Rodial's Glamtox Sticks aim to boost collagen and elastin from within.

Botox is a hot topic these days — recently, Julia Roberts revealed why she doesn’t follow the Hollywood trend and Teri Hatcher posted photos of her furrowed brow on her Facebook page to prove she’s not a user. However, other stars, such as Virginia Madsen, make a strong case for Botox injections. But we’re just not ready to have toxins shot into our face with a needle. So we decided to try Rodial’s new Glamtox Sticks ($60) — nicknamed “Botox in a bottle” — and used by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Sienna Miller.

Each box contains 14 sticks of powder to be mixed with 200 milliliters (a little less than 1 cup) of water — enough for two weeks at one per day, though up to two can be consumed for faster results. The sticks contain collagen-boosting peptides and extracts to plump skin from within, encourage radiance and hopefully reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. According to clinical research by Rodial, wrinkle depth and appearance is reduced by 30 percent in 12 weeks.

We mixed up a glass of the stuff, which looks like Kool-Aid but smells much stronger. (The mix can get a little globby, so we recommend putting the powder in the glass first and using tepid water.) We did instantly feel younger when, in an effort to avoid the thick glob, we drank it as quickly as possible, taking us back to age 19 or 20 when we’d occasionally chug illicit alcohol at a dance club.

After only two weeks, we did notice our skin felt a little more hydrated and appeared more radiant, but we didn’t see much difference in our fine lines. But during the course of imbibing Glamtox, two strangers told us we were beautiful. (One was a man who said he’d been drinking quite a bit — so it’s unclear whether his compliment was based on what he had been drinking or the collagen we’d been swilling.)

Glamtox Sticks are available at select Nordstrom locations, Rodial’s site and Amazon.com. For more on “beauty beverages,” see “Drink to Your Skin’s Health” in the Jan/Feb issue of VIVmag. Would you try a collagen drink before injections?

Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil can match any brow shade and encourages brow growth from damaged follicles.

We often find ourselves wishing we could pull off dramatic, full eyebrows the way stars like Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek do. But over the years we’ve plucked and waxed our brows (losing some brow hair along the way), and can’t seem to get that glamorous look just right.

To help women like us create the perfect brow, IT Cosmetics just launched the Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil ($24), which works with all brow colors and encourages regrowth of eyebrows after overplucking. According to IT Cosmetics co-founder Jamie Kern, many women overpluck their eyebrows, which can damage hair follicles and leave them with sparse spots. In addition, eyebrows tend to thin out as we get older. Some of the ingredients in Brow Power, such as green-tea and grape-seed extracts and horsetail flower, work to restore damaged follicles, while scientific studies link other ingredients (like biotin, panthenol, and vitamins A, C and E) to hair growth. This combination is designed to stimulate circulation and to reduce inflammation, creating optimal conditions for follicle health.

The pencil’s oval shape allows you to make a thick line or a thin line, depending on the shape you want. Using lighter, softer strokes produces a light color for fairer brow shades, while pressing harder yields a darker shade. The pencil is waterproof, sweatproof and smudge-resistant. We used Brow Power right before a hot summer night out and our brows held their shape despite the sticky heat.

For every Brow Power pencil sold, one is donated to the Look Good…Feel Better program, which helps women cope with the cosmetic effects of cancer treatment by offering workshops where volunteer beauty professionals provide a skin-care and makeup application lesson and discuss options for dealing with hair loss. The product has been approved by the American Cancer Society chemists as safe for ultrasensitive skin.

Considering that designers such as Yigal Azrouël, Narciso Rodriguez, Christian Siriano and Thakoon all opted for their models’ brows to be ultrafull when displaying their collections during fall Fashion Week, it might be a perfect time to give brows a boost.

Do you have any tips for maintaining perfect brows? Share them with us!

Infrequent shampooing can lead to thinning hair due to blocked hair follicles, according to salon owner Ouidad.

