With my fellow New Beauty Tastemakers, Danielle Gray and Milly Almodovar
Earlier this month, I was really honored to join New Beauty Magazine for their Tastemaker event, as one of their tastemakers! Hosted at the New Beauty offices in Rockefeller Center, it was basically speed dating, with beauty brands — my kind of dating! Each tastemaker had their own table and then brands would rotate visiting me (on a timer) and tell me about their companies and new product launches. There were so many cool indie beauty brand, many of which I worked with in the past so it was exciting to catch up with the founders and hear about the progress their brands had made. While there wasn’t time to meet with every brand in attendance, here were some of my favorites and brands you should have on your radar:
Grande Cosmetics
Grande Cosmetics also has a special place in my heart. I discovered them when I was judging the ICMAD awards a few years ago and they blew it out of the water! Their liquid liner won my vote for the category because it was by far the best product choice in the category. EVERYTHING I’ve used from the brand since has blown me away, I love their GrandBROW-FIll! Their latest addition is a Grande Lips, a collection of lip plumpers available in clear and six additional colors, including my dream pink! It’s the best plumper I’ve used yet, it tingles and plumps and they offer a great shade range. This is a brand to have on your radar! Check it out at sephora.com
Dermarche Labs
Dermarche Labs has a variety of products including Roloxin Lift, which funny enough I was at the launch of this event in 2014! It also won the Allure best of beauty award that year. It’s the perfect mask for when you need to rebook skin since it instantly lifts, hydrates and reduces the appearance of wrinkles and pores. How it works is you activate the formula by massaging the sachet in your hands for 20 seconds, then cleanse and lightly dampen your skin and apply the formula to your face for 7-10 minute or until it dries. Then rinse it off and apply your moisturizer or continue with your regular beauty routine — your skin will feel instantly more even, and your skin will be so soft and glowing! I also learned about two new products Fullfill, which is a big dose of Hyaluronic Acid which is a plumper and wrinkle filler. As well as Biorewind which is two part serum — an AM Full-Spectrum Antioxidant Serum and PM Pro-Grade Retinoid Repairing serum.
LiftLab Skincare
Another really cool brand which is basically from my hometown in Massachusetts. I first learned about Lift Lab from Caravan Stylist Studio when they gave me a sample of their face wash. It was phenomenal. It was creamy and left my skin so smooth and hydrated — it was about a year ago and it left an impression. Now with the founder (big moment for me!) I learned so much about the brand, including that they took 25 years of research and discovered how plants and animals survive in harsh cold of the Arctic to the extreme heat of the desert and found they produce a unique protein that protects them from the extremes of the environment. They found that this protein — Cell Protection Protein they nicknamed CPP can dramatically help boost the production of 41 key skin proteins including antioxidants, anti-inflammatory proteins, collagen and elastin… while increasing skins moisture content to ward off wrinkles, dryness and sagging. CPP is a 100% natural ingredient that is patented and exclusive to LiftLab and incorporated into the whole skincare line.
Osmosis
Osmosis actually blew my mind. Up until now all I had used from them was their Osmosis Colour Age Defying Treatment Concealer, which is a hydrating balm on one side to smooth out and plumps wrinkles and skin and then a liquid concealer on the other side to mask dark circles, uneven skintones, blemishes and anything in between. I got this concealer a few months ago and LOVE it but thought they were a color brand. Little did I know they are so much more. They have an entire branch of the company that specializes in holistic therapies to treat skin conditions inside and out. I’m talking there is a spray for hangovers, cramps, increased energy… you spritz in your mouth and even an internal SPF you can take — drink your SPF!!!! Genius (if it works). The founder got me pretty excited though. He even said he can help woman get pregnant with his supplements. That’s some heavy duty promises. Needless to say I need to learn more about the wellness end but for now all I can stake claim in is how awesome their concealer is and that this a brand I definitely have my eye on.
