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!

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...

Come Meet Chris Benz on Thursday! Plus, Who Won the Michelle Phan Giveaway?

Thank goodness for Chris Benz. The boy loves color! And that extends to the makeup for his fashion shows as well. He and the brilliant MUA Daniel Martin cooked up a look for his Fall 2010 presentation that was as fierce as it was glamorous. They called it Gothic Chic and that's spot on. The models above look gorgeous, don't they?



Everyone backstage was really blown away by Daniel's artistry. First off, he used Le Crayon Poudre in Sable as lip liner. (We've said it before, we'll say it again. Lip liner is back.) He did this gorgeous, gradated lip inspired by a picture of Kate Moss from the 90s. The lip liner was topped with our new Color Design Matte lipstick in Bronze Show. (Wait until you see the matte line. I'm playing with it right now and it's beyond. It's launching at Macy's in mid-March.) Then some shine was added to the center of the bottom lip ONLY with Juicy Tubes in Hallucination.



Every time the models rubbed their lips together, Daniel's masterpiece was smooshed a bit. Oh well. We all know makeup is precious, albeit temporarily. I'll talk about the eyes, cheeks and nails in another post because I don't want this to get too long, but they were amazing too.



Backstage at Chris's show is always a lot of fun. All our blogger friends stop by and plenty of our favorite beauty editors too. It's buzzy but calm because Chris is so organized. Same as Daniel. Our video makeup artist Michelle Phan worked on Daniel's team and did an amazing job. (That's Michelle and Daniel above.) Michelle's used to working on herself, so it's always a treat for her to do models. And Danny Roberts, the amazing illustrator behind the Igor & Andre blog, stopped by as well. Let's hope he was inspired to do some Chris illustrations for future blog posts.



Speaking of Chris, if you live in or near New York City, stop by our Chris Benz personal appearance tomorrow (Thursday) from 5 to 7 p.m. at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It's on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th. If you're looking for the Chris & Tell lipstick (that's it above), it's probably your last chance to buy one as it's almost sold out everywhere. If you bought one already, stop by and have Chris sign it! The Lancome PR team will be there along with Daniel Martin and maybe even Sandy Linter, so make sure you say hi.



We're running low on Chris & Tell lipsticks, but let's give one away. Tell us which designer's fall collection you are or were dying to see and we'll pick one post at random. Please post by Friday night.



And the winner of the AMAZING Michelle Phan giveaway? Congrats to JT (June Tam). Please email us at thelancomeblog@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Happy holidays, everyone. Whatever you celebrate this time of year, I wish you much peace and love.

Please enjoy the drawing above that the very talented Danny Roberts of the Igor & Andre blog created for us. Thanks to the Fashionista team for introducing us to Danny!

All the best,

Kerry