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.

My Fave New Blog: Man Repeller!

Last week was Social Media Week in New York. Harper's Bazaar was kind enough to ask me to be part of a panel entitled "Can the Next Rachel Zoe Be Found Online?" (Any guess as to what my answer was?) One of my co-panelists was Leandra Medine, the college student behind the blog Man Repeller. (That's her above.) I had never heard of her blog, but now I'm completely in love with it.



On manrepeller.com, Leandra shares her thoughts on man-repelling fashions (she loves to poke fun at brands like Marni) and shows you how to style yourself into a world-class man repeller. She's got great style and she's as funny as she is clever. She can be a bit salty too, so if you're easy offended, steer clear!



I'm dying for Leandra to do some beauty posts. I wore Color Design Matte Lipstick in the very-bright-but-not-quite-fuchsia Posh Pink today and when I went to kiss my boyfriend goodbye this morning, he definitely recoiled. (Remember my New Year's resolution was to wear more bright lipstick? I'm sticking to it!) Clearly, most of the beauty looks we're seeing on the runway this week are man repelling, but bright lipstick?



"The great debate over makeup has been bright red lipstick," said Leandra. "Repeller or Propeller? The general consensus is torn. Otherwise I'm going to have to say really dark shades of lipstick and black are likely the most man repelling of the beauty product bunch. I wouldn't look past a bright blue or green eyelid either."



There you go. It seems to me that guys always say they like natural beauty best. A girlfriend of mine once said, "What does that mean exactly? No contact lenses, no highlights in my hair, not shaving my legs, no makeup?" They certainly don't mean that. That much I know.



Anyway, Leandra is blogging about Fashion Week for the Shopbop online boutique and New York Magazine's website. Check her out. She's more "propeller" than "repeller," but don't tell her that.

Hong Kong's Strange Beauty Products

One of the coolest things about traveling far away? New beauty products to discover. I always try to duck into a local pharmacy or beauty specialty store when I travel. My favorites are the pharmacies in Paris. They have so many cool products to discover. (Gwyneth Paltrow recently did a great post on French pharmacy products on her Goop website. Click here to read.) We were so busy in Beijing that we didn't have a second to check out the local offerings, so I made sure to find some time in Hong Kong.



I popped into a store called Sasa that was crammed with a hundreds of different products and tools. The closest we have in New York are the Ricky's beauty supply shops. Some of the things were so strange. Tweezers for armpit hair? Someone will have to explain that to me. There were face rollers to improve circulation, fake lash applicators, all kinds of masks and supplements, even a Snooki-type hair bump tool. The weirdest thing for sale was eyelid glue. This comes as a glue (literally) or a type of sticker that some girls use to change the shape of their eyelid. Have any of you used eyelid glue? It sounds kind of creepy, but each culture to its own. Some might find Botox weird, but that's considered normal in the U.S. these days.



I think the eyelid glue has something to do with the doll-like look is all the rage in Hong Kong. The models we worked with and the models in the magazine have a very bird-like/doll-like quality. Very thin, tall, but not as tall as models in New York, heart-shaped faces, pointy chins and big eyes made even bigger with circle lenses and lash extensions. It's an extreme kind of beauty. The same thing happens in New York with fashion models, whether it's gap-toothed smiles (very in right now), wide set eyes and big foreheads, or bushy eyebrows. Different looks will always come in and out.



Enjoy the pictures. I'm typing this backstage at the Victoria Beckham show because it's Fashion Week in New York (and my battery is dying!). We're working with the brilliant makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury on the makeup for the show. The look: glowy, glowy, glowy. I'll have a full report on all the shows later in the week. We're doing Chris Benz on Monday.

Oh, and I almost forgot! We have a giveaway. I brought back two Virtuose Precious Cells mascaras that I bought at the Lancome boutique in Hong Kong. You can't get these in the U.S.! Since it's Fashion Week, tell us the name of your favorite New York-based designer. I'll pick two comments at random. You'll get the mascara and I'll include a Bi-Facil, the world's best makeup remover. : )

Please comment by Tuesday night.