We think we saw the slightest hint of a sneer on “Queen of Curl” stylist Ouidad’s lips when we recently admitted to her that we’d had a keratin treatment, which had left our hair silky smooth and, yes, a lot straighter than it is in its natural state. Ouidad is evangelical about letting curls be curls, but we had been invited to her Santa Monica, CA, namesake salon to experience her latest service — the Luxe Mediterranean Bay Leaf Hair and Scalp Treatment — so she did her best to hide her disapproval and agreed to chat with us about its inception.

In curly-haired circles, it has become lore these last few years that the way to keep ringlets looking their best is to skip shampooing altogether in favor of conditioning alone. The trend owes a lot to curly-haired New York City salon owner Lorraine Massey, who published a slim tome called Curly Girl (Workman) back in 2001 that advocated a “no poo” approach to hair cleansing. Shampooing, Massey proclaims, robs hair of its natural oils, leading to dried-out spirals that are frizzy and fried rather than smooth and glossy. Ouidad, who also owns a salon in Manhattan, says she has seen lots of evidence that shampoo eschewing has, in fact, not been the best strategy for those with waves and ringlets.

“After five or six years of not shampooing, a lot of my clients were starting to lose hair,” says Ouidad. “They were ignoring the skin on their scalp and their pores, or follicles, were becoming dehydrated and blocked. Hair wasn’t able to break through these clogged follicles and the hair that did was finer and thinner.” What these women needed, Ouidad says, was a way to shed the scalp sebum and strengthen the weakened follicles.

Ouidad, who grew up in Beirut, remembered the men in her family going to local barbershops for scalp massages with follicle-stimulating bay-leaf oil to plump up sluggish hair roots, a pre-Rogaine method to fend off baldness and hair loss. Ouidad tweaked the formulas these barbers used, importing bay-leaf oil from Lebanon and mixing it with finely crushed couscous — a natural scalp exfoliator — and other ingredients to create her Luxe Mediterranean treatment.

The steps include a gentle cleansing with Ouidad’s Water Works Clarifying Shampoo, followed by a lengthy and heavenly massage with the couscous and bay-leaf oil mixture and 15 minutes under a hairdryer. In the end, after a second shampoo and a styling, our waves had been coaxed into beautifully defined ribbons. “You look so much better than you did when you came in,” Ouidad said appreciatively. We accepted that somewhat backhanded compliment graciously, because 1) she was right, and 2) we were leaving with a recipe for a do-it-yourself alternative to the $175 treatment. Here it is: Mix 1 teaspoon finely crushed almond powder (make it yourself by running raw almonds through a food processor or look for almond flour at your market) with ½ teaspoon of clove or mint oil, add to your favorite deep conditioner, apply, wrap your hair in plastic wrap and run a dryer over your head for five or 10 minutes.

What’s your favorite salon treatment?

The historic Town Tire Co. building, now home to Rolling Greens Hollywood, was originally designed as an open-air market.

The second-anniversary party for the green lifestyle website EcoStiletto.com was held at the Rolling Greens Hollywood nursery, and the women in attendance were as pretty as flowers themselves, attired in brightly colored skin-skimming summer dresses. (We missed the wardrobe memo and showed up in black ourselves.) We were all toting an extra handbag to donate to the new Los Angeles branch of Dress for Success, the terrific nonprofit organization that provides interview-appropriate clothing and accessories for low-income women seeking to enter the workforce. In exchange we got a recycled bag to fill with the latest green swag.

Here’s some of what we collected:

1. Tom’s of Maine’s new Wicked Fresh mouthwash and toothpaste, which promises to “neutralize stinky volatile sulphur compounds” with a combination of licorice-root extract and aromatic oils like mint. We like the frank language and we like that the packaging is made with recycled paperboard and soy ink.

