Off to Paris!

Hi, everyone. I'm heading to Paris this weekend to work on some top secret project. (Yes, I will be in BIG TROUBLE if I talk about them.) But they involve photo shoots (hint, hint) in some very pretty locations with some very pretty people.



I'm so happy the volcano mess is cleared up for now. Did any of you get stuck or affected? I hope not.



We'll have some special giveaways on the blog while I'm over there. Hypnose Precious Cells, the "Julia Roberts" mascara, has launched in Europe already, so maybe we'll give that away. (The U.S. will get Definicils Precious Cells soon!) I think the international Summer 2010 collection is different from the U.S. version, so I'll be investigating that too. And then there is the special international Juicy Tubes collection to celebrate the 10th birthday of the world-famous gloss. Did you know it was Juicy Tubes that kicked off the tube gloss phenomenon?



The collection consists of six mini tubes of the Juicy Tubes 100% Natural formula and the amazing Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama created the decoration for the packaging. (I love that we work with so many incredible, unique women, from Julia Roberts to L'Wren Scott to Daria to Yayoi.) Isn't it adorable? The U.S. won't be getting this collection for now. (Sorry, U.S.! You have the 100% formula in full size tubes and four limited edition shades) I promise to bring back a few international sets for a giveaway.



Anyway, have a great weekend and I'll talk to you when I'm in Paris!

Our Spokesmodel Elettra: Green & Gorgeous! (Beauty Blog Giveaway Alert Too!)

I couldn't let Earth Day pass without doing a post on our most excellent spokesmodel Elettra. As some of you might know, Elettra is not only a model but a student and a serious environmentalist. She's studying biomedicine at the London School of Economics and was explaining her thesis to me the other day. (It has to do with global warming and farming. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say, but it was fascinating.) The girl's a total braniac.

And she happens to be as beautiful as she is smart, as these pictures attest. They're from the new issue of InStyle UK. If you live in the U.K. or near an international newsstand, pick up the issue! Elettra's definitely blessed genetically (mom is the legendarily beautiful Isabella Rossellini and dad was a model once upon a time) but she works out a lot to maintain her shape. She told InStyle that to keep her arms tone she'll do 30 pushups at a time and 60-90 when she's with her trainer. (Um, I can't even do one!)

Elettra has a great charity called Just One Frickin' Day that focuses on individual charity projects. Her current initiative is getting solar electricity panels for a hospital in Burundi, the world's poorest country. The hospital has no electricity, so once the sun sets, doctors operate wearing miners' helmets. Can you imagine?

To raise funds last year, Elettra got some of her designer pals like Chris Benz, Rag & Bone and Phillip Lim to design t-shirts. Anyone making a donation of a certain amount received a t-shirt. The shirts sold out, but Lancome made a small donation and got its hands on a special stash. We partnered with several of our favorite blogs on a giveaway today where you can get one of the t-shirts and one of our new Juicy Tubes 100% Natural Origin. Below is a list of the blogs. Make sure to check them out and leave a comment. You never know!

And stop by Just One Frickin' Day to learn more about its Burundi project.

Fab Over 40
Karla Sugar
Blogdorf Goodman
Fete a Fete
The Hungry Asian

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!