Body Bling by Scott Barnes

The fact that Jennifer Lopez ascribes to the gospel of La Mer for her perfectly smooth, radiant skin is fairly common knowledge, although her signature bronzed glow has little to do with the miracle cream. Chalk that up to the self-described “King of Bling” makeup artist Scott Barnes, who has been tending to the singer-turned-actress’ honey-gold complexion since Jenny from the Block became J. Lo. We caught up with Barnes on the set of Lopez’s new flick, The Back-Up Plan (a romantic comedy about a woman who chooses artificial insemination after tiring of the search for Mr. Right—very new millennium), to talk bronzer for summer and beyond.

What’s your advice for steering clear of that unfortunate orange aftereffect that some bronzers can leave behind?

My tip is don’t go too dark. I’ve crossed the line myself but it’s all about knowing when to say I’ve gone too far. People have called me “a man to glow with” because my whole thing is that bronzer should radiate, and to get that result the key is moisture.

So would you recommend cream-based bronzers over powder then?

Liquid bronzers, like my Body Bling, work well to this end, and I just repackaged my cult favorite in a squeeze tube that should be out by the end of the month.

What about application techniques? Is there one right way to apply product for the perfect sun-kissed glow?

In general, I try to abide by a less-is-more mentality: You can always layer more on but it’s harder to take it off. It’s really all in the approach, though. I always see women applying powders and bronzers starting next to their nose. But the trick is to work from the outside of the face inward, rather than the other way around. This creates a halo effect and leaves a diamond shape of light in the center so your face appears a little more open. This will hide double chins and give you a visible bone structure so you don’t wind up looking old. Also, use a bronzing brush to blend allover rather than applying product directly to problem areas like crow’s feet and laugh lines. And don’t forget to do your neck and décolletage.

Do you believe that well-applied bronzer can substitute for an actual tan?

Yes! I’m a firm believer in faking it till you make it. I lost my 30-year-old brother to melanoma so I don’t go into the sun anymore and prefer to make products that simulate a natural tan without the health risks from a day spent in the sun.

You must have a good sun care regimen then. Can you share?

Coppertone Sport is actually my favorite sun protection product and it’s at the drugstore—so it’s cheap! The aerosol spray-on version is great because it actually gives you a gorgeous shine. Plus, you can put it on top of your bronzer and it actually seals it!

What about off-season bronzing? Any tips for keeping your complexion warm in the wintertime?

While terracotta bronzing colors are better in the summer because you’re actually spending time in the sun so their reddish brown hues are believable, golden yellow bronzers are better in wintertime, as they tend to be a better complement to sallow, sun-deprived skin. If you’re fair-skinned, pressed powders designed for ethnic skin are the business for winter, like those in Iman’s cosmetics range. They tend to have a lot of gold in them but because they’re all matte finish, you don’t wind up too sparkly.

Fight aging without surgery

In his recent book, Beyond Botox: 7 Strategies for Sexy, Ageless Skin Without Needles or Surgery, Ben Kaminsky draws upon his experience as a research chemist developing skin-care products -- such as his own line, B.Kamins -- to show women how to take care of their skin and fight the signs of aging. His 7-step program details how to keep your skin looking young from both the inside and outside, including tips on diet (hint: eat veggies, and lots of them), exercise (moderation is key), stress management and choosing the right products for your skin type. We spoke with Kaminsky about his inspiration, his tips on skin-care and his favourite product ingredients.

EC: You say you're inspired to help women have better skin. Where does that come from? What's your inspiration?

Ben Kaminsky: I did it to save my marriage. A number of years ago my wife came to me and complained bitterly that here I was doing all this work for other people and she too had conditions (aging skin). And when she came to me -- it was a number of years ago -- we began to look at the clinical work, the clinical literature. I'm a research chemist, so we tackled things more from a scientific or a medical viewpoint. She was past perimenopause and there are special changes that were occurring on her skin. When we began to look into what we could do, we found that we could treat the symptoms of what we call environmental or extrinsic aging, and that we could do it appropriately and well.

EC: In your book you talk about your seven-step program -- tell me about it.

