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| Chanel Eye Care and the Rhode Lip Combination | Je Zen Levia |
Eye care, glossy lips, and why my approach to beauty is becoming quieter than it used to be.
There has been a shift in how I approach beauty lately, and it took me a while to notice it.
I still love beautiful products. The ritual of skincare, discovering a new formula, those few minutes in the day when getting ready feels deliberate rather than rushed. But increasingly I find myself less interested in covering my skin and more interested in looking after it.
Which is probably why my routine has become so much simpler than it was a year ago. More attention on the eye area. A lip combination that works with my natural colouring rather than against it. Products chosen because I genuinely enjoy using them, not because I felt I needed another step.
These are the ones I keep reaching for.
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The Eye Ritual
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| Chanel eye care ritual - Chanel le lift patches |
The eye area has quietly become my favourite part of my skincare routine, which I did not expect.
It is also the easiest thing to neglect. We think endlessly about serums and moisturisers and treatments for the face, and then rush the one area that shows everything first.
It matters most when I am travelling. Long days, changing climates, late nights and dry cabin air all show up under the eyes before they show up anywhere else, and no amount of concealer fixes tired skin it only sits in it. So this has become the one step I never skip on a trip, and Chanel Le Lift Crème Yeux (£82) is one of very few things that has earned a permanent place in my travel bag.
I have been using it for six months, which is long enough to say something honest about it. Two things keep me reaching for it. The area stays properly hydrated across the whole day rather than for the first hour, which is where a lot of eye creams quietly give up. And makeup goes on over it with real ease - concealer sits smoothly instead of catching, creasing or separating by mid-afternoon.
That second point is the one I would not have predicted, and it is the reason it travels with me. A good base under the eyes does more for how rested you look than the concealer on top of it.
I use the Chanel Le Lift Flash Eye Revitalizer patches (£86) alongside it. Where the cream is the daily step, these are the reset — for mornings when the eye area needs more than hydration and I want it to look genuinely refreshed rather than just moisturised.
There is something about Chanel skincare that makes the process itself feel worth doing. The weight of the packaging, the texture, the fact that applying it takes a moment rather than being something you rush at the end of the night. It turns a functional step into one I look forward to.
How I actually apply it. A small amount — genuinely small, less than you think — warmed between the ring fingers first. Then patted along the orbital bone rather than rubbed, working inwards towards the nose. No dragging, no pulling. The skin there is thinner than anywhere else on the face and it does not forgive rough handling.
The aim is not dramatic. I want the area to feel hydrated and look rested. That is all.
Beauty rarely needs another ten products. Usually it just needs a little more intention with the ones you already own. Sometimes luxury is simply taking a few quiet minutes to look after yourself.
Shop the eye ritual:
Chanel Le Lift Crème Yeux — £82
Chanel Le Lift Flash Eye Revitalizer — £86
The Lip Combination
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| Rhode-peptide lip tint - pbj-application |
I was late to this one, and I resisted it for longer than I should have.
My preference with lips has been consistent for years: defined, neutral, glossy, without looking like I have tried very hard. So the formula matters less to me than whether the finished thing still looks like my mouth.
The combination is the Rhode Peptide Lip Shape in Jump (£24) underneath, with the Rhode Peptide Lip Tint in PBJ (£20) over the top. Both from Rhode, which is part of why they sit so well together — the shape is built to work under the tint rather than fight it.
The liner does the real work. Jump is a soft brown nude, and a brown-based shade adds definition without introducing a colour that fights my natural lip — which is the mistake I made for years with anything pink-toned. I line just outside the natural edge, then blur the inside with a fingertip so there is no hard line left to see once the tint goes over it.
PBJ is a deeper brown-red, and layered over Jump it reads as a richer version of my own lip rather than a lipstick.
On wear, I will be straight with you: it holds up well across a normal day, but it is not one of those formulas that survives everything. Eating or drinking takes the edge off it and I do find myself topping it up afterwards. That is the trade with a glossy tint rather than a matte — you get the finish, you accept the reapplication. It does not bother me, but it is worth knowing before you buy.
At £44 for the pair it is also the least expensive thing in this post by a wide margin, which I think is worth saying out loud. Considered does not have to mean expensive.
What I like most is that the result still looks like me. The lip is not competing with anything. It finishes the face and then stops, which is increasingly my whole benchmark with makeup — I would rather someone noticed me than noticed the product.
It lives in my handbag now, which is the only review that really counts.
Shop the combination:
Rhode Peptide Lip Shape in Jump — £24
Rhode Peptide Lip Tint in PBJ — £20
The Shift Towards Less
The biggest change in my routine is not a product at all. It is my relationship with makeup itself.
I have always loved beauty and I doubt that will ever change. But I am increasingly drawn to skin that still looks like skin. A little definition around the eyes, a hydrated lip, good skincare underneath everything — and then stopping.
There is something freeing about reaching the point where makeup is something you choose to wear rather than something you feel you need before leaving the house.
That is not the same as abandoning glamour. I still love beautiful makeup, beautiful packaging, the whole ritual of getting ready properly, and there will always be evenings that deserve the full version. But everyday beauty has started to feel like a different thing entirely. I am far more interested in enhancing than disguising.
Perhaps that is my definition of luxury beauty now. Not having more, but knowing exactly what deserves a place in the routine.
The products I am most interested in are not the ones creating the loudest transformation. They are the ones I reach for without thinking. The eye cream that turns an ordinary evening into a ritual. The lip combination in my handbag. The two or three things I actually pack when I travel, because I know I will use them.
That tells a more interesting story than a full bathroom shelf ever could.
This edit will keep changing, as these things do. But for now — considered skincare, a little Chanel and a very glossy lip seem to be doing the job.
Je Zen x
You might also like:
The Rise of Quiet Luxury
My Luxury Wishlist: The Timeless Pieces I'm Saving For
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