Le Métier de Beauté Ultimate Hydrator

Any time I see a product name like "Ultimate Hydrator, Hydrate, Soothe, Calm and Repair" I get suspicious. Ultimate, of course, means the best achievable. Hydrator gives me the expectation that the product will make my skin less dry - much less dry. I told you last week that I would find out more information about this $225 product - primarily because I wanted to know what's in it that would live up to its billing.

I did, and I'm impressed. I had tried it in the store, but I put a very small amount on top of layers of product: moisturizer, foundation, blush - you get the picture. It wasn't a fair test, particularly since you are supposed to apply it right before your makeup.

Formulated to lock optimal moisture levels into the skin while delivering hydration deep below the surface to boost hydration levels, this luxuriously rich, gentle formula is safe for sensitive skin. It was designed to be comforting and to restore youthful hydration to dry skin immediately.

If you are good at reading ingredient lists, here they are. Water (Aqua), Squalan, Caprylic/Capric Triglyeride, Butylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Cetyle Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Butyrosperum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Glycerin, Myristyle Myristate, Tocopheryl Phosphate, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Hydroxyproline, Disodium Lauriminodipropionate Tocopheryl Phosphates, Proline, Glycine, Hyaluronic Acid, Silanetriol, Stearyl Alcohol, Ceteth-20, Acrylates Copolymer, Hydroxyethyl Acylate/Sodium Acryloyldimenthyl Taurate Copolymer, Carbomer, Polysorbate 60, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Sorbate, Caprylyl Glycol, Chlorphenesin, Ethylhexylglycerin, and Phenoxyethanol. I'm sure most of you would like a bit of interpretation.

Ultimate Hydrator provides super hydration, moisturizing, plumping Botox-like effects with TPM, Le Métier de Beauté's patented delivery system that increases potency. The hydrator helps with the early signs of aging, resulting in reduced depth of wrinkles, and firmer, supple, soft, smooth, youthful looking skin.

The product includes:

• Argirelene: SNAP 25 - Botox-like activity, will help reduce the depth of wrinkles caused by contraction of muscles of facial expression
• Epidermosil: silicium and small molecular weight hyaluronic acid with synergistic benefits will enhance the epidermis thickening, collagen production, density and architecture. Will improves skin hydration and firmness.
• Shea butter, grape seed oil: emolliency for soft, smooth skin
• Vital ET, a triple dose of vitamin E for soothing and healing the skin

Ultimate Hydrator is free of parabens and perfumes. It does have a slight smell of cucumber, a masking agent, which dissipates quickly. Some people don't smell it; I do. The product was made in the United States. I like the pump dispenser.

Ultimate Hydrator has been selling swiftly. I think that's because you can actually feel it working when you apply it. It's a pleasant feeling that reassures you that the active ingredients are working. After a few days of use, your skin should appear to have fewer expression lines and be more plump and youthful.

Yes, it's pricey. It seems like all of the really good skin care is pricey these days. That's why you need to learn as much as you can about ingredients to help you judge the potential for effectiveness. Hopefully, we have been learning together over the last few years.

You can purchase Ultimate Hydrator at Neiman Marcus. I'm sure my friend Michael Reinhardt would be happy to tell you about it and have one sent to you. You can reach him starting Thursday at (202) 966-9700, extension 2258 (he is enjoying his days off). I wouldn't recommend that you talk to anyone else about Ultimate Hydrator. It's new, and I'm not sure they have been trained.

As you know, it's still Beauty Event at Neiman Marcus. With a $125 purchase, you will receive a tote with samples. If you spend $400 with Le Métier de Beauté, you will receive a full-sized Replenishing Daily Solution worth $225. That's my absolute favorite skin care from Le Métier de Beauté.

Photo courtesy of Le Métier de Beauté

How to Make Sure You Get My E-mail Notices of New Posts

Some of you are actually getting the e-mails, but they are being put in your spam folder by your own e-mail provider. This happens when the sender sends the same e-mail to many people at the same time. You can fix this.

Just add

feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com

to your contacts. I had to do it to get my own e-mails placed into my inbox.

I have written about this before. See my post on June 8, 2014 titled  A Word about FeedBlitz, AOL, and Yahoo.

I'm sorry that many of you did not get last week's e-mail. It's a symptom of the new age of e-mail "cheaters."

Photo courtesy of spamemailsexchange.wordpress.com

Le Métier de Beauté is Pulling out All the Stops with New Products for Neiman Marcus Beauty Event

Four new Kaleidoscopes ($95 each), eight new Liquid Eye Prisms ($38) that left me drooling, five new lip pencils ($36), five new eye pencils ($36), and new skin care! All in one introduction later this week. Beauty Event at Neiman Marcus starts Thursday, September 10. I will be at the Mazza store as soon as they open. Not only will they be offering free facials, Dustin Lujan will be there with Michael and Chae. I spent two hours playing with all the new testers on Saturday and left gobsmacked.

The Kaleidoscopes have travel-related names. All have a translucent pressed powder (very much like an HD powder) on the top level, a blush immediately below, and two coordinating eye shadow shades at the bottom. See update below. The Kaleidoscope above may be called Full Stream, but it's also possible I can't read my own scrawl. I was writing on Michael's business card - around the print.

I'm sure the bus Kaleidoscope is called All Aboard. It's gorgeous - one of my two favorites. Directly below, you'll see Lift Off, the one I pre-ordered. You will note that the blush is softer than the one in All Aboard, better for my pale skin.

The fourth was in a display case, and we couldn't get it out. The photo has a yellow cast. Sorry, that was unavoidable. It's called Luxury Liner. Shown below, it appears to be one I'm going to want.

Now, to the drop-dead, I need them all Liquid Eye Prisms. It's a trend now to release liquid eye shadows - it seems like every line has them - but almost all of them are intensely colored. These aren't. They offer maximum control. They can be used as eye shadow bases or as shadows. You can build the color as you please. They are beyond gorgeous.

The new pencils are shown in the next two photos. The lip pencils have a new coral color that will be useful for many, and there's a deep red that will serve all shades of red lipstick.

The eye pencils are soft (not breakable soft) and apply like a dream. I'm smitten with the green one.

Michael drew them all on his hand. The eyes are at the top, with the lip colors below. There's also a smudge of one of the new eye shadows (drool!).

I don't know much about the new skin care yet - aside from the fact that it will hydrate and plump your skin. I'll find out more and let you know later. I do know that it costs $225 for 1.7 oz.

There will be a gift with a purchase of $400 during Beauty Event: a full-sized skin care product! My favorite too.

The two big days at Mazza will be Thursday and Saturday if you want to see Dustin there. Call and make an appointment. You know how popular he is. You can reach Michael Reinhardt at (202) 966-9700, extension 2258. I think Dustin will be with the new rep at Tysons on Friday (can't confirm).

I don't ever remember a time when Le Métier de Beauté introduced so much new color at one time, and it's all gorgeous. How, with no job, am I going to acquire all these new beauties?

Update 9/10: I got the true scoop on the Kaleidoscopes today. The third shade down is either a bronzer or highlighter, not an eye shadow. On the train and plane, the shade is a bronzer. On the Luxury Liner and helicopter, it's a highlighter.

Additional information: 1) the lip liners are a new formula that is waterproof; 2) the eye liners are a new gel formula that is water resistant. Dustin Lujan supplied all of this update information.

All photos by Best Things in Beauty, taken in store