Tata Harper: Limited Edition Night Out Essentials Collection

I rarely find a set available featuring the products I'd cherry pick myself, if I could create my own set. Happily, I struck gold with this one!

Tata Harper's Beautifying Face Oil is one of the more reasonably priced products from her line, as well as the most versatile one. I mix a few drops in with my Gressa foundation and blend it in only where needed -- as a concealer. Or I use it underneath/in lieu of a moisturizer or pat a few drops over my makeup to freshen up mid-day. It's fragranced, but not overtly so. It absorbs in about 10 minutes and feels wonderful onwards.

The Resurfacing Mask is highly lauded for it's instant benefits. It's a gentle exfoliator, and the immediate results are remarkable. Skin feels smoother and fresher and any excess oiliness is mopped up. It's a translucent pink, florally scented gel, and dries within 5-10 mins, but you're advised to keep it on to 20 mins. I'll mist my face with water to prolong the dewy stage before rinsing it off. Before I had a jar of my own, I used to save my sample packs of this for hotel rooms, to offset the effects of dry cabin air. Be warned though, people advise storing this away from bathroom humidity which can compromise the preservation of the product.

The Love Potion is a heavenly, mood-boosting, lady-like scent. Both the initial top notes and dry down stay powdery, (thanks to the ylang ylang), very romantic (jasmine), yet not too girly (sandalwood). While there's no violet in the concoction, that's what my mind instantly conjures on first whiff. A heady, complex posy of violets. 

Very Vivacious Lip and Cheek is one I reviewed earlier. It's a wearable, flattering coral that can be blended out to a muted peach or applied in thin layers for a bright coral statement.

Acorelle Vanille Ambreé Perfume

Fragrance is a pretty big deal to me. My father would travel on business and bring back bottles from the duty free stores to our home in the middle east, where fragrance holds significant cultural clout. My father splashed cologne regularly, and a tiny gilded army of bottles of Arpegé, Dior, and Cacharel stood proudly on my mother's vanity. As wonderful as these olfactory memories and rituals are, the sad thing is that perfume can be toxic, and these bottles contain ingredients like phalates (well documented as a hormone disrupter). There is virtually zero regulation on these things, plus the FDA does not require companies to post all the ingredients on their labels. How does this affect us? On the lighter end of the spectrum, wheezing and headaches can happen, and on the more menacing end, abnormalities in baby development. 

Sometimes a bottle of clary sage essential oil doesn't illicit the same thrill as a bottle of Comme des Garcon, but there's good news! The EU cares enough to pose restrictions on beauty manufacturing within its borders, and some companies there go beyond the requirements to produce luxe and eco-friendly options. Case in point: Acorelle.

Born out of southwest France, Acorelle employs established "noses" and perfumers to construct their fragrances. Acorelle functions like an aromatherapy line, but the fragrances are much more complex. I've purchased a few of their sample kits, and the dry down on all of their fragrances is lasting and varied. The one pictured, Vanille Ambreé is my favorite. It's a gourmand scent, but not too juvenile nor sugar-y. At first spritz, it's an oriental concoction with mimosa top notes. The heft of amber, spiked with patchouli is pronounced. Warm and woody but more muted than sandlewood. The earthiness gives way a few hours later to a lasting, milky and comforting scent. It's velvety perfection, and sadly being discontinued. However, Acorelle is coming out with many more new scents (like this pepper one!), which I'm eager to experiment with.

Ingredients: Organic Alcohol 80% vol., water, fragrance.

$25-55 / baudelairsoaps.com or drugstore.com