2. A Waterpik EcoFlow shower head that saves up to 1 gallon of water a minute, with five settings and a pause control to use when you’re shaving your legs or letting that deep-conditioning mask sink into your hair. How important is a water-conserving shower head? Consider that, according to the EPA, showering accounts for 17 percent of residential water consumption in the United States — more than 1.2 trillion gallons of water each year.

3. A six-piece box of Nicobella Vegan Organic Dark Chocolate Truffles, in flavors like pumpkin chai, sunflower banana butter and ginger green tea. Created by nutritionist Nichole Dandrea, the truffles include good-for-you ingredients like sunflower- and pumpkin-seed butter, organic oat milk and blueberry nectar. A mere 40–61 calories each, the confections are, most important, absolutely delicious.

4. Green Works bathroom cleaner. Maybe not the most glamorous product we’ve ever gotten in a gift bag, but this “99% naturally derived” cleaner from a major brand — Clorox — really does have cred. It was recently certified by the nonprofit Natural Products Association, which requires that products be made up of at least 95 percent natural ingredients from renewable or plentiful sources (with artificial ingredients allowed only when viable natural ingredients are unavailable) and packaging must contain a majority of biodegradable and post-consumer recycled content.

5. Jane Iredale’s creamy blush stick in Chemistry. A beautiful long-lasting rosy brown, the blush is made with cocoa powder, so it gives off an unmistakable whiff of chocolate and makes you feel like a 4-year-old with the remnants of a chocolate-chip cookie all over her cheeks.

What we didn’t leave with, but we’re hoping to win when the results of a raffle are revealed in October, is the $4,000 Sustainable Edge Bed from Environment Furniture. Made of gorgeous reclaimed Brazilian peroba rosa wood, the bed floats on a wide platform that includes end tables and four sliding drawers. We’ve been dreaming of the bed while eating those luscious vegan truffles, but since we’re in a planet-friendly, love-thy-reader kind of mood, we’re sharing the information here on how to enter the EcoStiletto sweepstakes yourself.

What’s your favorite green find?

Photo credit: Amy Graves for EcoStiletto.com

Lasting beauty is both "skin deep and deeper" according to authors Debra Luftman, M.D., and Eva Ritvo, M.D.

Lana Turner may or may not, as legend has it, been discovered perched prettily on a stool at the soda fountain of Schwab’s Pharmacy in Hollywood. But, believe us, toss the keys to an Audi TT convertible anywhere in Los Angeles and you’ll hit enough lovely young things to cast any number of remakes of Friends and Melrose Place. The city that some of us call home is not an easy place to hold onto one’s feelings of attractiveness.

That’s why time and again we have turned to the Beauty Prescription Quiz in the book named, no surprise, The Beauty Prescription and subtitled The Complete Formula for Looking and Feeling Beautiful (McGraw-Hill, 2008). The book was co-written by Beverly Hills dermatologist Debra Luftman, M.D., and Eva Ritvo, M.D., a Miami psychiatrist (they call their home cities “the Botox latitudes”), who are both knockout blondes and the closest of friends since they met in medical school some 25 years ago. They hatched the idea for the book while on vacation with their families in Jamaica. Sitting under umbrellas, SPF 45 sunscreen slathered on — natch! — Luftman says she and Ritvo realized “that while our specialties were different we were treating the same patients. They came to me to fix the outside and to Eva to patch up their self-esteem.” The result: a holistic guide to looking your best with a generous serving of the message that beauty is both, as the authors say, “skin deep and deeper.”

Taking the Beauty Quiz is an illuminating experience, and it’s now available online at TheBeautyPrescription.com. You’ll agree or disagree with 80 questions on inner and outer beauty such as, “When I go out, I feel confident that people will find me attractive even if I don’t look perfect” and “I use a nonabrasive exfoliant a few times a week.” We aced the outer beauty portion, flunked the inner beauty part, and scoring the quiz, clearly saw some areas where we needed to tweak our attitude and a couple where we could adjust our beauty regimen.

