Elena Stafieva, journalist
FOR THE FACE "HEAD" we study the contents of beauty cases, dressing tables and cosmetic bags of girls of interest to us - and show all this to you.
About care
High-tech - the second thing after the organic, which captivates me in cosmetics. I love advanced, high-tech brands that use a variety of compounds: peptides and proteins, enzymes, hyaluronic acid and collagen.
My hair is very curly, and if I do not tame it, I become like I don’t even know what. They need to be structured somehow, I don’t like the means applied to the hair, and my hair doesn’t tolerate a hair dryer at all. I tried an incredible amount of marks and as a result I use, in particular, cream and oil K pour Karité, which can be dripped into any product from shampoo to mask.
I had a moment of enthusiasm Natura Siberica. Not that I'm a patriot, but when something human appears under Russian brands, it always pleases. Natura Siberica uses local ingredients: cedar oil, some mysterious Siberian herbs, cranberries and cloudberries. It seems to me that the brand has the right concept to sell what is organically inherent in the Russian flora. But their quality is uneven and varies greatly from product to product.
About decorative cosmetics
In general, I mainly use lipstick. Now, for example, I have a crush on the reds that I haven’t used since my early youth, when I painted everything I could on myself. In this sense, Chanel is simply a furious choice: the brand has these red shades so much that it hasn’t been tried in a lifetime.
I almost tied up with tonal means and use BB creams (I buy exactly “native”, Asian). I have a rather capricious skin, with some kind of trouble. BB, it seems to me, are perfect: they make it so that when you look at a reflection at random, you think: "And what is this today that I have such a good complexion?" At the same time, they are completely invisible. In addition, they have a rather good SPF, which makes it possible not to use sunscreen: I have rather oily skin, so if I even smear the serum, and then sunscreen and tonal, it will be impossible to walk with it.
About varnishes
Kiko is MAC for the poor. I discovered this brand in Milan, where it is at every turn. Recently, I have an easy fixation on varnishes (like everyone else, in fact, now), one might say, got into this world trend. But Kiko allows you to relax and enjoy life. In addition to varnishes, they also make other cosmetics, and quite progressively, not like some kind of Pupa. Lipstick they cost five euros, all seasonal collections are more expensive, but according to the concept it’s really MAC for the poor, and I like it.
Zoya is my second favorite varnish brand, but it requires an integrated approach. Like many American brands, they do not use formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates and camphor, so when you apply Zoya varnish on the basis of another brand, it can quickly fly off. But if Zoya is applied on their base and coated with Zoya fixing agent on top, the lacquer sits for at least five days. I don't need anything more from varnish. On the photo is a brilliant collection of Zoya PixieDust. When she appeared in the winter, I bought one lacquer and every time I needed for some kind of event, I painted PixieDust's nails. And there was not a single case where I would not be asked what kind of amazing nail polish it was. In general, if you want to attract attention to yourself, this is the perfect way.
About aromas
Here is a tiny part of my perfume collection. I have been collecting aromas for a long time (I buy mostly on eBay), and I have quite a lot of vintage ones, here are just the majority of them.
Generally perfume vintage varies. It happens Guerlain of the 20s, which can be perfectly preserved (Guerlain is generally very well kept, unlike, for example, from Chanel). But to use every day the aroma, which is 80 or 100 years old, is quite strange. There are also so-called "golden jewels", which were sold in the 80s and early 90s in Moscow. This is the whole line of classic flavors: L'Heure Bleue, Shalimar, Nahema, Chamade, Chant d'Aromes, Mitsouko, Apres l'Ondee, Parure and Vol de Nuit - here they are all the best in the vintage of the 80s-90s. We all know about IFRA and about its bans, about a huge list of ingredients that are not currently used. Not very old vintage flavors of those times, when there was still no such system of prohibitions and when natural ingredients were not replaced by synthetic ones, of course, differ from modern ones. There is a modern "Mitsuku" and a vintage one, which is 30 years old, and not even a perfumery can clearly see the difference between them.
My last favorite, which I discovered at Pitti Fragranze, is Fueguia 1833 - a brand that is made in Argentina, not a perfume country at all. Julian Bedel, the founder of the brand, has a radically different approach to perfumery than people who grew up and developed in traditional perfumery cultures - Italian and especially French. He is a master of "wooden" aromas, his second main passion is white flowers: jasmine, magnolia, tuberose. It makes very light, simple-looking flavors, but simple in the conceptual sense of the word. Among other things, he does everything himself, even with his own hands with soy ink on the label displays the name. I think it's terribly touching.