Chris Benz x Lancome Limited Edition GWP for Saks

It's another stellar collab effort between prestige beauty company Lancôme and American fashion designer Chriz Benz. This time he's partnered with the brand for a sweet little limited edition gift with purchase, which will be sold exclusively through Saks Fifth Avenue from June 14 - June 25.

Beauty fanatics will remember Benz's wildly popular Chris & Tell lippie from Lancôme's Pout-a-Porter designer lip collection last Spring.  We all raced to get our hands on one. The celebrated designer and frequent Lancôme collaborator is loved by celebrities like Jessica Szohr, Susan Sarandon, Elettra Wiedemann and Eva Amurri and now he’s created a tote solely for Lancôme customers.

Customers will receive the complimentary Chris Benz-designed tote with any $60 purchase, up to a $119 value. Printed with a chic, stylized silhouette, the exclusive design makes the perfect summer accessory. And although receiving the tote would certainly be gift enough, Lancôme has packed the tote with must have products (Définicils Precious Cells Mascara and Absolue Hand), you have the option to select your moisturizer (Absolue Premium BX or Absolue Precious Cells) and your pink (L’Absolu Rouge in Pink Sapphire, Juicy Tubes in Moulin Rose & Blush Subtil in Rose Fresque) or coral (L’Absolu Rouge in Fleur Impressioniste , Juicy Tubes in Coral Rush & Blush Subtil in Shimmer Coral Sunset) makeup trio to tote inside the Benz bag.

To celebrate the collaboration, Chris Benz will make a personal appearance at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City on June 23rd from 5 -7 p.m. (ET), toasting the fashion-forward partnership.

Ummmm ... can you say, "Run! Don't walk for this particular GWP event!" ?  Yes, well, do so.  Fair warning, I'm posting this for you, then quickly clicking over the Saks to take advantage of this myself.  It's only while supplies last. Enjoy! xo

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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.

Behind the Scenes @ Chris Benz Spring 2011!

We once again did the makeup for Chris Benz, whom, as you know, is a young designer we love. Our spokesmodel Elettra introduced us to Chris several seasons ago and we've been working together ever since. I'm sure a few of you snagged the special lipstick we did for Chris last season.



His Spring 2011 collection was inspired by the idea of a young American woman in Paris in the late 60s, riding around on the back of her boyfriend's Vespa and getting into all kinds of mischief. The amazing Daniel Martin did the makeup for us and came up with a great look that used products from our upcoming Ultra Lavande Spring 2011 collection. See the blue/purple nail polish, Violet Groove, above. Daniel also used the new Teint Miracle foundation, Blush Subtil in Mauve Coquette, Artliner and Hypnose Drama mascara. Some of our favorite makeup artists were on Daniel's crew: Oslyn Holder, Ewa Szwed, Michelle Phan and Maki. Pictures of them above!



Chris does a presentation instead of an actual runway show. The models stand on a platform and guests stream in and get a great look at the clothes. You can really get up close and see the detail, unlike during a runway show. The room was packed with celebrities (I spotted Kelly Osbourne and Jessica Szohr. I'll try to find a picture of Jessica. MUA Andrew Sotomayor did her makeup for us.); gorgeous fashion bloggers like Bryanboy and Fashiontoast; our favorite illustrator Danny Roberts and his charming brother David, and tons of fashion editors and retailers. Even Chris's mom was there! (That's her above in shirt with the sequins.)



Well, enjoy the pictures. We'll put more on Facebook as soon as we have a chance. We're dong the L'Wren Scott show tomorrow. Aaron De Mey has made more than a dozen custom eye shadows and we made a special nail polish that L'Wren requested. Check back for details and maybe a little sneak peek in the morning!

Fashion's Night Out 2010 with Arlenis, Elettra and Michelle Phan!

We had an absolute blast on Fashion's Night Out in New York City this past Friday Night. As I mentioned, we had a "tango and touch-ups" party at Bloomingdale's 59th Street to celebrate the launch of our French Coquettes Fall 2010 collection. Our spokesmodels Arlenis and Elettra made an appearance and we had professional tango dancers on hand to give lessons to any willing party.



We had a great turnout and even Arlenis and Elettra took a spin on the dance floor.



Then we ran to Sephora where Michelle Phan was appearing. Michelle did a live blog session then met with anyone who wanted to say hi or take a photo. We must have met hundreds of people that night. We're sorry to anyone we had to rush during the photo session! Michelle didn't want anyone to leave disappointed and our time was up so our only option was to move quick quick quick.



If you stopped by, thank you! It was a fun night. The city indeed felt like one big party. And it was for a good cause. If people stop shopping, people lose jobs.



Enjoy the photos. I just posted additional pictures on our Lancome Paris Facebook page. Stop by and take a look.



Check back tomorrow for pictures from backstage at the Chris Benz Spring 2011 presentation.

Backstage at Victoria Beckham's Show

Hi, everyone. We did Victoria Beckham's show yesterday with makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury. We're getting ready for Chris Benz's show later this afternoon, so I'll do a proper write-up on the backstage scene later. But we thought you'd like to see the look from Victoria. We'll also share pictures and news from Fashion's Night Out.



