It’s the ASEAN summit next week which means we have a five-day long weekend. How are you spending it? I’ll probably be playing tennis and sewing, and swatching all the new releases that are coming in waves recently. Here’s what happened in the last week alone!
NARS Radiant Creamy and Soft Matte Complete Concealers are back on Philippine shelves
Luxasia Philippines, which distributes NARS here, announced on November 8 that "the icons" have returned: the Radiant Creamy Concealer and the Soft Matte Complete Concealer are back in stock after a stretch of empty shelves that had the concealer-dependent among us quietly rationing.
On Rustan's website the Radiant Creamy Concealer is listed at P1,950 in 30 shades, from Chantilly down to Dark Coffee, and the Soft Matte Complete Concealer from P1,800, both currently with a gift-with-purchase. That's four times a local pot concealer, and I'll say what I usually say about NARS: the shade matching and formula is the reason to pay for it If you've been meaning to replace a dried-out Custard, now is the window, before the Christmas gift sets eat the stock again.
GRWM's Blurmatte Full Cover Pot Concealer is out, and it's 25 shades at P499
The bare-faced teasers that GRWM Cosmetics ran all through late October have a name and a price. The Blurmatte Full Cover Pot Concealer launched on November 6, timed to the start of the brand's 11.11 Beauty Clock In sale, and the headline number is the shade count: 25 shades, broken down as 20 complexion shades, 4 brighteners, and 1 green corrector. That's the widest range on any local pot concealer so far (Colourette's Cover Base, which we covered last week, has 21). It's P499 for 7g, and the brand's own checklist on the pot reads like it was written for Manila skin: non-comedogenic, fragrance-free, vegan and cruelty-free, paraben-free, non-drying, self-setting, and non-irritant, "for all skin types." GRWM is calling the coverage maximum with a comfortable matte finish.
There is also a Brush Pro Series of five concealer brushes built for the pot format, each with its own job; the smallest, the BPS01 Precision Detailer for pinpoint work on post-acne marks and active pimples, is P199. One more thing coming this November: a Mini Loose Setting & Finishing Powder Ultra Blur, now talc-free, with the same ultra-fine texture and soft-focus finish as the full size, and the Matte and Ultra Matte Long-Wear Fixing Sprays have new packaging.
If you've been keeping count, this makes three local pot concealers in a month after Happy Skin's and Colourette's, and GRWM has clearly decided that the way to win that race is shades and tools, not a lower price. The sale runs to November 15.
BW Women's four new Whimsicals have names: Halo, Pixie, Stardust, and Twinkle
The Whimsical Collection is nine scents now. BW Women used Sunday's Once Upon a Spritz: Return to Whimsyland at Bigger Pictures in Mandaluyong to unveil the four additions it has been teasing since October, then confirmed them on the grid on November 9: Halo, Pixie, Stardust, and Twinkle, joining Whimsy, Spell, Dream, Wish, and Lullaby. They're deodorant body sprays like the rest of the line, so you're getting the antibacterial and freshness claims along with the fragrance, and they're now available on TikTok Shop, Shopee, and Lazada, and in leading department stores and supermarkets nationwide.
New face Gehlee Dangca got her first proper campaign post this week too ("I am my best self every day with BW Women"), and the 11.11 deals still running are buy-one-take-one on any Whimsical variant and the OG Deo Spray, P200 off a P1,500 spend, and a free Hexaedge razor at P399 (P499 on TikTok Shop).
Issy's Bebot Collection is 23 cool-toned shades and a product that mutes the others
Remember the "concealer for your lips, you'll understand soon" slide from founder Joel Martin Andrade's October carousel? We understand now. Issy turned seven this week and launched the Bebot Collection on November 10, a cool-toned answer to years of comments asking for mauves, berries, and greys from a brand that built itself on warm nudes. Three existing lip formulas get new shades: Lip Bait, the overlining and smudging pencil, in Smoke, Knockout, Half-truth, Thorn, and Tempt (P399); Fat Gloss in Bubblegum, Trouble, Dusk, Bebot, Ghost, and Angel (P399), where Ghost is a spectral grey and Angel a white pearl, so yes, the grey gloss from the spoiler slide is real; and Lip Bullet in nine shades across its three finishes (P349): Dirty, Bite, and Hush in True Matte, Undone, Fatal, and Misfit in True Velvet, Cameo, Precious, and Obsession in True Satin.
The new product is the one to watch. The Desaturating Face & Lip Base (P399) is a "tone-adjusting primer and mixer" in three shades, Soft Cool, Soft Neutral, and Deep Nude, and it does two jobs: mix a little into any lip color or cream blush to mute it toward the cool, dusty end, or wear it alone under lipstick to neutralize your natural lip color so the shade on top reads true. That's the trick makeup artists have done with concealer for decades, finally made as its own product with undertones chosen for Filipina skin, and it means every warm Issy lippie you already own just gained a cool-toned version. The whole collection is on issycosmetics.com, TikTok Shop, Shopee, Lazada, and select stores. The launch party at Octopus in Poblacion had apl.de.ap anointing the brand an official Bebot, which is the most on-brand possible use of a Black Eyed Pea.
Blanc Nue's Microdose is seven pill-shaped mists you're supposed to mix
A clothing brand launching fragrance is not news. A clothing brand launching fragrance as seven pills you combine like a prescription is, at least, a good bit. Blanc Nue's Microdose body and fabric mists dropped November 11 at noon: 50ml capsule-shaped bottles, a rubber case included so you can clip one to a bag, and no signature scent, because the idea is that each "pill" is a mood and you layer two to make your own formula. The seven: Blanc (cozy; rice and fresh laundry), Bleu (fresh; pool days and soap), Verte (alive; lime and wet grass), Fleur, Rouge (sensual; gummies and whiskey), Nue (intimate; soft florals, warm tobacco, and creamy vanilla, which the brand describes as root beer and buttercream), and Noir (intense; smoky woods, worn leather, dry tobacco, like palo santo smoke on leather).
The brand has done the combining for you if you'd rather not: Natural High is Fleur and Verte, Cold Remedy is Blanc and Bleu, Pure Form is Blanc and Nue, Gum Drop is Fleur and Rouge, Dark Matter is Rouge and Noir, Smoky Elixir is Bleu and Noir, and Acid Dream is Verte and Nue. They ran a two-day "Blanc Labs" sniffing event at Matter by Issy in Legaspi Village before launch, and Matter is where you can smell all seven in person; otherwise it's Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada, MNL Studio, and the Blanc Nué stores at One Ayala, Greenhills, Park Triangle, and SM The Block. A body-and-fabric mist that smells like rice and laundry is a very specific pitch to a very specific Manila customer, and I think it will find them.
And that's it for this week's Beauty Roundup!
