Hero products, part 1
So last week I was in Selfridges talking to David Walker Smith, who is the store's 'director of beauty'. I asked him what his 'hero products' - ie stuff that works - were, bearing in mind he runs the largest beauty hall in Europe. And here they are:
Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
Guerlain’s Midnight Secret
Guerlain's Terracotta Bronzing Powder
Kiehl's Creme de Corps
Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil
Jurlique Hand Cream
Yves Saint Laurent False Lash Effect mascara
Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat
Dermalogica Multivitamin Recovery Mask
Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair
Lancome Oscillation Mascara
Elizabeth Arden Eight-Hour Cream
Bare Minerals SP15 Foundation
DiorShow Mascara
Chanel Poudre Universelle
No wild surprises if you're a makeup fiend, though I can vouch for the Dermalogica mask, which I didn't know and which turns out to be amazing. If you're a makeup/product virgin, on the other hand, you could do a great deal worse than work your way through his list.
The pic is of Selfridges' new Chanel makeup studio, which is the adult equivalent of a bucket of toys.
As I was saying on Twitter last week, the best place to find out about beauty products and whether they work or not is the Reviews section of makeupalley.com, where "ordinary" women tell it like it is without imperiling their advertising deal with X or Y brand.
