Crème de la eye crème

You know you’ve arrived when your vanity table is stocked with La Mer. The anti-aging cosmetic line, which is exclusively carried by Rustan’s, is the Porsche GT2 or Rolls-Royce Corniche of the beauty world — desirable, luxurious, high-performance, and status-affirming.

Better yet, it’s not all smoke and seaweed. The products actually work, or else La Mer wouldn’t have developed such an avid cult following.

La Mer’s latest release is the Eye Balm Intense, a triple-concentrated version of their original eye balm. Already it’s receiving raves from Hollywood’s top makeup artists, who use it on their celebrity clients to deflate and de-puff eye bags.

Troy Surratt, who works with Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Hilary Swank, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, says it helps him achieve the perfect canvas for makeup: “Just a small amount of the Eye Balm Intense smoothes and preps the eye area perfectly for makeup, while delivering La Mer’s treatment benefits.  At the end of the day, the eye area looks hydrated, smooth, and energized — makeup perfectly intact.”

Makeup artist Jenn Streicher, who works with Emily Blunt, Claire Danes and Hugh Jackman, agrees: “The new Eye Balm Intense is everything you would expect from La Mer and more.  It’s rich, yet not too heavy in texture and is amazing under makeup.  Soothes away fine lines and minimizes darkness under the eye.”

Jennifer Lopez, Hugh Jackman and Emily Blunt

The secret of this hopped-up version is the patented Miracle Broth behind all of La Mer’s products — the bio-fermented formula of sea kelp and marine minerals that the founder, Dr. Max Huber, invented to treat burns and found to be a potent skin renewer as well. But the balm has three times the normal amount, delivered three ways: the original Miracle Broth, fermented for three to four months; a concentrated broth, created through a three-day cold-vacuum process for intense hydration; and an encapsulated broth, with its time-release delivery of soothing benefits to the delicate eye area.

But that’s not all. Two other proprietary ingredients are the Marine De-Puff Ferment, derived from energy-rich deep-sea red algae and activated with rare tourmaline to rejuvenate tired skin and decrease puffiness; and the Lifting Ferment, a combination of marine algae, peptides, botanicals and essential minerals to strengthen the thin “architecture” under the eyes, helping boost the skin’s natural production of collagen and elastin and improving clarity and brightness.

The balm is meant to be applied with La Mer’s silver-tipped applicator, literally a cool little tool that operates on the same principle as spoons placed in the fridge and then over your eyes to de-puff. It picks up the perfect amount of balm and you’re supposed to sweep it under the eye from temple to nose and back again to stimulate micro-circulation .

I’ve just started testing the Eye Balm Intense but can already say I love it. The avocado-colored cream has a luxurious whipped texture that melts into the skin and makes it feel velvety, not oily. The cooling applicator is a hangover cure in itself — it feels wonderful on my perennially sleep-deprived eyes and instantly deflates any excess baggage underneath. And it may be too early to tell, but those stubborn lines that form my dark circles may actually be starting to go away.

After all, when you use La Mer, you start to believe in miracles.

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La Mer is exclusively available at Rustan’s.