LongerThickerBetter Part III

Has anything tried this mascara?


Estée Lauder's New TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara™

It's Estée Lauder's New TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara™. According to Splendora, this mascara has "an auto-powered LashSonic Brush that gently vibrates with micro-pulse bristles." Any comments?

All sorts of new innovations promise longer or fuller lashes. I've already written about SpinLash, which I had rated as a "qualified buy." As I use this product more and more, I like it better. I still like Maybelline's The Colossal Volum' Express mascara for building thickness, but after reading Retainer Girl's review, I concede that mascara goop sticks to the wand and it has a strange smell, problems that her fave Lash Blast doesn't have. After applying The Colossal, I run SpinLash through my lashes. It removes excess gunk and really separates lashes after application.


LashControl Lengthening and conditioning formula in black

Another innovation is LashControl, which features a squeezable "wiper sleeve" (the pink part above) that is supposed to control the amount of mascara deposited on the brush. However, I didn't find the wiper sleeve useful. LashControl lengthening and conditioning formula is good; however, the volumizing formula (color coded with a purple wiper sleeve) was problematic. It smeared and flaked and despite the wiper sleeve, goop still stuck to the tip of the wand. In fairness to LashControl, however, its representative said that the problems I had shouldn't have happened, and offered to take back the mascara so that she could see what went wrong.

Who Needs Soy Lecithin? 'S.T. Lawder,' Naturally - WSJ.com

Origins Organics

Who Needs Soy Lecithin? 'S.T. Lawder,' Naturally from the December 28, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal discusses how Estee Lauder (get it? "S.T. Lawder"?) searched for a source that extracted soy lecithin without chemicals for the Origins Organics line.

Soy lecithin is an emulsifier, which enables oil and water to be blended together. Estee Lauder found its source through American Natural Soy Inc., a seed processor in Iowa. American Natural Soy Inc. faced special challenges in being a supplier to Estee Lauder: as the article notes, "Because the germ levels permitted in beauty products are stricter than those of food products -- given cosmetics' long shelf life and vulnerability to contamination -- Estée Lauder's technical requirements for the emulsifier were tougher than the two companies [American Natural Soy Inc. and its partner] were used to."

Other organic ingredients were sourced from around the world: "Organic palm oil ... in Brazil, clove in Indonesia, coconut oil in the Philippines, olive oil in Greece, thyme in Spain and lavender in Bulgaria." Is Estee Lauder also concerned about sustainable agriculture? As noted in the post about Lush, Lush is seeking to eliminate palm oil from its products, as some countries are clearing rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations.

NOTE Many WSJ.com articles are available for subscribers only.

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!

What's New in Beauty: June 10, 2005 - Mary Kay, Estee Lauder, reflect.com, Sephora, Maybelline

Categories: Beauty, Cosmetics

Mary Kay vetoes ads on Desparate Housewives - A Christian group successfully lobbies Mary Kay to pull ads for ABC's Desparate Housewives. May we expect TV ads featuring Nicolette Sheridan (NuGlow), Eva Longoria (signed with L'Oreal), and Teri Hatcher (who has a deal of her own) to pepper Desparate Housewives? Talk about cross-promotion!

Gwyneth Paltrow signs with Estee Lauder - The favorite of celebrity magazines, who named her daughter Apple, has signed a contract to appear in ads for Estee Lauder cosmetics and fragrances. As with the signing of Tom Ford, this appears to be another effort on the part of Estee Lauder Companies to boost sales of its flagship brand as consumer buying trends change.

P&G to close reflect.com - The master marketers (and innovators) at Proctor & Gamble haven't always been successful when it comes to cosmetics. P&G had a big rollout of Olay color cosmetics in supermarkets, drugstores, and other mass merchandisers, only to discontinue the line a couple of years later. Now comes news that P&G will close reflect.com, the customized cosmetics web site. Last day for order is Monday, June 13, so hurry!

reflect developed a color palette called the California Beauty Kit for Chico's, the women's clothing and accessories chain. This warm color palette features matte eyeshadows for day and shimmer eyeshadows for evening, along with a blusher, bronzer, and two lip colors. The price was cut from $55 to $29. While not available through Chico's web site, you might yet be able to find it in stores.

Sephora announces the winners of its 2005 Best of Sephora vote. 87,000 fans voted. Winners includes Nars blush in Orgasm, DuWop Lip Venom, Stila Lip Glaze, and more. Go to Sephora.com to shop the winners.

Maybelline goes upscale with signing of Kevyn Aucoin protege - I still have a problem calling Maybelline "Maybelline New York," as its corporate parent L'Oreal would have us call it. No doubt it has to do with the fact that I remember Maybelline as a child putzing around Kresge's dime store (and the reference to Kresge's alone betrays my age!), but the name "Maybelline" also conjures up Chuck Berry's song of the same name and Mother Maybelline Carter of country music's pioneering Carter Family - not exactly the image of urban sophistication that L'Oreal would like to convey. Still Volum'Express is my favorite mascara and I like its Dream Mousse Matte Foundation.

In another effort to go upscale, Maybelline has signed Troy Surratt, protege of the late, great makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, as its star makeup artist and has already rolled out a new ad campaign featuring him. Previously, Surratt succeeded his mentor as beauty advisor at Beauty.com.

What's New in Beauty - May 12, 2005: Yue-Sai, Costco, Webby Awards, cosmetic buying trends

Categories: Beauty, Cosmetics

China's Yue-Sai goes global: L'Oreal will launch Yue-Sai, the Chinese cosmetics brand, first in Asia and then in Europe and North America. Yue-Sai was founded by Chinese-American TV presenter Yue-Sai Kan. L'Oreal acquired Yue-Sai from the Lancaster Group in January 2004.

Costco developing its own cosmetics brand - Costco, the Seattle-based wholesale buyers' club that can supply you from cradle to grave, is developing its own cosmetics brand in partnership with Borghese. The Style Page has previously written on cosmetics brands exclusive to a store chain: IsaDora (Walgreen's), Lumene (CVS), Per Una (UK's Marks & Spencer), No 7 (UK's Boots), and good skin, American Beauty, and Flirt! (Kohl's).

The Webby Award winners have been announced: in the Beauty and Cosmetics category, the winner was comeclean.com, a web site for method's holiday gift set. Its gimmick was providing a place to read confessions and post confessions to "come clean." The People's Choice winner was the Mary Kay personal consultant site - no surprise there.

Finally, the article Specialty format steals department store beauty dollar from Cosmeticsdesign.com discusses how specialty and discount stores are taking market share for cosmetics purchases from traditional department stores. The merger of the major U.S. department store chains - Federated (Bloomingdale's and Macy's) and May (Lord & Taylor, Robinson's-May, Hecht's, Famous-Barr, etc.) will result in fewer consumer choices among department stores.

The Style Page notes that one challenge is that salespeople at department stores represent and work on behalf of a particular cosmetics brand. If department stores and their suppliers (notably Estee Lauder Companies) want to win back market share, they should scrap the current system in favor of salespeople/advisors who can advise on several brands and provide central checkouts for cosmetics purchases.

Update: Soon after I published this post, I found that Shoppers Drug Mart, a drugstore chain in Canada, is negotiating with Estee Lauder Companies to distribute various Estee Lauder brands through their stores. More evidence about the change in buyers' habits.