Quick Fashion Week Report: Costello Tagliapietra Fall 2011. Swoon!

Happy New York Fashion Week! I love fashion week in the city. Lots of parties, tons of activity. Everyone complains about how busy they are running from show to show, but secretly they love it. Trust me on that one. We did the Victoria Beckham show on Sunday (divine) and Chris Benz on Monday (so much fun) and we're doing L'Wren Scott on Thursday with Aaron De Mey. We threw a big blogger/vlogger/editor event on Sunday too. I'll post about all of this in the days ahead.



On Friday, I managed to sneak over to the Costello Tagliapietra show. Robert and Jeffrey, the designers behind the brand, are two of my favorite people. The show was beautiful! I saw so many dresses I'd like to wear next season. The makeup and minty green nails were great too. I wish Lancome could take credit, but we can't! Not one of our shows. :(



Enjoy my fave looks above. Costello always has a cool goodie bag and this season was no different. They fashioned this season's bag from one of the fabrics they used for the Fall 2011 collection. It's dyed using an environmentally-friendly process called AirDye. (Oh, and technically, the bag is courtesy of Lexus Hybrid Living!) That's Maggie from the P.R. team above, whom I forced to model the bag.



The reason I'm bringing up the bag? I'm giving it away. I'll throw in a few Lancome fashion week favorites. Just tell me something you did recently to be green and chic. Please leave a comment by Thursday night and I'll pick one comment at random.



RUNWAY PHOTOS FROM STYLE.COM

Behind the Scenes with Daria & Aaron

Here's a little behind the scenes video starring Daria Werbowy, our gorgeous spokesmodel, and Aaron De Mey, our artistic director for makeup. They got together on Sept. 10th to shoot a beauty story for the December issue of Marie Claire magazine at a studio in Manhattan. Daria had just returned from several weeks of sailing, so she was tan and her hair was a pretty caramel blond from all the salt water and sun. It was a fun day, but also a crazy one because it was Fashion's Night Out. The Marie Claire team was great to work with, especially Ying Chu, one of our favorite beauty directors!



In case you've ever wondered what it looks like behind the scenes at a magazine shoot, this video pretty much nails it. Enjoy!

Fall's Most Fashionable, Versatile Eyeshadow? Ombre Magnetique!

If you're in the mood for a new eyeshadow, I'd argue that the most fashionable of the season is our new Ombre Magnetique shadow.



We used Ombre at three of the Fall 2010 fashion shows we did the makeup for--Victoria Beckham, Chris Benz and L'Wren Scott. Aaron De Mey used the Black Macadam and Urban Silver shades at L'Wren Scott. Aaron laid down a base of the black shade and used the silver to accent the inner corners. When he layered the black and silver, the resulting color looking blue under some lights, medium sparkly grey in other light.



At Victoria Beckham, makeup artist Francelle also did a soft wash of color, this time with the silver shade. At Chris Benz, makeup artist Daniel Martin used a soft wash of Black Macadam layered over espresso brown shadow for an eye that was pretty yet gothy.



The pix above are backstage photos from all three shows. All the models featured are wearing Ombre shadow.



Ombre comes in a pot with a screw top and has a soft, cushy texture, but it's powdery rather than gel like. The end result is a beautiful long-wearing finish. If I were going to buy one, I'd buy the silver, but the black might be the most versatile if you're a major eyeshadow gal. Ombre Magnetique has sold out in some locations, so if you're looking for it, check lancome.com.



If you have questions about Ombre, let me know. Happy to answer what I can or get our makeup artists to answer! If you've tried Ombre Magnetique, let us know what you think.

Le Gris L'Wren Nail Polish. Swoon.

The L'Wren Scott holiday collection has just hit lancome-usa.com. L'Wren worked with Aaron De Mey, Lancome's artistic director for makeup, to create the limited edition set. I try not to gush too much on the blog, but this is definitely one of my favorite collections. It really feels like L'Wren's fashion but in makeup form. Chic and fashion forward, but very wearable and very pretty. If you're familiar with L'Wren's designs, you know that she always tries to make women look sexy, never weird.



I'm wearing the blue/grey Le Gris L'Wren nail polish today. Two different men commented on how cool the color is. (Neither man was my boyfriend. Maybe he'll say something later!) I don't think a man has commented on my nail polish in...years.



I'm sure that Le Gris L'Wren will sell out. (Don't say I didn't warn you!) We used the color in L'Wren's Fall 2010 fashion show and a lot of the beauty bloggers wrote about it. (Pix above from backstage!) L'Wren also sent sample bottles to several of her friends and top editors. I'm sure one or two made their way to eBay, but I forgot to check!



Le Gris is slightly hidden on the site. Click here and scroll down to find the color. It's $14.50 and comes in a special mini bottle, but it still has the fabulous Lancome nail brush that makes it so easy to do your own manicure.



