To round up the year, I was invited by Paris B from MyWomenStuff to take part in a 2009 beauty roundup. Basically, we (beauty bloggers) had to select one beauty product we found outstanding this year.   

It was fun, yes – but also extremely difficult! How could I choose only one? How could I play favourites when there were soo many I fell in love with in 2009?

In the end, there was a clear winner.

It just had to be Chanel Rouge Allure Lacque. 

A liquid version of their beautiful Rouge Allure lipstick, everything about Lacque was rich and luxurious. And, for the price you pay, does beautiful things to your lips. You can read what I had to say about Rouge Allure Lacque (a red, of course) here.

As for the other picks, … drumroll … here they are! Enjoy! 

Tine of Beautyholics Anonymous chose Clinique’s Turnaround Concentrate Visible Skin Renewer Serum, saying this: “It’s a pity it doesn’t work for everyone, but I’m so glad it works very well for me. Hello smooth skin!”

Connie of Skindeco chose the RMK Powder Foundation EX for 2009.

Plue of Beauty up my Life picked out The Body Shop Africa Spa Wisdom Honey & Beeswax Hand and Foot Butter.

Beetrice of Beetrice’s Reviews went for the Kiehl’s Dermatologist Solutions™ Ultimate White Surface Brightening Exfoliator.

Xin of PrettyBeautiful said that Stila Smudge Pots is a lifesaver for oily lids.

Nikki of AskMeWhats picked a gadget! The Remington Protect and Shine Pro Soft Curl Tong, saying “this is my ultimate favorite, been using this everyday and it gives a nice soft curl on my hair ”

Kahani, Syen and Eli of Soloverly picked out the H20+ Face Oasis Hydrating Treatment gel and Cellnique / B.Liv Pro Sebum Gel for 2009.

Paris B of My Women Stuff chose Dior Serum de Rouge lipstick, saying that every girl should have one!

Ladies, behold – the best-selling celebrity perfume of all time!

In America, at least.

Surprised? I was. The statistics came from Euromonitor International, and, according to them, Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds made USD67.2 million in 2008. The fragrance first launched in 1991. Coming in second is Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Unforgivable at USD48.5 million (that’s another surprise for me!).  

Celebrity perfumes was something that started out as a trend, and is now here to stay. Every other month, yet another star signs a deal to launch a perfume – the latest ones are Eva Longoria, Beyonce, and Danica Patrick – okay, she’s not a Hollywood star, but still …

Enjoy the full list below:

1. Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds – USD67.2 million
2. Sean John Unforgivable – USD48.5 million
3. Celine Dion – USD26.4 million
4. Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker – USD25.7 million
5. Derek Jeter Driven – USD24.1 million
6. Diavolo by Antonio Banderas - USD18.8 million
7. Glo by J.Lo – USD18.5 million
8. Curious by Britney Spears - USD14.3 million
9. Fantasy by Britney Spears – USD10.1 million

Source: Stylelist

Last week, L’Oreal and Nestle launched a little red, sugar-coated pill called Innëov Fermeté, that, when taken daily, provides skin with the right nutrients – mainly antioxidants which help protect skin against free radical damage, and prevent wrinkles. The star ingredient is lycopene, the very thing that makes tomatoes so good for you, combined with vitamin C and isoflavones extracted from soya beans.

It’s been around in Europe and South America for awhile now, and will soon be launched in the UK.    

Another piece of beauty news that made waves last week was the revealing of an anti-sunburn drug.

Imagine this – a drug that mimics the body’s natural defenses against UV radiation and makes you look tanned.

Called Afamelanotide, it was developed by an Australian company, Clinuvel, to help people who suffer from Erythropoietic Protoporphyria (EPP), a condition where one is allergic to natural light. It targets a melanin that protects skin cells, eumelanine, to create a skin barrier of sorts against light. This also means skin cancer prevention.

19 years in the making, the drug is a rice-grain sized implant that is inserted into the skin near the waist. Users will then develop a deep tan that lasts up to 60 days.

So could this be the end of sunblocks as we know it? Is this the promise of a sun-kissed glow in a pill?

Not just yet. Right now, doctors are against using it for cosmetic purposes, claiming that unlicensed use could lead to damage to the immune and cardiovascular system. 

Ah, such exciting times ahead!

We all know this – no lip colour, no matter how amazing, can hide chapped, flaky lips. And it can be a nightmare with red lipstick!

It’s easy enough to get supple, hydrated lips – drink your required amount of water every day, apply SPF, don’t nibble or lick your lips, and keep them exfoliated. Of course, a good lip balm is essential.  

