We round up the beauty launches of the month that we are most excited about
As Covid-19 restrictions begin to lift around the world, it is proving to be an exciting month for beauty as brands resume their launches. From reformulations of classics to brand new additions to cult favourite collections, here are the latest products to try in July.
A multi-tasking treatment designed to fit into any part of your day, Chanel’s Hydra Beauty Camellia Repair Mask can be used for a quick hydration and radiance boost, or as part of an indulgent, multi-masking ritual if you have time to spare.
Enriched with nourishing active ingredients extracted from white camellia and blue ginger, the balmy mask delivers hydration and comfort while soothing the skin and strengthening the skin’s barrier.
Available from July 3 at all Chanel fragrance and beauty stores.
Already known for its exceptional curling power, Dior has further perfected the Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara for 2020. Now featuring a new couture design, the mascara also offers a long-wearing, nourishing formula that promises 24 hours of wear.
Specially designed for Asians, the Iconic Overcurl Mascara comes with a precise, curved brush that helps to define, coat and fan out lashes. The addition of cotton nectar to the formula also improves the health of lashes, making them soft and supple with continued use. Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara comes in black, blue, brown, and a limited edition silver glitter topcoat.
Available at all Dior counters.
An extension of Hera’s Sensual Spicy Nude collection, the new Sensual Spicy Nude Volume Matte glides on with the same comfort and volume, now in a matte finish. While some matte lipsticks can be drying, this new lipstick is created with Hera’s latest Water-Drop Core technology, infusing the formula with 18 per cent moisture content.
Menthoxypropanediol also helps to enhance blood circulation and plump up lips. The result is fuller, natural-looking lips. Sensual Spicy Nude Volume Matte is available in eight easy-to-wear shades.
Available at the Hera counter and boutique, Hera e-Lounge, and Sephora.
One of two new limited edition V Shaping sets from Clarins, the V Shaping Power Duo set features the French beauty brands’ best-selling Double Serum and V Shaping Facial Lift Serum to boost the skin’s radiance and redefine facial contours.
The highlight, however, is the new V Shaping Facial Lift Massage Tool, which is only available in the sets. Inspired by gua sha—a traditional Chinese massage technique—the tool features multi-angular rollers and two curved edges to encourage blood circulation and lymphatic drainage, boosting the effects of Clarins’ skincare products.
Available at all Clarins boutiques and counters.
The perfect addition to your morning routine, the Chantecaille Radiance Elixir is infused with a skin awakening peptide that boosts the skin’s barrier lipid product and improves microcirculation in the early morning, helping to reduce the appearance of eye bags and increase skin luminosity with continued use. The addition of tomato-derived colourless carotenoids also works immediately to reduce redness and increase skin radiance in the day.
Other powerful ingredients include a natural tensing agent, crystal peptide, lotus japonica extract, and refining lipopeptide, which work together to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines while increasing skin luminosity and moisture over time. The elixir also works overnight to nourish and support your skin while it repairs itself.
Available at Takashimaya.
Plagued by ‘maskne’? ést.lab has introduced a new PurClear Anti-Acne Serum for those troubled by enlarged pores and blemishes without aggravating sensitive skin or drying them out. The gentle formula features time-released salicylic acid to reduce irritation, and ést.lab’s Water Shuttle technology that releases encapsulated brown algae extract, keeping skin hydrated for up to 12 hours.
Additionally, the PurClear Anti-Acne Serum contains anti-inflammatory tea tree leaf, as well as alpine willow herb extract to regulate sebum productions and minimise pores. Just a thin layer is needed on acne-prone areas day and night, and it is best used together with ést.lab’s PurClear Detoxifying Mask, which purges the skin of toxins and impurities.
Available at all Estetica outlets islandwide and online.
A cult favourite from Dr Dennis Gross, the Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a limited-edition package. Packed in a stylish metallic orange tin, the 20th-anniversary edition comes with five bonus treatments.
A breakthrough for its time. the fast-acting, two-step daily treatment harnesses both AHA/BHAs and retinol to exfoliate skin and improve its tone and texture. The limited-edition line also includes the Alpha Beta Ultra Gentle Daily Peel for sensitive skin, and the Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel for oily and blemished skin.
Available from July 16 at Sephora.
We may have been stuck indoors for most of 2020, but you can still flaunt glowing sun-kissed skin for summer. The latest addition to Charlotte Tilbury’s much-loved Airbrush collection, the Airbrush Bronzer offers a matte, cashmere-silk finish that is natural and buildable.
The bronzer is infused with hyaluronic acid, mica, silica, micro-fine perfecting powders, and the brand’s ‘magical microspheres’ for smooth, soft-focused effect. For best results, pair it with the Air-Brush—Charlotte Tilbury’s new Kabuki-style retractable bronzer brush for seamless application.
