Beauty Transformers!

4 min read

If you fancy yourself as a bit of an alchemist, and love playing about with all things makeup and skincare, then you’re going to love these new beauty transformers from Clarins, Illamasqua, Autograph M&S, and Smashbox.

Beauty Transformers

Clarins were the first to produce the fake tan booster product, launching their facial Radiance-Plus Golden Glow Booster in 2014, and following up with a body version in 2015. Others have now followed suit, and the latest to land on my desk is the Autograph @ M&S Gradual Tan Glow Boosting Droplets Serum (£12.50, marksandspencer.com)M&S autograph Gradual Tan drops

 

This serum works directly with the skin’s amino acids to give you a healthy, natural looking colour. It has Aroma Defence technology, and you get a streak-free tan in just four hours or slowly build one day-by-day. It’s so easy to use, just remember to was your hands afterwards, and only use a small amount- and never use alone!

Clarins are on the ball again with their new Boosters (£30 each, clarins.co.uk). I am obsessed by these – I’ve tried them all out, and I just love the idea of adding to your skincare – being a complete skincare and layering junkie! These turbo-charged little bottles of booster can be added to your skincare or your foundation and there are three to choose from, depending on your main skincare concerns. You just drop one or two drops inClarins Skincare Boosters, mix it up, and apply.

The orange bottle is Energy. For fatigued skin, this highly concentrated formula contains ginseng extract, known for its stimulating properties.

This little booster will tone and re-energise the skin, minimise the signs of fatigue and revive radiance. Perfect if you’ve been on long-haul travel, you’ve had too many late nights, a too hectic lifestyle, or you suffer from fatigue.

The green bottle is Detox – brilliant for congested skin, and for when you’ve overindulged, partied too hard, or been exposed to extreme pollution.

The key ingredient here is green coffee extract, a plant from tropical Africa high in caffeine and known for its detoxifying properties. This will purify, revive radiance and plump the skin.

Finally, their purple booster is Repair, and is a shot for weakened skin. It contains mimosa tenuiflora extract, a Mayan medicinal plant known for its reparative properties.

This booster will reduce feelings of discomfort and diminish redness. Perfect for sunburn, extreme climates, or hard, salt oIllamasqua The Corrupterr chlorinated water. This is a MUSTHAVE holiday beauty buy!

Illamasqua launched The Corruptor (£20, illamasqua.com) in February, as their first ‘pro-product’. It’s innovative, and like nothing else. It’s a gel formula, and you can add it to any makeup really, to change the look.

It’s especially effective used to dishevel eyeliner, add gloss to a powder shadow, or smudge and mess things up as much as you desire.

Essentially it corrupts the makeup you have applied. I’d say use as a top coat to your deep powder shadow for a glossy feel, or add to your liner to move it around, and smudge it. I tried it, it’s odd, but for makeup junkies, and makeup artists, it’s one you have to try.

Last, but by no means least, is the brilliant Smashbox

InSmashbox Insta Mattesta-Matte Lipstick Transformer (£18, from April, smashbox.co.uk). I love it.

Well done Smashbox, on creating a product that could have veered towards the gimmicky, but actually works – and works well.

The beauty of this baby is that it creates a matte effect on a cream lipstick, so none of the dryness issues many of you find with matte lippies. It reminds me of an old facial mattifier product – primers, essentially, that ‘flattened’ the skin, absorbed the shine, and created a near-perfect base.

I think one of the very first ones I used was a Givenchy product, around 14 years ago, when I was just starrting out in beauty writing.

This Insta-Matte is applied with your finger, so it is a wee bit messy (particularly when your lipstick is red!), but it’s worth it. I tried it out on Tom Ford’s Cherry Lush – one of my favourite creamy reds,and it turned it into a gorgeous matte version instantly. Matte lipstick fans, you need to have this in your life!

Beauty Transformers are so much fun, agreed?!