve noticed quite an improvement in skintone and texture since I started using it. My skin looks much more even-toned, feels smoother and is fresher and brighter looking in general.

I have been using it only at night after cleansing so far, but the antioxidant content means this would be ideal to apply before sunscreen in the morning too (and do ensure that you wear a sunscreen while using something such as this, to make sure that you don’t undo all the benefits your skin reaps from the product by exposing it to UV damage).

Açaí Damage Repairing Serum has definitely earned a permanent place in my bathroom cabinet and is well worth a try if you find yourself in a Kiehl’s store anytime soon.

Tags: Anti-ageing, antioxidant, kiehl's, serums
Posted in Anti-ageing, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Skincare | 13 Comments »

Win! iS Clinical Anti-Aging Signature Kit worth €380!

Friday, July 30th, 2010

iS Clinical - WIN!

Like cutting edge skincare that’s brand new to the Irish market?

Like effective anti ageing products with scientifically proven results?

Like to WIN this fantastic kit from iS Clinical worth a whopping €380?

Yep, thought so!

More details and entry details after the cut

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Tags: Anti-ageing, competition, is clinical, win!
Posted in Anti-ageing, Competitions - WIN!! | 7 Comments »

Appliance of Science: Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector

Here’s the thing about skincare: so often, the results are just not measurable to us as beauty users. Sure, you can research before you buy, read the bumpf, check the product’s got clinical trials with promising results plus good ingredients in decent doses – oh, and that it’s going to be right for your particular skin concerns. All those things are great and necessary, I think, if you want to get value for money. But it’s so easy to get carried away with promises and there can often be a huge disconnect between what’s claimed and what ends up occurring on your face.

In order to manage expectations, it’s vital to remember that a wrinkle on your skin is something that’s tiny in the context of your entire body and yet the expectations placed on a pot of cream are massive. There probably has been an improvement to your face by the time you get to the end of a 50ml pot of moisturiser – even if it’s just a hydration increase making skin look plumper – but how’s the naked eye meant to discern a 50% improvement in a wrinkle that might be .5ml deep? In addition, you never look at your skin with fresh eyes because you see it all the time, so subtle change isn’t noticeable. See the problem?

What we need – and what we’re starting to get – is some form of measurability with skincare; an assurance that it’s been milestoned against tangible goals, so that we know it’ll perform the way we want it to. Clinique, a brand I’m increasingly impressed with for the quality of their new-to-counter skincare, is doing just that with the forthcoming Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector. A bit of a mouthful I’ll grant you, I got to sit down with the brand’s skincare boffin, Dr Tom Mammone, over lunch a few weeks ago to find out what this new serum is all about.

In between bites of risotto and shoehorned around a discussion about the various types of sport played in Ireland, England and the US, he got a few words in about the product and what it does.

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Tags: Clinique, Here comes the science, serum
Posted in Anti-ageing, Here comes the science, Skincare | 15 Comments »

I’m Loving It: Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Kieh's midnight recovery concentrate

Skincare’s a tricky beast and you often don’t have that “wow” response you get with a particularly good colour cosmetic, because skin lotions and potions can take weeks to take effect in tiny increments. That means you generally don’t notice dramatic changes as you blearily assess yourself in the bathroom mirror of a morning, and it’ll take someone commenting on your complexion before you realise what you’re using has, y’know, worked.

Except with Kiehl’s new Midnight Recovery Concentrate, €42, I definitely noticed a result straight away. The morning after I first used it, my skin felt incredibly soft and has continued to stay that way. Ok, you might be thinking this is another Guerlain Issima Midnight Secret, and while this is for use before bed and the bottle is indigo, that’s really where the similarities end.

Pat on two or three drops of this paraben-free botanical and essential oil-based serum, and it does the trick while you get your zeds. Designed to replenish the lipids in the skin and keep it healthy – which is basically what keeps the skin’s barrier intact – it’s a clear, light fluid that’s remarkably non-oily considering it contains loads of botanical and essential oils. I’m finding it to be very nourishing, and here’s why.

Squalane (a botanical lipid), evening primrose, coriander and rosehip seed oils are the powerhouses here, dosing the skin with omegas 3, 6 and 9, and providing hydration and elasticity. On the essential oil side of things, lavender has a soothing effect and can reduce blotchiness, rosemary, geranium and rose oils provide brightening, purifying and softening properties.

The result is one that I think is measurable and I’ve been using this for about 10 days now, along with an extra drop or so of Trilogy Rosehip oil as a last step – I’m treating Midnight Recovery Concentrate like an extra-step serum based on its ‘concentrate’ moniker, and I never like to take chances with night time hydration because this is when skin does most of its hard repair work. Also, as it’s quite light, the requisite two or three drops doesn’t feel like enough for my skin, but equally I don’t want to use the whole bottle up in double-quick time, so I’m working a mix.

