ELLE: Newest Top 10 Beauty Essentials

Elle lists their new must-haves in beauty essentials! It's no surprise many of these gems are multi-taskers.  Why not get the most from your beauty?  Here's the scoop on the best and brightests stars on the horizon.

ANTIAGING MAKEUP
Invest in a tinted moisturizer or foundation with SPF (and be sure it's broad spectrum - UVA and UVB protection) to help combat age-revealing lines and wrinkles. A product with nourishing botanicals is a plus!

New Products to Try:
The powder in Sisley Paris Phyto-Poudre Compacte has camellia oil and plant extracts of mallow and linden; Chanel Vitalumière Moisture-Rich Radiance Fluid Makeup SPF 15 is reformulated with smoothing hydrators, marine extracts, and mineral-based pigments.

MULTITASKING LIP CARE
Expect more from your lipstick or gloss—besides imparting color, the perfect tube should also protect and moisturize.

New Products to Try:
With mango butter, antioxidants, and SPF 15, Nars Pure Sheer SPF Treatment keeps lips kissable; vitamin- and moisturizer-packed Pure Color Gloss by Estée Lauder unveils next month; Bobbi Brown Treatment Lip Shine SPF 15 replenishes moisture and collagen

SIGNATURE FRAGRANCE
Even if you go through fragrances like boyfriends, don’t ditch them all—keep one perfume that’s true to your personality and save for special occasions.

New Product to Try:
Next month, Philosophy debuts the fifth scent in its Grace collection, Philosophy Eternal Grace. I pre-ordered this for advanced shipment and cannot wait for it to be delivered. Will certainly post a review for you when it's here.

GO-TO NAIL POLISH
Choosing from a multitude of colors at the nail salon is a treat! Just be sure to have your own bottle of polish handy for those times you can’t make it to a pro.

New Products to Try:
Indulge your girly side with Lancôme Le Vernis in Ms. Perfectly Pink or go bold with Essie Nail Polish in Pretty Edgy, part of the company’s summer collection (available June 1).

EYE REJUVENATOR
The delicate skin around your eyes is the first facial area to show signs of aging. To keep eyes looking fresh, incorporate an antiaging serum or moisturizer into your daily skin care regimen.

New Products to Try:
VMV Hypoallergenics Re-Everything Eye Serum and RareMinerals Active Triple Treatment Eye Cream are each chock-full of depuffing and firming ingredients.

GLOW-GETTING COSMETICS
Grandma may have pinched her cheeks, but there’s an easier (and less painful) way to get an instant glow—whether you opt for liquid or powder, a blush-toned highlighter is a must.

New Product to Try:
Swirl a large brush in MAC Marine Life High-Light Powder, part of the brand’s To The Beach collection (now available), and bedazzle your cheekbones in seconds.

FACE MOISTURIZER
Keep skin supple by not skimping on moisturizer—even if your complexion is blemish-prone or oily, a light layer of lotion works wonders.

New Product to Try:
Estée Lauder Hydrationist Maximum Moisture Crème delivers hydration without clogging pores and comes in three different formulas (normal/combination skin, dry skin, and SPF 15).

LASHWORTHY MASCARA
A coat of mascara can wake up eyes instantly—no shadow or liner required. The key: Finding a lash-pumping formula that doesn’t leave hair brittle.

New Products to Try:
CoverGirl LashBlast Fusion is a buildable mascara that creates length and volume, minus troublesome clumps; Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes Waterproof Mascara gently adds smudge-resistant curl and definition.

CREAMY BODY LOTION
Avoid scaly arms and legs with a moisturizer. Apply daily on shower-fresh skin for optimal results—lotion humectants will draw leftover water droplets into the dermis.

New Products to Try:
Almond milk and oil in L’Occitane Almond Milk Veil nourish, while almond protein firms; Fresh Citron de Vigne Body Lotion revitalizes the skin with vitamins and shea butter—and perks up the senses too (it smells like a vineyard).

NOURISHING SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER
Minimizing your use of hot tools and styling products can improve the health of your strands, but there’s no reason you should go it alone—a great shampoo and conditioner can be hair-savers.

New Products to Try:
L’Oréal Professionnel Source de Richesse shampoo and conditioning mask boost hair health with all-natural, eco-friendly ingredients.

For more information, please visit elle.com for their latest beauty news, trends and tips for getting the most from your beauty essentials.

source: elle; images: elle, nordstrom, sephora, temptalia (close-up image of MAC high-light powder)

Special Invitations for You from Elle

Gonna be in Los Angeles March 3rd?

