This week I am pleased to share a new Clarins report from our Panelist Judith. Enjoy!

Judith, 55, lives in Washington, DC, where she works part time in the advertising department of a major newspaper, runs an online jewelry business, as well as a major mailing list and web site for art quilters on the web. A natural blonde until she reached her 40's, her dark blonde hair is cropped short and highlighted. She has brown eyes and sensitive/normal to dry fair skin with yellow undertones. Makeup concerns vary from season to season in Washington, as the weather goes from one extreme to the other. Judith prefers a liquid, cream or gel foundation with sheer to medium coverage and never leaves home without foundation, blush, mascara and lipstick. Her main skin care concerns are fine lines and uneven skin tones and she is always in search of a perfect new product!

And now for Judith's reviews...

I'm pleased to review some new products from Clarins. Testing products from Clarins is always a treat for me, as they truly seem like "grown up" products targeted for mature skin. Their elegant packaging and pleasant fragrances are nice bonuses to some really great products.

Souffle de Teint Colour Tint ($32.50) is Clarins' entry into the light diffusing makeup arena. When I first tried this product, I truly thought it was a new version of Clarins' Hydra-Balance Tinted Moisturizer SPF 6, which I had tried several years ago. but it wasn't. Hydra-Balance Tinted Moisturizer is still being made and while I've tried almost every tinted moisturizer that has been available in the last several years, it was probably one of my least favorites in this field. It only came in a couple of colors, had an overpoweringly strong fragrance and greasy feel, with an SPF of only 6!

Souffle de Teint Colour Tint is an entirely different product. It's a sheer foundation, but it's not a moisturizer. While Hydra-Balance Tinted Moisturizer always felt greasy on my face, Souffle de Teint Colour Tint dries to a lovely finish and stays in place all day long. Surprisingly, Clarins lists no SPF for this product, so you will still have to use your own SPF product. Despite this, while reminding me a great deal of Prescriptives Traceless, which is also one of my favorite sheer foundations, Clarins Souffle de Teint Colour Tint is a keeper and worth a try for those of you who like a sheer foundation.

Under my foundation, I always wear a moisturizer. While testing Souffle de Teint, I used Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate ($52), a soothing serum for sensitive skin, which, like many Clarins products, is made with plant extracts. Last year I reviewed Total Double Serum Age Control Extra-Firming Serum. Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate seems like its second cousin. It's similar, but much lighter in texture, although still an oil, which quickly is absorbed into your skin. You only use a tiny bit!

On top of the Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate, I used Contouring Facial Lift ($54), a light day lotion that firms your face and makes a nice canvas for your foundation. Using these two products with the Souffle de Teint, my foundation lasts all day with no extra shine. My makeup stays in place through the workday with no problem!

Eclat Minute Stylo Perfecteur Instant Light Perfecting Touch Concealer ($20) is a brush on concealer pen which is very similar to Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat with a lovely texture that can be layered as sheerly or heavily as needed. It does a good job with undereye circles and other imperfections. Try it, you'll like it! At $20, it's a bargain compared to Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Eclat at $35!

Le Rouge Pearl Shimmer Lipstick - Le Rouge Irise ($20) is a range of lipsticks with a creamy texture that doesn't feather or change color. With pearly colors that have a lovely sheen, there is enough pigment in these lipsticks to last a good while, while not looking cakey or heavy. My favorite colors are Illusion 227, a dark pearly mauve and Fusion 503, a beige pink. The matte red cases have a substantial feel and are probably the nicest lipstick cases I have come across in a long time. I'm a lipstick junkie and these I liked!

Colour Quartet for Eyes - Palette Quatuor Yeux ($35) is a red compact of four pastel pearly eye shadows in pink, yellow, lavender and green. All are very sheer and blendable. On their own, I found them to be too pale, but blended with other darker shadows, they had a nice touch.

Eye Colour Trio - Trio Reflets ($27) is a smaller red compact of three colors. I tested Sirroco #8, a combo of deep lilac, warm honey (which is dark brown in my book) and cool apricot. The powder eye shades have a lovely sheer texture and the darkest color (warm honey) works well as an eyeliner.

If three or four colors at once are too much for you, try the single Deep Shimmer Intense Eye Colour - Mono Reflets Ombre Intense ($17.50). I tried #21 Thunder Pink, which is dark rose brown with a slight shimmer to it.

Eye Shimmer Pencil - Crayon Yeux Irise ($18) is an eyeliner pencil with a wonderful texture. Very creamy, as opposed to many eye pencils that tug as you put them on. Actually, of all the Clarins eye products I tested, this was my favorite.

As I've mentioned in previous reviews, Clarins uses a great many plant and herbal extracts in their skin care products, as well as varying amounts of fragrance in skin care and color cosmetics. If these ingredients cause a problem with your particular sensitivities, you may want to stop by a Clarins counter to check the ingredients before you try these products. I have sensitive skin, but have never had a problem with any of their products.

In this day and age when most cosmetics are geared to a younger consumer, it's nice to try products that are targeted to the older customer. Clarins' range of products is huge and with so many choices, I suggest giving some of their products a try.

Clarins is available at many department stores and online at Gloss.com.

Thanks, Judith. I hope you enjoyed this issue of The Cosmetic Report!