(AP Photo/Badgley Mischka, Gilles Bensimon)
The design duo Badgley Mishka, famous for their glamorous gowns, have tapped twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to model in their spring print campaign.
I guess these other twins didn’t make the grade.
Category: celebrities
Review of MAC “Beauty Icon 3” collection Catherine Deneuve – Color
I had become disillusioned with MAC after it discontinued its Satin foundation several years ago. MAC Satin was the best foundation I ever used, and even better, its price point was more comfortable that prices for foundations from other department store brands. When I wanted to buy another bottle, the makeup artist told me that the foundation had been discontinued and tried to sell me on the merits of peach-toned foundations. I couldn’t believe it. MAC became famous in part for its array of neutral-toned foundations!
Catherine Deneuve – fabulous at 62
(AP Photo/ Markus Schreiber, File)
It was the allure of Catherine Deneuve and MAC’s selecting La Deneuve as its Beauty Icon that brought me back to MAC. I visited one of MAC’s mall stores to test products from the Catherine Deneuve – Color collection.
The Catherine Deneuve – Color collections features two shades of blushing crème, two shades of nail polish, four different shades of Lipglass, four different shades of lip Lacquer, four shades of lipstick, and two eye shadow quads. For the most part, the shades are pretty and wearable (not the adjectives that typically spring to mind with MAC).
I will focus on the lipsticks and eye shadow quads. A Rose (a deep rose) is the most vibrant shade of the lot, while Strawberry Blonde is a pink/coral – not too cool, not too warm – and Sharp Beige is a nude pink. I ultimately opted for Bourbon, which MAC describes as Rich brown/red (Amplified), but it’s more like intensifying the natural color of my lips and giving them a nice polish.
The two eye shadow quads are Laze and Thunder. Laze features two light shades appropriate for all over lid color and two dark shades more appropriate for the crease or for lining the eyes. All shades coordinate well together. Thunder features more dramatic shades that mimic the chartreuse/olive/plum/pink color motif used in the brush handles and compacts of the Catherine Deneuve – Face collection. As I prefer to use tonal shades, I found it difficult to coordinate all shades from this quad together – and judging from the “Looks” on MAC’a web site, neither could MAC’s makeup artists.
Share this:
Catherine Deneuve collections by MAC now out
MAC’s third “Beauty Icon” collection is now available at maccosmetics.com and gloss.com and in the stores. Each “Beauty Icon” collection pays tribute to a particular celebrity. The two previous honorees were Liza Minelli and Diana Ross. MAC has always been unconventional (recall that female impersonator RuPaul was the spokesmodel for MAC’s first print campaign), but what was MAC thinking by selecting Liza Minelli and Diana Ross? I discussed Ross in a post on on this blog from last year. Liza Minelli’s career after her breakthrough role in the movie Cabaret (1972) has been plagued by addictions, lousy vehicles to showcase her talent, and four marriages that ended in divorce: the last marriage, to producer David Gest, ended with a lawsuit claiming that she abused him. Both Minelli and Ross are also plagued by lasting associations with Michael Jackson.
The current collection honors Catherine Deneuve, who is not only working steadily (she’s now 62), but who also has become the model for aging well. She eschews cosmetic surgery, and chose to keep an extra fifteen pounds rather than incur wrinkles.
Catherine Deneuve for MAC (2006)
This is not the first time that Deneuve has modeled for a beauty product. In the 1970s, she appeared in an ad campaign for Chanel no. 5. She is more sensual at 62 than she was in her 30s!
Catherine Denueve for Chanel no. 5 (1970s)
Share this:
Estee Lauder ups its hipness quotient with Tom Ford, Gwyneth Paltrow
The Estee Lauder Companies are working hard to re-energize their flagship Estee Lauder label. Last April, The Style Page noted Tom Ford’s venture with Estee Lauder. In June, I noted Gwyneth Paltrow’s contract with Estee Lauder to appear in their advertising campaigns. Only now are we seeing the results of these two ventures.
I was at Nordstrom in Tysons Corner last week, and a visiting makeup artist from Estee Lauder told me that only Neiman-Marcus and Saks are carrying the color products from the Tom Ford Collection. I then went to Saks, where the saleswoman told me that the Estee Lauder company was giving only small quantities of the products in the Tom Ford Collection to individual stores: for example, this Saks store received only one compact of solid perfume in Youth Dew Amber Nude (selling for $175!). The Eau du Parfum spray is strong enough to curl your toes, although Youth Dew Amber Nude is supposed to be lighter than original Youth Dew. I tested five lipsticks from the Tom Ford Collection ranging from a shimmering champagne to a shade that looked like malted milk to a deep plummy brown. The Tom Ford Collection also offers a subdued pinkish bronzer. I didn’t find anything I wanted, thanked the saleswoman for her time, and walked away.
I have not been able to find the Tom Ford Collection sold online on esteelauder.com. I also tried saks.com, as the Tom Ford Collection premiered at its Fifth Avenue store, but all I could find available was the Eau du Parfum spray. With the way that Estee Lauder is limiting supply of the Tom Ford Collection, it’s no surprise that these products are up for bid on eBay!
