SKINCARE: INDIAN SUMMER BEAUTY With FEMME SCIENCE, SHU UEMURA, LOLA , POP, CHANEL, and ANASTASIA's BROW KIT

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY
Labor Day's around the corner, and with it comes Indian summer. While I absolutely love these last few weeks of warm weather, it always gets me thinking about how to fortify my skin for the tough winter ahead, and what kind of makeup I should wear for fall, once my skin’s in tip top shape.

Before even considering color trends, start with EXFOLIATION. This is especially important if you’re guilty of having indulged in too much pool time these past few months. EXFOLIATION is 1st + foremost. I love FEMME SCIENCE’S NEW FACE MASK. It’s got green tea [a trendy ingredient], Kelp, Tea Tree, Rosemary and Witch Hazel in it. The antioxidants did a very nice job clarifying my skin. After 2 treatments, I looked as if I’d just had an hour-long facial. Women’s skincare is new to the more established MENSCIENCE ANDROCEUTICALS Co, but if they keep rolling-out products as good as this mask, FEMME SCIENCE will capture a slice of the women’s market as effectively as MENSCIENCE did in the mens' grooming arena. Free shipping for orders over $40 and their rapid-fire shipping policy is a big plus. www.menscience.comand www.femmescience.com

NEXT, even though your skin already feels great, it’s time to start using a heavier moisturizer, to prep your skin for the coming weather. My new fave in the MOISTURIZING department is SHU UEMURA’s PHYTO-BLACK LIFT FIRMING ANTI-WRINKLE CREAM. It’s rich and you feel the moisture, thanks to the plethora of natural oils in it. If you’re ultra-dry like me – or have “normal skin”, this is the one to get.
I discovered PHYTO-BLACK thanks to a summer visit to Farmington, CT, home of MISS PORTER’S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. While desperately seeking a Starbucks, I stumbled onto this beauty junkies’ nirvana. KZEN BEAUTY is THE PLACE to go if you’re seeking quality skin care, fabulous makeup and top shelf customer service.
Better yet, KZEN BEAUTY is running a huge sale so don’t waste any time and start picking up some deals right now. Their summer clearance is on – how does 75% off sound? Also, spend $30 and you get a jar of SHU’s PHYTO BLACK for FREE.

Another fun feature – and why I spent close to 2 hours there on my visit, was that they’re always running little events that are too good to say “no” to. The next round of events conflict with NY Fashion Week, but if you’re not at the Tents, make it your mission to get over to Farmington if you can or at least visit their site at www.kzenbeauty.com.
Coming up at KZEN: Appleseed resurfacing peels, facials, microdermabrasion and much more.

Now that my skin’s feeling up to snuff, after poring over the big 3 [Vogue, Harper’s, and W], I’m going to go for the red lip as my fall makeup statement.
W’s September “TRUE BLOOD” spread shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and featuring LINDSAY WIXSON’s delicious gap-toothed smile, is visual eye candy, but I’ll be keeping it on the lighter side.
I’m leaning towards dropping into BEAUTY 360 and trying on LOLA’s PLUMPING LIPS “MARILYN” lipstick, in a bright cherry red for the days I’m feeling a little “MARILYN” and am going for fall’s LADY LIKE TREND
For TWIGGY days, I’ll go with my new spiky POP falsie lashes and a dash of CHANEL sparkly nude gloss in #93 and it’s a more MINIMALIST TROUSERS AND SOFT SHIRT day.
For days [and there’s always one] during fashion week, when I just wear jeans, a tee and a blazer, either of these two classic beauty looks work. Whatever look you go with, don't forget to always have your BROWNS perfectly groomed. Beauty gurus have been going on forever about how "brows frame your face". Just look at how much attention has been paid to famous brows over the years: Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Liz Taylor, Brooke Shields. BROW QUEEN, ANASTASIA [Soare], MAKES IT EASY TO ACHIEVE PERFECT-LOOKING BROWS WITH HER EASY TO USE 5-ELEMENTS BROW KIT. She's debuting it today, on HSN at 2:00 and 8:00p.m.EST.

Beauty 360 products are available on their parents’ website, www.cvs.com
NEXT UP: MEN'S GROOMING TRENDS FOR FALL

THE CHANEL VIDEO – French Ennuie on the Cote D’Azur

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

Being half-French, it’s a given that I love Chanel. What’s not to love? Coco was a character and one smart cookie, if we’re to believe the story line in “Before Coco”. That little black dress, tweed jacket and quilted handbag with the chain link strap, and “junk jewelry” have risen to the top of the heap in the “timeless classics” category.
Coco was great, but it was KARL who breathed life back into the ailing house. Under his watch, the stylistic tweaks he gives the classics are enough to provide the necessary newness retailers demand, season after season. Once upon a time, there were the spring, fall, holiday, and resort collections. Now, there are multiple pre-spring and fall collections – enough to make your head spin, like Linda Blair in “The Exorcist”.