BK: Essentially they're strategies for skin aging. There's two kinds of skin aging that we've worked on. We've worked on chronological or hereditary aging, which covers roughly 20 percent of total skin aging. So you can zap a wrinkle or another two or three if you've got money to pay for it, but it doesn't solve your problem. It's interesting, as an aside, roughly only 2 or 3 percent of women have really opted to go that way. The majority of North American women, and you're talking about 125 million women, haven't gone that way and they're looking for different steps.

We know today more about the biology and the structure of skin than ever before and as a result you can make multi-functional preparations which are very appropriate for what we call environmental or extrinsic aging. It starts in your late 20s when you begin to see changes in your skin. So your skin dries more, it becomes rougher, you get uneven skin tone, and your pores get a larger. These symptoms represent most of the aging -- about 80 percent of total aging. Consciously or unconsciously we do judge each other by our complexions. Women in North America now live to anywhere from 81 to 84 years. That means that roughly 30 to 35 years after menopause you've got a whole period in there where you still can look good, and need to look good. Our book deals with this and helps you achieve that aim without needles.

EC: Of your seven steps, which do you think is the most important and why?

BK: Super saturate and radiate. Both of these sections explain what happens to your skin, and also give you a heads-up as to which ingredients to look for. The book follows strategies which will allow your skin to be good for a long period of time.

EC: You say moisturizing and avoiding the sun are most important?

BK: Moisturizing is extremely important. Sun avoidance is extremely important.


EC: What about winter skin? This is one thing Canadian women have to deal with, not just the cold air outside but the dry indoor air for heating. What do you recommend for that?

BK: If you don't have a good relative humidity in the air you can use a room humidifier. You can use preparations that are more appropriate during the winter -- Urea is a material which is what we call a natural moisturizing material. You can make preparations with urea, with lactic acid and sodium hyaluronate, which is also something that as you get older your skin doesn't make. These are beautiful preparations. We also use something we developed in our labs called Bio-Maple -- it's a maple isolate -- it draws water from the air into your skin.

EC: So if I'm going to the drugstore and it's winter, and my skin's getting dry because of that, what ingredients should I look for? Urea is one?

BK: Look for urea, look for lactic acid, look for petrolatum. Look for preparations which contain ceramides, preparations which contain cholesterol, and preparations which contain long-chain fatty acids, which resemble our natural skin oil.

EC: One of the things that I found really interesting in your book was how you recommend moderate exercise rather than "going for the burn," as you call it. Can you speak more on that?

BK: We know from studies that the cardiovascular work that you do and your strength-building exercises are beneficial as far as general health is concerned. The problem, of course, is the intenseness on an ongoing basis where you perspire a lot. And usually your perspiration is there to cool your body down, and there are some dissolved salts in this perspiration. What happens is clients complain of irritation because of salts, so there's a question of when you do perspire, afterwards to get that off your body as quickly as possible, that would be the first point. The second point is that there's a question of whether the intenseness of the exercise itself is all that appropriate for all ages. Certainly if you're young and you're capable of doing this then it's a lot easier on your organ system. If you're older than you really have to get advice to make sure that you're not overdoing it. A lot of exercise usually becomes intensive with weight loss or weight gain and that has a dramatic effect on your skin. If you're overweight and you lose the weight and you don't do it in an appropriate way you can end up with extra tissue, which is not the most attractive feature you can show to the world.

EC: And for women who do exercise regularly, what do you recommend for minimizing the negative effect of sweat on the skin before and after exercising?

BK: The most important thing is to be aware that it's there and to get it off your skin as quickly as possible. You're still taking stuff off your skin which probably your skin needs, so you should really try while your skin is still wet to use the appropriate kind of moisturizing material on your skin to help replace some of the stuff or provide a type of barrier function.

Ingredients: Gooseberry

Your Hair’s Favorite Fruit

INDIAN GOOSEBERRY/(In-Dee-Uhn Goos-Ber-Ree)/n./ 1. Also known as Phyllanthus emblica, a fruit found primarily in India and Nepal with a sour and bitter taste; /n./ 2. The most concentrated source of vitamin C in the plant kingdom, containing nearly 20 times more than that of an orange; /n./ 3. The fruit and its oil are powerful antioxidants that have been used in traditional hair formulations for thousands of years to nourish, moisturize, strengthen the follicle, promote growth, and prevent premature graying, e.g., “Your hair will like Indian gooseberries more than your belly.”


Try it: Neil George Indian Gooseberry Treatment Oil, $42, www.amazon.com.

tags: Indian Gooseberry, Neil George

With Génifique, Lancôme is changing the face of beauty, one precious drop at a time.

