Even though the weather in Canada might not feel like spring, it’s officially here! Today, I’m sharing my thoughts on the Clarins Spring 2017 collection, which includes skincare, makeup and a nifty 4-in-1 makeup pen straight out of your Spacemaker pencil box.
Products featured in this post:
Clarins Spring 2017: Skincare review
It’s currently -9C in Ottawa, and over the past few chilly weeks, I’ve completely fallen in love with the new Hydra-Essentiel line. Every other day, I use the Clarins Hydra-Essentiel Silky Cream for Normal to Combination skin. This cream is incredibly lightweight but very refreshing. It works great overnight after cleansing the face, but is light enough to wear under makeup as well. I take a pea sized amount with a q-tip and spread it over my face and neck, and my skin feels plump and silky smooth. I’ve noticed that I no longer have flaky skin around my nose! This product is scented, however I find the scent to be gentle and very lovely!
About two times a week, I increase the moisture factor with the Clarins Hydra-Essentiel Bi-Phase Serum. I put this on at night under the cream to really quench my dry winter skin. I don’t like to use this everyday, as I find it can be too much. A couple of times a week is perfect for me.
Clarins researchers discovered that our skin reacts to change in moisture and temperatures, which affects our skin’s “sponge molecules.” To remedy this, the brand used the Leaf of Life’s mucilage to mimic our skin’s sponge molecules, which limits water loss and adds a barrier from the elements. The organic Leaf of Life extract (which is also obtained sustainably), encourages skin to retain moisture.
If you have dry, flaky skin, I would definitely recommend testing out the Silky cream. The fragrance is so intoxicating, even my boyfriend loved using it after shaving! We put on some of the serum before skiing and I was surprised I didn’t need to exfoliate the next day!
Clarins Spring 2017: Makeup Collection review
Clarins has a lot of buzzworthy products in their spring makeup line! I’m a big fan of their eyeshadow palettes, and with the trend in warm eyeshadow, it was refreshing to see a cool-toned smokey eye palette from Clarins. The Clarins 4-Colour Eyeshadow Smokey palette features four grey-blue toned shades. You can use all the colours together for an eye look or use certain shades to compliment other products you have.
I combined three of the shades from this palette (all except the darkest deep grey) for this eye makeup look. The palette is very pigmented, and has little-to-no fallout either. These palettes are perfect for travel as they are compact, come with a mirror and have a couple looks in one tiny package. I’m not a big fan of the sponge-tip applicator, but a dual ended makeup brush (I love EcoTools’ dual ended eye brushes) can save space as well… but you’ll never find this girl without her Mac 217 brush!
For skin, I did my daily Pür Minerals powder, and tested out the Clarins Face Contour Palette. This palette contains a blush, highlighter and contour shade, as well as a sculpting brush. I loved the blush in this kit, and applied it with a fluffy blush brush. I tried using the contour shade with the sculpting brush, but found it deposited too much product in a harsh line. The contour product is nice and matte, and I could also use this as a bronzer, however I found it applied better with a stippling brush. The highlighting product did not work for my skin tone. I could almost use it as a setting powder as it matches me perfectly! This palette would be great for someone who cannot wear bold, sparkly makeup but wants to do some subtle contouring. I only wish the brush and highlighter worked for me!
Clarins 4-Colour Pen Review
The Clarins 4-Colour Pen is an innovative product that has received some mixed reviews. I am neutral on this pen, and think that it would be perfect for travel, with three eyeliners and a lip liner in one neat package. I love that the eyeliners are really thin, and are even thinner than other automatic sharpening liners. I didn’t experience any product breaking off during use, but did find the eyeliner dragged on my eyelid a bit.
To complete the eye look, I used the blue liner from the Clarins 4-Colour All-In-One Pen to line my eyes. The colour is very pigmented, and the black is extremely deep! Some people have been able to use the brown eyeliner as a brow pencil, however it’s too dark for my blonde brows.
My favourite product in the 4-Colour Pen is the lip liner. It is the perfect nude pink shade and is so creamy. I struggle with lip liner and rarely use it, however I love how thin this one is! I used it to line my lips and used a GOSH Matt lipstick in Nude (which I reviewed here).
I hope this review of the Clarins Spring 2017 Collection collection was helpful. Until spring comes, I’ll be bathing in Hydra-Essentiel!