Celebrity Life

As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

The post New in Beauty This October 2021: Gucci Beauty, Benefit, Fenty Skin appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

After months of reviewing close to 300 beauty products and wellness facilities, and tallying, here are the best skincare products of this year, and lest we forget, your top pick! And so without further ado, here are the Beauty & Wellness Awards winners.

It if ain’t broke, don’t fix it … but when it is, extreme measures must be taken. Understanding the most common skin frustrations, we’ve scoured the shelves, halls, malls and internet to fi nd the ultimate remedy to correct and compensate. From discolouration to wrinkles and everything in between, whatever your concern may be, we’ve come up with the crème de la crème answers to rebuild confi dence in your appearance

The post Beauty & Wellness Awards 2020: Restorative Solutions appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

What once was taboo is now the recommended skincare cleanser. With that, we take a look at the best facial bars for every type of skin.

There was a time when using the same bar of body soap on your face was a thing. But as we now know, different areas of the skin require very distinctive attention. Consequently, bar soaps were blacklisted from our skincare regime for its harsh detergent constituents and skin drying factors.

Since then, beauty brands have realised that it isn’t the bar itself that is the culprit, but the formulation. Thus began the reintroduction of bar soaps in our routine. Easy to travel with (no spillage), keeping well over time, and environmentally friendly (reduced packaging), more and more are looking to our old ways for new results.

For those looking to switch up their cleansing game, we’ve rounded up the best facial bar soaps for every skin type.

Chanel Sublimage Radiance-Revealing Rich Cleansing Soap

Best for: Mature Skin

[caption id="attachment_207359" align="alignnone" width="2075"] HK$650[/caption]

As the name implies, Chanel’s Radiance Revealing Rich Cleansing Soap is a luxuriously indulgent product. The bar is composed of vanilla flower extract with highly potent antioxidant properties and shea butter for intense hydration. The bar lathers up to produce a gorgeous silky foam that cleanses and purifies to reveal illuminated skin. The beautiful carved soap also comes with its very own soap dish.

Drunk Elephant Juju Bar

Best for: Sensitive Skin

[caption id="attachment_207362" align="alignnone" width="2072"] HK$220[/caption]

Drunk Elephant has earned a very loyal cult following for its natural products and creative packaging. One of two of the brand’s facial bar soaps is the Juju Bar – a low pH level formula (unlike other soaps with detergent components) which gives you squeaky clean skin without stripping away the hydration. The subtle exfoliation is countered with healing elements to refine the skin’s texture without the feeling of tightness afterwards. Free of fragrance, essential oils, dyes, colourants and irritants, it is suitable for even the most sensitive skin.

Fresh Umbrian Clay Treatment Bar

Best for: Oily Skin

[caption id="attachment_207361" align="alignnone" width="2075"] HK$350[/caption]

For when washing your face still isn’t clean enough, it's Fresh’s Umbrian Clay Treatment Bar to the rescue. Offering a very deep and thorough cleanse, the Umbrian clay extracts impurities from within the pores. Great for oily or acne-prone skin in the summer, it ensures that all skin slough is flushed out. To complement the clay, ingredients like cranberry, bamboo and bitter orange work together for a full exfoliation. Once a week, work up a lather, and leave on for 10 minutes as a clarifying mask. Dull skin is now renewed.

Sisley Botanical Soapless Facial Cleansing Bar

Best for: Combination Skin

[caption id="attachment_207363" align="alignnone" width="2073"] HK$360[/caption]

Naturally purifying and gentle to skin, Sisley’s Botanical Cleansing Bar leaves skin with a smooth, matte finish and radiant complexion. Enriched with calendula and tropical resins (incense, myrrh and benzoin), it forms a fine-textured creamy lather that washes off for an instant sensation of freshness. A magnet for makeup and dirt, it isolates and removes all impurities from the skin on your face.