Let us know what you think!



Click here to see the beautiful dresses from Victoria's 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.

Join Us on Fashion's Night Out in NYC!

Do any of you live in or near New York City? If so, we'd love for you to join us for Fashion's Night Out on Friday, Sept. 10th. I'm sure most of you have heard of Fashion's Night Out. It's the brainchild of American Vogue editor Anna Wintour. She wanted the fashion industry to do something to help stimulate the economy, so she came up with this idea for a city-wide shopping party. On FNO 2009, New York City was filled with designers, models, celebrities and lots of excited shoppers. It was a fun night and we did events with Daria, Elettra, Arlenis, Chris Benz, Daniel Martin, Sandy Linter and Andrew Sotomayor. Everyone had a blast.



This year, we've scaled it back a bit. To be honest, we were a bit spread thin last year! We tried to race from event to event, but it was impossible because of all the traffic--both cars and foot traffic! So this year we're doing two very special events. The first one is "tango lessons and touch-ups" at Bloomingdale's 59th Street. Our spokesmodels Elettra and Arlenis will be on hand at 6 p.m. to say hi to everyone and we'll have some amazing professional tango dancers doing mini-exhibitions every 30 minutes. If you'd like a quick tango lesson or a touch-up featuring products from our French Coquettes Fall 2010 collection, stop by and say hi.



We were thrilled when we opened September Vogue and saw that they chose "tango and touch-ups" as the #1 beauty event for FNO. (See the article above!) The Bloomingdale's event goes from 6 to 8 p.m.



Then at 7 p.m. over at Sephora Fifth Avenue (between 48th and 49th streets), our video makeup artist Michelle Phan will be making her very first personal appearance. She'll be doing a special video live in the front window. Then she and Vogue beauty editor Christina Han will be meeting and greeting customers from 8 to 9 p.m. If you have a question about how to make your own video or how to become a beauty editor, come over and chat with us. I'll be there too.



If you can't make it, don't worry. We'll have lots of photos to share after the event.



If you live in the U.S., enjoy the holiday weekend! The rest of you, have a great weekend too!

Meet Danny Roberts, Illustrator Extraordinaire!

So "Entrepreneur Week" continues. As I mentioned yesterday, this week we're featuring some artists, designers and entrepreneurs who inspire us with their work. This is in honor of the 75th anniversary of Lancome, which started all those years ago as a small brand with a few fragrances.



Today, we'd like to introduce Danny Roberts, the talented illustrator behind the Igor + Andre blog. Hopefully, many of you already know about him and his beautiful work. We first read about Danny on the Fashionista web site and the entire P.R. team fell in love. We ordered some prints from his Etsy store and decorated our P.R. closet (where we store all the product) with them.



Since then, Lancome has comissioned two illustrations from Danny. One was a drawing from the Chris Benz Spring 2010 collection at which we launched the Chris & Tell Pout-a-Porter lipstick. The other was for our Holiday 2009 card.



We had the pleasure of meeting Danny and his brother backstage at Chris's Fall 2010 show. They took pictures for future sketches and Danny even did some preliminary sketching. Danny's very inspired by the world of fashion and it's wonderful to see clothes and models come to life through his imagination. I look at Danny's blog a few times a week and it's almost like meditation for me. There's something so peaceful and lovely about his work. Even the inspiration photos and videos he posts are beautiful to look at.



He's a very special invididual and the team and I consider ourselves lucky to work with him!



In honor of Danny, we're giving away a Chris & Tell lipstick from our secret stash (the lipstick sold out this past spring so it's a bit of a collector's item), our new Definicils Precious Cells mascara, a Bi-Facil makeup remover and one of the Chris & Tell prints (the size is 19 inches by 13 inches in case you want to measure your wall space!). We'll also pick five runners-up to receive just the print. To enter, take a look at Danny's blog or his Etsy boutique and tell us which of his drawings you like the best and why.



Please post a comment by Thursday night. Good luck!!

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...

So You'd Like to be a Makeup Artist?

Get ready to schlep a lot of stuff!

These are pictures from four different shows we've done over the past few seasons. (L'Wren Scott, Victoria Beckham and Chris Benz, I think.) Even though I've been covering shows and working backstage at shows for more than a decade now, I'm always surprised at the amount of stuff makeup artists have to lug around.

I've even heard or read, can't remember which, about a very famous makeup artist (you know who she is) who travels to shoots with six suitcases, five full of makeup and one full of art books.

I guess you have to be prepared for anything.

Free Gift of Fashion and Beauty from Designer Chris Benz

American fashion designer Chris Benz, whose fashion collections you've seen strutted around the catwalks season after season as of late, has designed this fab little travel case ... just for you!  This designer knows his way around the world of beauty trend having recently collaborated with Lancome to create a lovely peachy, "pastel-carrot" lipstick for the french cosmetics brand's Pout-à-Porter Lipstick series last summer.

