Spring Cleaning Your Beauty Routine

By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS    

After a not-so-long winter frost (thank God), spring is now in the air in Mexico.

The jacarandas are beginning to bloom and the weather is definitely warmer.

And that means it is time to put away the woolen jackets, break out your sleeveless dresses and turn over a new leaf, be it in fashion, makeup, health, work patterns or overall outlook.

Spring is about new beginnings, and that should include every aspect of your life, whether it be getting fit and culling heavy cosmetics to get a fresher, more natural look, or being more eco-conscious and doing your part to make this a better world for everyone.

To help you “spring clean” your lifestyle and start fresh with a whole new you from top to bottom this season, here are some of the best new products on the Mexican market.

No-Compromise Foundation

One biggie for making yourself a true springtime heroine is to embrace a new, lighter approach to makeup.

Forget weighty foundations and opt instead for a lighter, brighter, more sunny base that lets your natural beauty shine through.

Guerlain, which has been producing great makeup that accentuates rather than detracts since 1828, has just introduced a new line of noncompromising L’Essentiel foundations that delivers long-lasting performance (up to 16 hours of radiance) plus ultra-natural, buildable coverage.

Made from 97 percent natural ingredients (the remaining ingredients are chosen in good conscience and contain no alcohol, artificial scents or harsh manmade chemicals), this do-no-harm foundation is actually good for your skin, enriched with beauty-boosting white cocoa bean extract, probiotic derivatives and prebiotics to maintain skin’s natural balance, while strengthening the cutaneous barrier and boosting hydration.

Extracts from both tara and red algae gums let your skin breathe, but also protect it from the damaging effects of pollution.

And L’Essentiel’s balancing formula works to reduce the appearance of imperfections, leaving your complexion more even and luminous.

Available in 30 natural-looking shades in an ergo-balanced bottle that is both practical and chic, L’Essential also protects against UV rays with a SPF 20 sunblock.

Day after day, bare skin becomes more beautiful as the appearance of pores is reduced, pigmentary imperfections fade and texture is refined and unified.

Guerlain also has a new retractable foundation brush by Mathieu Lehanneur that has an ergonomic design for an intuitive application technique that naturally enhances foundation makeup results.

The brush has a pushback sleeve that protects its soft, synthetic fibers so it stays clean use after use.

And to nourish your skin even when you are not wearing makeup, try Guerlain Abeille Royale Huile-en-Eau Jeunesse Youth Watery Oil.

The silky smooth Huile-en-Eau has the power of a serum, the richness of an oil and the freshness of a lotion, to instantly hydrate for a plumper and more luminous finish.

At the heart of all Guerlain Abeille products is honey, which has long been known as one of the world’s most effective natural healing substances.

Guerlain uses only pure organic honey and royal jelly extracted from its protected Ouessant Island black bee refuge to stimulate the key mechanisms of healing and reverse the visible signs of aging such as wrinkles and fine lines.

Passionate Scent

Another way to spruce up your essence and spirits this spring is to add a brand new fragrance to your perfume wardrobe.

Mary Kay cosmetics has launched a trilogy of new scents: True Passion, True Passion L’Eau and True Passion Noir, variations on a theme that, together, are ideal to take you through the day from morning to night.

The central fragrance, True Passion, has a sensuous and irresistible fruity floral aroma that opens with a delectable aura of lush red fruits and slowly evolves into a heart of red roses and lilies-of-the-valley.

The fragrance closes with the lingering allure of wood and amber.

True Passion L’Eau is a lighter, brighter interpretation of the core Mary Kay True Passion bouquet, with citrusy notes of mandarine and a gourmand accord of mocha coffee that give it a more casual feel, making it the ideal scent for informal workdays and outings.

And Mary Kay True Passion Noir, with a subtle blend of oriental spices to create sophistication, is your go-to scent for night, when you want to ratchet your perfume game up a notch or two with a more seductive glamour.

