If, logically, beauty from the cold prevails this season (even perfumes have quickly jumped on the bandwagon), no one can ignore products that bank on steam and heat. Sometimes, both effects are even produced at the same time. This winter, cosmetics departments are more than ever a land of contrasts!
While the Filorga advert currently displayed on all Parisian bus stops features the latest eye contour curled up in an ice cube (Optim-Eyes Contour
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Dark Circles/Puffiness/Wrinkles, 15ml, €39.90), and the next puts the emphasis on 'cryo effects' – a cryo-texture and cryo-applicator with an icy effect (Eyes-Absolute, Ultimate Anti-Aging Eye Care, 15ml, €79) – Steamcream, a brand exclusively distributed by Sephora, has developed ‘all-in-one’ moisturizing creams (face, hands, body, 75ml, €18.95), whose natural ingredients are mixed with steam.
Conditioned in a round aluminium box and showcased in extremely varied settings, the formula is always the same. It deeply nourishes the skin and penetrates incredibly fast. There is also a new phenomenon: ‘sorbet’ textures are no longer reserved for summer. As an example, Clarins has just launched a Hydra-Quench Cream-Gel (50ml, €45). Beauty blows both cold and heat: that is how the current mood goes…
‘Polar’ cosmetics…
As we wait for the advent of Coolsculpting® by Zeltiq, which, next spring, will make our curves melt like snow in the sun with a medical process called cryolipolysis, here are the new winter ‘polar’ cosmetics.
At the top of the game, there is aptly-named Polaar, a brand that has been using the properties of extreme polar plants for over ten years. Latest launches: Ice Pur, a whole range of cleansers made of Arctic cotton, Ice Source, a moisturizing line with glacier water, Blanc de Sibérie Dark-Spot Serum with taiga pine (30ml, €45), or the Polar Night Cream with boreal algae (50ml, €42.90, as from January). The latter is based on the power of mysterious algae (Rhodimenia Borealia), drawn from the abyssal areas of polar oceans, which enhances cell renewal at night.
Lastly, in the ‘Genuine Lapland Cream’ range with moisturizing, antioxidant polar berries, next January, the brand will launch another Hand Cream (75ml, €16.90) (after the Face and Body Genuine Lapland Cream, 50ml, €19.90), and a Lip Balm (15g, €11.90).
Natura Siberica, another, more recent Russian (organic-certified) brand, has just launched the White Siberia range (with Scandinavian Faroe islands actives). There is the Modelling Body Scrub with 10 icy berries (370ml, €16), the Polar Blueberry Beauty Body Lotion (100ml, €12), the Snow Tsarina Repair Body Cream (100ml, €12), and the Firming Body Cream Frozen Flowers (100ml, €12, all available at Monoprix’s).
The ‘cold culture’ is also characterized in:
• The famous Neutrogena Norwegian formulas (hand creams
• Nordic Berry Nourishing Body Milk or Balm)
• The luxurious L’Élixir des Glaciers range by Valmont, an expert of Swiss cell cosmetology (Swiss Poly-Active Cream, 50ml, €560)
• The Climatis Climatic Protective Balm by Matis (50ml, €62)
Hot and cold
The new Estée Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lift Regenerating Youth Collection is based on two ‘extremophile’ flowers from two opposite areas of the planet: Himalayan Gentian (Swertia chirata), which blossoms in the freezing cold of the world’s highest mountain ranges and… the Brazilian everlasting flower (Syngonanthus elegans), also called ‘Sempre Viva’, which resists very dry winters and intense exposures to UV rays in sandy soil. Their regenerating, lifting, and firming properties can be discovered in the Ultimate Lift Regenerating Youth Serum (30ml, €305), the Ultimate Lift Regenerating Youth Cream (50ml, €305), the Ultimate Lift Regenerating Youth Gel-Cream (50ml, €305), and the Ultimate Lift Regenerating Youth Eye Contour (15ml, €195).
Here is another cosmetics hot and cold shower, only this time it has to do with the effects provided, with TonyMoly (available at Sephora’s), a Korean brand that is very trendy in the kawaii world, and which differentiates itself with egg-, panda-, banana-, or bamboo-shaped packaging. For example, the Egg Pore Blackhead Steam Balm (30g, €14.90) opens the pores, absorbs the excess of sebum, and removes dead cells and blackheads. Then, one should apply the Egg Pore Tightening Cooling Patch For Pore (30g, €14.90), a refreshing mask that tightens dilated pores. Also, Panda’s Dream Stick (9g, €10.90) is a very fresh eye contour stick which contains 99% of soothing bamboo water.
As for Caolion, a new Korean brand which will be distributed at Sephora’s as from next March, most of their products are based on hot and cold effects. Their bestseller in Korea is called Premium Hot & Cool Pore Pack Duo (50g, €26.90), a detoxifying duo which also opens and tightens pores. Composed of a vapour mask with charcoal powder and sparkling water, as well as of a refreshing mask formulated with Alaska glacier waters and menthol, it leaves the skin ultra-clean! No comment on the Hot & Cool Pore Foam Cleansing Duo (50g, €22.90, starting from March)! And the Caolion Pore Tightening Memory Sleeping Pack (50g, €29.90) is a night ultra-fresh mask that tightens pores and soothes the skin overnight.
Even perfumes bank on the cold ‘imagery’!
We already had the wonderful Jean-Claude Ellena L’Eau d’Hiver, Éditions de Parfums Frédéric Malle (as from €120 for 50ml). Now, it is Berdoues that, in their Grands Crus Collection, recreates the soul of timeless Russia: Russkaya Kozha (100ml, €75), a spicy, woody, leather-scented fragrance.
On the contrary, Atelier Cologne prefers to head for the Great Lakes and Canadian forests, with Citron d’Érable Cologne Absolue (100ml, €115 or 30ml, €80). That is it, while we are waiting for Alaïa’s Eau de parfum Blanche next March…
Ariane Le Febvre