PHOTOS: Armpit tweezers (?), our favorite Hong Kong model, Sasa beauty supply store, weird beauty products!

Hello, Lancome Hong Kong!

[I'm back in the U.S., but I'm going to finish posting about my Lancome trip to Asia with Michelle Phan!]



Michelle and I left our hotel in Beijing at FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. That's never fun, especially when you're not a morning person. Plus, we were very sad to leave our new friends in Beijing. We headed to the airport and caught our Air China flight to Hong Kong. The drive from the airport to our hotel was amazing. You leave the airport and all of a sudden there's the harbor and all these high rise buildings from out of nowhere. I was so sleepy that I forgot to take pictures, but trust me that it was lovely.



Hong Kong was as busy and bustling as everyone promised it would be. "It's the New York of Asia," said David, the head of PR for Lancome Worldwide. "You will love it." Parts of the city definitely felt like New York, but it was different in ways I couldn't quite put my finger on. At nighttime, with all the neon signs, side streets and alley ways, it felt slightly science fiction-y, like the Ridley Scott movie "Blade Runner."



Our wonderful hosts for the week, Nancy and Joyce from the PR team in Hong Kong, met us at our hotel and welcomed us to the city. We freshened up and headed to a photo studio on the other side of town. Once there, Michelle did her own makeup (using some of the Lancome Ultra Lavande Spring collection. You can see the Violet Groove color on her nails in one of the pictures above.) The hairstylist, whose name was Bowie, teased her hair into a wild ponytail for the second photo while the web crew from the magazine interviewed her for an online video.



We had a very nice dinner with the local Lancome team at a restaurant overlooking the water, but we didn't linger. The next few days were going to be quite busy: a personal appearance at the Lancome boutique in the biggest mall in town, two press events and several photo shoots. So it was back to the hotel and straight to bed. I emailed my friends and loved ones back home and snuck a peek at Facebook. (Facebook!!! China blocks most international digital media, so we were on a Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Blogger diet back in Beijing.)



Truth be told, it was good to take a break from all things digital! You read it here. Digital detox. The next big thing. : )



PHOTOS: Michelle strikes a pose, Air China on-air breakfast, Michelle's doodle, at the photo shoot, doing makeup with the web crew, Michelle's Lancome products, fake lashes and silver lids.

One Last Beijing Post: Beauty & Style!

Hi from snowy, icy New York City! I hope everyone's okay. Some bad weather going on in the U.S. today.



I'm going to do one last post on my trip to Beijing with Michelle Phan before I get to the Hong Kong posts. Everyone has been asking me what the women in Beijing were like in terms of fashion and beauty. I was blown away by how beautiful they are and by how much style they have. (Check out Michelle Phan's piece on Style.com for her take on Beijing beauty trends.) We were both surprised by how little makeup they wear. But they are skincare OBSESSED. (I met a lot of people in Beijing who use Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate. I was happy to hear how much they love it, needless to say!) They would never think of just slapping on some moisturizer and heading out the door. On average, the women and men we spoke to use eight products every morning and the same number every night.



As for clothing, they're a very fashionable group. I took a ton of photos, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.



Let me know what you think!



Congrats to Charity/Ccboobooy, who won the Genifique face masks. Check your inbox for an email from me. Thanks to everyone for the great comments. I hope all of you get to travel to your dream location one day.

What's Not Chic? Jet Lag!

Hi, everyone. I'm taking a little break from the travel posts for a giveaway! It's my way of saying thank you for reading my very very very long blog posts. Today's giveaway is a box of Genifique Youth Activating Second Skin Masks. These are amazing, almost gel-like cloth masks that will leave your skin looking radiant and feeling very soft. If I could have walked around the office today wearing one of these masks, I would have. I am so jet lagged!! Lack of sleep is not good for your complexion. Eight hours of sleep per night might be the best beauty product on the market--and one of the most elusive!



