The Arden lady goes to Seoul © Yoo Inyoung for Elizabeth Arden
One of the oldest (and most august, may we add) beauty giants in the world is seriously upping their game to play with the young’uns.
Take the savvy move to tap K-Drama starlet Yoo Inyoung to front its regional campaigns, for instance – placing the brand’s manicured finger right on the pulse of the current cosmetics craze for all things Korean.
To cop Yoo Inyoung’s look, try Elizabeth Arden’s incredibly lovely new fluid foundation.
The Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup SPF 15 ticks all of our K-Beauty boxes: It’s light as souffle, deliciously blendable and buildable, and said to work like a real-life Instagram filter in simulating that softly diffused, is-she-or-isn’t-she look the Koreans are so enamoured with.
More good stuff thrown into the mix: The use of so-called soy lipid tech, a secret botanical blend of oils said to shrink pores by 20 percent over the span of four weeks, and a skin-friendly cocktail of vitamins and essence of wild mushroom for a beautifying boost.
This being a foundation, expect all of Elizabeth Arden’s expertise to be on full (coverage) display. Mineralised pigments encapsulated in a hydrating broth release their mini-ampoules of stay-true, Asian-friendly shades to smoothen out ruddiness without shrouding your skin in a pancake-like mask.
To ace the K-Beauty look, Stephen Gaskett, Elizabeth Arden’s Australia National Makeup Artist, says you should toss aside cosmetic convention (what did we say about EA being a forward thinking brand.)
This is the new golden rule of makeup: Cease and desist from buffing your foundation into your neck, if only to prevent stains on your decolletage.
Take it from us, Stephen’s advice works like a dream. Here’s how to do foundation the Elizabeth Arden-slash-K-Beauty way: Trace an imaginary inverted triangle on your face, with the base being your forehead and nose and pointy end being your chin.
Warm up a fifty-cent dollop of the product on the back of your hand, then grab a fluffy synthetic brush and begin stippling little dots onto your forehead, fanning outwards from the centre of your facial “triangle”.
Blend, blend, then blend some more; the goal is to ensure that even the most senior of maquillage masters won’t be able to detect the demarcation between your cheeks and jawline. (Bonus: “Brush up” on your knowledge of the tools of the trade with our handy makeup manual.)
Here’s the genius of this triangulated method. By placing the product in the centre of your face and buffing outwards, you avoid blanket coverage while maintaining the facade of a beguilingly bare Korean belle.
Finish with a judicious dab of Elizabeth Arden’s accompanying heroine sidekick, the new Flawless Finish Correcting and Highlighting Perfector.
Now, we’re EA lovers through and through, but even we have to concede that this pen’s packaging is uncannily reminiscent of a certain French prestige brand’s star highlighter ... For what it’s worth, though, EA’s version stands out for having a wee bit more body to it; the robust consistency means the more genetically blessed can conceivably use this highlighter as an undereye concealer.
For the rest of us panda-eyed people, Stephen says you should use the pen (which, in another nifty nod to Asia, is chock-full of herbal emollients like wu zhu yu extract) on areas of the face where the light hits: Inner eye corners, cupid’s bow, nose bridge and just a smidgen between your brows: “You can also sweep it around the droopy edges of the mouth, or spot correct a blemish to camouflage imperfections.”
Another incredibly useful beauty tip: If you have paper-dry skin, avoid applying your pen to the crepey outer corners of your lids – highlighting formulas will quite literally highlight creases and crinkles.
Now you know why we get positively peevish when beauty scribes dismiss Elizabeth Arden as the go-to for hand creams. The brand’s not just for Mums, you know. Just saying!
Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup SPF 15, $70 each, is available in eight shades. Flawless Finish Correcting and Highlighting Perfector, $40 each, is available in three shades. For more information, visit www.elizabetharden.com.sg and follow Elizabeth Arden Singapore on Facebook.