Preview: Giorgio Armani Beauty Designer Lift Foundation

Giorgio Armani Beauty will launch Designer Lift ($65), a new foundation, in October. This launch is extremely exciting to me. I wear Armani foundations on most days. I still have my old favorite, the now-discontinued Hydra Glow, and I often use the award-winning Luminous Silk. The newest addition to Armani's world-famous foundations looks absolutely perfect. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

The radiant Armani Glow, with the skin cloaked in light, enhances the natural highlights of the skin without distorting and emphasizes our features without exaggerating. Light is magnified by the finest materials, with Armani's Micro-fil technology at the heart, that create "real cosmetic weaves, translucent, ethereal veils of color, layered to create the perfect aura."

Designer Lift will transcend the glow we've come to expect from Armani foundations with full coverage in a feather-light texture. It will drape the skin in a new cosmetic textile: an extremely fine, extendable mesh, inspired by stretch fabrics - smooth and voluptuous. It promises to create a second-skin sensation and provide long-lasting comfort and wear.

The smoothing and sculpting effect has been created with a duo of optical fillers, which are velvety powders - one satiny, the other matte - that play with reflections of light to blur imperfections, intensify radiance, and enhance natural facial contours. It will provide an instant lifting effect, achieved with a "liquid powder" that forms an ultra-fine toning network on the surface of the skin.

Designer Lift has a rich, emollient formula that will leave the skin plumper and denser, reinforced by adenosine, which restructures the dermal matrix, and the antioxidant vitamin E. There's added value in the SPF 20 PA +++ for sun protection. Armani promises 12-hour rejuvenating effects.

An unexpected blue pearlizer is being introduced with the Designer Lift formula. A precise, finely dosed Prussian blue will make white more luminous and enhance black, making both colors appear more pure. The black and white fillers (indispensable in any foundation formula) are less dull as a result. On the skin, it has an instant visual appeal, correcting irregularities and making the skin appear smoother, translucently luminous, fresh - as if light were emanating from the skin. All of the pearlizers in Designer Lift reflect as much light as they receive.

There will be 10 available shades. Designer Lift will blend seamlessly with any skin tone.

• For light tones, there's a blue-tinged pearlizer, which counteracts a yellow complexion.
• For medium shades, there's a touch of pink pearlizer for a real boost of freshness (simulating the skin's microcirculation).
  
• For dark hues, a gold pearlizer will brighten the complexion and accentuate its radiance

Designer Lift was developed after a "rainbow study," an analysis of more than 2,000 women that allowed Giorgio Armani Beauty to target the needs of each skin tone. As a result, the three color families above were developed with multiple shades in each. Fair shades were developed with Asian skin in mind. Medium tones were developed for European to mixed-race skin. Dark tones were created for African skin. With such a targeted approach, all women can achieve the Armani Glow.

Linda Cantello, International Makeup Artist for Giorgio Armani Cosmetics, says the feather-light texture will allow the face to glow without creating a mask-like effect or emphasizing the slightest wrinkle. She recommends dabbing it into the T-zone, particularly the nose and lip contour areas, then smoothing outwards across the face using the dedicated brush, the Designer Lift Brush.

Designer Lift will be available in October at Giorgio Armani Beauty's Web site, Armani Fifth Avenue, and fine department stores, including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and Barneys. I hope that really means soon.

Photo courtesy of Giorgio Armani Beauty