Lancôme is out to change the world of skin care with Génifique Youth Activator. The most modern science has gone into its development, with 10 years of research in genomics (the study of genes) and proteomics (the study of proteins), an even newer kid on the biotech block. Working with Quebec City’s Centre hospitalier de l’Université Laval (CHUL) Research Centre, which is internationally recognized in the field of medical research, Lancôme scientists have identified the proteins responsible for the appearance of youthful skin and found a way to activate the genes that contain the code for these proteins to create Génifique Youth Activator.

“It means genes, science and magic,” says Odile Roujol, president of Lancôme International, at the launch of the product in Paris. But beyond the rapture of her remark lies an understanding that consumers approach beauty in a very pragmatic way. “For the customer, the question is ‘What does it do for [my] skin?’” says Roujol.

“What you’ll see in the mirror is radiance, luminosity and even skin tone,” says Véronique Delvigne, director of scientific affairs for Lancôme. “Over time, you’ll also observe a transformation in suppleness.”

Designed to stimulate specific proteins that affect cells in the outermost layers of the epidermis, Génifique Youth Activator works quickly when used twice a day, morning and night. “In seven days, you’ll start to see changes,” says Delvigne. She also points out that, though it may be used in conjunction with other anti-aging products, the very light formulation of the liquid gel concentrate means that it works more efficiently when it’s applied first.

Because Génifique adapts to your particular needs, it can be used on women of all ages and skin types. “It’s a star product,” says Roujol, who compares it to other Lancôme breakthroughs like Niosôme, which was a pioneer in liposome technology when it was first introduced in 1985.

Besides technology, Génifique has the beauty and brains of Roujol herself behind it. As the president of Lancôme since 2006, and the first woman to occupy that position, she enjoys “speaking about seduction in a feminine way.” That’s why Génifique is called Youth Activator: She hates the combative ring of the phrase “anti-age.”

“We need positive thinking to give more elegance and femininity to the skin-care market,” declares the 41-year-old Roujol, who is wearing a beige Marni skirt, a black Yves Saint Laurent jacket and platform shoes. She maintains her positivity, even in the face of the economic climate that Génifique arrives in. “I would say that a crisis is a crisis,” she admits, quick to cite the motivational speaker’s understanding of the word, which interprets it as both risk and opportunity. “It helps us return to the brand’s roots — a product that is serious but creative,” she says.

Génifique fits the bill on both counts: It’s 21st-century science contained in an elegantly shaped bottle in gradient shades of Lancôme grey.

Estée Lauder Goes Cheap And Chic

We’re sure widespread cheer and an overwhelming desire to give and receive are enough to keep you looking forward to the holidays year after year, but here’s another reason to get psyched for the season. According to an article in Cosmetics Design, Estée Lauder has joined L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble in unveiling a new strategy for targeting cash-strapped beauty consumers with, get this, cheaper products. Executives from the company are reportedly planning to devote more resources to developing affordable products in an effort to hold on to the cross section of its loyal customer base hit hard by the recession. Its luxury fragrances, cosmetics, and skincare will, of course, still be available to those who want to buy aspirationally, and for those whose eyes are bigger than their wallets, smaller fragrance flacons of their bestsellers are in production so you can live out those olfactory dreams and pay your rent—all at the same time.

The Most Disgusting and Heinous Beauty Treatments

Bird droppings, placenta, snail slime … it’s not a page from Papa Smurf’s spell-casting playbook, but a list of what could be, should be or is part of your beauty regimen. Plenty of companies synthesize substances—snake venom, human sperm—to put in products, but these six grody ingredients are the real yucky deal.

Bird Poop
A favorite of Victoria Beckham’s, a Shizuka NY Geisha Facial involves slathering your face in bird poop for fifty minutes at $180 a pop. Uguisu no fun (“no fun”… for reals)—sterilized nightingale droppings—are said to “brighten and soften the complexion with their natural enzymes.”

Placenta
And we thought the last time we’d be coated in placenta was when making our planetary debut… J. Lo, Eva Longoria and Simon Cowell keep their skin looking as smooth as a baby’s bottom by slathering on masks and creams containing placenta, with proteins said to moisturize and accelerate skin regeneration. Some companies use animal placenta, but most use placentas donated from women after giving birth. Ew.