We’ve taken the quiz again several times and we find that after a day when we’re thoroughly engaged with friends, family, work and working out, our “inner beauty” score soars. A friend even told us that she uses the quiz as one indication of whether a man she’s currently dating is healthy for her self image (okay, we’ll admit, that was us!).

One lucky VIV Says reader will win a copy of The Beauty Prescription (a $24.95 value). For your chance to win, click here. And tell us: What’s your best advice on cultivating inner beauty?

This Moroccan-style dinner, held at the Beverly Wilshire to celebrate "Sex and the City 2," featured décor from Mosaik.

We skipped a recent screening of Sex and the City 2 to attend a poolside dinner party at the Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills hotel to celebrate the movie’s release instead. (We know — how very L.A. of us!) So, in lieu of a movie review, we’re sharing some of the great tips we picked up at the event:

1. Invite envy: Our invitation arrived via Paperless Post, an online stationery service that allows you to send elegant personalized invitations virtually. With all the options you’d find at a fine stationers — including engraved-looking type and calligraphy — the 18-month-old service has been used by everyone from Condoleezza Rice to Zac Posen, and we were smitten at the first click (when our name showed up on the outer envelope). “Stamps” are sold on a sliding scale: $4 for 20, $10 for 150, $15 for 300, making this a very inexpensive, Earth-friendly way to send save-the-dates, birth announcements, thank-you notes, moving announcements, even wedding invites.
2. Morocco calling: “A Moroccan-style dinner under the stars” was the theme of the night (parts of SATC 2 were shot in Morocco, standing in for Abu Dhabi). While we’ll never be able to replicate the gorgeous poolside setting at home, we plan to borrow some of the fetching tableware touches, including fuchsia silk table runners; pink, blue and green Moroccan tea glasses for serving fresh mint tea, and the surprise of macaroons and baklava presented in tagine cooking vessels. Much of this Moroccan décor was rented from a nearby Moroccan décor store called Mosaik (the whole catalog is available online).
3. Fast dinner idea: Highlights of the menu included a fava bean and mint baba ghanoush and a spectacular couscous with pine nuts, dried cranberries and parsley. We asked Four Seasons executive chef Gilles Arzur for the couscous recipe, and it turns out to be extremely flexible. Basically, cook the couscous according to the directions on the package, allow to cool, and then add whatever diced fruits and vegetables you like. At the end, add chopped parsley, a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of ground cumin.
4. Healthy glow: Celebrity makeup artist Christopher Drummond gave mini-makeovers with his new eponymous mineral makeup line that will be available at the The Spa at Beverly Wilshire. Drummond used to work for Bare Escentuals and he knows both what women love about mineral makeup and what they don’t (its tendency to settle in fine lines and pores). His line leaves out the clogging, drying ingredients — titanium dioxide, bismuth oxychloride and zinc oxide — and adds antioxidants, plant extracts and botanicals to create creamlike powders that can be applied without all that buffing and swirling. We were skeptical when Drummond dipped his vegan brush into apricot blush, a color we’d been told doesn’t complement our medium-fair skin with its yellow undertones. “Apricot is a combination of pink and orange,” Drummond insisted, “so it works on almost everyone.” He was right; the shade really did add instant radiance to our complexion and the slight shimmer to the formula imparted a flattering glow, like we were gazing at our lover across a candlelit table (pardon our gushing, but we love this product!). For the next best thing to a one-on-one consult with Drummond himself, visit the website’s virtual makeover page, upload a photo of yourself and then see which products and colors look best on you.

Do you buy makeup online? Or do you prefer to sample products in person before you purchase?

Tom Ford Beauty's new Private Blend Lip Color, shown in Cherry Lush, retails for $45.

