10 must-haves to fill your beauty closet for F/W 2021
From the latest scents and colour palettes to renewed icons and skincare stalwarts, the search to looking and feeling your best starts and ends here.
GUCCI
A new scent to celebrate the Italian house’s 100th anniversary, 1921 is a nod to the year Gucci was founded. It also pays tribute to the birthplace of Gucci, Florence, with the sweetly complex Neroli Flower, blended with the fresh sparkle of Florentine native fruit Limone Cedrato.
Created by master perfumer Alberto Morillas and Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele, 1921 is the eleventh addition to The Alchemist’s Garden family of ten eaux de parfum—inspired by the art of alchemy, built around a hero ingredient and the art of layering for intoxicating combinations.
The packaging’s green and gold palette, and vintage apothecary-style bottle symbolise Gucci’s modern yet timeless codes.
HERMÈS
The Twilly d’Hermès tribe now welcomes a new member into its family of fragrances. Twilly Eau Ginger is no less of a character than her elder siblings, yet suffused with whimsy. Above all, she stands out with a boundary-pushing spirit and daring sensibility, propelled by unwavering joie de vivre.
Following in the footsteps of her exuberant sisters who lead the way with their sense of mischief and spice respectively, the youngest Twilly flashes her own brand of radiance, filled with joy and sparkle.
A creation by Christine Nagel, it combines vibrant peony, a vivid candied ginger, and a supple, lively cedar for a burst of sunshine and spirited energy.
DECORTÉ
Celebrating three decades since its 1992 debut, Moisture Liposome Hydration Boosting Serum is a Decorté icon.
The lightweight, alcohol-free and oil-free pre-serum—first in a range that also includes a face cream, eye cream and lotion— is powered by a unique liposome technology. Replicating the lamellar structure of skin cell membranes and intercellular lipids, multi-layered liposomes penetrate deep into skin to repair and rebuild its structure while enhancing skin’s protective barrier to deliver hydration over an extended period of time.
Dry areas are targeted while skin is prepped to absorb subsequent products, resulting in a smoother texture, and better translucency and tone for healthier complexion that is more immune to external stressors.
LA PRAIRIE
The Cobalt Night embodies the metamorphosis of La Prairie’s potent cobalt blue emblem—a colour of femininity, audacity and strength.
An exclusive caviar element that thrives at night has been identified and used to formulate the exclusive Caviar Retinol, imbuing the Skin Caviar Nighttime Oil, alongside the luxury brand’s Exclusive Cellular Complex, which makes its debut within an oil.
The new Swiss caviar incarnation works in tandem with the skin’s natural circadian rhythms, applied as the last gesture of a nightly ritual that reduces fine lines and wrinkles, while visibly smoothing the skin’s surface, restoring firmness, and sealing in moisture and active ingredients to improve skin barrier and moisturise skin.
SK-II
Having undergone countless packaging reinventions with the latest paying homage to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, SK-II Facial Treatment Essence is a perennial favourite in the world of luxury skincare.
Remaining essentially unchanged since its inception, the signature product contains over 90% PiteraTM, discovered over 30 years ago. The miracle ingredient comprises vitamins, amino acids, minerals and organic acids, alongside Natural Moisturizing Factor components found in human skin.
Though PiteraTM’s mysterious benefits are still unfolding to date, that does not hinder it from religiously bringing transformation to skin for a crystal-clear appearance where spots are less visible, wrinkles are reduced, texture is refined, firmness is improved and radiance is elevated in just 14 days.
SHISEIDO
The answer to healthy vibrant skin, Shiseido’s new and third- generation Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate has evolved to double skin’s inner defense for recharged radiance.
The scientific breakthrough that revolutionises the skincare now comes courtesy of The LifebloodTM, which distils the power of Fermented Roselle Extract, alongside ImuGenerationRED TechnologyTM featuring the Heart Leaf Extract. Clinical tests affirm that the star product renews beauty to reveal deeply moisturised, smooth and supple, and radiant skin in just 3 days.
Dedicated use of the sensorial serum—with quick absorption and a calming natural floral fragrance—further enhances skin texture with firmness and resilience after 4 weeks, and thereafter visible wrinkle reduction after a bottle.
NARS
The next generation in matte lip colour, the Nars Air Matte Lip Color provides layers of cushiony, air-kissed pigments with featherweight lightness—courtesy of the innovative Cloud Diffusion Complex and Color Diffusion Complex, which comprise a concoction of silky polymers and micropowders to create a creamy and comfortable soft-focus finish.
A custom- designed applicator grants effortless control to build and blend coverage in the application of a plethora of lip looks, from sheer to full.
For all its lightweight, airy texture, this diminutive but impactful makeup product is wonderfully lasting and long- wearing—the perfect purveyor for a beautiful pout.
DIOR
Anchoring the Dior Makeup Fall 2021 Collection, the new 5 Couleurs Couture Birds of a Feather palette reimagines the shifting reflections of autumn with new duochrome finish, inspired by spectacular birds and their plumage with iridescent tones.
A couture beauty whose opulence is amplified by the light, it features an exclusive and exquisite feather pattern that showcases fine and creamy powder textures of complementary colours that combine iridescent effects and pigments.
To create the most sophisticated looks, the Night Bird harmony is centred around a vibrant coral, flanked by cool vanilla, and effervescent olive-gold, peacock green and scarab green hues.
SULWHASOO
Fusing the benefits of skincare with skin-comfortable makeup is Sulwhasoo Timetreasure Radiance Serum Cushion—a luxurious anti-ageing serum cushion with proven clinical results that gives the natural and healthy K-beauty luminoisty.
Its two key ingredients, firstly, Red TreasureTM, formulated for the Timetreasure Invigorating skincare, is infused with Korean Red Pine tree extract, whose powerful De-Ageing Active substance pumps up skin’s elasticity and firmness; while GinsenomicsTM, borrowed from the brand’s Ginseng line contains 6,000 times more active ginseng saponin to effectively mitigate skin ageing.
Together with diamond powder, the serum cushion allows makeup to look glowing and radiant, alongside improved hydration, resilience and wrinkles around the eyes.
CLARINS
Clarins Double Eye Serum is the latest from the brand’s award-winning and eight-generation Double Serum legacy that targets overall age-control with high-performing double technology.
The latest launch, a lightweight yet intensive double-texture concentrate, is 96% natural and enriched with 13 plant extracts, including the powerful extracts of organic wild chervil and turmeric to enhance the production of alpha-v integrins—proteins for the proper cohesion of cells in youthful skin—which diminishes with age.
By smoothing wrinkles, reducing puffiness and dark circles, strengthening eye contour skin and illuminating the eye area, the unique serum enhances the skin’s 5 vital functions, besides protecting it from harmful blue lights, courtesy of the Clarins Anti-Pollution Complex.
