Beauty KnowHow: Summer’s most seductive spritz

Legendary French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld has named her new fragrance line after former lovers. Spicy? You bet…

It’s easy to think of Carine Roitfeld as just a fashion maven. I say ‘just’ but this woman was the long-running editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, has her own magazine, CR Fashion Book, and is the global fashion director for Harper’s Bazaar, so she’s knocking it out of the fashion park. And in modern-world rankings, you know she’s big because famous people comment on her Instagram.

She’s also one of those women with a trademark beauty look: smoky eye and not much else. So much so that she created her own eyeshadow palette with Mac a few years ago. I still have mine; it was/is great stuff.

Now she’s turning her hand to fragrance with a collection of seven perfumes all named after past lovers (don’t get confused by Vladimir – it’s the name of her son and also a former flame). They’re based around her life and the cities she loves and works in (Paris, New York, Dubai, Buenos Aires and St Petersburg – a celebration of her Russian heritage).

Carine Roitfeld

My favourites include Aurelian, which is an ode to Paris – a floral concoction with orange blossom and davana oil. Sebastian (for Buenos Aires) is a spicy-woody offering with tuberose and sandalwood. And Orson (for the Big Apple) is a floral oriental with hawthorn blossom, tonka beans and benzoin. These are fragrances created with some serious noses and all intended to be unisex.

Why go into fragrance? ‘Scent,’ she says, ‘is the most defining style signature.’ Well, that and her signature eye make-up and top-to-toe black clothing. But you know what she means. Whether you care about the Carine connection or not, the truth is that this collection is a very stylish affair.

Around £220 each, net-a-porter.com, available from tomorrow.

The clever way to faux glow

Amanda Harrington

If you’re known as the ‘Michelangelo of tanning’, it’s to be expected that your own range will be one with a difference. So it is with Amanda Harrington. Her new line emphasises a three-step approach: prep, colour, contour. To aid with contouring, she has created brushes for more precise application. Her website has plenty of tutorials to help you with your technique. From £14, amandaharrington.com.

My new firming favourite

Kate Somerville’s new fragrance-free Kx Active Concentrates Bio-Mimicking Peptides Serum

There’s a focus on firmness in skincare at the moment. 

You’ll have read about the new Boots No 7 lifting serum on this page a few weeks ago. 

And now there’s LA-based facialist Kate Somerville’s new fragrance-free Kx Active Concentrates Bio-Mimicking Peptides Serum, with key proteins for building skin and vitamin B9 which targets the loss of elasticity and firmness. It works on fine lines, too. 

Use one or two drops per application on the face and décolletage or apply to areas of concern. £84, spacenk.com.