Available at Sephora.
Mother and daughter pair, Jo and Ashley Yong, are behind a new homegrown vegan beauty label named Two Halves. The debut product—formulated and made in Japan—is Better Balance Soothing Hydration Essence, a water-based gel to hydrate and balance skin. It’s meant to be applied before your moisturiser but can be used anytime skin needs a perk-me-up.
Focusing on the basics of skincare, the brand is transparent about their product formulation and clean ingredients that feature anti-inflammatory, anti-photoaging and antioxidant properties. There are no added fragrances but still smells lovely. No surprise that the brand and product are so thought through, mama Yong is a veteran in the beauty industry. Two Halves' second product will be launched at the end of the year.
Available at Two Halves.
As Alessandro Michele is known for his exploration of the '70s style aesthetic, how fitting is it that the new Gucci perfume includes infusions of two fragrance ingredients that were popular in the '70s too: rose and chilli pepper. They replace the original top notes of pink pepper and Italian lemon, creating an unexpected reinterpretation of the original signature. Gucci ganger Jared Leto fronts the new Guilty Pour Homme campaign, alongside the scent that is housed in a matte black bottle featuring the brand’s iconic interlocking G.
Available at Sephora. From July 15, it will also be available at Takashimaya Beauty Hall and Tangs.
After gaining popularity for curating the best Korean beauty products, Ksisters founder Jungmin Lee has launched her very own in-house label: Jung Beauty. Its debut product is the Jung Beauty 2 Step Steaming Hair Spa. The perfect addition to your self-care home spa routine, this hair mask is easy and fuss-free. After shampooing, slip on the self-heating hair mask (worn like a turban) for 20 min. Rinse off and massage the essence to towel-dried hair—that’s it. Formulated for all hair types to restore your mane to silky smoothness.
Available at Ksisters.
Des Clous Pour Une Pelure literally means 'nails for skin' in English, though it’s a French saying that doesn’t translate immediately. “I use the word ‘clous’—meaning nails, or things that are practically worthless— metaphorically, because this Eau is dear to me! The orange peel pricks your eyes, and by nails I mean cloves, of course,” explains French multihyphenate Serge Lutens who is an iconic photographer/filmmaker/hair stylist/fashion designer/perfumer and has collaborated with industry icons all his life, from Christian Dior to Diana Vreeland.
The scent is unabashedly bold and invigorating, which is aptly reflective of its vivid turquoise colour. As always, Lutens rebels against the conventional: “This is the bright green of a traffic light. It implies a signal to go—almost an order. The bright emerald of this Eau expresses my refusal to fall into any kind of automatic creative response, which is all too often assimilated with that of style. My fragrances reflect a different logic from what is generally understood within so-called luxury perfumery.”
Available at Escentials.
The scent of summer is encapsulated in the fourth edition of Burberry Her. Youthful, sparkling, dreamy—the scent has top notes of lemon and ginger, heart notes of peony and rose accord and base notes of musk. The bottle is beautifully minimalist and takes inspiration from an archival Burberry fragrance design, and can be personalised with engraved initials on a gold charm around its neck.
Available at Sephora.
Diptyque for your face? The cult Parisian parfumerie maison started its sensory skincare line 'Art du Soin' in 2009. The line focuses on infused cosmetics, which uses gentle extraction methods from the field of perfume into face and body care products. The sensorial experience of an Art du Soin ritual comes from textures too, which sometimes are transformed when it comes in contact with the skin—the new Infused Face Serum first appears rather un-serum-like: as a solid stick similar to a deodorant, but its gelish texture becomes watery on skin contact—which also makes it easy to massage in. Simply place it in the fridge until it’s ready to be used, then massage it in with small, circular motions on the face and neck.
This year, Diptyque has also removed sulphates from all its cleansing products (they aren’t dangerous but can result in irritated skin). There is also a move to make refillable products in its body care range: the new Velvet Hand Lotion comes in a refillable glass bottle, with easy refills. The brand is also working to make most of its products refillable.
Available at Escentials.
While Kilian Hennessy’s eponymous Paris perfume atelier does not carry his famous last name, the scents that he has created reflects his childhood and heritage. “Very often I have the feeling,” he says, “that the smell of these cellars lives in almost all my scents.”
His latest scent, Good Girl Gone Bad features a perfume bottle that luxuriates in a beautiful white metal minaudiere accompanied by a gold serpent—what a treat! The glass bottle inside flaunts matte embossing on its sides; the scent inside is a melody of uninhibited flowers: tuberose absolute, jasmine and narcissus. It’s available in multiple variations, with or without the clutch, travel spray and refills.
Available at Escentials.
