You owe it to yourself to look good
April '08
By Liz Armstrong
Who is your inner monsieur? Is he a dandy? A jock? A raging bitch? Doesn't matter. Jean Paul Gaultier knows he exists, and to that person he offers Monsieur, his new "aesthetic enhancement" line for men. That would be male cosmetics. Which really is nothing new for Gaultier, who first blurred gender lines in 1984 when he introduced skirts for men, then in 2003 by giving them make-up (that grooming line is replaced by this one). And yet, considering the aversion to minimalism he displays on the runway, his 17-piece collection ($14-$46) is pretty low-key: cleansers, toner, moisturizers and shaving products to prep for those cosmetics, which include concealer, eyeliner (no guyliner jokes, please), brow groomer and lip balm. Oh, and two bronzers and a self-tanner. But of course. Available in May at select specialty and department stores worldwide.
The glory days of huffing noxious fumes—magic markers, paint thinner, fixatives—never included nail polish. Until now, thanks to Berlin's Uslu Airlines, a quirky cosmetics company known for its DIY airbrushing contraption and who commissioned Bernhard Willhelm to develop nail polish colors (expect three more later this year, btw). A collaboration with Colette, Uslu's metallicized screen-blue shellack comes smelling like figgy FRIA, the boutique's best-selling fragrance—which makes it the world's first perfumed nail polish. Maybe now we won't get raised eyebrows when we do a quick mani touch-up in public.
Bad dreams, ingrown toenails, gout, wrinkles. According to Oriental medicine, they all boil down to one thing: imbalanced qi (or "chi," if you wanna get all Western about it). So embrace Erborian, a quasi-traditional Korean skincare line that uses hush-hush herbal tactics, not hardcore chemicals, to fight dermal fatigue. Referring to the skin as a "living envelope," which sounds slightly horrific, though true, Erborian focuses on micro-circulation, infusing super-light moisturizers with tiny grits of herbs that break down and sink in. Ginseng Infusion Total Eye ($39), a lush cream containing mega-doses of the root, promises a more alert ocular area, while Yuza Sorbet ($58) works like a delicate emulsion to get you back into whack, leaving a silken matte barrier against the elements. Which is perfect for warmer weather, when you want to ditch that winter beast of a moisturizer that now leaves your face feeling like a melting slab of flan. Exclusively at Space NK.
A snakebite on the face is one way to freeze creases, but then, well…you die. Enter Brendan Truaxe, founder of cosmeceutical company Euoko, who figured out how to harness the paralyzing effect of venom without the killing aspect. The resulting serum, Y-30 (Euoko products have generic techie names, the better to make them sound like part of a system, which they are) sold out pretty much the second it hit counters earlier this month, despite its $500 price tag. And while stuff like this usually maims plenty of critters in the development process, no Euoko product is ever tested on animals. This is one of the warmest, most exciting companies around—don't let the cool, clinical packaging fool you—even when it comes to scent. You might expect Euoko's marvels of science to have the stench of Mr. Clean, but instead you get a pleasant fragrance blend—R-40, a hyper-nutritious radiance cream concocted from extracts found all over the world, smells like white chocolate. $50 - $710 at Bergdorf Goodman.
Shoptart You might think, given his collaboration with leather-goods house Schott, that Jeremy Scott is going butch. After all, Schott created the biker jackets worn by Marlon Brando and James Dean. But no, that manly legacy is given a swishy twist, like this rococo tea print of treasure trolls in pastoral repose. Also this month: Marni, Stella McCartney, Tom Binns and more.
Message Boards "Madonna starves herself on a raw macrobiotic kosher vegan kaballah diet and works out three hours a day to maintain the physique of a 12-year-old gymnast boy, and then has the cheeks of a 300-pound woman implanted into her face. And her forehead is like a plastic baby's bottom. It's like Nicole Kidman's forehead at the height of her botox addiction, and we all remember how unfortunate that era was."
Hint Shop If Rad Hourani were writing this blurb, it would be over already. That's because, for the soon-to-explode French-Canadian designer, it's all about extreme minimalism. Thus, the concept behind this one-size-fits-all, unisex, sleeveless T-shirt—printed with the dates and times of a calendar—is that it can be worn by anyone, anytime.
