The foundation of youth: Clarins Everlasting Youth Fluid

One of the most compelling ways a Beauty Advisor can engage with their customer is to have friendly confidence in what she’s doing. Combined with a smiley manner, confidence in a customer consultation builds trust and loyalty.

“Unless you increase your trust with them, you’ve lost your customer”, says Anne Salem, the recently appointed National Make-Up Artistry Training Manager at Clarins Group. And she would know having started her retail beauty career on counter in David Jones some 20 years ago. Absolutely gorgeous herself, with a bubbly manner, Anne says: “You can only recommend the wrong product once, and they’ll never come back”.

On counter services engage with customers

Tasked with elevating the BAs’ makeup skills, Anne is developing on-counter protocols that provide the BAs with ways to further forge customer engagement – and bring out the best of their natural beauty by treating makeup as skincare.

One such tool is the Foundation Colour Matching service – which was used by Anne recently to introduce beauty media to the brand’s latest foundation innovation: Everlasting Youth Fluid.

With way more depth than just dabbing a couple of ‘possibles’ on the back of a customer’s hand, Foundation Colour Matching is a protocol that speaks to customers’ desire to get the canvass right and look like themselves, only better. “You never want a mask” says Anne. Run a mile if the BA says “we’ll warm it up with a bronzer. And an orange contour is never going to be ‘in’.”

At Clarins we’re looking at makeup with the mindset of finding what’s the best your skin can look, Helen Moreno, GM Clarins, tells esprit. And Everlasting Youth Fluid is the perfect launch to highlight this ethos, since it has been developed to the same standards as a skincare product to offer more than just a makeup result. Four key benefits included in the formula are: Anti-Pollution Complex, Sun Protection (SPF15), Firmness and Deep Hydration. And then there are the shades, all 23 of them.

Additionally, Clarins recommends, and Anne enthusiastically endorses and trains, extending the product’s main purpose by adding in relevant skincare products to create a synergistic result. Anne has dubbed this Mixology. With the new foundation, and any of the foundations in the portfolio, you can add in one or two drops of Double Serum to increase the youthful glow. “Everlasting Youth Fluid is intensely pigmented (concentrated) and the consistency lends itself perfectly for a half-to-one pump of Double Serum. In consumer trials women observed that their complexion was even more youthful-looking and naturally radiant using the mix of both products”.

Foundation Colour Matching service

Back to the Foundation Colour Matching service. This is not a one-off, matched-for-life prescription. Skin changes through the seasons in both colour and hydration levels meaning it may not work to keep one’s foundation the same shade or texture year-round. “BAs can encourage their customers to come in for a regular foundation check. Ideally each time their foundation runs out.

“Maybe every three months a customer would suit a shade lighter or darker – depending on the season, their holidays/tanning or their health”, says Anne. When talking with your customer liken it to their wardrobe, she adds.

Shade matching begins with cleansing the skin around the jawline and the neck using Water Comfort One-Step Cleanser to see and asses the skin. “Applying a few different chosen shades of foundation in a dot on the neck, we’re looking for the edge of the dot to melt into the natural skin tone”. The one that does is the winner. “In winter we like the jawline and neck to match. In summer when more skin is exposed, we go for a 360° approach: face, neck, dec (décolletage) and tip of shoulder – they should all match”.

Application of the foundation can be with a sponge, brush or fingertips. Anne recommends the little wedge sponges, using a dabbing technique. Once applied you can add on Beauty Flash Balm throughout the day. Apply a little to the sponge and dab it on, repeating throughout the day … or on a flight, says Helen. It’s cooling, refreshing and especially when you’re tired gives a hydration boost. “Hydration plus skincare benefits, customers can amplify their glow while nurturing their skin”.

Add a little Glow-To-Go Highlight Stick – it’s creamy and flattering – and then another of Anne’s favourite products: Fix’ Make-Up. The 50ml palm-sized replica shape of iconic Eau Dynamisante, is a refreshing, hydrating mist, scented with grapefruit and rose water, used to give makeup a longer lasting hold.

Anne Salem worked with beauty media, one-on-one in Clarins Sydney HQ, introducing them to Everlasting Youth Fluid with the Foundation Colour Matching service. Hosted by Helen Moreno, General Manager, Clarins Australia.

Everlasting Youth Fluid is available at Clarins counters in Myer, David Jones and selected pharmacies, RRP $65.00 from August 12th 2019.

Feature image courtesy of @clarinsaus