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!

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!

Daria Werbowy--Back on the Catwalk!

Working with model Daria Werbowy is one of the nice parts of my job. I've probably said this on the blog before. She's insanely gorgeous, has great personal style and is so easy to work with. We did a shoot with Aaron De Mey and Daria the other week (for a U.S. magazine's December issue--details soon) and it was heaven. Daria had just returned from a month of sailing and she was the definition of tawny.



Daria made a rare catwalk appearance this afternoon in Paris for Balmain. She's all but retired from fashion shows, but she likes Balmain designer Christophe Decarnin so she hits their runway every other season or so.



She also modeled in Tom Ford's first women's presentation during New York Fashion Week. (Beyonce Knowles was one of the models too, as was new Lancome spokesmodel Julia Restoin Roitfeld.) If you hadn't heard, Tom is launching his women's collection in the spring. He, however, is doing it his way and is keeping everything under wraps until next year. The only photographer at the show was a house photographer and everyone invited was asked to keep mum. He wasn't Tweeting or live streaming from backstage or any of that. To paraphrase his WWD interview, and I hope I'm doing it correctly, he feels that social media has caused fashion to lose some of its mystery. Don't look for @mrtomford on Twitter any time soon.



That's one way to whip the social media scene into a frenzy! Deny them!!



Let me know what you think.

Mario Testino's Madrid Exhibit: Todo o Nada

Last week was the opening of Mario Testino's "Todo o Nada" exhibit at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. I was invited to go, but I couldn't make it. :(



Looking at the pictures from the opening party, I'm doubly sad! Everyone looks so gorgeous and they clearly had a good time. Our spokesmodels Kate Winslet and Daria Werbowy were there, along with Lancome President Youcef Nabi. Mario, as you know, is the creative director and photographer for all Lancome advertising. He's also one of the best portrait and fashion photographers alive today.



Lancome is the sponsor of the exhibit, which is filled with more than 50 amazing photos by Mario (including the gorgeous one of Kate above). It was curated by Patrick Kinmonth. If you live in or near Madrid, please check it out and tell us what you think. "Todo o Nada" runs through Jan. 9th.

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.

Welcome Penelope Cruz! (& Last Paris Giveaway!)

Well, the cat's out of le sac. Actress Penelope Cruz has joined Lancôme and will be the ambassador of Trésor, our iconic fragrance. Penelope is beautiful, kind and a true artist. We are sincerely thrilled that she is now part of the brand.



We filmed the new Trésor ads in Paris this week with Mario Testino and they will debut sometime this fall. I can't wait to see them. The shoot was a very nice experience and we were blessed with beautiful weather for all the outdoor portions. Above are some signs from the set, and a pic of me and my colleague David, the head of public relations for Lancôme International (and one of the chicest men in Paris!), on a balcony overlooking the Place de la Concorde. David's giving his best Blue Steel there!



We have such amazing women representing the brand today: Penelope, Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Daria Werbowy, Ines Sastre, Arlenis Sosa and Elettra Wiedemann. (Not to mention Sandy Linter and Michelle Phan!) It's really a thrill to be part of Lancôme in 2010.



Speaking of Elettra, I'm at Orly Airport outside of Paris and her Trésorin Love ad is everywhere. (I've been here more than SIX hours waiting for my Open Skies flight to Newark. I can understand flight delays. It's part of life. But I can't stand when the airline doesn't share ANY information!)



So our last giveaway of the week: The Golden Croisette bronzer from the international summer collection, which I bought at the Paris boutique, and a new Hypnôse Precious Cells mascara, which I bought at Orly's duty free. Both products are fab. The bronzer has three small blocks of blush, so you can customize the color. The mascara is conditioning and creates a very pretty full lash look. Leave a comment telling us which Lancôme spokesperson is your favorite and why and we'll pick one name at random. Please post by Monday night.



Good luck and have a lovely weekend.

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!

Congratulations to the Winners of our Hypnose Senses Polyvore.com Contest!

hypnose by simopay featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Mystery, seduction by wish upon a butterfly featuring Diane von Furstenberg dresses

Everybody's looking for something by malachi(+_0) featuring All Saints

Paris Hipnoise by DR.Chic featuring Dsquared2 shoes

Marie-Antoinette by ■peɑnu†™ featuring Christian Louboutin bags

hypnotize with Lancome by Karine Minzon Wilson featuring Chanel

If you're new to The Lancome Blog, you might not know about Polyvore.com. It's a great fashion website where you create your own sets, which are similar to fashion and beauty product pages in magazines. We love Polyvore so much that we did a competition with them called "Hypnotize Lancome with Your Fashion Sense." People created sets illustrating their fashion sense and incorporating some Lancome products, including our new Hypnose Senses fragrance. Daria Werbowy, Lancome spokesmodel and the face of Hypnose Senses, picked the winners.

All the winners' sets are above, from first place winner Simopay to Karine Minzon Wilson, who won the community choice award with more than 800 people clicking that they liked her set. More than 2,300 entries were created for the competition and we were blown away by the creativity and the work people put into their sets. So thank you to everyone who entered.

If you haven't visited Polyvore.com, check it out. And thank you again to the Polyvore community for a great contest!

Lancôme Joins Forces With France's First Lady

Very exciting news from our Paris headquarters. Lancôme has entered into a partnership with the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation. We are thrilled to be supporting the First Lady of France’s organization as its first corporate patron.

Lancôme will be supporting the part of her foundation that helps young adults in France from disadvantaged backgrounds pursue careers in the arts. For more information, please visit carlabrunisarkozy.org.

Lancôme sponsors similar programs in the United States, including New York's Epic Theatre Ensemble, which brings theater workshops to high schools that have little in the way of arts programs, and the after-school beauty program at New York's Fashion Industries public high school. Then there is the Vik Muniz arts program for teenagers in Brazil that was spearheaded by our spokesmodel Daria Werbowy.

Artistic talent is a terrible thing to waste. I hope these programs help more than a few individuals pursue their passion.

Check Out Our Polyvore.com Contest!

Paris Hipnoise by DR.Chic featuring Dsquared2 shoes

Lancome Hypnose Senses, release your sensuality by *beth<3 on Polyvore.com

Lancome Paris by VJ Cikes featuring Antik Batik

Lancome.. by ♥♥Ammy♥♥ featuring D&G shoes

Would you like to come back in another life as a fashion editor? Don't wait to be reincarnated. Swing over to Polyvore.com and start creating your own fashion spreads. While you're there, check out the contest we just launched with Polyvore to celebrate our new fragrance, Hypnôse Senses.

Just create your own fashion spread (or "set," as they call them) that reflects your fashion sense. We'll pick one winner who will receive a $250 lancome-usa.com e-gift certificate and a bottle of Hypnôse Senses, signed by Hypnôse spokesmodel Daria Werbowy. Five runners-up will each receive a $100 e-gift certificate and a bottle of the scent.

Haven't smelled Hypnôse Senses yet? It's a subtle blend of pink peppercorn, mandarin and patchouli. You'll smell like the sexiest, chicest hippy around. Men and women alike will fall in love with you, animals and small children will follow you everywhere. (Okay, I'm exaggerating...slightly.)

See you on Polyvore. Good luck if you enter—and we hope you do!