Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief

Clinique is not exactly the most exciting brand on the block, but they do make reliably decent skincare basics and this is one of their best. I don't usually fork out $46.50 for a face cream, but Moisture Surge ETR is very multi-purpose and has a delicious retro-rose-pink translucent hue and a tiny amount goes a long way. It's a sort of Tardis of face creams. Also it's soft not greasy, smells alright, and my skin really seems to like it, with dry spots invariably disappearing and blemishes calming down. What this stuff doesn't have is sun protection, so Clinique just brought out a completely different Moisture Surge cream with SPFs. It's white, and has nothing in common with the original one, in fact I actually prefer Clean & Clear Soft Oil-Free Day Moisturiser. If only someone would invent a really good moisturiser with sun protection that still feels nice- why is that apparently impossible? Or do you know of one already?

I'm Blushing

For reasons that elude me, we've recently wound up with a lot of blush in the bathroom. Nearly all of them have been brought in by my daughter Tafv (now I know where her money goes), including Clinique Touch Blush in Sweet Clover, a moussey blush that's a breeze to apply and looks quite natural, and Revlon Cream Blush in what may be First Blush, though it's hard to tell, now that the plastic cover has fallen off and the blush itself is full of both divots and some iridescence with which I don't think it began its life. This blush is of an unforgiving nature, a clay-like consistency that reminds me of the tubes of spent lipstick my grandmother would give me to play with. My recent contribution to the blush collection was a tiny tube of Almay smart shade blush, in Natural. Since I don't read magazines that feature a lot of cosmetic ads, I was unaware that this blush doesn't actually have any color when it comes out of the tube. From the copy on Almay's site: 

With smart shade^® blush, there’s no more guessing about how to find your perfect blush shade. This revolutionary blush contains microscopic shade-sensing color beads that are activated when you smooth it on—transforming into a shade that perfectly complements your skin tone.

I was not under the impression that a) choosing a shade of blush had heretofore proved such a conundrum to so many, and b) that the point was to complement one's skin tone. I intend no irony or disrespect when I say, unless her eyesight is severely impaired, I don't know a woman who doesn't like to have some input into what her blush looks like, though such opinion is moot, as the smart shade blush, isn't. It's just boring.

A long preamble to the blush I really want to write about and actually get excited about applying, Chanel Joues Contraste, which we have in two shades, Nude and (be still my heart) Horizon, the latter a rosy-fingers-of-dawn hue that, brushed on once, gives a nubile glow; brushed on twice, makes you look like a haute couture doll, at once playful and dramatic. The brushes that come with the blush are weeny and have in any case been misplaced, and really it's much more fun to poof on the Horizon with a Lancome All-Over Powder Brush, though I don't think we have the #20, but an equivalent that came in a with-purchase Lancome goodie bag. These bags arrive on our doorstep every couple of months, courtesy of my mother-in-law, who I guess must use a lot of Lancome. Why the most recent booty also included the two full-size Joues Contraste, I've yet to ask.

Jack & Hill in the Sunday Times Style Beauty Awards 2007

Don't get too excited: Beauty edior Bethan Cole just refers to Hillary's comment about Bobbi Brown's Maoist ethos, without crediting her, in this year's edition.

And now for the diatribe:

The awards themselves are determined by readers' votes. I find it somewhat depressing that with all of the innovation going on and the explosion of so many fabulous brands over the last several years, boring old Clinique ended up the brand Sunday Times readers voted for most. While I'm as pleased as anyone when a classic, inexpensive stand-by stands the test of time, I can't quite relate to the women who buy the same products over and over again every year. Isn't that just a bit lacking in fun and adventure? Perhaps this is just a reflection on Sunday Times readers, but gosh, how sad (not least because it's my Sunday newspaper of choice).

And is it possible that women aren't totally over Juicy Tubes and all things sticky lip gloss by now? I mean, they're not my lips and I don't have to wear them (or kiss them), so it makes not much difference to me,  except from planting the suspicion in my mind that my fellow females and I have a lot less in common than I thought. Lip gloss, your favorite lip product? Really? If you say so.

One last whinge: Can we please stop with this mindless acceptance that 'fair trade' products are ethical? I know this is only a beauty section, but it is pretty insulting to the intelligence of readers who have more than a basic grasp of economics to pretend that 'fair trade' is any such thing. See also how it has become beauty editor gospel that 'organic' ingredients are also ethical. Do these magazines and papers really believe their readers to be so lacking in critical thinking skills, or is it the editors themselves who haven't done their research? Either way, it's troubling and offensive, not to mention a setback for those of us who would like to promote the idea that being interested in beauty is not synonymous with being an airhead.

Finally, it strikes me as curious just how absent medical-grade products are from this list. Is this because British women are not accustomed or prepared to go to private doctors for their skincare? I suspect it has something to do with regulations on how medical-grade products are advertised (it is illegal to advertise pharmaceuticals of any kind in the UK), but will have to dig deeper. Either way, it's hard not to feel that - for whatever reason - British women are missing out on the best skin of their lives. If they're the sort who are slavish Clinique devotees, though, perhaps they deserve what they get.

Shine on, crazy powderface

The first beauty purchase to which I can remember committing big bucks was Clinique Blended Face Powder, purchased from Elder-Beerman (the most upscale store in my hometown) with a large percentage of the cash I'd received for my 13th birthday. I'd read about the powder in my beloved Sassy's About Face (or maybe it was Zits and Stuff) column and was easily persuaded by Andrea L that this product was the answer to my shiny skin woes. Alas, alas. I liked the shaker, though, and this was decent enough to be my go-to powder for years.

I then convinced myself that Bobbi Brown's yellow-tinted translucent powder would be the answer not only to my shine challenge, but would also even out my skin tone and give me the beautiful skin I'd always known make-up could give me. I had just read Bobbi Brown Beauty after reading a rave review of it in Allure and was definitely worshiping at her altar. (The marketers going after that youth dollar sure had my number.) Needless to say, I was crushed when miracles didn't happen and my sebaceous emissions remained at the abnormally high levels to which I'd grown accustomed.

Foundation, blot, repeat. I would always buy high end powder when I could afford it, and drugstore brands when I was poor. When I was in LA last December, I sprung for Trish McEvoy Even Skin Perfecting Dual Powder ($26). I had done no research; I was just in the mood to spend on beauty, and was perhaps dazzled by Young & the Restless star Jess Walton (uber-diva Jill) getting made over on the stool next to me. (I'm not joking about being dazzled: I started watching Walton on the long since cancelled Capitol when I was 5, every afternoon after morning kindergarten at my babysitter's house, and was shocked to see her being exceedingly lovely to everyone around her in real life.) It was a fine powder, but I can't say I felt I got $26 worth of product - and that was before I dropped the thing on the bathroom floor and it shattered into a zillion tiny pieces.

Most recently, in the interest of not splurging on anything I hadn't researched, I picked up a pressed powder compact from 17, a brand found at British chemist (drugstore) Boots. Although it's a pressed powder and I prefer loose, I really cannot tell a difference between it and the pricier powders I have used.

When it comes to translucent powder, is there any reason to buy anything more expensive than a drugstore brand? After years of research and thousands of dollars spent trying to find the answer to this question, I'm still not sure, and my skin still goes shiny after an hour or so - which probably means no, there is not. Feel free to try to dissuade me of this in the comments or via email.