It’s New. In October. At MECCA
September 29 | 5 minute read
Words by Christie Sinclair
You know that fizzy, out-of-body kind of joy you get when you’re caught in a moment with a group of people? Well, I recently discovered there’s actually a word for it: ‘collective effervescence’.
You might have felt it at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour or cheering with thousands of fans at a grand final. It’s that tingly rush you feel when you experience anything amazing in a large group – but it’s also exactly the energy this month’s new beauty drop is giving me. And with spring in full bloom here in Melbourne, it’s the perfect backdrop for all that collective, sparkly euphoria to spill over into your beauty bag.
Makeup To Move You
When I think about new makeup, I’m giddy with excitement at the prospect of adding more colour and life into my everyday look. Let’s start in the lip department with my favourite French-girl beauty brand VIOLETTE_FR, who have gifted us the Plume Lip – the kind of liquid lipstick you can slick on for a three-hour lunch and still have on when the bill arrives. Violette calls it a ‘feather matte’ which translates to a soft, blurred finish that almost looks like a stain. I’m liking it with the new-look (same A+ formula) Morphe Signature Lip Pencil in shade ‘Bubble Bath’ personally. Honestly, you can't go wrong with this creamy liner, especially at $14.
For your warmer weather beauty kit, we have Stila Stay All Day® Inkwear™ Liquid Eye Liner, which you can wear to the beach or a pool party – and even reapply your SPF – without any anxiety of it running down your face. Clinique has an exciting launch too: the Set The Day Setting Spray delivers hydrating aloe water in an astonishingly fine mist that keeps your makeup where you want it. And finally, sensitive skin-friendly brand Tower 28 is looking out for those of us with cracked eyelids with their new shimmery eyeshadow sticks. The water-based formula has a unique cooling effect, and the glittery shades remind me of sequins for your eyelids. These sticks hit that sweet spot between fun and frivolous, without flaring up your contact dermatitis.
For your warmer weather beauty kit, we have Stila Stay All Day® Inkwear™ Liquid Eye Liner, which you can wear to the beach or a pool party – and even reapply your SPF – without any anxiety of it running down your face. Clinique has an exciting launch too: the Set The Day Setting Spray delivers hydrating aloe water in an astonishingly fine mist that keeps your makeup where you want it. And finally, sensitive skin-friendly brand Tower 28 is looking out for those of us with cracked eyelids with their new shimmery eyeshadow sticks. The water-based formula has a unique cooling effect, and the glittery shades remind me of sequins for your eyelids. These sticks hit that sweet spot between fun and frivolous, without flaring up your contact dermatitis.
All Over It
While it feels almost criminally banal to mention the weather, I can’t help it; the promise of sunshine and longer days is too delicious to keep to myself. Since hems are getting higher and we’re soon to be stripping off more often, a solid body care routine is calling.
As a professional fake tanner (20 years' experience will do that), I’m most excited about Dr. Dennis Gross’ re-launch of the Alpha Beta® Glow Pad™ Self-Tanner – FOR YOUR BODY! The skin below my neck deserves to look like it’s been basking in the Amalfi sun, even if it’s been wrapped in a puffer jacket for the last five months. I love that it’s like a full-body facial and self-tan in one, exfoliating and smoothing like his cult-loved peel pads while leaving behind a believable bronze glow. Thanks to the ingredient capislow (a botanical extract), it even helps slow hair growth and texture, so no more shaving off all that hard self-tanning work.
Let’s just backtrack for a second, because it has occurred to me that it’s as though our new body care arrivals were curated specifically for us fake tanners in mind. And if that’s not your thing, I’m convinced you’ll still enjoy using these in isolation. First, a magnesium-charged scrub from our friends at Frank Body, who pretty much wrote the book on skin buffing. It sloughs off dry patches while helping you relax at the same time (as if rubbing dead skin off your body wasn’t already meditative enough!). And since Dr. Gross insists on diligent moisturising to keep your tan even, may I suggest the new Soap & Glory Vanilla-Licious Body Butter – a very rich but somehow light formula of shea butter, cocoa butter and coconut oil, scented like a bakery treat.
As a professional fake tanner (20 years' experience will do that), I’m most excited about Dr. Dennis Gross’ re-launch of the Alpha Beta® Glow Pad™ Self-Tanner – FOR YOUR BODY! The skin below my neck deserves to look like it’s been basking in the Amalfi sun, even if it’s been wrapped in a puffer jacket for the last five months. I love that it’s like a full-body facial and self-tan in one, exfoliating and smoothing like his cult-loved peel pads while leaving behind a believable bronze glow. Thanks to the ingredient capislow (a botanical extract), it even helps slow hair growth and texture, so no more shaving off all that hard self-tanning work.
Let’s just backtrack for a second, because it has occurred to me that it’s as though our new body care arrivals were curated specifically for us fake tanners in mind. And if that’s not your thing, I’m convinced you’ll still enjoy using these in isolation. First, a magnesium-charged scrub from our friends at Frank Body, who pretty much wrote the book on skin buffing. It sloughs off dry patches while helping you relax at the same time (as if rubbing dead skin off your body wasn’t already meditative enough!). And since Dr. Gross insists on diligent moisturising to keep your tan even, may I suggest the new Soap & Glory Vanilla-Licious Body Butter – a very rich but somehow light formula of shea butter, cocoa butter and coconut oil, scented like a bakery treat.
