Category: Leslie Blodgett

Bare Escentuals’ Be a Force of Beauty advertising campaign

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

The New York Times had a feature on Bare Escentuals’ much ballyhooed “Be a Force of Beauty” advertising campaign: Beauty Might Not Be Blind, but the Casting Call Was.

According to the NYT:

To find models that represented the elusive notion of beauty, the company held a blind casting call for women ages 20 to 60. Representatives from Bare Escentuals did not see the women who applied until they were selected for the campaign. Instead, they asked more than 270 women to complete a questionnaire about who they were and what they were like.

“My agent wouldn’t even tell me who the company was,” said Keri Shahidi, 42, one of the women chosen for the campaign, because the agent did not want the knowledge to affect her answers. The list was then whittled to 78 women, who were chosen based on their answers to the survey and brought in for interviews with casting agents. That list was reduced to 26 women, and after an a additional round of interviews, five women made the final cut.

Not seeing the women before they were chosen, Ms. Blodgett said, was a bit nerve-racking. “Do you know what a huge risk that is? What if all five of them were blonde, blue-eyed and 30?”

The follow-up trailers suggest that the casting agents screened the women by answers to questionnaires and audio interviews alone – sight unseen.  I have a hard time believing that these attractive women were selected through answers to questionnaires and audio interviews alone.

Leslie Blodgett debuts Bare Skin fragrance

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

After leading the Mineral Makeup Revolution, Leslie Blodgett has now ventured into fragrance. She debuted her first fragrance Bare Skin earlier this month with a online blitz, including a website Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries, a microsite on Sephora.com, a fan page on Facebook, a Twitter account, and a blogging program. When it comes to promoting her products, this woman doesn’t do anything small!

Watch Leslie Blodgett discuss Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries

Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries is a limited edition fragrance collection created exclusively for Sephora. Here is Leslie’s concept for Bare Skin: “Bare Skin is the way you feel when the sun is beating down on you during the day, but then you go out at night and you’re still sizzling from the warmth of the day which mingles with night air and music.”

It was up to perfumeur Stephen Nilsen of the Franch fragrance house Givaudan to translate Leslie’s concept into fragrance. Nilsen imagined “creamy sensuality, caressing florals, and uninhibited musk” to formulate Bare Skin. The olfactory notes are:

Top: Black Pepper, Freesia, Anise

Middle: Iris, Vanilla Orchid, Plumeria, Patchouli

Bottom: Sandalwood, Labdanum, Musk

I’m not a fan of light fragrances: maybe it’s because I’m a Taurus, which is an Earth sign 🙂 I prefer heavier fragrances, and Bare Skin, with its notes of Patchouli, Sandalwood, Labdanum, and Musk, suits me.


Bare Skin Eau de Parfum from Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries

Bare Skin is available as an Eau de Parfum, a Solid Perfume Compact, and a Perfumed Body Cream. You may shop for Bare Skin at Sephora stores and Sephora.com.

NOTE to readers: My access to the Internet in the last month has been erratic, to say the least. I regret to tell you that I was too late to share the news about the contest to win a trip to Hawai’i in conjunction with the launch of Bare Skin. The contest closed October 23, 2009.

FTC regs note: I received 5 sample vials of Bare Skin from a representative for Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries for participating in the blogging program. I am planning a giveaway, in which I’ll add a sample of Bare Skin as a bonus. The giveaway should go live in the next two weeks.

Just Desserts

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Over the time I’ve maintained this blog, I’ve made sardonic comments about Leslie Blodgett’s aggressive marketing of Bare Escentuals. Still, I’m fond of the limited edition collection Sweet Decadence from Bare Escentuals.


Sweet Decadence limited edition collection from Bare Escentuals

Each of the four shades have evocative names:

Dulce de Leche (pink beige glimpse)
Tiramisu (medium shimmering taupe glimpse)
Red Velvet Cake (medium polished ruby glimpse)
Chocolate Fondue (dark chocolate bark glimpse)

I love using Dulce de Leche as a highlighter, Chocolate Fondue as an eyeliner, and Tiramisu or Red Velvet Cake in the crease. Red Velvet Cake would make a pretty lip color when mixed with a waxy lip balm.

The eye colors do have some sparkle, which was particularly apparent in sunlight reflected in the rear view mirror.

To find the Sweet Decadence collection, I had to go from the Bare Escentuals boutique in Nordstrom to the Bare Escentuals stand-alone boutique to Sephora, which was the only store that had it in stock. Save yourself the effort and shop online at barescentuals.com or Sephora.com.