A friend of mine who likes to use foundation in powder form and apply it with a sponge was very pleased with the Nivea Stay Real compact powder foundation.
By EVA BEN-DAVIDnivea compact 88(photo credit: )
A friend of mine who likes to use foundation in powder form and apply it with a sponge was very pleased with the Nivea Stay Real compact powder foundation.
The foundation sits in an elegant blue, round case with a mirror underneath the lid, and it can easily be slipped into your pocket book. At first, my friend didn't realize that you could actually open the bottom half and find a sponge there, so this is a feature that might be overlooked by some consumers. Application was very easy, and her complexion drew positive comments from family members. The Nivea Stay Real Powder is NIS 130.
Jean-Paul Gaultier, the somewhat provocative and sexually ambiguous fashion designer, has appropriately come up with a fragrance that suits both men and women. This unisex perfume, called Gaultier2, will "break down the gender barrier to bridge the sexual divide," and is a sensual mix of vanilla, amber, and musk. For me, this smelled a touch too sweet, and my husband wasn't attracted to it either, but a friend thought the fragrance elegant and sweet, but still subtle. Unfortunately, the scent didn't linger very long, she reported. The bottle has a magnet attached to one side of it, and if you have two of them, they are drawn to each other and "click" together. A 20 ml. size bottle is NIS 251, 40 ml. is NIS 350, and a set of two 40 ml. bottles is NIS 475.
My husband has finally joined the ranks of men who use face cream and don't limit themselves to just splashing on some aftershave every morning. Laline has a few products for men (aftershave, aftershave balm, and facial cream), and the facial cream can be used not only on the face, but on the bald spot on top of a man's head too, if he has one. Fortunately my husband didn't need to try out that application, but found the face cream to be pleasant, although a little too heavy for the morning, and used it only at night. Besides the caring aspect, the Laline products for men supposedly smell sexy, with a scent defined as "musk man," something that will supposedly arouse feelings of "lust." I, frankly, cannot smell much of it after he put it on, so that seems to be another one of Laline's gimmicks. The cream for face and bald spot is NIS 69 for 50 ml.
La Prairie's new luxurious products are face masks with different qualities. The Energizing Mask, meant to give tired skin a boost, smelled and felt deliciously fresh, with extracts of lemon peel oil and orange flower oil, among others. The light-orange cream feels slightly cooling, and not at all heavy. The Deep Cleansing Mask is a thicker, slightly gray-colored mask that absorbs the skin's oiliness, without leaving you feeling dry. The Hydralift Firming Mask gives the skin an extra dose of moisturizers, but turned out to feel greasy after a few minutes. You're supposed to leave the mask on for 5-10 minutes and then wash it off; if necessary, you can use it up to three times a week. The masks all left the skin feeling wonderful, but it's a shame they're so expensive: a 50 ml. jar is NIS 870. La Prairie is available at the April stores, and at select branches of SuperPharm, NewPharm, and HaMashbir Letsarhan.
KissKiss is the very appropriate name of a silky and luxurious lipstick by Guerlain. Besides feeling good, the packaging is very attractive, with a case that looks like three golden cubes stacked one on top of the other. The color I tried, Rose Ent tant, was a nice dark pink, with very subtle sparkles in it. The lipstick goes on smoothly and smells a little fruity. Although the color is supposed to last for about five hours, I found I needed to reapply more often. The price for this luxury, available in 30 different shades, is NIS 151.
Would you ever have dreamt that you could actually take a shower with chocolate soap? For those who are really addicted, your dreams have come true - Cr ma has a new cream wash that smells like chocolate. A friend of mine who loves the Cr ma products with fruity fragrances and who is a big chocolate lover was eager to try the soap. As with other Cr ma products, this soap was found to be very pleasant and creamy. Unfortunately, though chocolate makes you feel happy while supposedly releasing endorphins in your brain, washing with chocolate soap doesn't quite satisfy a chocolate-lover's craving. A 500 ml. bottle of the chocolate fragrance cream wash is NIS 18.
