Top Management

Our hair texture – too frizzy, too flat, too coarse – is often the culprit on bad hair days. A new line of Je L’aime haircare promises to keep it all in check for beautiful hair every day.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel
Our hair texture – too frizzy, too flat, too coarse – is often the culprit on bad hair days. A new line of Je L’aime haircare promises to keep it all in check for beautiful hair every day.
 
My Reading Room
Straight & Sleek

smooths and tames wavy or frizzy hair.

High-flying gal-boss or bold adventure seeker, do-it-all mum or gogetting executive – we all have more than enough battles to fight every day. Undesirable or unruly hair shouldn’t be one of them.

That is why Japanese brand Je L’aime, known for haircare formulated with 90 per cent botanical ingredients, recently launched the Relax series with three ranges to manage different hair types so each looks its softest and healthiest always.

Each range has a shampoo, a treatment conditioner, and a mask for once or twice a week to repair accumulated damage.

• Straight & Sleek straightens messy waves and smooths down frizz. It protects and neatens strands with a moist coating that keeps hair looking sleek and light.

• Bounce & Airy does two things: It volumises flat, lifeless hair, and if you have curls, it gives them more bounce. It improves the resilience of weak, thin hair and gives it an airy lift.

• Soft & Moist provides intense moisture to coarse, wiry hair so it regains its soft, supple feel. Hair is evenly coated with two kinds of oil-based ingredients, leaving it smooth and ultra-soft.

All the products share the same star ingredient to boost hair health: succinic acid. This helps to clear buildup from the scalp, lessen the greasies, enhance shine and give hair a light, silky feel.

The products are also gentle on hair and scalp as they are free of sulphates, silicone, alcohol, mineral oil and artificial colouring. Even their pH levels are designed to fall within our hair and scalp acidity range of 4.5 and 5.5.
 
My Reading Room
Bounce & Airy
volumises limp hair and curls.
 
My Reading Room
Soft & Moist
softens very dry, stiff hair.
 
My Reading Room
Colour Corrector + Primer
Their roles are different. The first corrects the skin’s undertone/s, and the second, though technically a base for foundation, has evolved to also brighten skin and make it more eventoned. Clarins offers both with its SOS Primers, in three shades. Each shade does different things: #01 Rose for fair skin brightens; #02 Peach for medium complexions blurs imperfections and brightens; #03 Coral does the same for tanned skin and neutralises grey undertones; #04 Green counters redness; #05 reduces yellowness; and #00 Universal Light brightens all complexions. Each is $56.
 
My Reading Room
Skincare & Makeup for Sporty Folk

When we’re active, we sweat and feel extra sticky and greasy. Clinique’s Cliniquefit, a range of oil-free skincare and sweat-resistant makeup created for every kind of active lifestyle, promises to help you look and feel cool even when it’s darn hot.

Workout Face + Body Hydrating Spray refreshes and hydrates skin with its nonsticky formula. $19
 
My Reading Room
Post-workout Mattifying Moisturiser hydrates while keeping skin shine-free. $50
 
My Reading Room
Post-workout Neutralizing Face Powder counters redness and reduces shine. $39
 
My Reading Room
Lip + Cheek Flush is a gel that offers a fade-resistant stain in one universal rosy shade. $29
 
My Reading Room

Workout 24-hour Mascara lengthens and volumises, is sweat-resistant, and waterproof against cold water. $30 

My Reading Room

Workout Makeup Broad Spectrum SPF40 is a matte liquid foundation that doesn’t cause breakouts. $49 

My Reading Room
Colour Lock
Once you introduce water after any dye job, the colour will leak and fade. Phyto promises to lessen the leakage from your first wash with its Phytomillesime range for coloured hair. Its Pre-shampoo Color Locker, applied to dry hair from roots to ends and left on for two minutes before shampooing, claims to form a protective barrier around each strand by closing its cuticles, which keeps colour in. Wash it off with either the Color-enhancing Shampoo or Cleansing Care Cream, which soothes the scalp too. The range also has a Color-enhancing Mask, and Beauty Concentrate, a leave-in spray that promises to reduce frizz and close hair cuticles to help maintain colour. $45-$85 – SW
 
My Reading Room