Snail Slime
Like the starfish of crustaceans, Chilean snails make a protein that can repair injuries in their shells. The goo contains collagen, elastin, glycolic acid and peptides, and the two products (De Tuinen Snail Gel and Elicina) claim it can help with fine lines acne, rosacea, stretch marks, scars, and hyperpigmentation. Aimee Adams, a celeb make-up artist with clients that have included Madonna, Sienna Miller, and Rachel Weisz, swears by it.

Ramen Noodles
Not just for broke-ass college students anymore. At Japanese spa-themed park Yunessun you can take a dip in a pool of ramen. Spa staff says the pepper collagen in the broth improves metabolism as it cleans the skin. To meet sanitation requirements, the spa uses noodle-shaped floaties rather than the eggy, floury goodness, but the pork broth comes from a neighborhood noodle shop. Other baths have included sake, coffee, curry and wine.

Beetles
Lipstick, eyeshadow, blush, body lotions … lots (and lots) of cosmetic products on the market contain carmine pigment: crushed shells, wings, and eggs of the Cochineal Beetle. People have been using it for centuries because it gives products (and your lips and cheeks) a nice, rosy tinge. If this freaks you out, best to avoid all kinds of ingredient lists; it’s in your food, too.

Bull Sperm
One four-legged mammalian money shot can give you lovelier locks. At Hari’s Hair Salon in London, (purified) sperm of organically raised Angus bulls is massaged into the scalp and heated for twenty minutes. The high-protein treatment makes hair shiny and bouncy because it, er, penetrates better than other conditioners.

Your neck and décolletage

Don't hide behind turtlenecks; we've got the latest and greatest products for neck and décolletage

Neck wear

I recently overheard a conversation between two women on the subway, during which they talked animatedly about poultry. They weren’t referring to a new recipe or restaurant; they were discussing clothing options that would hide their sagging “chicken necks.”

This got me thinking not only about buying a new turtleneck, but about how much we all neglect this delicate area of our bodies. I can’t even remember the last time I slathered my favourite face cream onto my neck or gave my décolletage any special attention, yet the neck and chest are prime sites for the telltale signs of aging in women.

“It’s an area of the body that suffers tremendously from sun exposure,” says Fred Weksberg, a cosmetic dermatologist in Toronto. “Red and brown spots appear, you lose elasticity, the skin starts to sag and hang. That’s where the chicken neck comes in.”

It’s not all gloom and gizzards, though. You can make a major difference in the texture and appearance of your skin at the doctor’s office. Weksberg recommends the use of a Fraxel laser, which resurfaces the skin, stimulates collagen growth, lightens brown spots and smooths wrinkles. But here’s the catch: You’ll need about five or six treatments one month apart to achieve optimal results, and it’s not cheap — fees start at about $500 (neck) and $800 (chest) per treatment.

There are also things you can do at home to make improvements. Start by taking your skincare regimen down a notch — that is, below your chin — by cleansing and moisturizing your neck and chest as often as your face.

Weksberg recommends regular use of antioxidant creams to improve the health and appearance of the skin, as well as a prescription vitamin A acid product to boost collagen, and stresses the importance of wearing a broad spectrum sunscreen at all times. Here are some products to try.

From left to right:

Mama Mio Skincare for Supermamas Boob Tube ($42) is a leave-on moisturizing mask that uses antioxidants CoQ10 and vitamin E to help skin replenish itself.

Tone and nourish the fragile skin of the décolleté area with Clarins Bust Beauty Firming Lotion ($60), which contains an exclusive Amazonian bocoa extract and pomegranate formula.

The vitamin C in Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Serum for Neck and Décolletage ($75) helps to lighten dark spots and target skin dullness.

Decléor Paris Perfect Sculpt Bust Beautifying Toning Gel ($62) uses a cocktail of eight essential oils to promote firm, healthy skin.

Lancôme Rénergie Microlift Neck R.A.R.E. ($95) promises to help increase skin firmness with a lifting complex of soya and silica proteins.

Apply Garnier Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Roller ($23) with an upward motion to best deliver skin-boosting omega-3 and -6 and beech tree extracts.

Lightweight Mèreadesso Woman Face + Neck Cleanser ($45) acts as a multi-tasking makeup remover, mask, scrub and toner.