As far as the short flick, “REMEMBER NOW” Karl created for cruise 2011, watch it, but know that the punch line comes at the very end, when Karl himself appears. If you’re TRULY pressed for time, allot 6 minutes at the end and watch the party dying down and the Kaiser’s arrival. [You’ll have to watch the full version, on www.chanel.com

Regardless of my irritation with the studied aimlessness of the fashion jet set, model/actress, ELISA SEDNAOUI in particular, as depicted in the film, I’m enough of a Chanel/Karl fan to still want to participate, albeit, in my own, indie way. That translates to a mini- spree with my Mother at the Chanel counter at the Danbury Square Mall’s Macy’s CHANEL counter.

Although the counter manager and Maman said I looked like a young-ish Coco Chanel, I nixed the bright red shade, and walked away with “Rouge Coco” formula #11 Legende [pink] and #132 [pink-mauve gloss] and the last bottle of #509 nail polish in “Paradoxal”. Okay, that is NOT really a word, and the gray color looks unattractive in the bottle, but strangely compelling, not unlike the color of wet cement, in the bottle. Once it’s on your nails however, the Chanel magic kicks-in. For under $100, it’s worth every penny to feel this pampered and luxurious, and to be able to pretend you’re part of Karls’ jet set world on the Cote D’Azur.

Viva, Karl!

B. KAMINS - a Canadian Skin Care Line - Quality over Hype

TEXT, VIVIAN G. KELLY

If you're like us, you've succumbed to the siren song of luxury brand "name" skincare. We love Nicole Kidman, but it isn't ONLY that Chanel Ultra Correction Night Cream that keeps her skin looking eternally youthful. Given that creams have a limited ability to deliver, we've been on a long-standing mission to find some great skincare that won't bust our budget. After all, you still want to be able to afford some of the season's new makeup colors and a pair of sunglasses.

When Beauty 360 esthetician, Isabelle Martin Face-Booked us an invite to meet the B. KAMINS East Coast Trainer, we jumped. Not only that, we were to receive a complimentary professional 20 minute peel by an esthetician in their mini spa-room in the back of the store. A beauty treatment beats lunch out - any day!

THE PEEL was administered by Rene Jacques, B.KAMINS' East Coast Trainer, who's also an esthetician. Rene was super friendly and knowledgeable. I was mildly anxious as I didn't want to have to be running around with a tomato red face - which I'd seen friends sport after a chemical peel. One look at Rene's perfect complexion calmed me down. Her skin looked like it belonged to one of the twenty-something starlets who were spilling out of the Tents at LA Fashion Weeks I used to attend. She's the poster-child for a Malibu California girl. Rene's been working with and using the product for 5 years, so if a complexion like hers was the result, then all-aboard!

THE TREATMENT/PEEL
The actual Alpha hydroxy peel [a professionals-only peel] caused some mild stinging but nothing worth getting worked-up about. Rene soon calmed things down with the Booster Blue Soothing Skin Concentrate. This and the BOOSTER BLUE ROSACEA CLEANSER, Rene informed us, are the ideal products to use after peels, waxing, or if you have rosacea. Another time to slap these on is if you accidentally fall asleep in the sun and wake-up burned like a rock lobster.
The REPLENISHING MOISTURIZER that followed,left my skin feeling ultra-hydrated. As to the lines, I need to give that a day or two to judge the results.

I left with a 4 fl.oz. tube of SUNBAR SUNSCREEN SPF30. Cost $36-5= $31, after applying a CVS coupon.
I liked that it's: fragrance and oil free sunscreen, and geared for my sensitive and rosacea-prone type skin. Add to that, the lightweight color-correcting formula is a great alternative to foundations, which always feel like a mask, no matter how expensive they are.


*NOTE: You CAN find B.Kamins on websites all-over the Internet, but you're better-off going to their site, www.bkamins.com as they reward loyalty with LOTS of free samples.


NEXT: I'll be reporting on the results of my trial with B.Kamins Lash Booster, a 1/2 way step to LATISSE, which we're not willing to try - no matter how tempting the promotions are. The added bonus is that I'm using it on my brows in a mid-life attempt to regain my thick "Audrey" brows.