Easy, Breezy And Beautiful

A big kudos to CoverGirl for choosing Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson for a new campaign that will launch in January.

Real beauty, courage, big personality and a sense of humor can sell cosmetics! Maybe the 21st century is finally here.

Ôverhype- Lancome Ôscillation Mascara

A first edition tube of mascara. Seriously.

I probably shouldn't be speaking, considering I attended three Harry Potter parties when the last books came out. I couldn't wait for the morning and had to get my paws on a copy at midnight (and spend most of the night reading). But I just can't wrap my mind around the idea of people supposedly standing in line to be the first ones to buy a vibrating mascara. I'm staying home.

What do you think?

Image: Lancome.com

Exceptionnel de Chanel: An eMarketing Campaign

Regular readers of this blog know I'm usually a big fan of Chanel makeup. Getting me interested in a new product shouldn't be hard, right?

But watching the ad on Chanel's new Exceptionnel mascara mini-site (turn the volume way down if you're at work) was more annoying than intriguing. From the (really bad) music to the ad copy ("she prepares to perform black magic that'll transform her eyes", "the black that puts the world at your feet". Seriously).

The design of the site is flawed: It doesn't take into account laptop users with smaller screens. I have a 15" widescreen and had to scroll down in search of any possible links to more information. Many would just close the tab quickly to escape the muzak and never know there were application tips and a preview of the entire Exceptionnel collection (not yet available, but looks interesting enough).

Also, a note to the good people of Chanel: your customers are a sophisticated bunch. They want real info about the new formula (what the hell is Volumeplast Complex?) and a better description of the brush (SculptVolume? Can we stop with made-up names?). That brush ballet in the mostly empty Design section (more of the bad music) is not helping.

To add insult to injury, the email newsletter promised "a limited time opportunity for Chanel.com subscribers". The great opportunity, apparently, is being subjected to that ad, because the option to buy the new mascara is readily available to any visitor of the regular Chanel website.

As far as I'm concerned, the great review of the new Givenchy mascara written by Cavewoman for Blogdorf Goodman is a lot more effective in getting me to the store.

Image: Chanel

Angelina

She no longer wears vials of blood around her neck and her image has dramatically changed from the wild days of Billy Bob. Still, I remember raising an eyebrow in late 2005 when St. John revealed her as the new face of the brand.

Most of the ads (and even the clothes) weren't so bad or too much in contrast with everything we know of Angelina Jolie. I like the ones above, because they don't take away or try to change who she is. But this last one (below) is a bit too Laura Bush to swallow.

(photos courtesy of TombRaiderChronicles)

"Do you like my lips?"

It looks like Chanel executives have made an important discovery: People who like soft porn are most likely to purchase luxury lip color.

That's the only way I was able to explain this:



I don't find this offensive. Just very silly.

Go Figure

The other day I was looking through my makeup stash and found an Elizabeth Arden lipstick I got as a GWP from StrawberryNet. It was still in it's original packaging and I've never even looked at the color. Upon opening it, I discovered a really nice muted red. It has a bit of a brownish undertone, along the lines of Lancome's (old) Sugared Maple or Dior Addict Digital Brown. It's Exceptional Lipstick number 38, aptly named Beauty and it works for me as a daytime red.

Like most long-wearing lipsticks, I found its texture to be a bit dry. It requires a balm underneath and a gloss on top to feel really comfortable. Besame's red berry lip glaze gave it the nice shine that I was looking for. All in all, not bad for something I forgot I had.

Speaking of Elizabeth Arden, am I the only one raising an eyebrow at their ad for the new Intervene moisturizer and lotion? I saw it on page 13 of February Lucky magazine. It features Catherine Zeta Jones who has been photoshopped within an inch of her life, to the point that she's barely recognizable. Good thing that her name appears on the ad, so we can be sure that it's actually her. But it's not just Catherine Z's face. Apparently, she's now sprouting Keira Knightly's stick figure arms. Only problem is that the torso is still hers and the proportions are slightly off.

How Not to Sell Clothes

I know that I'm not the only one who found the Marc Jacobs ads featuring Meg White as a corpse lying on dirt in the middle of nowhere, to be in very poor taste. It seemed to me as a part of another wave of designers' mysogeny- Louis Vuitton and a few others also featured dead or zombie-like looking models, in scenes that reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer digging her way out of the grave (sixth season, first episode).

I just leafed through Men's Vogue, where I found another Marc Jacobs ad. This one features the man who killed Meg. Wearing a denim trench coat, his face filthy, a crazy look in his eyes, his hand clutching the coat's buckle but it might as well be a knife. Or a gun. Or his penis. Welcome to Jack the Ripper's world. Apparently he wears Marc Jacobs.