Just a little green...

Capturing scent’s sensory impact in words is one of the most challenging tasks a beauty hackette faces. Do you risk the Pseud’s Corner-style pretentiousness of waffling in fluent metaphysics like some farty pastiche of Proust? Try to sound impressive by talking aromachemicals and molecules? Or gush about the bottle because a hot designer label’s splashed across it?

Oh, let’s not lose the will to sniff. It’s Crone’s belief that emotional honesty’s the best policy. Never mind the label - how does the smell make you feel? That’s why right now, you’re gazing at a tranquil but hazy, green and pleasant summer evening scene, just as the dusk pixels down. (Actually, it’s Rutland Water in Leicestershire and the only thing missing from the frame is a long, cool Mojito but Crone was driving after all….)

So this was the image that flashed into Crone’s mind when fashionably edgy Maison Martin Margiela’s [untitled] l’eau arrived on her desk this week. A lighter,  more citrusy version of Margiela’s first [untitled]  Eau de Parfum (which, incidentally Crone adores) this fresh, slightly minty Eau de Toilette still has a tantalising dark side, thanks to a healthy whack of galbanum mixed with a deliciously dirty smidgen of patchouli. Now, galbanum is an intensely sappy, resinous gum with a slightly woody, mossy undertow which  is extracted from a fennel-like, Mediterranean umbelifer. In the tradition of Balmain’s fabulous 1945 classic Vent Vert, it gives scents an exhilarating rush of crushed leaves, while hinting at something much less immediate. 

For [untitled] eau, Perfumer Daniela Andrier (who incidentally is also responsible for a host of Prada ‘infusions’ including the lovely Iris) reckoned she ‘took the existing fragrance and drenched it in water making it even more invigorating and direct, while adding an element of mystery.’ Crone couldn’t put it better herself. She’s still not sure about Margiela’s strategically distressed designs - there comes a time when raw hems and unfinished edges just look dilatory. But if you fancy something green but not naïve, here’s your scent for summer.  Now about that studiedly minimalist bottle….

• Maison Martin Margiela [untitled] l’eau, £60 100ml Eau de Toilette, available exclusively at Selfridges from 23^rd May. 

Magic wands

As beauty legends go, Touche Éclat is up there with Eight Hour Cream and Chanel No.5. Perhaps the most copied make-up gismo in the business, this magic wand is the generic for highlighting click-pens.  Designed 20 years ago by the very sympathique Terry de Gunzburg (also creator of luxe range By Terry - a Crone favourite) when she was creative director at YSL, Touche Éclat is a maestro of multi-tasking that really does wake up grim and dingy-looking skin. Crone loves it’s instant eye-lift effect - a dot blended at inner and outer eye corners plus one for luck just under the brow arch lightens weary, blue-tinged shadows, hushes crow’s feet and generally perks up a dreary expression.  Blended around lip contours (with extra attention at the corners) it hides wrinkles, blocks lipstick bleed-off and visually plumps your pout. It can even help ‘soft focus’ smile and chin creases…

Ok, so Crone’s a fan - but she wasn’t at first. Like many of her contemporaries, she expected Touche Éclat to hide rather than hush her many blemishes. (True concealers rely on denser pigments which often contradict light-catching ones) Then there was the shade - a rather tricky pink which suited English rosy skin tones (the UK is traditionally Touche Éclat’s biggest fan base) but left more yellow-toned European skins - including, ironically typically French complexions - rather cold.

But now all that’s been sorted. Thanks to seismic leaps in pigment technology, Touche Éclat now comes in no less than seven shades of radiance to brighten and highlight all skintones - even ebony ones. The encouragingly coined ‘Ampli Light’ technology that makes this breakthrough possible has been nicked from the paint industry, where transparent, light-grabbing pigments are employed to give even deep colour an inner sheen, rather than a brash metallic finish.  

So to practicalities.  YSL’s Northern European makeup artist, Fred Letailleur advises us to finger-blend Touche Éclat for the most natural effect or use the built-in brush for intensified, ‘air-brushed’ radiance.  Mixed with foundation, it gives skin a subtle, all-over glow;  or swept on with a dampened blusher brush,  it gives cheekbones a diffused, heightened highlight or, if you brush a deeper shade underneath, a softly sculpting effect. Fred also mixes it with eyeshadow for a subtle sheeny, creamy. long-lasting finish. Which reminds me. One of Touche ´Éclat’s greatest virtues is its uncanny talent for neutralising red, crinkly-looking lids all on its own. And that really is a magic touch.

• Yves St Laurent Touche Éclat, £24.50, new shades previewing from May 19  in Selfridges, London, Manchester and Birmingham and Brown Thomas, Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway; launching nationwide on August 4.

Light bulb moment

Eureka!  Last week someone Crone hadn’t seen for well, must have been a couple of years at least, told her she was looking younger. Then, on the very same day, a colleague asked if she’d had Botox.  Not being a fan, she was able to raise an eyebrow. Why such glowing compliments?