Valued at more than $130, your case comes with full size products and deluxe samples from these best-selling beauty brands:

FULL SIZE Laura Geller Powder Eyeliner (Cinnamon or Midnight Blue)

FULL SIZE Urban Decay Pocket Rocket Lip Gloss, Doug (Medium Pink)

skyn ICELAND® The ANTIDOTE Quenching Daily Lotion

Origins Clear Improvement® Active Charcoal Mask

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer

PHYTO Phytocitrus Restructuring Mask, Color-Treated Hair

NUXE Reve de Miel Hand and Nail Cream

Nick Chavez® Beverly Hills Flocker

Murad® Intensive Wrinkle Reducer for Eyes

Exuviance® Evening Restorative Complex

The Chris Benz Globetrotter Beauty Offer is your complimentary gift with purchases of $100 or more at Beauty.com.  Offer good while supplies last. Please visit Beauty.com for this fantastic beauty offer and to find wonderful products, news and trends for Spring 2010.

Who Named the Chris Benz Chris & Tell Lipstick? Introducing Kessa Thea!

So the Chris Benz lipstick is pretty much sold out (although I did hear the NYC boutique might be getting the last few pieces...) so it's time to say farewell to the project. I wanted to thank everyone who made this so much fun over the past several months, including Chris and his team, makeup artist Daniel Martin, Gracemarie and Mollie on the marketing and product development teams, and all of you who cheered us on. Maybe it's crazy to get so excited over a lipstick, but there's something nice about wearing a product and knowing the whole story behind it.



Speaking of which, a few facts about the lipstick. Chris & Tell was almost a nude shade. It took our labs four tries to get the shade to match the exact color and texture Chris wanted. And the name came about through a Facebook contest we did last summer. The winner was a lovely woman from the Philippines named Kessa Thea, who is now an honorary member of the Chris lipstick team. "It is so heartwarming to know that I have in my own little way contributed to the beauty world," Kessa told us. We sent her a few questions because I thought it would be nice to know more about Kessa and officially recognize her.



How did you come up with the name Chris & Tell?

It was a play on the phrase "Kiss and Tell." I just thought anyone who wears the shade would be telling everyone about it if not being asked upfront by people who would admire/like/adore the shade. It is a very catchy name that I felt would readily register into any beauty junkie's mind. I suggested nine other names (Chris and Tell, Sweep Me Over, Benz-aholic, Lip Crave, Insatiable Desire, Divine Hue, Stolen Kiss, Hello Rouge, and Le Benz Affair).



Did you ever think you would win?

I never thought I would win this contest. It still feels surreal right now.



What did you think when you found out that Chris picked your name?

I was ecstatic, a bit in shock. My mouth was open for quite a long time, not knowing if I should scream or not. I stood there in front of my work computer, staring at my name and the name of the lipstick shade. I thought it was awesome and yes, I blogged about it as soon as I got home. [Click here for Kessa's blog post.]



How much of a beauty junkie are you?

I am a late bloomer when it comes to makeup and stuff. I grew up just using the essentials and going to the salon and having someone do my makeup on special occasions. I had the basics in my makeup kit, nothing special, nothing expensive not until June of last year when I started reading fashion and beauty blogs and getting hooked on tutorials. I decided that I needed to up the ante in terms of me taking care of myself and enhancing my features and learning the basics of "painting" my own face. I joined theme contests in the blogging world and never once won but that didn't dampen my spirits.



I now have a treasure trove of makeup, high end to local brands, and I am now a go-to person in my circle of friends when it comes to makeup. My friends now come to me and ask me what product to buy that will suit their complexion and the like. It feels good to be able to help other ladies/women like me. I don't think I consider myself a beauty junkie though, I think I am still starting to be one.



What is your favorite Lancome product?

My super favorite Lancome product is the Bi-Facil makeup remover. I swear by it and it is my HG among makeup removers. It thoroughly removes makeup in the littlest amount of time. I say it's worth what I've paid for.



What is your favorite piece of beauty advice that you can share with us?

It's not something that I only know, it is something that everyone knows already. This advice is for everyone to always smile. Smiling makes you feel happier and when you are happy everyone around you is happy. But then again, if you didn't have a good night's sleep, it sure will be a hard task to smile let alone plaster it on your face the whole day. So the best beauty secret is to not deprive yourself of beauty rest and before you rest remove that makeup!



Tell us about your new workout blog. What's that all about?

My new workout blog is dedicated to the burning motivation that drives me to attain the healthiest and fittest me ever. Just last October, I decided that I need to change my lifestyle and start a healthy one. The blog aims to chronicle my exercise regime and the food I eat (I sometimes cook) and the results. I thought it would be fun and a little challenging if other people read my thoughts and the things I have done to attain my goal. I told myself that I am accountable to my reading public. Sure it was, as I have started to influence other people and in fact because of this blog, I am not running alone anymore. I have organized a running club at work and we are starting to grow in numbers. I am now running with at least 10 other people who have embraced the call to start a healthy and fit lifestyle. I will continue to update my blog as often as I can in attempt to win and inspire other people and at the same time lose some little extra pounds.



Please join me in congratulating Kessa! Thank you again for such a great name. I hope you enjoy your prize as soon as it arrives and that you wear your Chris & Tell lipstick with much health and happiness.