Tag: skincare

Posted on

smell this: Clarins Eau Dynamisante

IMG_6149

 

I made my way to a Clarins counter to smell Eau Dynamisante a few months ago after it was featured on Garance Doré’s site. This offering from the French skincare brand, launched in 1987,  is evidently something of a cult classic with men and women alike in France. I can see why.

It opens with a bright citrus note that my nose associates hopelessly with pez but, maybe 10 minutes later (be sure to wait at least this before making your judgment), settles into a light, delicate leather scent with herbal and citrus backup singers. There is, in fact, no leather. What I perceive as leather is (relatively) sweet midnotes of ginseng and white tea hitting a patchouli basenote, then petit grain (the oil extracted from the leaves and twigs of the bitter orange plant) for brightness and rosemary to make things interesting. Patchouli is persistent on the skin and this lingers on me for many hours. Fades over time into a creamy white tea and patchouli accord that is to me in every way pleasant. I got some for myself.

No surprise from a skincare brand, it’s meant to be good for your skin as well, and follows basics of aromatherapy in its selection of essential oils. I can’t tell if it is making good on these claims…but these would be a bonus anyway. I’m inclined to trust in the ingredients and imagine it does have some subtle effect.

It’s hard to imagine putting too much of this on, it is so inoffensive and so light in formulation. At the same time it isn’t, like so many inoffensive fragrances, unforgivably bland. This leans slightly masculine, at least for the American market, but just slightly. This feels like a modern Eau Sauvage (which, for the record, I do not much like), and I would especially recommend it for a no-fuss, post-shave morning spritz.

Posted on

trying out: the fresh Umbrian Clay Treatment bar

IMG_5927I like a face mask. I do at least one a week, maybe more, and have a bunch of them to combat the various, manifold shortcomings of my skin. Part of the appeal is the experience, the ceremony of them, which I find relaxing. Sometimes potentially entertaining. Recently added to the selection is the fresh Umbrian Clay Treatment Bar, made of an anti-inflammatory and highly absorbent clay from this one town in Italy that can be used as a detoxing face wash, a mask, or a spot treatment. It’s pricey but it seems like it will last a couple of years, seriously.

It’s a bit messy to use, so if I’m going to bother at all I usually go for the mask, maybe removing with a muslin cloth for added exfoliation.

I am deeply into exfoliation.

So, yes, this gives a very thin layer of intensely absorbent/effective clay, which reminds me a lot of the Aztec Secret Bentonite Clay mask. At a fraction of the price (I picked it up at Whole Foods for around $7) it could be worth checking out first. It comes as a powder and you mix it with water or vinegar [or whatever else you like…I like to add lemon juice and tea tree oil as well, maybe rosewater or some essential oils…] to your desired consistency. When you get the balance of ingredients right, this is an amazing mask: it tightens like crazy, so you look like a maniac when it’s fully dry, and even worse when you take it off as it draws the blood to the surface and makes you bright red for a bit. Twenty minutes later, though, there is a difference. [Part of the appeal may be the experience – imagine would be fun to do with a group.] This is another type of clay that boasts supernormal absorbency, able to absorb many times its own weight in volume, that kind of thing. The ants of the clay world. The nice thing about the Umbrian clay is that it achieves a similar effect with less product and less effort. I find the effort intrinsic to the appeal of the Aztec Secret mask, though, so to each its own.