The Coolest New Fashion Brand: Chance! (Enter for a Chance to Win a Lancôme Summer Set)

[This week, in honor of Lancôme's 75th anniversary, we're celebrating some of our favorite new entrepreneurs, artists and designers. Here's today's installment!]



Imagine that you have a beach house somewhere on the French Riviera. It's a chic, quiet little house filled with furniture that you can put your sandy feet on and kids or dogs can jump on. Friends stop by all the time. You make simple meals with food you bought from the farmers' market in town. During the day, you go to the beach or if it's too hot, you stay home to read or paint. If this was your life (and I wish it were mine!), what would you wear?



You'd wear something from the new fashion brand called Chance, founded by Julia Leach, the former creative director of Kate Spade. The inspiration for Chance was the perfect striped shirt, the kind that anyone from Picasso to Jane Birkin to Kate Moss would wear. "Design, simplicity, personal style, and adventure," writes Julia on the Chance website. "I've always know I'd build my business around these values. The striped T-shirt is the Chance icon and anchor, but it's also just the beginning. Ultimately, it's about endless possibility."



The Chance website is filled with lovely, practical, timeless clothes and accessories, like the aforementioned striped shirts, shirt dresses, espadrilles and the most fab beach towels we've seen in ages. If you love good design, you'll appreciate how beautifully designed and simple the website is. And if you prefer clothes that don't go in and out of fashion each season, you'll especially love Chance.



To celebrate the launch of this charming new brand, we're giving away a special Lancôme summer set. It includes the Chance SPF 10,000 towel above, our new Bienfait UV SPF 50+ sunscreen, a waterproof Definicils mascara in black and a Tropiques Minérale Pressed Bronzer in Natural Sunkiss. (I wish we could give away the house on the Riviera too. Maybe next year!) To enter, leave a comment by Sunday night telling us your fantasy summer vacation destination. We'll pick one name at random. Good luck!

Call All Moms-To-Be! Are You Ready to "Bump It Up"? Here's How to Win a Copy!

You might have heard, but there's a baby boom going on in the Lancôme P.R. department. Vanessa recently gave birth to beautiful Axel, who regular readers of TLB met the other week. Then Erin is due this summer. So what to wear while you're pregnant has been a popular topic. It wasn't a surprise when Vanessa suggested doing some events to celebrate "Bump It Up," the fun new pregnancy style manual by fashion journalist Amy Tara Koch.

Later this month, we'll be hosting three special events at our boutiques with Amy. (Locations and dates below.) In addition to receiving expert pregnancy style tips, clients will work with a Lancôme beauty expert on the hottest products to update their beauty regimen. A copy of "Bump It Up" is free with any $75 purchase. Make sure to call and book an appointment as space is limited.

As our treat for our mom-to-be readers, let's give away one copy of "Bump It Up" plus one of Amy's favorite Lancôme products, Star Bronzer (above), which she says is a must for brightening your complexion when you're feeling blah. Just leave a comment saying hi or sharing some of your pregnancy fashion, health or beauty advice. Please post by Sunday night and we'll pick one post at random.

As a blog bonus, I asked Vanessa and Erin for some maternity fashion advice since it's very fresh in their minds:

Vanessa: "I opted out of the maternity garb for everyday basics from Uniqlo and bought cute pieces and dresses (a MUST!!) one size bigger than normal. If I absolutely needed anything for my growing belly, I hit up Top Shop's maternity line. Also, I slathered Bio-Oil all over every day and was able to dodge the dreaded stretch marks. It's a miracle product for mamas-to-be."

Erin: "If you're pregnant in the warmer months, baby doll dresses are comfy and cute. You can pick them up at most regular stores, but J. Crew has great options. Check out their recent catalog - they even had a pregnant woman on the cover. P.S. They need to do a maternity line! Also, invest in a great pair of maternity jeans. I was surprised to find out that the 'under belly' style is much more comfortable than the 'over belly' style. My fave is the J Brand skinnies."

April 13th / 5 PM – 7 PM
Lancôme | The Boutique
Upper West Side
212-362-4858

April 14th / 5 PM – 7 PM
Lancôme | The Boutique
The Mall at Short Hills
973-258-0790

April 28th / 5 PM – 7 PM
Lancôme | The Boutique
Northpark Dallas
214-750-9364

Win the Products in Michelle's New Video!

Hi, everyone. Michelle Phan, our video makeup artist, posted her latest Lancome video on YouTube on Thursday. If you haven't watched it yet, please take a look. My favorite part in the video is Michelle's tape trick. As a beauty editor and ghostwriter, I've written tons of beauty articles (and a few books) and no one ever mentioned that tape trick. It makes so much sense. For those of you (like me) who always wanted that Sophia Loren eye makeup but couldn't figure it out, here's a way to do it!

We're running a little giveaway on our Lancome Paris Facebook page. If you become a Lancome Facebook fan between now and Friday night, you'll be entered to win all the products in the video above. Brushes too. This is open to existing fans as well. We'll pick one name at random on Monday.

If you win and you're also a follower of the blog, make sure to let me know. I'll throw in a bonus! And some Scotch tape!!

P.S. To those of you who asked about our summer bronzer, it's not sold out online! Sorry about that. We just had a shipping glitch. It will be here soon and I'll let you know when it arrives. Thanks for your inquiries.

Summer Sneak Peek!

Here's a sneak peek at the beauty visual for our summer color collection, Bronze Riviera, featuring spokesmodel Ines Sastre. I love that the look is such a fresh, pretty take on bronze.

These are the products that will be available in the U.S.:

•Ageless Minérale Blush. Loose mineral blush, available in Sparkling Sand, Brilliant Berry and Luminous Rose.

•Tropiques Minérale Magic Bronzing Brush. Portable bronzing, available in Cuivre 01.

•Tropiques Minérale Bamboo Bronzer. Makeup artists are always asking for our oversized bronzers, which are limited edition, so I'm glad it's back. Available in Temptingly Bronze.

•Juicy Tubes 100% Natural Origin. These have 100% natural origin ingredients (such as honey), flavors and fragrances. I'll talk more about these in the weeks ahead. Available in Pink Precious, Blushing Beauty, Rose Pretty and Sheerfully Sweet.

•Le Vernis Nail Polish in Ms. Perfectly Pink. This is similar to the strawberry shade in the Lollipop collection. So if you missed that, you have another chance for a chic bright pink. I think I'll be wearing this all summer.

Speaking of summer, it feels like summer outside right now! So I'm going to sign off and head outside to enjoy the weather. Have a great weekend. Check back next week for more new products, a few giveaways and the winners of our most recent giveaways!