Anyway, you'll love these masks. They're exclusive right now to our markets in Asia and Europe. I'm hoping we get them in the U.S. very soon.



Just leave a comment and tell me what city or country you would love to visit and why. Even if in your wildest dreams you think you'll never get there. (I never thought I'd make it to China!) Please post by Monday night. We'll pick one name at random. And congrats to Amy, who won the Color Design Matte lipstick giveaway. Check your inbox for a message from me.



Thanks again for following Michelle and I on our travels. Back to the Hong Kong portion of our trip very soon! xoxo

Day Five: Cosmo, Marie Claire and McDonald’s!

It’s our last day in Beijing. This morning, Michelle is doing a photo shoot for Cosmopolitan magazine at Beijing’s most famous photo studio. It’s a few blocks away, so we walk. There’s a little surprise waiting for Michelle: a makeup artist! What a treat. She won’t have to do her own makeup, plus she gets to see a top Chinese artist at work.



He spends most of the time on her eyes, carefully applying eyeliner and adding flirty false lashes. It turns out he’s also the hairstylist. He breaks out the large barrel curling iron and the Elnett hairspray and gives Michelle a Farrah Fawcett look. The shoot takes place next door at the Cosy Café, a small, sun-filled restaurant. The photographer barely says a word, but the editors tell her to look innocent for the first photo and to summon her inner Angelina Jolie for the next. “It’s Cosmo! Says Jerome, the Lancome China PR director. “Sexy!”



The beauty editor interviews Michelle over a lunch of beef soup with noodles and watermelon juice. The questions: Michelle’s favorite Lancome makeup (Le Crayon Khol eyeliner in white, the Color Design Matte lipsticks, Teint Miracle, Le Base Pro and Le Crayon Poudre eyebrow pencil), the questions she’s asked most frequently (how to cover pimples and dark circles) and makeup advice for Chinese women.



We jump in the minivan for our ride to the next shoot. This time it’s Marie Claire in a gritty studio on the outskirts of town. The Marie Claire editors are groovy and cool and have great hair and laid-back style. They’re in the middle of eating lunch from McDonald’s: Chicken McNuggets, Filet-O-Fish, Spicy Chicken Filet Burger, fries and corn salad.



There’s a little confusion over the direction of the shoot. They want “animal,” but no one’s quite able to explain what that means. Cat eyes? Leopard print eyeshadow? Halloween? Michelle does an exaggerated cat eye using the new Cool Lavande eyeshadow palette and the silver and purple Ombre Magnetique shadows from the spring Ultra Lavanade collection. The hairdressers tease Michelle’s abundant hair until it’s about as big as she is. The clothes and accessories for the shoot arrive—in a small backpack! But it’s like Mary Poppins’ backpack. The editor has somehow crammed a dozen H&M dresses and lots of sparkly necklaces, bracelets and headbands in there and pulls out one after the other to our amazement.



The shoot goes smoothly, the only downside being the temperature of the studio. (Look closely at the pictures above. You can see the editors are wearing their jackets and look how close the heater is to Michelle!) The beauty editor smiles as the photos pop up on the monitor. “Michelle has a good camera face,” she says to me.



It’s back to the hotel to change for dinner, but it takes a while to navigate Beijing’s rush hour traffic. Dinner is at a traditional Chinese restaurant near the Forbidden City. We drive through some beautiful Beijing neighborhoods, illuminated by strings of lights. It looks like a set from a 1950s movie. Our new friends from Lancome China join us for dinner and we have a fun night talking and trying new things, like pork neck and Chinese wine sweetened with dried sugar plums. It’s a very nice way to end our visit to Beijing.



Next up: Hong Kong!



Photos: Marie Claire beauty editor and Jerome, a dress option for the Cosmo shoot, time for makeup, the crew at the studio, the Cosmo shoot, the hairstylist's suitcase, on set with Marie Claire, the wardrobe options, MC's beauty director, Michelle's big hair and blow dryer as wind machine!