Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry leads the campaign for Finishing Touch Flawless, the brand of beauty devices from Church & Dwight, with two commercials, Define and F-Words.
   Both commercials centre around the message of being yourself, embracing who you are, and bringing out the skin’s natural beauty.
   The first commercial promotes Finishing Touch Flawless’s Cleanse facial cleanser and massager; the second its 18 ct gold plated facial hair remover.
   ‘We have always viewed our tribe, the Flawless customer as diverse, savvy, and fearless, as well as independent and adventurous,’ said Hayley Parisi, Finishing Touch Flawless brand manager. ‘We work to bring these women creative solutions to common hair removal, skin, and beauty problems, and have developed high-quality, easy, and painless beauty devices designed to help every girl be her best version of herself. Our new campaign takes this position head-on and Ms Berry personifies the simplicity of real beauty.’
   The campaign will run through 2021. The Flawless line can be found at www.flawlessbeauty.com. US retailers include Ulta Beauty, Bed, Bath and Beyond, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen’s, and Walmart.
   Berry won the Academy Award for best actress for her role in the 2001 film Monster’s Ball. She began her career as a model and was the first runner-up in the Miss USA 1986 pageant.

Halsey has launched a make-up range, About-Face (styled all in lowercase), launching direct to consumers on January 25 at www.aboutface.com, and through Ipsy in a year-long partnership.
   About-Face’s messaging is all about individuality and self-expression, ‘recognizing that there is no one version of us,’ says the company. ‘Inspired by music, fashion and art, About-Face honours inclusivity, acceptance, experimentation and the democratization of beauty for our multiple identities.’
   Grammy-nominated multi-platinum singer–songwriter, artist and author Halsey, whom Lucire’s Elyse Glickman headed to Coachella with in 2017, is a self-taught make-up artist as well, and has done her own for performances, editorials and music videos. As a result, she had built up a deep knowledge of the products, to the point where she would blend and colour-correct to achieve the desired effect. She also understood what high performance entailed in make-up formulations.
   ‘Make-up is an art and art is about happy accidents, not any one ideal of perfection,’ she said. ‘I always feel the most free when I am creating looks without following any rules. The beauty industry has norms, but I want to encourage people to challenge those standards and allow things to be imperfect and fun.’
   There are three lines within About-Face: Light Lock, a face highlighter range; Matte, with high-intensity colours for the face, eyes and lips; and Shadowstick, a range of cream eyeshadow crayons. In total, there are 10 product categories, including beauty tools and limited-edition cosmetic bags. All products are vegan, clean and cruelty-free. Prices range from US$17 to US$32.
   About-Face’s next drop is in February, with a matte lip range called Anti-Valentine’s Day.

Versace Eros eau de parfum hits counters in New Zealand on January 7, priced at NZ$165 for 100 ml.
   A woody, oriental scent, it has head notes of Italian lemon and mandarin, mint oil and candied apple, a heart featuring geranium, sage and Ambermax, and end notes of cedarwood, vetiver, patchouli, sandalwood and vanilla.
   This masculine scent is said to embody excess and power, as envisaged by Donatella Versace. Retailers include Farmers, Life Pharmacy, Smith & Caughey, Ballantyne’s, H. & J. Smith and select David Jones stores.

   Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male Pride sees the well known fragrance in a limited-edition can, on shelves in New Zealand in February, retailing at NZ$158 for the 125 ml eau de toilette at Farmers, Life Pharmacy, Smith & Caughey, Ballantyne’s and H. & J. Smith.
   With the unexpected notes of mint and vanilla, the scent celebrates tolerance and our differences. Both the bottle and can bear a rainbow flag.

   Also débuting in February—on the 7th—is Carolina Herrera’s Good Girl eau de parfum légère, an oriental fragrance with a softer jasmine, namely the jasmine sambac imperial, and tonka. Recommended prices begin at NZ$115 for the 30 ml, rising to NZ$168 for the 50 ml, and NZ$218 for the 80 ml, at Farmers, Life Pharmacy, Smith & Caughey, Ballantyne’s and H. & J. Smith.

Scents that travel
Often profiled in our travel section, including some memorable features from personal visits by our travel editor, Stanley Moss, Aman finds itself in a beauty story as it launches five 50 ml eaux de parfum created by master perfumer Jacques Chabert.
   They follow Aman’s foray into skin care in 2018, and its wellness supplement brand, SVA, in September 2020.
   The new scents are gender-neutral, with each inspired by an Aman destination. Vayu has been inspired by Amanpuri in Thailand, conveying the freshness of summer and crashing waves; Ayom, inspired by Amanjiwa in Indonesia, is what Aman calls a ‘deep, dramatic and complex’ scent with a sense of rarity; Umbr, inspired by Aman Venice, is an opulent, layered scent, with hints of oak, leather and spice; Zuac, inspired by Amanjena in Morocco, is described as ‘warm ochre combined with drifting spice’; and Alta, inspired by the forthcoming Aman New York, is a bold, urban scent. All scents are phthalate-, paraben- and formaldehyde-free.
   The bottles are designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, and crafted in Japan from Paulownia wood, made from a fast-growing tree. The case is reusable.
   The scents are available at the Aman Shop and at the resorts’ boutiques. A further two scents are due in the spring.