If so, here's an event you'll want to attend. ELLE issues you a special invitation to celebrate the 2010 Film Independent Spirit Awards along with celebrity host Rachelle Lefevre at The Beverly Center. Enjoy shopping, snacks, beverages, special discount and free gifts with purchases. The event will help to aid the American Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

You are asked to RSVP by March 1st if you'd like to attend.

800.362.0766

Here's a fun opprtunity!

ELLE is looking for the next red carpet reporter to report from the action at one of ELLE’s upcoming star studded events! Do you love keeping up with your favorite celebrities? Are you a great interviewer? Whatever your specialty, we want to see. And as your reward for showing off, you’ll have the chance to win big!

Send in your 30-second audition tape showcasing your celeb interviewing skills for your chance in the spotlight!

Do you have what it takes?

Upload your videos HERE.

Elle's Spirit of Style Sweepstakes

Are you an indie film lover with a penchant for clothing black and white? If so, you don't want to miss out on this contest from ELLE magazine and White House Black Market.

White House Black Market invites you to win a stylish, star-studded trip for two to attend Film Independent’s 2010 Spirit Awards in Los Angeles. One lucky winner will receive roundtrip airfare to Los Angeles, two nights accommodations at a hotel, dinner at an LA hotspot, ground transportation to and from the airport, backstage passes to the coveted ELLE green room at the Independent 2010 Spirit Awards, plus a $1,000 shopping spree provided by White House Black Market!

Enter the Spirit of Style Sweepstakes for a chance to win!

The Mystery of Perfume: An ELLE and Barney's Special Event

Now you see, this is exactly why I need to live in or closer to New York. Right? I mean, really, it would take me all of a second to decide whether or not to take the morning off, or even the whole day, to attend this epitome of a fragance lover's event!

Are you kidding me? Frederic Malle Editions de Parfums, Antonia Bellanca Antonia's Flowers, Fabrice Penot Le Labo, and Ben Gorham Byredo Parfums ... leading a discussion to unravel the mystery of perfume for attendees. I'd probably stand there starstruck at just the notion of the creative talent in the room. These are masters, my loves! If you have any ability to attend, don't miss this.

The Mystery of Perfume - Panel of Experts

L-R: Frederic Malle, Antonia Bellanca, Fabrice Penot, Ben Gorham

ELLE Editor in Chief Roberta Myers + ELLE Beauty Director Emily Dougherty invite you to unravel the mystery of perfume. Enjoy a panel discussion hosted at Barneys New York.

Fred's Restaurant

Madison and Sixty-First

Wednesday, October 21st

8:30 - 10:00AM

$25 Attendance fee redeemable in product in store.

A fabulously fragrant goody bag for all attendees! Ladies and gents, this is going to be uber-popular so please do RSVP early. Visit Barneys.com/ELLE and add The Mystery of Perfume to your cart to reserve your spot. Space is limited!

Singing the Skincare Praises of the Amazon's "Fruit of Youth": Acai

Follow the adventures of Holly Millea of Elle magazine as she accidentally discovers the Amazonian Fruit of Youth in this excerpted peek from Elle.com.

Having missed my connecting flight, I arrived in the Brazilian state of Pará, at
its capital, Belém (Portuguese for “Bethlehem”), and found no one from the
Women’s Fashion Correctional Facility to meet me. I did, however, find Jesus, or
rather, he found me. Seeing my ELLE logo duffel bag, he introduced himself and
asked if I was one of the international beauty editors descending in search of
the Holy Grail of antioxidants—açaí. With a “yes,” I was saved and fell in with
a flock that included seekers from Brazilian Vogue, Australian Harper’s Bazaar,
and German Brigitte; a hunky Brazilian photographer; a guide named Ulisses; and
an all-girl trio from Kiehl’s, the landmark New York apothecary, who couldn’t
stop singing açaí’s praises. Pronounced ah-sigh-EE, the purple, protein-packed
berry grows deep in the rain forest and is the hottest exotic superfood to hit
the market since Himalayan goji, Tahitian noni, and Haribo gummi bears.

