Sometimes I really shouldn't be allowed out, you know. I was at a launch with the founder of Erborian a couple of months ago, and I got so excited by this product that all I could say for about 20 minutes was "It's a jelly! But it's a powder! But it's a jelly!". This is, I suspect, why I'm not going to be challenging any of the major beauty editors in the UK any time soon, I'm, like, sooooo eloquent and all that.
So, Erborian 0.09 Touch au Ginseng Cream Powder Compact, what is it? Well, it's a powder. but it's also a jelly (look, I don't get out much these days, and it may be affecting my vocabulary) and I find it makes a really nice base in its own right. The 0.09 name comes about from the amount of water in the formulation, with only 0.09% aqua, this is basically a water-free product. It's a hybrid powder that has an amazing bouncy texture, not in the slightest bit powdery, and I find that it smoothes out uneveness in tone beautifully.
What it's not, I have found, is a finishing powder. It's more of a base in its own right, though a sheer one. It's rather a firm product and needs to be applied with a sponge, so over a foundation it's not the greatest finishing product as the sponge has a tendency to remove foundations, but over something like a lightly tinted CC cream (and it has to be said that Erborian make one of the best CC creams ever, especially now it comes in a new "light" version), or BB cream, it's rather wonderful. I use it on its own on good-skin days too.
Because it's a bouncy jelly texture it's perfect for carrying round in your handbag, because unlike powdery ... erm ... powders, it won't crack owing to being thrown around a bit. And it never looks powdery on the skin, and won't cake. It leaves a lovely velvety, glowing finish, and a little of it goes a very long way. There's a good-size mirror in the lid too, for touch-ups on the go, though even on my oily skin, touch up requirements have been minimal, this has great lasting power.
It costs £27 from Erborian.com.
The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases
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Yeah, I don't normally do haul posts, but I did JUST go to Paris this weekend for an event at the Guerlain flagship store on the Champs Elysees with the Perfume Society. Whilst I was there, I picked up a few bits and pieces and I thought I'd show you. I'll write about a few of these in more detail (including writing about my time smelling the Guerlain archives!) soon, but, in the meantime, here's what I bought during my whistle-stop tour:
First off, French Pharmacy Essentials:
As the likes of Escentual.com and even Boots catch on to the greatness of French pharmacy brands, it's becoming less and less necessary to trip over to Paris to pick up cheap and good skincare. Especially now Serozinc is here! However, La Roche Posay Respectissime eye makeup remover, which is designed for waterproof makeup, but is gentle enough not to sting even my deeply sensitive eyes, STILL isn't available over here, and it's a shame, because it is, frankly, the best eye makeup remover EVER. Sort it out, La Roche Posay! This Demak Up cotton wool is a firm favourite too, having a proper embossed side and a smooth and fluffy side, I love it. And at around 50p a packet, I may have bought more than a couple ...
I popped into the Diptyque store in St Germain for a sniff and a chat, and ended up coming out with the new Rosaviola candle, the limited edition created with Olympia le Tan, the French fashion designer:
Smelling of roses and violets, and decorated with lips, I couldn't resist! And it's so pretty with the pink jar, and the embroidered fabric label. More about my visit to Diptyque soon.
I also, of course, went to Sephora!
The Sephora Nail Varnish Remover pots are a firm favourite, so I took the opportunity to stock up whilst I was in Paris. I always get the Glitter pots, as they come with a scrubby sponge that I really like for getting into all the nooks and crannies. I noticed there was a cuticle care version with camelia oil too, so I thought I'd try it, as my cuticles are positively shameful right now. I'll report back. I'm a bit obsessed with primers at the moment (there's a big post coming up), so I couldn't resist a trial-size version of this Erborian Pink Perfect Cream. And how cute are the Sephora Kiss Me lip balms? This is Candy Apple and Soda Pop.
I also popped into Yves Rocher, because I always like having a nosey at their stuff:
I bought some Serum Vegetal skincare shots, and a Perfect Primer in Rose. Yes, another primer ... Yves Rocher are one of the biggest brands in France, and they're really reasonable. It's been a while since I tried any of their products though, I admit - they're not that easy to get hold of in the UK though, which is a shame.
And finally, of course, Guerlain:
I fully intended to buy some fragrance, but the one I fell in love with in-store was five hundred euros! Luckily, seeing as I'm moving house in a month, I ran out of shopping time in-store, so some rose and violet tea (actually the Paris Caprice tea), a jar of limited edition honey (who knew you could buy Guerlain honey????) plus a couple of bits from the new La Petite Robe Noire collection will just have to do. This is the lip colour in Berry Beret and nail polish in Black Perfecto, expect more about these soon.
So there you have it. Just a few things, and, to be honest, I'd have been happy even if I'd only brought the eye makeup remover and cotton wool back!
The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases
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I'm fairly hard to impress these days, particularly when it comes to skincare, but at a launch event for Erborian recently, I came away with a shopping list as long as your arm, and an URGENT desire to try EVERYTHING.
That never happens.
Amongst the things I was desperate to try was this CC Creme, and I was delighted that it was in the goody bag. Erborian is a Korean brand (it's actually part of the L'Occitane company), and I was basically won over by the textures. I must have layered fifteen different products on my hand that night, and my skin felt amazing, instead of greasy and overloaded. Korean skincare consists of many, many more steps than a traditional "Western" routine, and the textures of each product are a lot lighter as a result, but without that oddly velvety "silicone" texture we tend expect from oil-free products.
Erborian CC Cream is white when you squeeze it from the tube, but I think you can just see some speckles of pigment in the above swatch. It adjusts to your individual skin tone once you start to rub it in:
You can see the colour change starting above. CC Creme is meant to be worn under a foundation, or BB Cream, and is designed to even out your skintone, whilst adding a layer of sun protection and extra skin coverage.
Once you rub in the cream, it essentially disappears leaving behind smooth and softly even skin. I have been able to wear this alone just with a little powder over on "good skin" days, but it also works well as a lovely primer - yes, I'm a bit obsessed with primers at the moment, you shut up - and I found that layering a new foundation over it recently made the foundation last MAD long. It's comfortable to wear, and won't make you feel like you're wearing a mask. If you have combination oily skin like I do, you'll love the mattifying effect too - I've worn this every day since I got mine, and I genuinely really like it, not having quite seen the point of CC creams before ...
I'll be showing you more Eborian products soon - they're launching a new UK website in the next couple of months, and there will be a huge amount of products launching to go with that, but in the meantime, you can find Eborian products at SpaceNK and Selfridges, where prices start at around £22. Go try them, you might like them as much as I do.
The Fine Print: PR Sample
The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.
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