What Have You Done For Your Neck Lately?

I'll be honest. When I was a beauty editor, I thought neck cream was silly. What can a neck cream really do that a moisturizer can't? It was a sentiment I carried to my job here at Lancome. So what have I been using for the past week and loving? Neck cream.



Why the change of heart? One of our favorite bloggers, Kari at Fab Over 40, stopped by the office to say hi the other week. We gave her some new products to try, among them Renergie Lift Volumetry Neck, our lifting and shaping neck cream. Kari took it home, took some before photos and road tested the product. She sent us a link to her review and we fell off our chairs:



"Now after two weeks of using Rénergie Lift Volumetry Neck I still look in the mirror in amazement. My deeper lines are less pronounced, the fine lines are nearly gone and the firmness, especially under the chin area is well, less saggy. I don’t think I will ever be without this cream."



We know our products work, but to get an endorsement like this--with before and after photos--from a respected (and picky) blogger who knows her stuff is a big deal. I've been using Renergie Neck for the past week and I'm a believer. If you're skeptical, you can read Kari's review here. If you're still skeptical, here's a thought. What have you done for your neck lately? Do you concentrate all the attention and product on your face, only to treat your neck to the moisturizer residue left on your fingers? Maybe it's not the product, but the fact that you're taking the time to really care for the skin on your neck. And nothing says pay attention to your neck like a jar of neck cream, that you paid your hard-earned money for, sitting in your medicine cabinet, staring at you every time you open the cabinet door.



Last thought. If you're one of our younger readers, start taking care of your neck now! You'll thank Lancome and Kari later.



To celebrate Kari's awesome review, let's give away a jar of Renergie Lift Neck and a copy of Nora Ephron's hilarious "I Feel Bad About My Neck." Let us know what you've done for your neck lately. We'll pick one comment at random. Please post by Thursday night. We have a few giveaways to wrap up, so we'll name all the winners on Friday.

Mark Your Calendars! We Need Your Help.

Did you hear that Lancome has a great one-day charity fundraiser in the works for Friday, Oct. 22nd. One week away! This is taking place in the U.S. only. (Sorry to our international friends.) It's called Genes Day and we're donating $7 from the sale of every bottle of Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.



We have a lot of Genes Day posts planned for next week. We'll be talking about St. Jude, the amazing charity that provides FREE care for children with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses. Patricia on the PR team (we call her PR) went to Memphis, Tennessee, last week to see first hand the good work that St. Jude does. She came straight home and hugged her beautiful twins (who turn 10 this weekend. Happy birthday, you two!) PR will be writing a first-person report for TLB. We'll also have a Q&A with the St. Jude team, information on how St. Jude was founded, what kind of work they do and more.



We'll of course be talking about the award-winning Genifique serum. I had no idea that Genifique has so many famous fans until I started working on this project, but I'll let you know who uses it and how.



A few Lancome friends will be doing special videos for us and we'll share those next week too. In the meantime, we have a video from our good friend Tory Kirby of Makeup.com. (Have you checked out Makeup.com lately? Make sure to do so if you haven't. Tory's a great writer and knows so much about the beauty biz and makeup artistry.) Take a look at her video above to learn more about Genes Day.



If you have questions, let me know. Mark Oct. 22nd on your calendars, in your computer, on your BlackBerry, wherever. We've promised St. Jude that we'll donate $100,000 from the one-day event! Help us double or triple that amount.



Have a great weekend.

Linda Wells? ALT? Orlando Pita? Reality TV Steps It Up...And In Support of Serums!

It's a beautiful night in New York City, but I'm stuck inside. Some sneezy, sniffly allergy thing. I'm on the couch with my wonton soup watching reality TV, which I pretty much never do. First up, "Shear Genius," and who's on there, but Orlando Pita and Linda Wells!! Wow, Allure comes to life. Then I flipped to "America's Next Top Model" and there's Vogue's Andre Leon Talley and fab fab fab 70s supermodel Pat Cleveland! I love that Tyra respects the industry icons. Andre's great, predictably, and breaks out some kooky fashion speak. "You are the blase broken doll." "You have double entendre eyelashes."

And then "High Society." Has anyone watched this? Talk about a hot mess. This show has to be scripted. Somewhere, Grace Kelly is cringing.

Anyway, I meant to blog tonight about the recent Consumer Reports study on serums. Not only did they pooh-pooh serums, they kind of dissed the serum I have been using for THE PAST TWO YEARS. (High Resolution Collaser-5X, in case you're wondering.) I think they tested it for 21 days. (21 versus 365x2? Anyone?)

I love my Collaser. Any time I stop using it, my skin does not look as good. (I layer it under Secret de Vie moisturizer morning and night.) Interestingly, they didn't test Skinceuticals. A lot of people, beauty editors included, swear by those serums. And several girls in the office layer it with their Lancome moisturizer.

Any serum users out there? Feel free to weigh in.

People always ask me about skincare. If there's one thing I can definitively say, it's that people who take care of their skin have better skin. It's that simple. Whether this means eating right, limiting your sun exposure and using only moisturizing, or layering six different products, serum included, a.m. and p.m. is up to you. But do something and find the routine that works for you, your skin type and your pocketbook. You'll notice a difference.