Use this and look like this. Well, that's the premise, anway.
Now, if you’re in the least acquainted with yours truly, you’ll know that Clé de Peau Beauté is everything to us.
The Shiseido-owned Japanese prestige brand really pushes all of our beauty buttons: The posh packaging is fabulously fancy, the formulations forged by what we imagine are squadrons of secretive skin scientists, and the rose scent that perfumes its products is divine beyond belief ... all of which is to say, CPB’s latest luxe offering goes down very nicely with us indeed.
At first blush, you’ll be forgiven if you thought the new Illuminating Concentrate was some sort of serum, but the somewhat misleading monicker actually refers to a night mask, and then some. Trust Clé de Peau Beauté to elevate your run-of-the-mill mask to an elaborate three-step ritual!
Designed to soften signs of facial fatigue – think hollows under the eyes, ashen cheeks and deep lines around the lips – you kick off your treatment by using a toner-type fluid on pre-cleansed skin; the brand says this lotion sweeps away skin-dulling “old” cells, liberating the new layer underneath for better absorption of the second step of the treatment.
For the next step, what you do is dab on the comfortingly creamy essence all over your face and neck. This promises to plump up your skin and prime it for the star of the affair, the mask proper.
The mask is a marvel of technology. Made of a really cool, gel-like adhesive, the sheet caresses every contour of your face with none of the messy leakage that can come with other “wet” masks. Now sit back, kick off your kitten heels, relax for fifteen minutes or so and you’re all good for bed.
The great fit is supposed to seal in all of the brand’s new Illuminating Complex, which is a carefully concocted cocktail of over 20 types of deeply hydrating amino acids and skin-boosting proteins.
Spun from the most sensuous of sources, CPB says the complex contains silk and pearl derivatives, both of which are said to work in tandem to soothe “cellular stress” for that elusive, lit-from-within glow the brand’s face Amanda Seyfried is famed for.
All three steps of the treatment are individually sealed in single-use capsules – what did we say about the brand’s thoughtful packaging – and are supposed to be used in place of your regular nightly routine for a supercharged brightening boost.
Sold in boxes of six, we’ll sign off here by noting that the often-mangled name of the brand (say “clay-day-poe bew-tay”) is French for “the key to beautiful skin” – as good a name as any, if you ask us.
Clé de Peau Beauté Illuminating Concentrate, $190 for a box of six treatments or $35 per treatment, is available at Clé de Peau Beauté counters at Takashimaya Shopping Centre and TANGS Orchard. For more information, visit www.cledepeau-beaute.com/en and follow Clé de Peau Beauté on Facebook.