Sulwhasoo Herbal Soap

Best for: Normal to Dry Skin

[caption id="attachment_207360" align="alignnone" width="2075"] HK$340[/caption]

Extracting the beauty properties of Korean medicinal herbs (like red ginseng for anti-oxidisation, Chinese peony for healing, and Solomon’s seal and anti-inflammation), Sulwhasoo’s Herbal Soap cleanses the skin while nourishing it too. Using a 40-day ageing process to lock in all the goodness of the ingredients, the Herbal Soap is packed nutrients and most importantly supports the skin’s moisture barrier to lock in all the goodness. A special bonus if you enjoy the refreshing zingy scent of ginseng.

The post 5 Brands That Prove Bar Soaps are Good for Your Face appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Frequent washing and sanitising is drying out your hands. The Peak offers up some moisturising solutions for him and for her.

The post Eight hand salves, moisturisers and creams for soft, supple hands even after much washing appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Frequent washing and sanitising is drying out your hands. The Peak offers up some moisturising solutions for him and for her.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

Clear, even, luminous skin has long been the holy grail of the beauty industry, with many brands going so far as to include dangerous bleaching agents in their facial products. But with advances in technology, the days of adding mercury and hydroquinone to creams and masks are largely over. Now, rather than attacking dark spots and discolouration only after they’ve appeared on the surface of the skin, one French skincare brand has discovered a way to inhibit melanin production at its source.
Researchers at Sisley Laboratories have spent more than 20 years studying skin pigmentation in developing its popular Phyto-Blanc collection. “We’re always searching for harmony in the complexion, a balance of different parameters that together create the appearance of healthy skin,” explains scientific director José Ginestar. “One of the main areas of research is brightening, to fight against melanogenesis and the disruption of melanocytes.”

As Ginestar points out, melanocytes are cells that produce melanin, which is then transported to other layers of the skin and ultimately results in the formation of dark spots. This development of melanin is often caused by environmental factors such as UV aggression and other inflammatory micro-stresses – one reason why SPF and anti-pollution products are so widely recommended.But as Ginestar and his fellow researchers discovered, melanocytes do not act in isolation. They actually communicate with other skin cells, engaging in a kind of “cross talk”. “When the melanosomes (which are charged with melanin) reach the extremity of the dentrite, they transfer the melanin to the keratinocytes,” he says. “At this point, the keratinocytes rise to the surface and we can observe discolouration.”
This four-step process – maturation of the melanosome, melanin synthesis, melanin transport and melanin transfer – occurs throughout the body, with the exception of two places: the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Palmoplantar whiteness, as the phenomenon is known, is the result of a dermal protein called DKK1. Produced by the fibroblasts in the palms and soles, DKK1 has been identified as a natural inhibitor of melanin production.

[caption id="attachment_190371" align="alignnone" width="983"] The French skincare brand spent two decades finding a way to inhibit melanin production at its source.[/caption]

This ground-breaking discovery led Sisley researchers to ask the natural question: how do we reproduce this phenomenon on the face? After testing thousands of plant extracts, they found the answer in Egyptian Myrobolan – a dry savanna tree that is found across the Sahara in Africa – and the impetus to create an entirely new brightening product.
Phyto-Blanc Le Concentré Pure Bright Activating Serum, which launches worldwide this month, is the first product of its kind that’s able to stimulate the production of DKK1 by non-palmoplantar fibroblasts, effectively preventing melanin from forming in the first place. But that’s not all. Le Concentré also targets dark spots on the surface of the skin as well as each step in the melanin process using a proprietary complex of four active ingredients.

