Psst: It's Friends & Family Time!

It's not every day you can get a 20 percent discount on your favorite Lancome products. If you're shopping on lancome-usa.com, make sure to enter HOLIDAY20 at checkout. (The discount doesn't apply to gift cards, gift sets or the Beauty Box.)



But it does apply to all your fave products. If you need to replenish, now's the time. If you just want to treat yourself, buy some stocking stuffers, or update your beauty routine, here are my 10 suggestions for products you can't go wrong with:



1. Bi-Facil eye makeup remover--there's a reason every model and makeup artist ask us for this product. It's the best eye makeup remover in the world!

2. Brust #2--an amazing foundation brush. Makeup artists love this brush.

3. Juicy Tubes in Spring Fling--Angelina Jolie wore this last year to the Academy Awards or the Golden Globes. (I can't remember which!) It's super sheer and works over almost every lipstick color or lip liner.

4. Definicils Mascara--it's the world's best-selling luxury mascara for a reason!

5. Le Crayon Poudre brow pencil--if you've overplucked (I'm guilty) and you need to fill in your brows, here you go. This is easy to use, has great staying power and has a brush at the end that lets you comb the color through.

6. Le Stylo Waterproof in Noir--if you really like to line your eyes, waterline included, you'll never need another liner.

7. Artliner in Noir--the best liquid liner around. If you don't agree, I will personally refund you! :)

8. Anything from the L'Wren Scott holiday collection--We're so lucky to be working with L'Wren. She has such fabulous taste and put together a collection that's chic and wearable. If I had to pick one thing, I'd pick the grey/blue nail polish.

9. Teint Miracle foundation--if you're in the market for a new foundation, this is a beautiful formula with moderate coverage. I like to buy foundation at the counter so I can find the perfect shade. (But if you know your shade, you can stock up!)

10. L'Absolu Rouge lipstick in Rich Cashmere--every celebrity makeup artist we work with loves this shade. It's beige, warmed up with a bit of pink. Julia Roberts has worn it, Kate Winslet, the models in the Victoria Beckham show and L'Wren's show. It's timeless.



What Lancome product would you recommend to someone else? What is it and why? We'd love to know.



Happy shopping!

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!!

Congrats, Christa! We'll See You Thursday!!

So did everyone have a nice weekend? I worked out for the first time in six months. I took a kickboxing class, so I can barely walk, lower myself into a chair or raise my arms. Guess I shouldn't wait six months between workouts. :)



At least I can type.



Despite the pain, this is going to be a fun week. Tomorrow night is the world premiere of "Eat Pray Love." I'll be going with our boss. (I doubt he read the book, so we'll have to see if he likes the movie!) The makeup artist Genevieve is doing Julia's makeup. We'll have a full report on Julia's red carpet look later in the week. I'm sure she'll be wearing Definicils Precious Cells, the new mascara that she's the face of. It's a very Julia mascara, as it gives a very pretty lash look, but nothing over the top. Genevieve usually keeps Julia's look fairly neutral, but we'll see soon enough.



The new issue of Elle with Julia on the cover is just hitting newsstands. Julia did three separate covers and photo shoots with three different photographers. Very cool. If you pick up the issue, you'll have to tell us which one is your favorite.



Then Thursday night, we're hosting a special screening of "Eat Pray Love" just for makeup artists. The winner of the ticket giveaway is Christa. (Christa, check your email for a note from me.) Not only does Christa get to see the movie, but she'll get the goodie bag with lots of Lancome makeup artist favorites, like Bi-Facil and a selection of Lancome mascaras. We'll give one of the bags away later in the week, so stay tuned.



Christa, we look forward to meeting you on Thursday!

Shhh! Secret Mascara Pre-Sale!! And What Lucky Ducky Won the Yayoi Kusama Juicy Tubes?

Have you heard? We have a secret mascara pre-sale going on at lancome-usa.com. Our brand new Définicils Precious Cells is available for pre-order. If you're in the market for a new mascara, check it out. It's our first conditioning mascara, it contains apple extract and it provides all the definition of the original Définicils. We call it "The Julia mascara." Click on the link and you'll see why. (To our European friends, you have Hypnose Precious Cells! Amazing product. I received a sample a few months ago.) Lots more to come on DPC. The whole PR team is using it and we're having a lot of fun with it. You have to see it on Patricia. Unbelievable. (We'll share the unretouched pictures of her DPC'd lashes very soon.)



The original Définicils, by the way, is the world's best-selling luxury mascara. Did you know that? If you've used it, you know why.



Congrats go out to LianaLaurie of the Bad Romance blog. You won the Yayoi Kusama Juicy Tubes! You are very lucky. The lip glosses are so adorable, I don't want to part with them! Please email me at thelancomeblog@gmail.com.



Thanks to everyone who commented about Juicy Tubes. Robby, so funny that you are a Gelee fan. Me too. Kata, I heard about the Plaza Athenee minis, but they were before my time. Do you live in the U.S.? You should try Beach Plum or Tickled Pink. Great color payoff. Purple Flower, I'm checking to see if 100% is sold in Canada. Charlene, don't give up on the giveaways! And Lucy, what happened when your Juicy Tube went throught the washer and dryer? I'm afraid to know. :)

Look at Those Lashes! Meet the New Lancome Spokesbaby & His Yummy Mummy!