ERASA Skincare
ERASA Skincare has a special place in my heart. They launched with one product, Erasa XEP30 last year and I was one of the first bloggers to write about them. They also won the Allure Best of Beauty award for it. Erasa XEP30 is basically a topical filler (as in cream form of Botox). It combines exclusive ingredients clinically proven to help address all visible signs of aging — non-invasively. Independent clinical lab tests showed results beyond anything seen from the topical skincare product which includes 74% wrinkle reduction, 74% pore reduction, and 99% shine reduction. You can read more about it from my previous review HERE and check out their site erasaskincare.com
Laura Geller
My Queen! I met Laura Geller last year and she’s one of the most lovely person I’ve ever met, and her products are incredible. I have been playing with her holiday collection and will have blog post up soon but until then she has two all star products (well many more then that) but these are worth noting: Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator in Gilded Honey and their Filter Finish Setting Powder. Both are major award winners, Gilded Honey is just an absolutely beautiful caramel honey golden highlighter. Goes on flawless and can give a light tint or be built up to a more intense sheen. The Filter Finish Setting Powder can be used to set your makeup or on it’s own to even out skintone and create a beautiful complexion. I’m a medium skintone and it works perfectly for me and is literally like adding a filter to your skin.
Real Techniques
We haven’t seen a contender for the BeautyBlender quite like Real Techniques’s Miracle Complexion Sponge ($6), the product needs no introduction, however meeting with the brand was a joy for me. As was playing with their brushes which I see all over Instagram and clearly need in my life. And their brushes are so reasonably priced! They have a 4-brush Core Collection set for $18!
Josie Maran
Lip Plumpers are all the rage right now and Josie Maran has a new Argan Lip Sting Plumping Butter. Packaging in a beautiful rose gold lipstick holder and infused with 100% pure argan oil, manuka honey and moringa butter to plump lips while making them smoother over time. Most of my plumpers are the consistency of a gloss so it’s nice to have something closer to a chapstick or balm consistency. I haven’t seen the same intensity in plumping as the Grande product but it does make my lips super smooth and I love how clean and ethical Josie Maran products are. She’s one of the top brands I recommend for my friends with sensitive skin and all of them are loyalists. If you haven’t tried her Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter, you’re missing out!
Revision Skincare
If aging is a concern, I’m talking severe wrinkles, sagging fine lines… Revision should be on your radar. It’s the real deal skin that’s had amazing results for a lot of people I know. I burned through a bottle of their Nectifirm (I have a fear of neck wrinkles) and am obsessed with their Lumiquin brightening hand treatment! My friends swear by their DEJ products (theirs a face cream and eye cream), I haven’t tried them yet, but if wrinkles are your concern it’s supposed to be amazing. At the event I learned about their latest launch, Revox 7, which features 7 peptides to soften the appearance of 7 types of expression lines.
Dermaflash
Inspired by dermaplaning, a procedure available only in medical spas or doctor’s offices that exfoliates your skin to remove the dead skin cells and gets rid of the peach fuzz at the same time comes an at-home version. I’m pretty obsessed with mine and the brand has big news! Coming soon they are collaborating with Perricone MD for a limited-edition Ultimate Exfoliation & Treatment System, $229 ($286.50 value ) and will include the Perricone MD Blue Plasma and OVM Treatment. Also for October, Dermaflash is donating 20% of proceeds from the sale of a limited edition PINK Dermaflash device ($189) to the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation.
Trilogy
I’m new to Trilogy but any brand that’s A) from New Zealand and B) can be found in Credo (and Whole Foods) scores major points with me in credibility in the natural skincare world. Known for their Certified Organic Rosehip Oil — I’m a huge fan of Rosehip Oil, I actually picked some up when I was in Australia and still use it on my burns. Rosehip has amazing restorative properties and is rich in essential fatty acids and is also great for stretch marks, fine lines, wrinkles and to boost hydration levels in the skin. They boosted their cult favorite product to create the Rosehip Oil Antioxidant+ formula which won the 2016 InStyle Best Beauty Buys award (major!). It’s an extra boost of antioxidant’s to do everything listed above plus protect against environmental free radical damage and help brighten skin tone and improve elasticity and firmness. They also introduced me to their new CoQ10 Booster Oil that revitalizes skin at a cellular level boosting collagen and elastin production while improving your overall completion and protection against free radical damage. I’ve never questioned the power of oils and as I’m diving more into the world of natural, clean skincare and cosmetics these are the types of products I want to use to nourish my skin.