The L'Wren Scott collection will arrive at the Lancome boutiques, Bergdorf Goodman and select Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus locations in the weeks ahead.



Let me know if you have questions about the collection!

Happy Birthday, French Vogue!

French Vogue looks pretty foxy for a 90 year old. The October anniversary issue just hit U.S. newsstands. If you're a French Vogue fan or collector (like me) make sure to buy one before it disappears.



The best part of the issue? The tribute ads! They're fabulous. That's the Lancome tribute ad above. Great, right? Wouldn't it make a fantastic poster? Every major fashion brand did a tribute ad as well. You'll have fun flipping through them.



Congratulations to editor Carine Roitfeld and her team. Thanks for always having such great beauty editorial and for always featuring Daria and Aaron De Mey in your pages. Each issue is a pleasure.



Bon anniversaire!

Behind the Scenes: L'Wren Scott Spring 2011

The third show that Lancome did during New York Fashion Week was the L'Wren Scott show. As some of you know, it was the third time we worked with L'Wren. Aaron De Mey, our artistic director for makeup, worked with hair stylist Odile Gilbert on the beauty look for the show. Aaron created a dozen custom eye shadows for the show and each corresponded to a different fabric shade (blue, purple, gold, green, red...). Odile then took the eye shadows and painted the part of each model's hair to match her shadow color. By the end of the show, everyone was calling it "hairliner." (I think L'Wren came up with the name!)



L'Wren wanted two different nail polishes for the show. As one of the colors, she used the sparkly red (above) from her upcoming holiday collection for Lancome. (More on this in the weeks to come. It's very exciting!) For the second shade, she asked Lancome to create a brilliant shimmery orange inspired by the Serengeti sunset. I didn't get a good picture of it to share with you, but I'm checking with the other photographers backstage. It's a gorgeous color.



The lip is a mix of Color Design lipstick in Oh My and Juicy Tubes in Touched by Light. Aaron also used the new Teint Miracle foundation (which I'm obsessed with!) and Hypnose Drama mascara.



We're working to see if we can do the eye shadows and the nail polish as a special set for Spring 2011. Stay tuned!



Thanks to L'Wren and her team for a wonderful show. It's always a thrill to work with talented designers who love makeup as much as we do! Make sure to check out the collection on Style.com.

Spring Nail Sneak Peek!

Good morning, everyone. Big day here. We're getting ready for Fashion's Night Out, we have a big shoot with Daria and Aaron down in Chelsea and a lot of Fashion Week prep.



We're doing Victoria Beckham's show on Sunday with makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury. We've never worked with Charlotte before, so we're very excited. We're doing Chris Benz's show on Monday with Daniel Martin, with whom we've worked many times and we adore.



The hair and makeup test for Chris's show was held earlier this week. I don't want to reveal too much, but Daniel will be using a lot from our upcoming Spring 2011 collection. The picture above are the two nail colors from the collection. Stay tuned as to which one Chris picked.



We'll be updating our Facebook page and tweeting throughout the day, so check out Facebook and Twitter to see what we're up to today.

Makeup, Fashion, Art, Fantasy. Enjoy It All in This Aaron De Mey Video from Nowness.com

Have you heard of Nowness? It's an online lifestyle magazine that recently launched and covers fashion, art, video and more. The newest Nowness video was shot by KT Auleta and features beautiful fantasy makeup by Aaron De Mey, Lancome's artistic director for makeup. (Aaron created the new French Coquettes collection that's currently in stores.)



If you love extreme makeup, you'll be mesmerized. The model, by the way, is Eniko. She's in French Vogue a lot and is starting to be featured in more and more American magazines. She and Daria could be cousins, no?



Enjoy the video!

Shouldn't This Be the "Twilight" Makeup?

How gorgeous is this makeup? French Coquettes is the name of our Fall 2010 color collection, created by our artistic director for makeup Aaron De Mey. The models, as most of you hopefully know, are our spokesmodels Daria Werbowy and Elettra Wiedemann.



We posted this photo on Facebook today and the reaction was really enthusiastic. A few people mentioned that Elettra resembles Alice Cullen from the "Twilight" series. I had never seen a "Twilight" movie until recently when I watched the second one. (Actually, I only watched an hour because my boyfriend was like, "You are not going to make me watch this, are you?")



I could not get past the terrible hair and makeup. Does anyone else agree? Why were the vampires so pasty? Ashley Greene is so beautiful and her hair, makeup and wardrobe were not all that. Is it better in the first or third movies?



Needless to say, the bad makeup doesn't seem to have hurt the trilogy one bit! But I'm curious what everyone thinks.

Paris When it Sizzles! (Giveaway #2!)

Bonjour, everyone! Great entries for the Tresor in Love giveaway. Thank you! There's still time to enter if you haven't yet. Nancy, sadly, not much time to sit in cafes and we have a shoot everyday. But the weather is beautiful and every cafe with outdoor seating is packed. Also, Atelier Gal, I saw your question. What is BB cream?