Can you believe those lashes?? Those belong to Baby A., the newest Lancôme spokesbaby! (Is he gorgeous, or what?) His mom, Vanessa, is a member of the Lancôme PR team and she just got back from maternity leave this week. She's rocking the Alexander Wang braid today (and some Coral Rush Juicy Tube gloss). As you can see, we're still having fun with the PhotoBooth feature on our new laptop.

Speaking of the Alexander Wang braid, if you read fashion magazines, you've seen it everywhere. It was the hairstyle for Alexander's spring 2010 show (bottom pic) and everyone went wild for it. If you have hair that's long enough (lucky you!), go for it. It's such a fresh, pretty look.

It's hard to fake hair like Vanessa's without the headache of extensions. But you can fake great lashes like Baby A.'s! If you love to try new mascaras, you need to investigate Hypnose Drama. I think I've mentioned this already, but HD has gotten a lot of love from the bloggers! Makeup and Beauty Blog gave it an A; Beauty Girl Musings has the most amazing before-and-after photos of her HD-intensified lashes, and Clumps of Mascara, my favorite online mascara snob, is already on her second tube. It creates the drama two ways: the super-rich formula and the brush that you can flip. Apply with the curve facing out, then flip the brush over and separate your lashes with the curve facing in.

By the way, thank you to everyone who's reviewed it. (Even those who didn't love it. Mascara, after all, is a very personal choice because everyone's lashes are different. But we do value the feedback!)

I use HD the same way as Karen (Ms. Makeup and Beauty Blog). I wipe the brush on a paper towel before applying. I know this won't be a popular tip because people think they are wasting product, but I see professional makeup artists do this on shoots all the time. It just gives you more control. And besides, when is the last time you finished a mascara down to the very bottom? You know you're supposed to replace every three months for hygiene reasons, right? (Or so says Consumer Reports!)

The best way to tell if your mascara is past its prime? Smell it!

So this weekend, take time to smell the roses and your mascara.

Have a great one. xoxo

BOTTOM BRAID PHOTO FROM STYLE.COM

Sneaky Peeky!

Do you love mascara? This is coming to Europe this spring. I heard there's a waiting list at Harrod's already. The technology behind it is very exciting. And don't worry, the U.S. will have its own version. Stay tuned!

Coffee with the Mascara Master, Jean Louis Gueret--and an Oscillation Giveaway!

Oscillation_final4
envoyé par lemodalogue. - Regardez plus de vidéo vie pratique.

Presentation de l'exposition Soulages
envoyé par centrepompidou. - Films courts et animations.

Day four in Paris. Had coffee at the Ritz Hotel this morning with a Lancome legend, Monsieur Jean Louis Gueret. JLG, a very dapper Frenchman with his red pocket square, cuffed gray flannel trousers and striped shirt, guided us through his mini-Lancome museum of mascaras from the 70s to now. JLG helped create all of them. His most recent baby is Oscillation, which is my current fave. (I put it on this morning, then reapplied to the tips before I went out for dinner. It's incredible stuff.) We learned some interesting things, such as the number of bristles on a Definicils mascara brush. Answer: 210. That's JLG above, from 2008. If anyone wants to translate the video, please do!



We were at the Ritz to talk about our top secret new mascara coming to Europe soon and to the U.S. later this year. It's completely different than Oscillation, but very, very exciting. I promise I'll give you the details as soon as I can.



From there we headed to the Centre Pompidou museum, which the Lancome Paris team refers to simply as Beaubourg. There was a mesmerizing exhibit by Pierre Soulages, France's most famous living painter. His early paintings were mainly black and white and morphed to all black in later years. The texture he achieved with a single color in a single painting was beautiful. (See what I mean in the video above.) It was an interesting exhibit to see after visiting with Jean Louis because several of the all-black paintings looked like giant cakes of mascara formula. When JLG visited almost two years ago for the launch of Oscillation, the labs sent over a big plexiglass box of gooey black mascara formula. (I honestly don't remember why. Maybe we wanted something cool to decorate the room with for the editor appointments?) It had dried out a bit and resembled soft black candle wax.



I'm not sure what Mr. Soulages would think of this.



Kae asked what I'm eating every day. All bad stuff, Kae! Macarons, crepes, pasta, hot chocolate, wine, lots of coffee. And a salad here and there. I'll detox a bit next week. But at least I've been walking a lot. Makes me feel less guilty.



Let's do a quick giveaway. In honor of the effervescent JLG, let's do a fab lash trio giveaway--Oscillation mascara, Oscillation Powerbooster primer/lash booster, and Bi-Facil eyemakeup remover, which everyone in Paris loves. They pronounce it bee-fah-seal.



Please post by Thursday night. We'll pick one winner at random. Off to check out a fragrance commercial shoot tomorrow starring one of our lovely spokesmodels. We'll do another giveaway and name some past winners. Talk to you soon!