We admit we’ve been in a lip color rut of late, usually sticking to glosses in sheer pinks or corals and putting emphasis on creating dramatic eyes. But Tom Ford Beauty’s new Private Blend Lip Color might just infuse some new lip-life into our routine. The fashion designer’s dozen shades — from nude to deep burgundy — are embossed with Ford’s initials and sheathed in elegant cases. “There is no more dramatic accessory than a perfect lip,” Ford says. “It is the focus of the face and it has the power to define a woman’s whole look.”

Shades include the light Vanilla Suede and Blush Nude, as well as rosier shades of Pink Dusk, Warm Sable and Pure Pink. Bolder are Ginger Fawn, True Coral, Smoke Red and the vivid Cherry Lush, while Moroccan Rouge, Bruised Plum and Black Orchid are for women who prefer deeper lip shades.

It’s the eyebrows, however, that may be raised at the $45 price tag. But, according to Tom Ford Beauty, the colors are designed to be “universally flattering” and to help define a woman’s signature style. Soybean-seed extract, as well as exotic Brazilian murumuru butter and chamomile-flower oil create a creamy texture designed for smooth application. (In other words, this isn’t the kind of lipstick we’re going to throw in our purse with its cap askew.) Private Blend Lip Color is available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus.

This isn’t the first foray into makeup creation for the multitalented designer — who made his film directorial debut with A Single Man last year. Before the launch of the stand-alone Tom Ford Beauty brand, known for men’s and women’s fragrances, Ford teamed up with Estée Lauder to create a line of limited-edition makeup and fragrance products — a reinterpretation of the Youth Dew products favored by his grandmother — for the 2005 holiday season.

Actor Vera Farmiga recently showed off a red-carpet look that emphasized her lips and rosy cheeks, shown in “A Fresh Take” in VIV’s May/June issue. Do you agree with Ford that lip color can be a defining feature in a woman’s look — or do you think that the eyes have it?

After years as a church and a nightclub, this Chelsea building is now Limelight Marketplace, home to shops and food purveyors.

As we stood outside Manhattan’s Limelight Marketplace, waiting behind a velvet rope to enter the grand-opening party for a sneak peek at the newly created shopping space, it was easy to recall the deconsecrated church’s previous incarnation as a notorious night spot in the ’80s.

Upon entering, however, any traces of its legendary, often seedy club past had disappeared and been replaced with three levels of glossy kiosks selling fancy food items, cosmetics, soaps, home items and clothing.

We were handed a glass of Champagne and started our tour on the first floor, home to LeSportsac travel totes and accessories, an array of goods from Thérapie New York, Tee Time’s trendy T-shirts and Soapology, which has a few sinks in its alcove. The first New York City location of Hunter Boots, famous for its rainproof Wellies, is here, next to another brand known for a different type of footwear — Havaianas, the Brazilian company that is the name in flip-flops. Other shops on the first floor include Jezalin’s gift baskets, Alexander West menswear, Silly Souls baby clothes and shoes, BookSmart for children, Selima Optique and Olatz linens, towels, pajamas and bathrobes.

We turned the corner and discovered brownies from Mari’s New York, which offers an array of flavors, including classic, caramel sea salt, Thai coffee and chipotle-infused Heat. Butterfly Bakeshop provided a generous sample of possibly the best cake we’ve ever tasted — with guava and dulce de leche filling. Other sweet treats include MarieBelle Express chocolates, The Little Candy Cake Company, WannaHavaCookie, Baci Gelato, IT’SUGAR candies, Jala yogurt and ice cream and CupcakeStop.

The big food news is that Grimaldi’s Pizzeria — so famous for its coal brick-oven pizzas that tourist boats deposit large groups at the location near the Brooklyn Bridge — is opening its first Manhattan location in June and will sell pizza by the slice 24/7 through a walk-up window. Another restaurant is slated to open at some point this summer; other edibles include Peak Season Green Market, Carter & Cavero olive oils, organic offerings from Miss Tea and Petrossian caviar and gourmet foods. A charcuterie area sells meats and cheeses — a sample station provided a small taste, topped with fig marmalade.