[caption id="attachment_190373" align="alignnone" width="644"] José Ginestar, Scientific Director at Sisley[/caption]

First, pea peptide extract inhibits maturation of the melanosome. Then the organic compound hexylresorcinol works to prevent melanin synthesis while wild thyme extract acts on the transport of the melanin. Finally, vitamin B3 works to block the transfer of melanin to the keratinocytes. Together with Egyptian Myrobolan as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory factors, these key ingredients work to treat the “dermal and epidermal neighbourhood” as a whole.
Le Concentré, with its serum-gel texture, is designed to be used morning and evening on the face and neck. Laboratory testing has shown a significant reduction in intensity and yellowness of dark spots after one month of use, and an increase in skin transparency in just 15 days. In fact, luminosity, radiance and clarity all showed improvement in 15 days with more than double the intensity after one month of use.
While Le Concentré has been proven effective at both treating and preventing dark spots, Ginestar says results can only improve when it’s used as part of a complete brightening ritual. “The serum is [designed to be] part of a routine, so when you use all the products the efficacy is better,” he says. “It’s the ritual that allows you to get the most benefits.”

FILL IN THE BLANC

How to achieve ultimate brightening with Sisley's comprehensive Photo-Blanc collection

1. Cleanse

   Sisley offers three cleansing products in the Phyto-Blanc series: Lightening Cleansing Milk to gently remove make-up and excess sebum, Lightening Foaming Cleanser for combination/oily complexions, and Buff & Wash Facial Gel with bamboo micro- particles for exfoliation.

2. Tone

   Used after cleansing, Phyto-Blanc Lightening Toning Lotion soothes and balances the skin with a blend of lavender and marjoram essential oils. It also tightens the look of pores and leaves a matt finish.

3. Treat

   In addition to applying Le Concentré, target stubborn spots with the Intensive Dark Spot Corrector or apply the Ultra Lightening Mask once or twice a week for 10 minutes.

    

4. Finish

   Don’t forget to shield the skin with Brightening Daily Defense Fluid in SPF 50. And finally, the Phyto-Blanc Cushion Foundation (available in three shades) provides buildable coverage while boosting hydration and radiance. The sweat- and humidity-resistant formula also protects the skin from environmental pollutants.

The post The Bright Side: Introducing Sisley’s Phyto-Blanc Le Concentré appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

We reveal our favourite beauty discoveries of the past year — find out what our go-to skincare brands are, make-up we never leave home without, where you’ll find us when we’re in need of a luxurious spa treatment, and what 2020 launches we’re excited about.

Favourite treatment

 

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This one is a toss-up between a two-part treatment at W Hotel’s Bliss Spa – it included one of the best facials I’ve ever had, using Carol Joy London products, and a Saltability body massage using warm Himalayan salt stones – and the Bastien Pedicure at The Oriental Spa, which left my soles and toenails looking better than ever. If I could combine them all into one, it would be my dream treatment.

Favourite make-up brand

Favourite skincare product

 

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A post shared by The Ordinary, NIOD, & more. (@deciem) on Aug 21, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

The post The Top Shelf Beauty Products of 2019 appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Long associated with religion, nobility and -- of course -- romance, roses have also been used in Chinese and other herbal forms of medicine, as a vitamin supplement and even as a natural sweetener. But perhaps nowhere has the flower caught on more as a luxury ingredient than in skincare and cosmetics.

Rose and rosehip oils, and the various tinctures made from them, have been proven to heal and moisturise the skin, reduce redness, combat inflammation and provide high levels of antioxidants. All of which makes them a perfect addition to everything from toners to face masks to lip treatments.

The post Kiss From A Rose: The Benefits of the Powerful Beauty Ingredient appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

What’s new, what’s good, and what we can’t get enough of.

The post New In: Beauty Must-Haves for Autumn appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Heat- resistant, skincare benefits, long-lasting and anti-pollution. We round up the best cushion foundations designed for the urban woman

The post 5 New Cushion Compacts To Try For Every Skin Type appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Welcome to Prestige’s third annual Beauty and Spa Awards, in which we round up the year’s top products.

The post Beauty and Spa Awards 2018 (Skincare) appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Sisley brings the Christmas cheer with the new limited edition Eau du Soir fragrance

The post Limited edition fragrance: Eau du Soir by Sisley provides some Christmas cheer appeared first on LUXUO.