We shot this morning at Place de Furstemberg in St. Germain. Our brilliant set director recreated a mini-flower market filled with roses, peonies, lilies and more. It was quite beautiful. (See above.) Dozens of tourists stopped to stare and take pictures. Then I ran to the Lancome boutique on Faubourg St. Honore (above, with picture of Julia Roberts in the window) to see what's new and found lots of products we don't have back in the U.S. I tried to buy the new Hypnose Precious Cells mascara for a blog giveaway, but it's sold out already! Both black and brown are gone. (But they'll be restocking soon.) What else was there? The Yayoi Kusama Juicy Tubes, which I mentioned the other day. They are adorable. I bought one set for a certain Lancome ambassadress who loves the natural formula and another set for a blog giveaway. (Shown above with full-size JT for scale!)



To enter, post whether or not you own a Juicy Tube or Tubes already. If so, what shade? Any random Juicy Tube thought is fine too! Idea for a shade, constructive criticism, all welcome. We'll pick one comment. Please post by Thursday night.



I need to stop here because I have to run to part two of today's shoot. (Actually, part three. A small crew went to the Eiffel Tower to film after the flower scene.) Enjoy the pictures, enter the giveaway and have a beautiful day!

Made It!

Arrived in Paris! My Open Skies plane left the gate at Newark Airport only to turn back because of "technical" problems. You never want to hear that! But all was fixed and here I am. It's a beautiful day in Paris.



I already spotted a few trends from the window of my taxi. Skinny white jeans, blazers, flat jazz shoes, medium-sized leather bags with chains (not the small ones of a few seasons back) and hats. (A cross between a floppy hat and a fedora. Not sure what that would be called. Any hat experts out there?)



My first purchase will be the new French Vogue. I heard there's a great beauty story with our super spokesmodel Daria Werbowy and makeup by our genius artistic director Aaron De Mey. (Check out the behind-the-scenes video above). Penelope Cruz is the guest editor. She pulled together the group of A-listers for the cover, including our very own Kate Winslet. Doesn't she look great? Actually, they all look great. Love that Meryl's in there!



Michelle Phan, our video makeup artist, just posted her latest Lancome video on YouTube. It's about prom makeup. If you or a loved one is headed to the prom, check it out. Whether or not you want to duplicate the look, you can always get great tips and techniques from Michelle. I have to say those YouTube comments are crazy! It's like the Wild Wild West over there. Yikes. I'm very happy everyone is civilized here on the Lancome blog! : )



Anyway, I'm running to today's photo shoot. Have a beautiful day. Talk to you soon!

Lovely! Danny Roberts' Drawings from Chris Benz Fall '10. And Who Won the Nail Giveaway?

Some of you might remember that one of our guests at the Chris Benz Fall 2010 show (we sponsored the makeup team, which was led by MUA Daniel Martin) was illustrator Danny Roberts. It was Danny's first time backstage and he took pictures and did some preliminary sketches as inspiration for future drawings.

Well, he just posted two of his drawings from the show on his blog, Igor+Andre, and they're so pretty I wanted to share them with you.

Danny is clearly blessed with a lot of talent.

Make sure to check out his blog!

And congratulations to Rebecca, who won the Aaron De Mey Le Vernis nail giveaway. Rebecca, check your inbox. Sounds like a lot of us have to spring clean our makeup collections. Maybe this weekend...

The Giveaways Are Back! Win Aaron De Mey's Spring Nail Shades from Europe!!

I'm caught up with the last round of blog giveaways, so time for some new ones. I'm spring cleaning over the next few weeks, so there will be some fun giveaways. The first: our spring nail polishes from Europe, from Aaron De Mey's O My Rose collection. You couldn't get the polishes in America and some nail fanatics were NOT happy. Our European friends couldn't get Chris Benz, so it all works out in the end.

Anyway, the colors are Pop Petrol, a gorgeous dark teal shimmer, and BB Sand, a sexy pale gold glitter. I picked these up when I was in Paris earlier this year. It's the Le Vernis formula, so it comes with that fabulous brush that makes it so easy to paint your nails. It puts skinny brushes to shame. Try it and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Die-hard beauty blog fans will remember that the fabulous All Lacquered Up did a review and giveaway of Pop Petrol in January. That's Michelle's photo above. Nail of the Week did a NOTD (nail of the day) with BB Sand, as seen above. She didn't love it, but that's okay. You can't love everything. (Or can you?) Nail of the Week, how do we get in touch with you? We love your blog and I want to make sure it's okay that we used the photo above.

If you'd like to be entered to win, leave a comment detailing what spring cleaning you need to do. Do you need to organize your makeup, clean out your closets, get rid of a boyfriend? : )

Please post by Wednesday night and we'll pick one post at random. Good luck!