We regretted throwing out our napkin before sampling marmalade on level two, where someone at Om Aroma & Co. then put Crème Eclat onto our somewhat sticky hand. Last year, we told you about the organic skin-care line made with natural ingredients that smell fresh and clean. More delectable scents could be found at Caswell-Massey, purveyors of luxury soaps, lotions, gels and fragrances made with natural ingredients, such as the Ocean hand lotion and Rosemary & Tarragon Bath Soap. Several party attendees were trying out nature-inspired beauty products by Sue Devitt, makeup artist to such celebs as Diane Lane, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rebecca Romijn and Christy Turlington, to name a few.

Silver and white shiny wallpaper accompanied us down a short hallway to Brocade Home, where sleek modern designs — often in basic black and white — meet classic silhouettes in little room vignettes. This floor also includes jewelry from Tina Tang and Facets, and a wall of interesting accessories from Old Hollywood. Though CANA Wine Bar (perhaps the Biblical name is a nod to the space’s history as a church?) isn’t slated to open until June, a Champagne station was set up, where Heatherette designer and former club kid Richie Rich posed for a few photographs. The bar will have 20 wines by the glass and a small plates menu designed by chef Nicola Maurello. Also on the second level: women’s fashions from Lulu, Sophie & Teddy’s Doggie Delight, Barbra Scott Flowers, Cosmé Proud beauty products and The Avery Perfumes.

Finding the correct set of stairs to reach some of the spaces on the third level was a bit tricky — although not nearly as bad as when it was a dark, riotous club. Now, the raciest things up there are the pin-up chocolate bar labels at the MarieBelle Cacao Bar & Café, where tables provide a place to sit down and indulge in chocolate treats. J. Sisters offers a variety of salon services, including hair, makeup, manicures, pedicures, waxing and threading. The Zakka space has a variety of collectible and zany toys, such as the Ugly Doll, as well as graphic art books. Jon Wye specializes in leather belts, tees for men and women, wrist cuffs and dog collars. On our way out we spotted Jill Zarin of The Real Housewives of New York City, chatting with some party guests, though the New York Post alleges she later devoted herself to seeking out freebies.

While Limelight has an array of interesting shops, we’re wondering how crowds are going to navigate some of the smaller spaces. Do you like the idea of a wide range of small kiosks or do you prefer large, stand-alone shops?

Rosacea (left) affects 16 million Americans, but can be easily treated (right) with such medications as Oracea, the only FDA-approved oral therapy for the condition.

We spent many self-conscious days as teens tormented by what seemed to be face-engulfing pimples. While growing up typically brings more poise and fewer acne outbreaks, it also can introduce new, unhappy skin issues. According to the National Rosacea Society, about 16 million Americans suffer from rosacea, a chronic inflammatory condition that typically occurs after the age of 30 and is three to four times more likely to affect women.

Characterized by persistent redness, eye irritation and pimple-like bumps on cheeks, nose, chin and forehead, it is often mistaken for acne or allergies, says dermatologist Doris Day, M.D., author of Forget the Facelift (Avery, 2005). In honor of Rosacea Awareness Month in April, we spoke to Day and makeup expert and Project Runway consultant Collier Strong for advice regarding the condition.

Rosacea can worsen if left untreated, so it’s important to get a proper diagnosis, says Day. She recommends checking out RosaceaFacts.com for more info and to find a dermatologist in your area. While the cause is unknown and the condition isn’t curable, it is easily treated with topical therapies (such as metronidazole or azelaic acid), oral tetracyclines or macrolides, and procedures such as microdermabrasion and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) photofacials, which use laser light to treat redness.

Triggers that exacerbate rosacea vary by individual, but often include food and beverages that cause increased blood flow to the face and neck — such as hot drinks, alcohol, chocolate and condiments such as soy sauce, hot sauce, chili powder and ketchup. Other potential triggers include weather (sun, wind and changes from hot or cold and vice versa), stress and medications, such as vasodilators and topical steroids. Day also suggests that those who suffer from rosacea avoid skin products with added fragrances, alcohol and dyes, and opt for lipid-free cleansers and moisturizers with petroleum, which soothes skin and is noncomedogenic.

