Red hot Valentine’s Day beauty

Date January 24, 2011

Love Guide Beauty — Photography by Sabrina Rossi.

By Rebecca Perrin
We’re helping you swap red hands for red cheeks with our top picks for the hottest beauty products around.

ALL OVER BEAUTY

Bobbi Brown, the queen of enhancing natural beauty, designed her Pretty Powerful Face Palette ($75 at Holt Renfrew and Murale) to flatter all and celebrate “what’s real” in every woman. Chaka Khan!

EYELASHES

Any girl who has left a date feeling victorious knows she partly has her lashes to thank. A coy bat here, a playful wink there; there’s no limit to the ways you can amp up your lash game. Go wide, go long, or score with an eye-enhancing colour such as blue or plum.

Deviate from the standard black and brown and give your eyes a boost with Sisley’s Ultra Strech Phyto Mascara ($70 at Holt Renfrew) in Navy. It’s your first-class ticket to eyes like an ocean.

Backed by a large wand and a triple-fiber formula, Estee Lauder’s Sumptuous Extreme Mascara ($29 at department stores) promises to plump each lash and deliver falsie-like appeal.

A set of false lashes helps flirting aficionados go the extra distance. Kiss Premium Lashes have application strings to ease the positioning process and stay on all night long. ($5 at Wal Mart)

CHEEKS

Charles Darwin described blushing as “the most peculiar and most human of all expressions”, but we mostly think of it as an easy way to appear pretty and cheerful.

If PDA is simply not appropriate, apply Urban Decay’s Afterglow Glide-On Cheek Tint ($29 at Sephora) in “Crush” to express your desire for love and affection.

Blushing is associated with being in love, but sometimes a relationship with blush is much easier. Givenchy’s Jelly Blush ($36 at Sephora) is subtle, sheer and small enough to toss in your bag whenever you feel like up-and-leaving.

All the single ladies, all the single ladies: Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Blush ($16 at drug stores) will brighten up your face. Even more though, it was formulated with mood-enhancing botanicals to help you feel happy on the inside, even if your date doesn’t go as planned.

LIPS

Finding lipstick on a man’s collar is an old-fashioned sign of infidelity, but finding lipstick on your own collar is nothing short of a modern-day nightmare. New stay-put formulas mean you can make out all night long and still stumble into work wearing yesterday’s blouse.

When Steven Tyler sang that “pink is the love you discover”, we’d like to think he was talking about the love we have for M.A.C’s Kissable Lipcolour in “Vanity Fair”, a cool light pink. ($22 at M.A.C)

A whirlwind romance requires a longwear gloss like Maybelline’s new SuperStay 24 ($10 at drug stores). Its claim of staying still for a full 24 hours is backed by five years of research so you can go from dinner to a movie, to cocktails, to dancing, to pillow talk, to brunch…

To say that the look of red lipstick fading to liner as the wearer sips away at a martini is unattractive is an understatement. Avoid a receding lip colour with Sephora’s crème lip stain ($14 at Sephora), then go ahead and order a second.

NAILS

Remember when Cher of Clueless explained over a box of chocolates that drawing attention to your mouth is the number-one way to gain attention from the opposite sex? Well, she forgot to mention the importance of the fingers holding the chocolate. Success is in the details.

If you’re nervous about texting your crush, build confidence by painting your nails in OPI’s ($11 at salons and spas) “Too Hot Pink To Hold ‘Em”, and let your fingers do the talking.

Pop a few pieces of Juicy Fruit in your mouth then twirl it around a finger painted with Revlon’s Scented Nail Enamel ($7 at drug stores) in “Bubble Gum”. It’s a new-age olfactory trick for the old-fashioned at heart.

Joe Fresh’s sweet-as-pie nail polish ($4 at Joe Fresh) in “Pink” is more for the Pretty Young Things, and less for the Dirty Dianas, though the latter may try this shade to disguise their sinful ways.

FRAGRANCE

If you’re not likely to receive a red rose this Valentine’s, so what? Give yourself a bouquet of the pink variety with Issey Miyake’s L’eau D’Issey Florale ($89 at The Bay). Its notes reflect the scent of a dewdrop on a budding rose, and the innocence of a young heart.

Puppy love is fun but reaching a certain age of sophistication is when you truly experience its strength. Chloe’s latest fragrance, Love, Chloe ($90 at department stores) celebrates an independent, confident woman who can get intimate on a deeper level. Yes, we just wrote that.

Like the moves of an Italian lover, Princepessa’s Piccola Perfume in “Belloccia” ($35 at Murale and principessabeauty.com) starts sweetly with peach, gets a little deeper with night blooming jasmine, and finishes strong with warm amber and sandalwood.

DIPTYQUE

Wondering if it’s sweet or sultry that will hook the guy? Go in for the kill with a Molotov cocktail of both. Diptyque has the passion potion with Eroseros ($94 at Holt Renfrew), a duo of candles with opposite notes that burn in unison to create the perfect storm while you make your move.