Share this:
Diana Ross signs up with MAC, finally
Diana Ross signs up with MAC, finally
MAC Global President, John Demsey, states, “Not only is [Diana Ross] a global style icon but also a timeless and exquisite beauty. As a multi-talented performer who expresses her individuality through fashion and make-up, she’s all that M.A.C admires.”
I’d dispute that Diana Ross is “a timeless and exquisite beauty.” Actually, she’s become pathetic. She reached the heights of her career in 60s with the Supremes and in the 70s and 80s with her solo career. More recently, her career has been plagued by a lot of setbacks and missteps: the end of her marriage, a DUI conviction last year, and the failed “Return to Love” Supremes reunion – if you could call it a “reunion,” as neither Mary Wilson nor Cindy Birdsong, the two surviving Supremes (Florence Ballard died broke years ago) with whom Diana Ross had her biggest 60s hits, agreed to participate.
As far as being “all that M.A.C admires,” this is consistent with M.A.C’s habit of engaging female impersonators like Liza Minnelli and drag queen RuPaul – although RuPaul is more genuine than either Diana Ross or Liza Minnelli.
Share this:
Yahoo! News – Badgley Mischka to Dress First Daughters
Yahoo! News – Badgley Mischka to Dress First Daughters
Forget the red carpet for the People’s Choice Awards, Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) Awards, Golden Globes, and other awards shows culminating in the Academy Awards (Oscars) show! The Style Page is eager to see how Barbara (L) and Jenna Bush, the (fraternal) twin daughters of President George W. and First Lady Laura Bush, will look in the gowns that the Badgley Mischka design team created for inauguration festivities. I love looking at Badgley Mischka dresses and gowns in the fashion magazines and find them glamorous and sexy, but never tacky. This is not to suggest that I support lavish festivities for a second term, especially after the tsunami disaster in Southeastern Asia and while terrorist attacks take place and American soldiers die almost daily in Iraq.
Barbara Bush’s gown is described as a “pale aquamarine silk chiffon gown with a plunging neckline, a ruffle seam skirt and jeweled straps.” Barbara, being thin and not well endowed, should be able to carry this gown off nicely. Jenna Bush’s gown (R) is an emerald green silk crepe column gown with metallic green banding and jeweled insets at the hip, no doubt to “carve” a waist for her. Green is a difficult color to wear, and the plunging neckline will keep the green away from Jenna’ face. The plunging neckline should be more flattering to Jenna than the strapless gown she wore to inauguration festivities for her father’s first term (see photo above), which made her look busty.
Share this:
Beauty from Kohl’s Department Stores
Categories: Beauty, Cosmetics
The marketing of cosmetics is a strange business. Sears rolled out its Circle of Beauty concept comprising fragrance, skin care, and color cosmetics with much fanfare, and then decided to exit the beauty business only a few years later. JC Penney announced it too was getting out of the beauty business and stopped carrying Iman, Color Me Beautiful, and Ultima II at its stores. The decisions of Sears and JC Penney to get out of selling cosmetics was a blow to Avon, which expected to market its beComing line through these retail outlets. Avon therefore had to rely on its traditional means of selling (sales representatives, carts at the mall) to market beComing.
Discount stores have sought to distinguish themselves by selling products its competitors don’t have. Wal-Mart sells Coty’s Rimmel, while Target sells a cosmetics line from makeup artist Sonia Kashuk. The beleaguered KMart Corporation is not selling an exclusive line of cosmetics, but given the energy it’s put into advertising its new clothing lines (including ads in Vogue), I wouldn’t be surprised if KMart rolled out its own line of cosmetics.
I have already written about Walgreen’s selling IsaDora cosmetics from Sweden and CVS’s selling Lumene Cosmetics .
Mid-priced stores such as Caldor and Upton’s have gone out of business altogether, and the market leader in this category is clearly Kohl’s. Kohl’s has entered into marketing cosmetics in a most audacious way. It has partnered with the Beauty Bank division of Estee Lauder Companies to establish three cosmetics lines in its stores. The three lines are good skin, American Beauty, and Flirt!
good skin offers skin care products, of course. The packages are color-coded according to complexion. Good skin care also offers foundation and concealers.
American Beauty features a real American beauty – Ashley Judd – as its “face.” I have been in love with Ashley Judd ever since seeing her in the movie Simon Birch and linger over magazines on which she’s featured on the cover, but even she can’t excite me in this cosmetics line.
Flirt! is the most captivating of the three cosmetics lines. It’s targeted to younger consumers and features a wide range of colors (and of course, shimmer). The Style Page judges a cosmetics line by its selection of eye shadows, and Flirt! offers a wide variety of both matte and shimmery colors. The boxes are color-coded and the eye shadow container slides open and a mirror pop ups (great packaging, but needless). The Style Page bought Dreamy Eyes Eyeshadow ($10) in Mellowtini, a shimmery olive that would be appropriate for the crease or the wedge (the outer third of the eyelid).
Cold Cream 'n' Roses 