Strong and Day recommend checking with a dermatologist to see what types of makeup are best for rosacea-prone skin; usually oil-free, water-based, fragrance-free and noncomedogenic products work best. Strong recommends liquid foundation and concealer, such as L’Oréal’s True Match (from $8.95), to cover the dry, flaky appearance rosacea gives the skin. Powder eye shadows, such as L’Oréal’s Wear Infinité Made for Me Naturals Eye Shadow Quads ($7.15), and long-wear pencils (Wear Infinité Soft Powder Eyeliner, $8.48) have more staying power than their cream or liquid counterparts, which can further irritate eyes already reddened and dry from rosacea. To disguise rosacea with makeup, apply a color corrector all over the face with a brush. Then use a sponge or brush to add foundation, and follow with an application of concealer over the affected area using a brush. Play up your best feature that is least affected by rosacea — for instance, create dramatic eyes. Also keep non-powder blotting papers on hand, for eliminating oily shine without adding more makeup. (We like Tweezerman Facial Blotting Paper, $8, and Bobbi Brown Blotting Papers, $5.) Avoid wearing red, pink, gray or blue tones, which can make rosacea’s redness more pronounced, says Strong.

We were surprised to discover that 78 percent of Americans don’t know about this condition. Have you dealt with a skin condition as an adult? Please share your story below or in our VIV Moments section.

Amber Valletta models the new NARS Orgasm Illuminator, applied all over her face for a dewy complexion.

While on a recent cosmetics-counter mission to Saks Fifth Avenue, we found ourselves at the NARS Cosmetics counter, where we discovered the new Orgasm Illuminator ($29).

We sat down for a makeover, and were given a fresh eye look by the makeup artist, who then applied the sheer fluid Illuminator to our cheeks and under our brow line. When used on the highest points of the face, such as the cheekbones and forehead, the product creates a healthy glow with flecks of gold, peach and pink shimmer. For the face of NARS Orgasm Illuminator, company founder François Nars selected 36-year-old Amber Valletta, model, actress and spokeswoman for Oceana’s Stop Seafood Contamination campaign.

To try it at home, squeeze a pea-sized amount of the brightener onto your finger and dot along the cheekbone or brow bone; the liquid formula blends and spreads easily. For more illumination, simply apply more of the product until you reach your personal preference. Mix Illuminator with your regular foundation or moisturizer in about a 3:7 ratio and apply all over the face to create a dewy complexion.

Though the product can be applied with a brush, as it was backstage at the 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2010 show, the illuminator is designed to be blended with the fingertips for the natural look that François Nars prefers. This latest addition to the popular NARS Orgasm line, which includes blush ($26), lip gloss ($24) and nail polish ($16), also can be swept onto neck, shoulders or décolletage for added sheen. For the 2010 Academy Awards, makeup artist Tina Turnbow used the NARS Orgasm Illuminator to accent Law & Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay’s face, neck and shoulders, visible in her strapless Vera Wang gown.

We think the makeup is a good choice for brightening dull, winter-wearied complexions. It also helps to create the fresh-faced look that we noticed at the Burberry, Ralph Lauren and Phi spring shows in our March/April issue’s “Runway Report.” The Illuminator contains raspberry and black currant, known for antioxidant and emollient properties, as well as soothing, anti-inflammatory bisabolol (found in chamomile) and Indian frankincense. Panthenol (vitamin B5) conditions the skin, while sodium hyaluronate moisturizes.

We thought the Orgasm Illuminator gave us a nice, subtle glimmer without making us conspicuously glittery, like a sun-drenched Edward Cullen in Twilight. How do you combat post-winter skin dullness?