For healthy hair

Here’s a brand that’s still a relatively well kept secret outside France: Ella Mae, a hair care brand using only sustainable organic ingredients sourced in Provence. Founded by a brother–sister duo in 2019, Ella Mae addresses common problems such as brittle and thinning hair, slow growth and dry scalp. Karanja oil is used throughout the range, with 100 per cent natural antioxidant protection for hair colour from repeated shampooing and UV rays. All ingredients are paraben- and sulphate-free, and never tested on animals. Most unusual is the use of snail slime, which has some of the best moisturizing compounds in nature, and is beneficial for hair and scalp. Find out more at ellamae.com. Lucire readers can get 30 per cent off with the code LUCIRE30.

Best in the land
The Luxury Lifestyle Awards in New York has announced that Diamond Laser Medispa, in Taupō, New Zealand, has been given the status of the Best Luxury Medical Spas in New Zealand. A beauty spa and skin clinic, it was founded in 2013 by Olivia Blakeney-William, and has competencies in appearance medicine, advanced skin treatments, tattoo removal, IPL, and diode laser hair removal.

English actress Gemma Chan (陳靜) has been announced as L’Oréal Paris’s newest spokeswoman. Already a familiar face to many readers, from an extensive résumé dating back to the mid-2000s—Doctor Who, Sherlock, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and Humans among her TV work—Chan was probably noticed more by US audiences when she appeared in Crazy Rich Asians in 2018, followed by Captain Marvel in 2019. Her role in the anthology series I Am, which she co-developed and where she played Hannah in the third entry (‘I Am Hannah’), was highly acclaimed. In December, Chan will star alongside Meryl Streep in Steven Soderbergh’s Let Them All Talk, and next year, in Eternals, another Marvel entry. She also founded her own production company, with the aim of promoting more minority voices.
   An Oxford University and Drama Centre London alumna, Chan has worked as an advocate for or supporter of numerous causes, including UNICEF, the Time’s Up movement, the Justice and Equality Fund, and Cook-19 supporting London health care workers.
   It is her rising international profile that seems to have L’Oréal Paris interested, especially with Chan venturing into blockbuster hits. Says its global brand president, Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, ‘Gemma Chan is proof of the success that happens when you have the confidence to follow your own dreams, and speak up for others to be able to follow theirs. Committed to her causes with innate female strength, she’s a source of inspiration beyond the screen, for young women to be the change. We’re delighted to welcome Gemma to the family.’
   Chan added, ‘I’ve always believed that we should embrace our difference as our strength. So I’m thrilled to join L’Oréal Paris, a family of empowered women of all origins standing together to show the power and beauty of diversity. The L’Oréal Paris message to every woman, “Believe in your self-worth,” is as needed today as ever.’

There’s often a two-decade rule when it comes to revivals, and Revolution Beauty’s collaboration with Friends still manages to come within that for the US series that ran from 1994 to 2004.
   The sitcom about six white singles in New York had already been transformed once into a range of make-up palettes, lipsticks and eyeshadow shades by Revolution, dedicated to Monica, Rachel and Phoebe, selling out within five hours of going live at Ulta.com. This time round, Revolution is announcing additional products, which should still meet with immense success, since there’s nothing more reassuring during uncertain times than a dose of nostalgia.
   There are lip glosses, eyeshadow palettes that play off Friends in-jokes, a lip scrub, and make-up accessories, all priced below US$25.
   ‘When developing and creating the first Makeup Revolution × Friends collection, we looked at each character individually—evaluating their style, personalities, make-up influence—to build an authentic collection bringing the characters to life,’ said Revolution Beauty founder Adam Minto. ‘Revolution’s goal was to embody the essence of Friends, paying tribute to the ’90s in general and we clearly achieved that goal with consumers as the collection sold out on Ulta.com in record time. As the only beauty brand that has been awarded with the honour to adapt the Friends font and logo into our own logo, we cannot be more excited to drop the second part of the Makeup Revolution × Friends collection and reveal additional branded products.’
   Revolution products are PETA-certified cruelty-free, never tested on animals, and 76 per cent vegan.
   The collection goes on sale today at Ulta beauty stores and Ulta.com, as well as RevolutionBeauty.com.