The latest word on the Kiehl’s store is that it’ll open at the beginning of July, which is also happily when this little bottle of magic will arrive on counter. Get saving – this is a keeper.

Tags: kiehl's, night, serum, Skincare
Posted in Anti-ageing, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Skincare | 23 Comments »

Sun Smarts: Your SPF Questions Answered

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

spf questions answered

We don’t normally post emails we receive from brands verbatim, always preferring to serve you up unique content that has our own editorial take on it, but today we’re making an exception for this SPF advice from Janette Ryan, pharmacy training manager for the Vichy and La Roche-Posay brands, two companies we really trust for sun protection products.

There is a huge amount of confusion and mis-information out there about what sort of SPFs to use, not to mention how and when to use them. So, here’s Janette’s advice to see you through the summer, and if you have any other questions, leave us a comment and we’ll see if we can get ‘em answered.

1. Is the sun stronger and weaker at certain hours of the day?

The sun becomes stronger and weaker at certain hours of the day, this is due to the position of the sun in the sky. It is advisable to avoid the sun between 11am-3pm when Ultra Violet Rays are highest. People should adopt sun smart practices all day long in order to protect their skin from skin cancers and premature ageing of the skin.

2. How can I get a safe tan?

All tanning is UV damage. The only safe tan is fake tan. UV damage to the skin is permanent. It also builds up – that means damage to the skin in one year is added to damage done in previous years. In later life this can lead to skin cancer. Skin cancer can take 20 to 30 years to develop, so the rates of skin cancer today reflect the trends of the 70s and 80s. 90% of all skin cancers are preventable. Virtually all the risk comes from the sun and sun beds**

A lot of women like the sun tanned look so should opt for wearing fake tan and use a high UVA/ UVB protection while in the sun, playing sport etc to prevent from damaging their skin and increasing their risk of skin cancer later on and causing premature ageing.

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Tags: La Roche Posay, SPF, Sunscreen, vichy
Posted in Anti-ageing, Ask, and you shall receive, Skincare | 35 Comments »

SPF for Spendy Types: Shisedio UV Protection Cream SPF 30 & 50

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Shiseido

New from the Shiseido stable is a very elegantly-packaged duo of facial sun protectors, UV protection cream SPF 30, €33, and UV Protection Cream Plus SPF 50, €37.

Not quite as pricey as Chanel or La Mer’s offerings, to be true, but this is very much at the tip of the top end of what the majority of women will want to pay for a dab of facial sunscreen. Shiseido skincare is excellent and while I haven’t had a goo of this with my own eyes, they’re saying it’s light, hydrating and contains the all-important broad-spectrum UV protection.

Tags: Shiseido, SPF
Posted in Anti-ageing, Skincare | 17 Comments »

SPF for Multi-Tasking Types: RoC Soleil Protexion

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

roc solaire

Yes! Even more sunscreen posts. Ah sure you have to put some praise where it’s due, eh?

We’ve looked at the whole bother of what do to if chemical ingredients in sunscreens bother your skin, but that’s not the end of the issues a lot of women have with the hows, whys and whats of SPF. Should you just go with one that’s included in your regular daily moisturiser? Should you use your regular daily moisturiser and a separate product on top, and then your foundation? Um, isn’t that quite a lot? And isn’t it a holy pain in the arse, to boot?

I tend to go the route of all-in-spf-and-moisturiser in the winter, or let my foundation with SPF do the trick, but in the summer I will La Roche Posay Anthelios XL myself on top of my day cream, because I like the fact it’s got a factor of 50 – and it’s nigh-on impossible to find a moisturiser with such a high factor included.

Except, RoC has just done it with the Soleil Protexion range. And they’ve done it very decent prices, too – all products are just €15.95, a great price for a moisturiser that combines a high-factor, broad-spectrum sunscreen. Basically, your summer protection worries combined with keeping your skin hydrated are addressed in one fell swoop.

Soleil Protexion contains five products, all with at least an SPF of 30, targeted across skintypes. Saharan skins can check out Quenching Cream for dry skin SPF 50+, normal/combo types are catered for with Quenching Cream for normal to combination skin SPF 50 +, and oilier types can look to the Anti Shine Fluid SPF 30. Sensitive complexious are also addressed with High Tolerance sunscreen for sensitive skin SPF 50+, and if pigmentation is an issue, the Anti-Brown Spots Cream SPF 50+, is the one for you.

Tags: budget, RoC, SPF
Posted in Anti-ageing, Skincare | 15 Comments »