Fab Find of the Week: Dolce & Gabbana make-up newness
Fact: Dolce & Gabbana clothes often stop us in our tracks, either when walking down a shopping boulevard like Bond Street, or when leafing through a glossy mag at the hairdresser. (Ditto, we stand and swoon over the designers’ fridge and kitchen accessories collaborations in the Smeg showroom on Lower Regent Street, too!)
Also a fact: we’re never going to buy, wear or have any of these in our homes, because of the price tags. But we CAN get a Dolce & Gabbana fix, more affordably. First off (sorry to go off-subject a bit!), via their panettone collaborations with the Italian artisan makers, Fiasconaro – a selection of which you can find on Sous Chef, here)
But probably more relevantly for you lot, it’s possible to buy into Dolce & Gabbana’s unique brand of Italian glamour and style via fragrance and make-up. We BUY this stuff (not least for the show-stopping packaging), and so were delighted to step inside the Dolce & Gabbana boutique just before Christmas for a spring preview – where we were duly WOWED.
Can we start with the primer? Because we really should. Mattifying, amazingly smoothing, Dolce & Gabbana Everlast Primer is also properly grippy, and really does extend the wear of foundation, blusher, powders by hours. (It promises to double the life of your make-up on skin – and we reckon does exactly that.) Completely weightless, so you don’t feel it’s there – but by 4 p.m., we promise you’ll really notice the difference. (And don’t be put off by the seemingly peachy tone in the glass bottle; it’s invisible on skin.)
Bearing the same name, Dolce & Gabbana Everlast Foundation also has great tenacity. Impressively, there are 40 – yes, 40! – shades to choose from. It is quite astonishingly concealing. If you like seriously full coverage, this is brilliant (almost up there with the legendary Estée Lauder Maximum Cover) – veins, redness, shadows simply vanish. But it’s also possible to smooth it out, with a sponge or a brush, to a lighter coverage that simply doesn’t budge.
To our great delight, there are also three unbelievably comfortable-yet-glam new lipsticks in the range. For our thoughts, keep scrolling…
‘Matte’ and ‘comfy’ are words that don’t always go together. And we’ve tried, oh, about a gazillion lipsticks which promise this – and then don’t deliver. But this is honestly perfect: a velvety finish that is so, so, sooooo comfortable (avocado oil and hyaluronic acid play a part, here). As you’d expect from Dolce & Gabbana, the shades are fabulous – 24 of them (you can try them on virtually by following the link above, which we love). Pictured, left to right: MY 01.03, a ‘mid-toned perfect pink) – and it is; MY 1984 (‘neutral-toned nude pink’), and a signature Dolce & Gabbana orange-y red, MY 24.11. (As ever, we do find the use of numbers rather than names desperately confusing, but you can’t have everything.)
This almost has the texture of a lip balm, it glides on so easily. In this case, 12 shades (eight of our faves are featured above; the main picture is MY 13.03.) Instantly hydrating, nicely glossy without being too Playboy Playmate, we will definitely be adding other shades to our wardrobe of this sheer lipstick, come summer.
With a silky-looking finish that’s literally mid-way between glossy and matte, this is a one-stroke wonder, giving great colour pay-off with a single gesture. Again, incredibly comfy on the lip, promising ‘six hours of lasting hydration.’ (Which is powered, BTW, by hyaluronic acid and Italian goji berry, which apparently has plumping properties.)
The gorgeous, slim case is white, this time, with a shade line-up that spans nudes to magentas; pictured, find and MY 1981 (‘warm brown nude’); MY 25.12 (‘vibrant orange red’); and MY 21.10 (‘fresh nude peach’). But – like we say – the best way to find your shade, if you can’t get to a store like Harrods, is via the ‘virtual try-on’ tool. (So fun, too!) The shade chart below might be helpful, too.
Of course none of these is cheap – they do come with a Dolce & Gabbana price-tag – but compared to a dress, a handbag, never mind a fridge…? Not outrageous, and all offering a glam factor that’s pretty unrivalled, in terms of make-up packaging.
Dolce & Gabbana Everlast Primer/£45 for 28ml – buy here
Dolce & Gabbana Everlast Foundation/£49 for 28ml – buy here
My Comfy Matte Lipstick/£38 – buy here
My Juicy Sheer Lipstick/£38 – buy here
My Sculpt Satin/£38 – buy here
