Armani Crema Nera Giveaway Contest

I've saved the pièce de résistance for our last September Armani contest! The generous Armani Beauty Team at Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase, Maryland donated a Crema Nera Regenerating Cream ($230) for this week's Best Things in Beauty Giveaway Contest. Wow!

Crema Nera is Armani's luxurious skin care centerpiece. You can read about the Crema Nera Restoring Serum at our July posting or the Crema Nera OMC3 SPF 15 at our August posting.

Here's how Armani Beauty describes Crema Nera...

Crema Nera is a unique cell regenerating cream inspired by the Italian island of Pantelleria. Containing a unique formulation of obsidian, a natural mineral compound extracted from the petrified lava on Pantelleria, Crema Nera perfectly captures the earth's rejuvenating secrets. This exceptional, patented formula is scientifically proven to actively restore and revitalize skin's natural radiance and regenerate surface cells.

• Boosts skin radiance
• Helps refine and perfect skin texture
• Nourishes and hydrates

Here's how I describe it: a heavy-duty moisturizer with a lightweight feel. Crema Nera effectively banishes dryness, evens skin tone, and adds the radiance associated with healthy skin. I have used it as my day moisturizer (in place of La Mer), and it tames my dry skin. I have seen it take the redness out of one friend's skin, and "light up" another. Pretty cool!

How can you win this incredible giveaway? Just e-mail bestthingsinbeautycontests@gmail.com and tell us what your favorite Best Things in Beauty Armani posting has been. There are a bunch of them because I love my Armani cosmetics and skin care. A little creativity in your e-mail won't hurt (a green-eyed monster won an Armani foundation for Valerie). A small team of judges will select the winner, who will be announced on September 22.

The contest deadline is 5:00 pm Eastern time on Monday, September 21. I am posting this giveaway on Free!Grechen, my favorite site for giveaway contests.

Don't forget that Saks in Chevy Chase has an Armani Beauty event coming up on September 25 and 26. The events are always fun, and Tim Quinn will be there both days. And, you will get to meet Loyd!

Photo courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue.

Armani Everything - Crema Nera and the New OMC3

Giorgio Armani Beauty has introduced a new Crema Nera OMC3 (that's cubed, but I have no idea how to do superscripts in Blogger). The new Crema Nera has an SPF of 15 (protecting against both UVA and UVB rays), so it's basically a day cream - lightweight in feel, but with heavy-duty effectiveness. It's priced at $185, which is less expensive than the first suite of Crema Nera products.

Before I get to the new OMC3, let me tell you just a little about Crema Nera, "created by nature using the secret of the volcano." From the island of Pantelleria, Italy, known as the Black Pearl of the Mediterranean, obsidian, the inspiration for Crema Nera, is a rock extracted from petrified lava that contains four concentrated minerals essential to life. The unique mineral combination helps to stimulate cell metabolism, leading to a fresher, plumper, denser, and brighter-looking you. I use several of the Crema Nera products, including the Regenerating Cream, the Obsidian Mineral Restoring Serum, and the Mineral Hydrating Lotion. I like them so much, I should probably review them on their own.

The new targeted anti-aging OMC3 treatment is designed to restructure, replenish, and re-plump the skin for women (and men) concerned with wrinkles, firmness, and sagging. Its active ingredients are the OMC3 complex, a combination of perlite solute, iron, and silicium - the latter two being anti-aging, cell-regenerating minerals; pro-xylane, which stimulates the production of glycosaminoglycans, important to the function of connective tissue; and hyaluronic acid (a must-use topical hydrator). I won't bore you with the biology lesson. This is "good stuff" for the skin!

Crema Nera OMC3 is said to add density, firmness, and structure to the skin by working at three levels: the epidermis, dermo-epidermal junction, and the dermis. Basically, the three essential ingredients in OMC3 are believed to repair the skin by acting on different types of collagen, increasing collagen production. The results? In a four-week test, 81% of the participants experienced increased firmness, 73% experienced a decrease in the appearance of wrinkles (imagine pushing them out from the inside), and 73% had improved density.

The Crema Nera OMC3 is available at the Armani Beauty Web site and will be at Saks Fifth Avenue, or wherever Armani Beauty products are sold, this month. I hear Saks will have deluxe samples so customers can try before making the commitment - a very smart (and self-confident) strategy!

Don't forget we have a Best Things in Beauty Armani Fluid Sheer Giveaway Contest underway. If you missed the posting, please see this link and make sure to enter!

Photo courtesy of Armani Beauty.

Armani Everything - Crema Nera Obsidian Mineral Restoring Serum

Remember the days when we all believed that skin care was a two-product routine? We were advised to thoroughly cleanse our faces and apply moisturizer with an SPF 15 for day and a hydrating moisturizer (after cleansing) at night.

Since then, we have discovered serums - somewhat like face medicines to be used under our moisturizers or sunscreens - which should be part of everyone's daily skin care. Giorgio Armani has, as usual, developed a product that is not only elegant in appearance and feel, but also effective.

Crema Nera Obsidian Mineral Restoring Serum ($250) is enriched with peptides, vitamins, minerals, and humectants to even skin tone, firm, brighten, and moisturize. The vitamins and minerals revitalize and brighten the skin, and the peptides restore collagen.

The company has clinical studies to prove those claims - and lots of "anecdotal" evidence from people like me. After four weeks of testing (they used two pumps day and evening), trial participants had an 87% increase in firmness and a 98% increase in radiance, skin perfection, and softness. Even more amazing, 34% noticed an increase in hydration one hour after application!

My friends at Saks noticed fast results. Loyd Cassler, the fabulous Armani rep at Saks in Chevy Chase, Maryland, saw a decrease in his forehead wrinkles after three weeks of use. Garnet, formerly the Kiehl's rep there, found that the serum eliminated the redness in her skin. Take note, rosacea sufferers.

The Crema Nera line includes regenerating cream, cleansers, eye cream, and a toner - all to be covered in later postings.

You can purchase the serum at Saks, the Armani Web site, or where Giorgio Armani Beauty products are sold. Anyone in the Washington, DC area should take advantage of Loyd's upcoming free mini-facials with obsidian stones on Saturdays. Just call (301) 657-9000 and ask for the Armani Beauty Counter to make an appointment.

My only regret? I just used the last drop of it!

Photo courtesy of Giorgio Armani Beauty.