Heads Will Turn
Most notably in hair, Briogeo’s Style + Treat™ Supreme Shine Styling Oil has been created specifically for curly and textured hair in mind. It offers glossy shine and moisture along with heat protection and a zingy citrus scent that could double as your perfume for the day. It’s great for slick backs, too.
I’m feeling wildly smug about my hairline thanks to the Nécessaire Rosemary Serum. The combination rosemary leaf oil, caffeine and peptides work together to help reduce shedding and support growth at the root, but this one is also beautifully light and disappears on contact with the scalp after you massage it in – a hallmark of a good growth serum.
I’m feeling wildly smug about my hairline thanks to the Nécessaire Rosemary Serum. The combination rosemary leaf oil, caffeine and peptides work together to help reduce shedding and support growth at the root, but this one is also beautifully light and disappears on contact with the scalp after you massage it in – a hallmark of a good growth serum.
Complexion Joy
Lately, skincare feels less like a routine and more like an act of rebellion, and our new beauty drops are certainly rewriting the rules.
Take REOME’s new launch, for example: a breakthrough in skincare that encourages us to skip the 10-step rigmarole in favour of just one incredibly potent moisturiser. Based on the science of longevity, the Biogenic Melting Cream combines Telessence M³ to help preserve cell life, Bio-Rosea Stem Cell to selectively clear senescent ‘zombie’ cells (in other words, damaged cells that refuse to die), multi-weight hyaluronic acid and polyglutamic acid for deep hydration, and micro-prebiotics, hyper-fermented aloe and Bio-Chelate CF5 to calm inflammation and prolong vitality in skin. The skincare team at MECCA have been looking suspiciously luminous of late, and it turns out this is the culprit.
VERSO has a new one-step wonder to make life (and hydration) infinitely easier and quicker. The Hydro Soothing Face Mask is infused with Centella asiatica to revive sapped skin in the space of half an episode of TSITP. Merging makeup, skincare and SPF into one slick stick, Naked Sundays Glitter Shimmer Stick delivers the trifecta in a few swipes, saving space in your beach bag for other important things – like the new Go-To launch, their bestselling Nifty Fifty SPF50+ for your lips!
Take REOME’s new launch, for example: a breakthrough in skincare that encourages us to skip the 10-step rigmarole in favour of just one incredibly potent moisturiser. Based on the science of longevity, the Biogenic Melting Cream combines Telessence M³ to help preserve cell life, Bio-Rosea Stem Cell to selectively clear senescent ‘zombie’ cells (in other words, damaged cells that refuse to die), multi-weight hyaluronic acid and polyglutamic acid for deep hydration, and micro-prebiotics, hyper-fermented aloe and Bio-Chelate CF5 to calm inflammation and prolong vitality in skin. The skincare team at MECCA have been looking suspiciously luminous of late, and it turns out this is the culprit.
VERSO has a new one-step wonder to make life (and hydration) infinitely easier and quicker. The Hydro Soothing Face Mask is infused with Centella asiatica to revive sapped skin in the space of half an episode of TSITP. Merging makeup, skincare and SPF into one slick stick, Naked Sundays Glitter Shimmer Stick delivers the trifecta in a few swipes, saving space in your beach bag for other important things – like the new Go-To launch, their bestselling Nifty Fifty SPF50+ for your lips!
Eau What Fun
If, in summer, you like to smell like summer (and by that, I mean baskets of fruit, SPF, coconut, white florals and freedom), do I have the scents for you! Hailing from upstate New York, The Maker’s new Revel EDP hits you with juicy lychee, pineapple, grapefruit and frangipani petals, like you’re walking past a roadside fruit stand. When you give it time to mellow on the skin, it softens to a salty musk. Heavenly! And Comme des Garçon’s ERL Sunscreen EDT is just pure beach nostalgia to me. Coconut sunscreen, vanilla ice-cream and a very faint (and very pleasant) whiff of vinyl pool toys and chlorine. I implore you to head to the MECCA Bourke Street Perfumeria for a sniff.
Now, if you prefer your scents with a little sugar on top, BORNTOSTANDOUT has a sugary, boozy fragrance enhancer you can mist on first; it cuts through punchy citrus notes and florals to make them a touch creamier and more skin-hugging.
And for the final new ’fume, let's start with some stats: 82 percent of people said this scent made them feel more confident, and 89 percent said it “unleashed the life force” in them. I’ll admit, I don’t totally know what that means – but if I had to translate, it’s Charlotte Tilbury’s way of saying it makes you feel pretty damn good, darlings! In other words, her new Star Confidence EDP will fast track you to a better mood with its notes of blackcurrant, pure jasmine sambac and patchouli.
Now, if you prefer your scents with a little sugar on top, BORNTOSTANDOUT has a sugary, boozy fragrance enhancer you can mist on first; it cuts through punchy citrus notes and florals to make them a touch creamier and more skin-hugging.
And for the final new ’fume, let's start with some stats: 82 percent of people said this scent made them feel more confident, and 89 percent said it “unleashed the life force” in them. I’ll admit, I don’t totally know what that means – but if I had to translate, it’s Charlotte Tilbury’s way of saying it makes you feel pretty damn good, darlings! In other words, her new Star Confidence EDP will fast track you to a better mood with its notes of blackcurrant, pure jasmine sambac and patchouli.
