5 Beauty Essentials That Will Transport You To Dreamy Destinations

Deadlines, commitments and daily chores play spoilsport in letting us slip into vacation mode. When the dream holiday is nowhere in sight, it’s perhaps time to cheat a little and embark on a sensorial journey. Look no further than the contents of your dressing table to discover or remember the scents and sights of faraway destinations.

Chanel Blue Serum
Escape to: Blue Zones

It has been found that people in the world’s Blue Zones are healthier and live longer. Chanel Research sourced three longevity ingredients from the diets of people living in these places to keep skin looking younger, firmer and healthier. Green Coffee from Nicoya, Costa Rica contains 70 times the antioxidant active molecules when compared with regular coffee beans. Bosona Olives from Sardinia, Italy — with their skin-fortifying polyphenols — help protect skin. Lentisk from Ikaria, Greece — with its naturally occurring Oleanolic acid — helps reinforce your skin’s restorative abilities. Believing that everything comes from nature, but nature too has to be reinvented, special extraction technology has been used to preserve and enhance the efficacy of the ingredients.

Z Zegna Cities
Escape to: New York, Shanghai and Milan

The three new limited-edition fragrances transport you to the world’s most exciting cities known for their pulsating energies. From taxi to take-off, the essence of each place is captured in the notes of these masculine scents. The mystery of an NYC vibe is arrested with a cocktail trail in the woody-oriental composition, while Milan pays homage to the Italian countryside with clary sage and figs. Shanghai is a woody-aromatic scent composed of notes of cardamom, violet and guaiac wood. It is a reminder who know that the journey is as important as the destination!

Bobbi Brown Havana Brights Collection
Escape to: Cuba

The capital city of Cuba is full of inspiration — from the sunset over the Malecón to the bright paint on colonial-era homes, to the colourful vintage convertibles — for make-up maestro Bobbi Brown. The energy of Havana gets captured in a soon-be-launched limited edition range of coral shades for lips, eyes and cheeks. In Havana the days are hot, but the nights can get even hotter; Dual-Ended Long Wear Cream Shadow Sticks are enduring, sweat-proof and water-resistant. For a fresh sun-kissed glow, reach for Illuminating Cheek Palettes.

Kiehl’s Pure Vitality Skin Renewing Cream
Escape to: New Zealand

This 99.6 per cent naturally-derived formula is a melange of the finest ingredients. Manuka honey — a dark, creamy mono-floral variety, valued for its anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties — is harvested from some of the most remote and pristine regions of New Zealand. In early spring, as the weather turns warmer and the star-shaped blossom of the Manuka flower begins to unfurl. The flowering season begins in the far north in early November and continues until March in the lower regions of the country. Called ‘chasing the flow’, keepers move their beehives to follow the flower, and then fill them with honey.

The Body Shop Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask
Escape to: Himalayas

Based on Ayurvedic traditions, this tingling mud-mask contains powerful ingredients: bamboo charcoal from the Himalayan foothills,  known to draw out impurities and excess oils from the skin; green tea leaves from Japan, rich in antioxidants and catechins to effectively exfoliate the skin; and Community Trade organic tea tree oil from Kenya, known to help keep skin looking clearer.

Call Of The Mountains

Jessica Jayne travelled to the Himalayas for love and discovered a passion for all the local ingredients she encountered along the way. Explaining the journey of her brand Pahadi Local, she says, “I moved to Shimla and spent the first three years absorbing the warmth of the Pahadi people, the traditional way of living and bracing myself for the extreme winters! In minus degree temperatures, I noticed my skin begin to peel, flake and get absolutely dry. Having said that, no one else seemed to be having that problem and continued looking absolutely fresh. That’s when I was introduced to gutti ka tel (apricot kernel oil) — the local answer to my prayers. I used this orchard-fresh oil, and within a week my skin healed and was restored with a beautiful glow.” She used to make regular trips to Mumbai for work and began gifting this magical elixir to family and friends. When the demand continued to grow, she realised that it was helping people not only with their skin, but with joint pains, baby rashes and chronic skin eczema too. The serial entrepreneur in her saw this as an opportunity to supply the goodness of the hills to the cities, while empowering local communities in the regions where it is produced. And so, Pahadi Local was born.