A huge trend in beauty is to customise your own foundation and fragrances. Photo / Getty Images
A huge trend in beauty is to customise your own foundation and fragrances. Photo / Getty Images
Sick of the one-size-fits-all approach to beauty? The industry has heard you, now offering even greater opportunity to buy made-to-order cosmetics and skin care, whether it's at the beauty counter or online.
In October last year Kiehl's - the American beauty company that famously began life as a family-owned apothecary- launched its Apothecary Preparations, a range of personalised serums designed to treat specific skin concerns like dullness, oversized pores or wrinkles. The finished preparations rely on a combination of two targeted complexes (made from both natural and cosmeceutical ingredients) combined with a moisturising base or carrier.
Even more recent are Bobbi Brown's Remedies ($80 each), a collection of five serums, each aimed at a different skin concern, plus a salve restoring treatment. The idea is to apply a few drops to clean dry skin before moisturiser.
When it comes to makeup, one of the original custom-blended foundations and powders was Prescriptives. Originally based on colour only, the foundation has now been expanded also to include two finish options (golden or rosy glow) and five customised skincare additives, each addressing a problem like lack of firmness or uneven skin tone. It's also now only available online, at prescriptives.com.
Slightly easier to get your hands on are Clinique's Blend It Yourself Pigment Drops ($85). These BIY drops, released last month, are made of concentrated pigment and are added to moisturiser to create customised skin coverage. One drop provides sheer coverage, two medium and three a fuller finish. Essentially, the product turns any moisturiser into a BB/CC cream.
On the fragrance front, Jo Malone London can possibly lay claim to customised scent by encouraging fragrance combining (or wearing two different perfumes at once). But if you are after something a little more bespoke you can always get something made especially for you. There are a few companies in New Zealand that offer bespoke perfumes. One is Auckland-based Fleurs du Mal (fleursdumal.co.nz), where artisan perfumer Vanessa York will mix you a select scent from pure botanical ingredients.
You beauty: Tristram Clayton
NZ Herald Focus presenter
"I've never understood why hotels don't provide toothpaste. There are creams and lotions of every description. There are hair nets and sewing kits. But never toothpaste. So the one thing I always have sitting in my toilet bag (and work bag) is a couple of small tubes of toothpaste. Absolute lifesaver."
