With the selfie age comes newfound wisdom. Most of us are all too aware of our best angle and instinctively extend the neck forward to eliminate a double chin and sharpen the jawline for a photo before they’re pinged across social media.
But just imagine how much of a godsend it would be if there was no such thing as a bad angle and you didn’t have to hastily arrange yourself in the most flattering light when someone’s pointing a lens at you?
Estée Lauder has been working on exactly this. The New Dimension transformative skin care collection is the biggest scientific advancement to come from the Lauder laboratories in many years. Until now scientists have looked at structure and volume separately and focused mainly on the skin’s structure. But losing volume in areas like the cheeks gives a two-dimensional look, so treating both is critical in the pursuit of a beautiful facial shape.
Having facial structure and volume in the right places as demonstrated by the actress Eva Mendes, the 41-year-old patron saint of great angles and the face of New Dimension, is also a mind shift. It’s no longer about how young your skin can look but how good you can look.
The New Dimension collection comprises two skincare products and two makeup palettes. New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Serum, $172 for 30ml, and Shape + Fill Expert Liquid Tape, $124, may be skincare products but they have real transformative powers more often associated with makeup.
The serum is the shining star. Here’s what it’ll do: lift the look of cheeks and jawline; redefine contours, help with natural fullness, plumpness and volume – always the sign of a young, healthy skin; strengthen skin and create instant radiance for all skin types.
Working on three levels, the serum plumps and adds volume with hyaluronic acid (the same naturally occurring ingredient that injectable dermal fillers utilise), lipids and fillagrin; then structure with a pro-collagen complex and, lastly; facial definition with elastin and fibronectin protein boosters.
Of those trialling the serum, 85 per cent said skin felt plump and defined after three days and 84 per cent saw more defined-looked facial contours after two weeks. Then, at 10 weeks the women involved in the clinical trial were connected to neurosience equipment, which measures changes in heart rate, facial movements and eye tracing to gauge emotional response and get a thoroughly unbiased understanding of what they really think. And 91 per cent experienced a positive change in attitude after using the serum – physiologically and psychologically.
As for the Liquid Tape, actress and femme fatale Marlene Dietrich would likely have killed for it. She was an early adopter of the use of surgical tape to physically lift the face in the 1940s, which was subsequently used by many in Hollywood. It was clumsy, visible tape, which had to be disguised under hair.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.Unlike New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Liquid Tape, which is an ingenious mini-lift in a tube that uses invisible fast-acting polymers to instantly tighten. It’s most effective used on the skin around the eyes, the upper cheekbones towards the temples and from the corner of the mouth to up under the cheekbones.
Once the skin appears lifted and firmed, the two makeup kits complete the facial sculpting. We may have the Kardashians to thank for showing us the power of contouring, but New Dimension Shape + Sculpt Face Kit, $92, lets those with less makeup skills or access to makeup artists sculpt some killer cheekbones, a defined nose and chiselled jaw. The palette contains two buildable neutral coloured cremes, one a contour shade to sculpt and the other a highlight to accent and brighten.
New Dimensions Shape + Sculpt Eye Kit, $81, completes the collection. The kit contains a smoothing base, highlighter and contour. With the focus on natural-looking makeup right now, this palette is a contouring trio perfect for giving depth and dimension to eyes making them bigger, brighter and more defined without looking made up. It’s subterfuge in a palette.
The Estee Lauder New Dimension collection really is one of the most exciting innovations since the advent of the Instagram filter for women of all ages who want to be ready for their close-up at all times with the best facial contours possible.