Also new from Mary Kay — which, by the way, is celebrating its 30th year in Mexico — is its Timewise Age Minimize 3D age-defying skincare line.

Available for both dry and combination to oil complexions, the Timewise collection includes a super-gentle four-in-one cleanser, a moisturizing day cream with a protective SPF 30 sun filter, a deep-penetrating night cream and an age-minimizing eye cream.

Every Timewise Age Minimize product has a special complex of encapsulated resveratrol, vitamin B3 and an age-defying peptide to delay, defend and deliver for younger-looking skin.

And Mary Kay’s new collection of powdered Chromafusion blushes, eyeshadows, highlighters and contours can help you to create a natural-looking flush of color and definition, sans streaks and sans blotches.

These high-intensity, mineral-based cosmetics let you live your life colorfully with makeup that wears through work, workouts, weather, whatever!

The Mary Kay Chromafusion collection features superpowered technology and an ample array of shades that lets you face whatever is on your agenda with grace and empowerment, which is, after all, the new definition of beauty.

Beauty from the Inside Out

Beauty always starts with a healthy body, and as the old saying goes, you are what you eat.

A good way to start your day (and springtime health routine) is with a heart-hardy smoothie, packed with fresh ingredients and natural protein.

Nestlé Carnation Clavel has just introduced two non-dairy milks that are all natural, sugar-free and low in calories.

Carnation Almond Milk and Carnation Coconut Milk can be used in cooking or drunk straight, and, unlike most dairy milk substitutes, they have no artificial flavoring and do not de-homogenize when mixed with other ingredients.

Additionally, almond milk contains vitamin D and E, and coconut milk is a rich source of iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese and zinc.

And with only 1.5 grams of fat per serving, both of these Carnation non-dairy milks are an excellent way to slim down while still enjoying great food.

Lining Up for Li-Ning

Spring is a great time to rev up your exercise routine, and a new workout wardrobe is a great incentive to get up and get moving.

The Chinese sportswear company Li-Ning, which opened its first store in Mexico a year ago in Mexico City’s Colonia Coyoacán, celebrated the opening of its 16th store late last month in Plaza Carso.

The line, which was developed in 1990 by Chinese Olympic gold-medal gymnast Li Ning, quickly expanded across China to become its Number One sportswear and fitness gear brand.

It has since opened more than 7,000 stores worldwide.

During the opening of the Plaza Carso boutique, the company also launched its latest streetwear collection, with sporty oversized track pants, bomber jackets, T-shirts and hoodies and a focus on color-blocked traditional Chinese colors.

Red, white, black and yellow accentuate images of Li Ning himself and create a contemporary urban feel for the collection.

Li-Ling, which specializes in training, running, basketball and street-style clothing and accessories, plans to open a total of 100 stores in Mexico by January 2023.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

And while you are busy giving yourself a fashion and beauty redux this season, don’t forget to also revamp your social responsibility agenda to do more to protect the environment.

The Libbey conglomerate (which also includes Mexican-based subsidiaries Crisa and Pyr-O-Rey), the Number One glassware company in the Americas and one of the largest tableware suppliers in the world, has launched a nationwide campaign to encourage people to use glass kitchen products rather than throw-away plastic and paper plates, baking pans, serving trays and containers.

The campaign, titled “Seamos Mejores Adultos” (“Let’s Be Better Adults”), reminds people that glass is one of the materials consistently preferred over plastic for two big reasons: Tt’s better for people and it’s better for the environment.

Glass is made from readily available abundant materials (mainly sand) and does not degrade over time.

Moreover, unlike plastic and metal, glass used in food and beverage containers won’t leach chemicals and won’t absorb residual tastes or odors.

And if all that is not enough to convince you to forgo the Tupperware and Dixie containers, just remember that, in addition to not harming the environment, glass is chic and stylish, and it adds a touch of sophistication to any table.

So go out, enjoy the springtime weather and be good to yourself, as well as to Mother Nature.