Brand new, but anticipated for months, Chantecaille's Poudre de Perle ($55) is everything I expected - and more. Before I tell you about it, I want to share an anecdote.I introduced a friend at my office to Chantecaille. I had invited her to Alex Chantecaille's event at Neiman Marcus - the time Chantecaille offered a lovely drawing for Best Things in Beauty readers. Since then, she has been using Chantecaille skin care and makeup, and she looks fabulous. She tells me often that her husband, friends, and colleagues have commented on how good she's been looking lately. The only thing she changed? You guessed it! She is now a Chantecaille devotee.
Poudre de Perle builds on the unparalleled success of Protection Naturelle, Chantecaille's excellent powder that delivers full-spectrum UVA/UVB protection. Poudre de Perle's innovative blush formula is contained with its own brush and delivers the perfect amount of color. It's available in one shade, Biwa, a pearly warm pink shade with golden peach highlights. It's perfect for most skin tones and skin types. Not only is the blush convenient to apply, it's refillable. I like the re-use concept. Less waste will help us be better stewards of our planet.
Olivia Chantecaille modeled Poudre de Perle in Chantecaille's Summer in St. Barth's look. It doesn't get any prettier! For the photo, it was applied to her cheeks, starting at the inner edge of the cheek bones and softly blended out toward the temples.
Here are a couple of photos of the product. The brush has a protective plastic sleeve that slides up and down. In the photo at right, the sleeve is down. I think this photo, taken in outdoor morning sunlight represents the shade in the tube pretty well. The photo at left is a close-up of the powder blush.
It was a challenge for me to get half-decent swatch photos of Biwa on my skin. It's beautifully sheer. I finally applied moisturizer and a light coat of foundation to my arm to get the photos here. My swatch photos were taken in late morning sunlight, and I applied Poudre de Perle with its own brush.
This blush makes my heart race - in a good way! I hope you can see that it's warm pink and has a shimmer that will make you look glowing (this is "adult makeup," made for women, not teenagers hoping to drive their mothers over the edge). There is some extra shimmer on my arm from the sunlight.
You can find Poudre de Perle at Chantecaille's Web site. It should be at your favorite Chantecaille counter in a few days, if it's not already on display. For information about Chantecaille online specials and Neiman Marcus events, please scroll down to my other Chantecaille features.
Photo at top courtesy of Chantecaille; other photos by Best Things in Beauty