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

Estée Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher

  Without lipgloss 
  Originally uploaded by dynamist.

This is an old picture of me, but illustrates the sort of skin I deal with on a daily basis: 'dewy' at best, all-out shiny at worst. Blame my pores.

Nadine Baggott has a good piece on pores, for which she talked to Dr. Daniel Maes, head of R&D for Estée Lauder. Dr. Maes imparts the infuriating information that sebum is a very bad moisturiser and has been made redundant by evolution.

Maybe millions of years ago it had a role to play in keeping our hair waterproof, back when we had fur; now it is simply a nuisance.

You can say that again. Nadine lists some of her favorite instant pore perfectors, and I have to admit to slavish use of Estée Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher (now in much more sleek, appealing packaging) for the last few weeks since receiving a bottle of it from Lauder PR. In the ridonkulous heat and humidity we've been suffering of late, my expectations of any mattifying product are at an all-time low. That said, I do like the way this product changes the surface of my skin once I've smoothed on a very small amount of it, and it feels like a much better base for the rest of my makeup. (You use it before your moisturizer, a product I skip in this climate.)

Bioderma Sébium H2O

I may have mentioned this, but it's really unbearably hot in Paris right now. Very few places have air conditioning, and hotels are not among them. So we have spent lots of time in relatively cool (never freezing, which is what I would love) department stores, taken lots of cold showers, and I have even resorted to laying a wet towel on my legs to help me get to sleep.

The worst part of the heat, for me, is not the heat itself. No, the worst part is the sweating. I'm not talking the 'dewy' look; I'm talking beads, and plenty of them. Inescapable, unattractive sweating.

Which also makes me worry about whether or not I'm going to break out from the overactivity of my sebaceous glands. So I grabbed a bottle of this from the pharmacy nearest my hotel (there are two more within 200 yards, of course).

I chose this because I could translate the label. I keep using it because it is truly mild, so much so that I can use it to remove my eye makeup without irritation, and non-drying. (My skin might tend towards shininess, but it also easily develops dry patches.) It's very refreshing to swipe this across my face at the end of the day, even though - with the remnants of Metro dust and city filth left on the cotton pad - it's also slightly scary.

Not sure if you can get this in the US or the UK, so I'm stocking up now. (Well, not now - after another cold shower.)

Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser

Yeah, I kinda left you hanging there. So: Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser is, as I said, my new favourite. It is what it says on the label - non-irritating and creamy without leaving a film on one's skin (as something like, say, E45 Wash - which I was using prior to the Avene - does). According to the label, you don't even need to rinse it off; you can just use a cotton pad to apply and a tissue to remove. Because I'm contrary - not to mention afraid of the tiny spots one can get from failure to rinse thoroughly - I apply it with my fingers, wipe it off with a cotton pad, and rinse with lukewarm water at least ten times. It's good and also relatively inexpensive - I got mine from my (paid) friends at the Skin Knowledge Network for £7, 50 pence off the suggested retail price.

My skin looks fine (or so everyone goes to pains to tell me), but in truth it's something of a nightmare: it tends to dry patches, while also being shiny as hell, and can be awfully sensitive when it wants to be. Unfortunately, I can't find Cetaphil here, and thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if the Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser was comprised of the same exact ingredients.

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.