ESTEE LAUDER NEW DIMENSION SHAPE + FILL SERUM
Estee Lauder New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Serum
In partnership with Estée Lauder • Although the just-launched Estee Lauder New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Serum isn't called an anti-aging formula, I can't help but get a little philosophical about the Fights-Looking-Older term right now. That's because Estée Lauder has made a big point of deliberately avoiding the "anti-aging" label in reference to New Dimension.
Instead of taking overt aim at fine lines, wrinkles, sagging and loss of volume, Estée Lauder New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Serum ($98 at sephora.ca and $89 at nordstrom.com) focusses on making skin look plumper and facial contours look more defined. The concept sprang from the reality that selfies are here to stay, and that even if we post them rarely, we want to look as photogenic as possible. And looking photo-ready is very much about facial definition and radiance, creating your best angles – sculpting and highlighting with skincare, if you will.
Estée Lauder New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Serum is a potent brew of hyaluronic acid, lipids and filaggrin (a protein already present in skin), ingredients that improve the skin's ability to hold onto moisture. Good hydration lends skin a bit more bounce and turns up radiance. The serum also contains a pro-collagen complex that increases the production of elastin and something called fibronectin; as I understand it, this team is responsible for boosting skin density, which, together with plumping via increased hydration makes for more defined cheekbones and jawline, and better light-reflection from the high points of that smoother, brighter skin.
Actress Eva Mendes, 41, is the face of Estée Lauder New Dimension
I can't help thinking that side-stepping the "anti-age" classification makes sense because that whole "target-age" business is blurred these days. You know what I mean? Aiming a new skincare launch at a specific age group is standard practice, based on when certain signs of aging start to appear. But most women now know a fair bit about taking better care of their skin, so they look younger than women our age did 20 years ago. "Forty is the new 30" – remember when that phrase was born? At least a decade later, that's more true than ever. Exhibit A: Eva Mendes, the face of Estée Lauder New Dimension. At 41, she has a healthy, youthful complexion that looks real. We might guess that she's in her early-30s, a woman who really looks after herself and her skin.
Sure, there's still an undertone of anti-aging when you think about what New Dimension Shape + Fill Serum does for skin. We've been conditioned to think that anything that helps our complexion look a little younger is fighting the growing-older process. And a lot of aging-related terms are unpleasant when they start to apply to us (at press events it's almost funny to watch editors older than 40 as we wince and scowl when talk turns to sagging skin, loss of radiance etc., and the younger set looks blithely unaware). But how about this perspective: we'll go with the flow instead, keeping our skin healthy, and enhancing our best angles. Selfie-worthy, at every age.
Hey, I bet that in another few years, what we see as 30 now will simply be the norm for 40. We'd better get those younger-than-our-age compliments while we can!
What do you think of this movement away from the term "anti-aging," toward a more "pro-photogenic" angle? ("Pro-photogenic" is my term, by the way, not Estée Lauder's.)