Which is why you need Maybelline’s new [LIP] Smooth Color & Care Refreshing Tinted Lip Balm.

I find that lip care is one beauty product where price has nothing to do with quality and efficacy. Some of the world’s most expensive lip balms did nothing to me, while some drugstore brands have been the best finds.

The main ingredients are pretty standard – jojoba oil, safflower seed oil, and vitamin E and SPF 16 to protect lips against free radicals and the sun’s UV rays.

Five yummy shades are available – Strawberry, Dolly Rose, Cherry, Cranberry Jam and Rose Red, and let me tell you, they all smell deliciously of strawberries! Since they’re all tints, there’s barely any colour payoff (am wearing Rose Red in the image).

The texture is perfect; it’s not waxy, goes on smooth and, most importantly, moisturises. But best of all? It’s a steal at RM9.90!

Available at major pharmacies in January 2010.

Last year, I wrote a feature on “toxic” ingredients used in beauty products. One was Botox – the most toxic substance known to man, yet was approved for cosmetics use by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2002.

The other one I highlighted was snake venom. Through the years, it has been used to treat all sorts of disorders, from high blood pressure to cardiovascular-related ones. In fact, a study done in the US also discovered that a compound found in viper venom helped inhibit the growth of cancer cells in mice.

On the beauty front – scientists realised that snake venom’s paralysing effects could be used in products due to its ability to block the nerve receptors that stimulate muscle movement. One of the first to jump on the bandwagon was Pentapharm, a Swiss health company that developed Sny-Ake, a synthetic tripeptide that was based on the venom of the Asian Temple viper. Studies done on Syn-ake showed anti-aging, skin-smoothing and wrinkle-reducing benefits, and it even won the innovation prize at the 2006 Swiss Technology Awards.

There are a few products that now contain Syn-ake. Planet Skincare launched a “snake cream” last year, and it did phenomenally well – in the first couple of months, around 50 jars were selling at London’s Selfridges. Other brands that use Syn-ake include Z. Bigatti, Skinfluence and Sonya Dakar. As far as I know, none of them are available here in Malaysia.

But PeterThomasRoth is.

The brand’s Un-Wrinkle range contains Syn-ake, and the good people at PTR here were generous enough to pass over a bottle of the Un-Wrinkle Serum for me to try out.

The star product in the Un-Wrinkle line-up, it comes in a pump dispenser unit, which I like because it meant controlled usage. Couple that with a pretty liquid, lightweight texture (think jelly water), and two to three squirts is normally enough to cover face and neck area. The serum also smells faintly of roses, thanks to rose flower water, and is absorbed very quickly – great for day use!

Okay, on to the serious stuff. It has a high concentration of peptides (23 percent), but this is a combination of three neuropeptides – Syn-ake (four percent) SNAP-8 (10 percent), Argireline (three percent) – and three peptides – Syn-Coll (three percent) and the dual peptide Matrixyl 3000 (three percent).

A quick science lesson for those unfamiliar with peptides: One of the greatest discoveries of the 20^th century, peptides is chains made up of amino acids – when the chain has over 50 acids, it’s called a protein, while chains with less than 50 amino acids is a peptide. Linked together, they are called polypeptides, and they have the important job as messengers in the skin – telling it to make more collagen, for example – and we all know how important collagen is for supple, bouncy, baby-soft skin!

Back to the serum, the recommended usage for best results is twice a day over 28 days or more. Mine lasted past 28 days, but I can’t help but wish that the serum would give me more than the 60 odd days or so of usage that it did. Then again, my version was only 15ml, so the 30ml (the size it’s sold in) should give you double that.

So, what has it done to my skin?

I can tell you this – it’s kept me youngish-looking the last couple of months. I won’t go all out and say that my (normal to combination) skin behaved completely because of the serum, but I think it played a pretty major part. (Example: interviewed a 27 year-old radio announcer yesterday who didn’t believe that I was almost eight years older than he was – yay!) My nasolabial fold isn’t as obvious, so it does firm up sagging skin to an extent. My skin tone is more even – red bits are pretty much gone, and fine lines are finer. As for my deep wrinkles? Sadly, they are still there. No matter what anyone tells you, no topical beauty product will get rid of those!

I am happy with the product, but there are other users out there that didn’t get anything out of the Un-Wrinkle serum – it either works, or not. The fact that it costs a pretty penny too might deter some from trying it out, but if you’d like to give this a go, consider it an end-of-year splurge. Who knows, it could give you a youthful start to 2010! 

Available at the Skinology counter in Robinsons The Gardens for RM628 (30ml)