Then I remembered I’d tried yet another ‘brightening’ serum for the first time that very morning. Now call me a cynical old Crone, I’m still not convinced that Estée Lauder’s new Even Skintone Illuminator can hog all the limelight on this one, but I’m willing to entertain its potential. This formula chucks the book at lacklustre complexions with instant glow-getting Triple Optics - three different grades of light deflecting pigments - that brighten, blur and even out blotchy, dingy-looking skin. Long term actives include sugar-derivative glucomsamine and vitamin C to ‘energise’ skin and gently exfoliate dark spots away, plus anti-irritants to help reduce and prevent redness. Now, this side of prescriptions and procedures, age spots are buggers to shift, so don’t expect rapid results from any strictly cosmetic formula. Really, your best bet’s prevention - an SPPF30 at least, which this serum doesn’t have because it’s designed to be worn under protective moisturiser. But the oil-free texture’s a silky dream and - ahem! - a brilliant base for makeup. (Crone’s wearing it under her trusty mineral powder foundation).  According to Lauder tests, it will take another week at the very least before Crone can expect to see any difference in the two brown splodges on her right cheek that she maintains for testing purposes. (Well, that’s her story…).  Yet already she’s inclined to agree with the 84% of women who agreed their skin appeared more even-toned. Perhaps the best thing about Even Skintone Illuminator, is that its well-balanced brightening optics suit all complexions, even black skin upon which some products leave a slimy-looking ashy film. Worth a glow? 

• Estée Lauder Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator, from £46. Previewing at Selfridges from 16^th May; nationwide and online at www.esteelauder.co.uk from 7^th June. 

Tan today, gone tomorrow

These are Crone’s pins.  She wishes.  Crone cannot claim to own the doubles for such uber-svelte limbs, although the current sunshine has tempted her to flash a diffident ankle. Dumping tights for bare flesh is surely one of the year’s most liberating events, but the ‘daring to bare’ bit’s a tough gig. Easing rite of passage this time round is Guerlain’s Jambes de Gazelle. Naturally, the high camp name made Crone cackle with mirth, but the press demonstration - by none other than ‘Tanning King’ James Read was unusually encouraging. Unlike smelly, streaky self tans which stain your ankles an inelegantly Wagtastic orange, here’s a sweetly-scented, realistically-tinted and - joy of joys - predictable product that promises  flattery without the faff. Wash-off tans like these put you in conrol - what you see is what you get and layering up to your individual ideal tone’s a doddle. Consequently, Crone’s normally ghostly limbs are temporarily sprayed a sheer, matt, light amber - the most convincing fake she’s found. How she loves this no-commitment, no-risk, no-Tango tanning. Might even wear a skirt tomorrow…..

• Guerlain Terracotta Cooling Bronzing Mist, £36 available nationwide

Dior’s new scent couture

Crone is loving the way Dior’s deftly managing nostalgia these days.  Last year, the house  showcased sublime vintage fragrances Diorella, Dioressence, Diorissimo and Eau Fraiche alongside new ‘eclusive’ Forever and Ever Dior in the Les Créations de Monsieur Dior collection. Now, in-house perfumer Francois Demachy unveils his five year tribute project, La Collection de Christian Dior at The Maison de Parfums on Selfridges’ ground floor. These days, fashion houses with any scents are keen to flaunt their heritage with ‘collections privés’ set apart from the masses. All ten of Dior’s reflect events in the house’s history and although brand new, pack a powerful old-school evocation. New Look 1947 is a woody tuberose bouquet that begs to be worn with a cinched waist and shoulder pads. The honeyed amber incense of Mitzah evokes Mitzah Bricard, Dior’s feline muse with a fondness for leopard prints. Soft, optimistic Milly-La-Forêt captures the mill house where Dior entertained artist friends, such as Jean Cocteau; while fresh, aromatic Granville echoes his childhood home in Normandy, built on a cliff overlooking the English Channel on one side and pines on the other. Cologne Royale is a gloriously citrus nod to the 18^th century cologne tradition and the elegant European courts that so influenced Dior. Ambre Nuit is a suavely strident amber-rose chypre, while Bois d’Argent is almost weepily soft and powdery with an iris and incense heart. Three masculine scents round up the collection, although anyone who likes their scents with a bit of welly will doubtless want to dabble.  Crone is strangely drawn to Eau Noire, a dark lavender and liquorice beauty that reminds her of a hot night in Provence. Vétiver is a caffeine-laced, leathery brew redolent of smoking rooms in gentlemen’s clubs of the 1930s; and Leather Oud is full of middle-eastern promise. Stuck for choice? The best time to choose a scent is before lunch, Francois Demachy advises. When you’re hungry, your sense of smell is keener.  When you’re full, it’s down the tubes. Sniff first, then succomb to Yo Sushi (just off the Food Hall) is Crone’s best counsel.

Fragrances in La Collection Christian Dior at The Maison de Parfums, Selfridges cost from £120 for 125ml.