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!

Spontaneous Outburst of Joy (and the "Walking Papers" Blog Giveaway Winner!)

If any of you have the Monday blahs, watch this video. I saw it for the first time when the designers Costello Tagliapietra put it on their Facebook page. My favorite part might be when the little Jessica says "I like my hair! I like my haircuts!" But every sentence is great. If you had to do your version of the Jessica bathroom affirmation dance, would you say?



The winner of Francesco Clark's "Walking Papers" and the new Bienfait UV 50+ sunscreen is Cadence. Congrats, Cadence! Make sure to check your inbox for an email from me. I can't believe how many of you are reading the Harry Potter and Twilight books! Two of you mentioned books I've been meaning to read forever--"Perfume," which Nika is reading, and "On Beauty," which Marie is reading. A few of you are reading "Eat, Pray, Love," including TT. My favorite section of that book, of course, was "Eat." The movie opens in the U.S. on Aug. 13th and we can't wait because it stars our new spokesperson Julia Roberts.



For those who asked if Bienfait UV 50+ is available in Europe and Asia, I'm checking with the Paris team. I'll report back as soon as I know.



Hope everyone had a good weekend. Talk to you soon!

Lancôme’s Summer Reading List, Part One

One of my favorite things about summer? It's not heat waves. And it's not slathering my pale self in sunscreen (even though our new facial sunscreen, Bienfait UV SPF 50+, is pretty divine). It's summer reading and finding that great book you can't put down.



I have a few books on my list, but at the very top is "Walking Papers" by Francesco Clark. Fran, as his friends call him, is the founder of Clark's Botanicals, an indie skincare line with one of the best lip balms around. I don't want to tell you too much about the book, but the subtitle ("The Accident that Changed My Life, and the Business that Got Me Back on My Feet") is revealing.



The book is part biography, part self-help and completely inspiring. Whether you've faced dark times or not, you'll relate to Fran's journey. Fran and I worked together a few years ago at Harper's Bazaar (that's us in the photo above--he takes his camera everywhere!) and he's one of my favorite people. Upbeat, funny, gossipy and driven. You'll feel like you know him--and love him--after you finish his book.



Of course, we have a copy to give away! (We'll throw in one of the new Bienfait sunscreens too.) Let us know what your must-read book is this summer and why. Please post by Sunday night. Thanks for everyone's lovely comments yesterday and while I was gone. I appreciate it!