I’m on a riverboat gliding deep, deep, deeper into the rain forest to
the remote region of Igarapé Mirim. Here, a small group of people from the
Nazarezinho community harvest açaí for Beraca, an eco-friendly extract company
that supplies Kiehl’s with the ingredients for its new line, the Açaí
Damage-Repairing Skincare Collection. Stilted shacks with white satellite dishes
planted out front like lawn ornaments skirt the banks against a forest of açaí
palms. The trees soar 70 feet above, their prize fruit hanging atop the canopy
in heavy, weeping bunches. Açaí means “the fruit that cries,” and these berries
are bawlin’ to come down.

“Don’t these people look so healthy?” asks
Angelike Galdi, a Kiehl’s chemist, interrupting that last thought as she waves
goodbye to the Nazarezinho workers from our boat. “They don’t go to doctors.
We’d be slim and healthy too if all we ate was fish and açaí.” And climbed tall
trees, harvested heavy fruit, never met a vending machine, didn’t drink alcohol
(the still is for making açaí juice), and had no toxic jealousy pulsing through
our veins. Smooth-skinned and sinewy, the villagers appear ageless, probably
ignorant of exactly how old they are. They don’t dread birthdays; they celebrate
açaí harvests. Rain-forest babies start consuming the fiber-rich food at six
months. According to Kiehl’s research, 100 grams of dried açaí contains 10 grams
of protein and five times the antioxidant levels of blueberries. “It’s a
broad-spectrum antioxidant that protects skin from free radicals,” Galdi
explains. A free radical is an unstable molecule created by the
environment—external aggressors like sun and pollution. “Because they’re
unstable,” she says, “they’re constantly trying to stabilize, and in the process
they oxidize and eat away at the skin’s proteins and lipids, damaging the cells
and ultimately the cell DNA, which, in more serious forms, can cause mutations
that result in different types of skin cancers.”

I text nutritionist Oz
Garcia, PhD, and ask him to simplify the science. “The very thing that keeps us
alive—oxygen—is slowly killing us,” says the best-selling author, “life
extension specialist,” and Kiehl’s antiaging consultant. “We rust, wrinkle,
spot, wear down with age—we’re eventually going to oxidize to death.” Garcia
says the antioxidant chemicals that give dark fruits and vegetables their rich
colors protect them from aging, “and when we eat them, they’re in us,” delaying
the inevitable.

More research ... Holly concludes
the piece with a less than "oh my gosh" attitude toward acai.While it is
unquestionably a strong antioxidant, our dermatologist Dennis Gross, MD, warns
of “a mythological culture surrounding açaí. As far as the topical benefit to
the skin goes, it’s anecdotal, and that does not equal scientific testing.” It
might look like it’s working, but “it isn’t proven effective.”

Galdi
says that it’s “primarily preventive. Açaí does not get rid of wrinkles, but it
does free up the cells to work at 100 percent capacity for health to fight
future wrinkles and damage.” Instead of wearing themselves out now fighting
oxidation.

~ excerpt Elle magazine, by Holly Millea

For more information, read the full article on Elle.com.

Want to learn more about why the Kiehl's gals are so in love with acai?
While many people assume Kiehl’s products are 100 percent organic, this line is the brand’s first organic skin care line, said Chris Salgardo, president of Kiehl’s USA. “Since our inception, we have always been known for our service and for creating efficacious products,” said Salgardo, noting that everyone asks for “green” products, but still demand high performance. “We heard that our customers wanted organics, that they wanted paraben-free, that they wanted natural — and they wanted to focus on the first signs of aging. We went to the lab to do all that. The result: our new Açaí line.”

Açaí was chosen, Salgardo said, because its “superior antioxidant properties” help combat environmental aggressors and stimulate the skin’s natural renewal process, yet the products are 100 percent natural. “Açaí is a powerful superberry, which means a fruit considered to have exceptionally high levels of nutrients, antioxidants and potential health benefits when compared to other foods,” he said. “It has high antioxidant levels to help reverse and prevent oxidizing free-radical damage to skin cells arising from environmental and lifestyle stress; it is among the highest in antioxidant capacity of any edible fruit and it is a broad-spectrum antioxidant, especially effective against superoxides and peroxyl free-radicals which produce oxidative damage on skin.”

In addition to açaí, the ingredient lineup includes organic lavender and rosemary essential oils, organic orange fruit water, denatured botanical alcohol and aloe vera juice, all intended to minimize fine lines and wrinkles and increase skin luminosity, said Salgardo.



Visit Kiehl's and search "acai" in their search bar. You'll find their Acai Collection products, all ECOCERT organic, all 100% natural origin ingredients, and surprisingly reasonably priced ($24 - $48).