Redemption

The question I'm being asked most often is: "What's the best makeup brand?". My answer is always the same: It's not about brands. Most lines and companies, even the less celebrated ones, have at least one great product. Just as there are real duds in otherwise wonderful lines. Examples are everywhere: I'm a huge fan of Chanel, but I find their eyeliners inferior to many drugstore brands. Smashbox can do no wrong, except when it comes to the dreadful O-Glo gel blush. Benefit Cosmetics, who make some of my favorite products (Dallas bronzer/blush, creaseless cream shadows, Smooch lip balm), also offer less than stellar lip glosses and the inferior BADgal mascara I reviewed the other day. Which brings us back to my point: Don't buy blindly into a brand, fabulous as it may be. It's better to pick and choose the right products for you and remain open-minded.

As far as I'm concerned, Benefit have redeemed themselves completely with their Silky Finish lipstick. This formula is amazingly soft and smooth. It glides over the lips, covering them with a creamy-yet-almost-sheer color. It looks lipsticky enough, while still feeling like a gloss. The lipstick is kind to my sensitive lips, comfortable and very easy to apply.

My color of choice is Dessert First, a creamy pinkish plum (the photo above is quite true to life). The color is a shade more vibrant than my natural lip, so it's a "my lips, only better" look. It goes nicely with most makeup looks I tend to favor, and would be just as great for fall. It's pigmented enough to hold its own for several hours.

The texture and ease of wear remind me of Clinique's Almost Lipstick, but it's superior in pigment and staying power.

Excellence

Discovering what a huge difference the right products made for my face in terms of clarity, texture and radiance has prompted me to do something for my hands. We all know how hands are the first to show signs of aging, given how exposed they are to the elements and how easy it is to conveniently forget to slather them in sunblock. I haven't got any sun spots or freckles on the back of my hands, though they are a bit tanned. I have always been good about using hand creams and protective gloves, but my skin is dry and could certainly use some help.

I picked Chanel's nourishing and rejuvenating hand cream , from their Body Excellence line, on a whim, the same day I got the wonderful Tulip Noir nail color, determined to make my hands worthy of the gorgeous polish. I've been using it ever since, and the results are good enough to get me hooked on this product.

There are other great hand creams on the market. I love the ones from L'Occitane and Crabtree & Evelyn. Bliss hand cream is also great, despite its synthetic lemon scent. They are all good in terms of moisturizing and softening. However, Chanel's cream combines moisturizing with the effect of a shielding lotion: It envelopes the skin with a thin, barely-there barrier. It's not sticky and doesn't leave any stains on the keyboard, but my hands feel incredibly soft and smooth.

I have other shielding lotions, including my absolute favorite, SkinMD, which is the one I'd recommend for those who don't have aging concerns just yet. Chanel's cream is superior because it also improves skin clarity. I can't say how well it fights age spots, but after almost 4 weeks of religious use, there's a visible improvement in texture and color, a lot more than I've hoped for. I haven't had a dry cuticle in weeks. According to the little brochure that came in the box, age spots are reduced within two months, so I'm hoping for even smoother hands in a month.

The cream is very lightly scented (it is a Chanel, after all). It's floral as you'd expect, but the fragrance doesn't linger and doesn't get in the way of my perfume habit.

L'Artisan Piment Brulant

Today was another muggy day, requiring the kind of scent that cuts through the humidity and makes one feel alive and fresh. Or, at least, less icky.

My choice was Piment Brûlant from L'Artisan Parfumeur. It's an unusual scent with its sharp bite of hot red peppers at the top. Not a mainstream note, for sure, as it can be quite scary. After all, who wants to smell like salsa? The peppery notes are very foody, the red pepper is all there, skin and seeds, fresh, sharp and unmistakeable. I was almost put off by it the first time I tried it on. But, just when I thought it was too much something that goes into a ratatouille and too little a scent that goes on my neck, the capsicum began withdrawing and was replaced with something airy and floral.

The official notes promise chocolate, but it's not dark or rich. Just a note that smooths and rounds the fruity notes. The red pepper doesn't go away. Sometimes it's touched with chocolate, sometimes it's more floral. When I like it, it's a fun, fresh scent with an unexpected edge. But sometimes the pepper fruitiness is too much and I wonder if that's a real perfume or something I'd rather roast and make into a topping for bruschetta.