Lancôme Magnifique et Aaron de Mey
Lancôme have just released their new fragrance, ‘Magnifique’, and invited us to a totally unique presentation day…
The day was spent on a Champs Elysées rooftop balcony in the company of a handful of French and European bloggers, all there to learn about future Lancôme products.
The morning was dedicated to the ‘Magnifique’ fragrance; to learning about its history and its scents via an olfactory workshop. This was conducted by Olivier Cresp, the master perfumer who was notably responsible for Angel by Thierry Mugler.
Magnifique is a fragrance that is defined by three strong scents: rose (the brand’s famous logo), saffron and nagarmotha (Indian papyrus). I’ll let Linna, our fragrance expert, give you her opinion on the result of this combination: I find this perfume to be very feminine, sensual and memorable. It shows its elegance with woody and floral notes.
Lancôme called upon the actress Anne Hattaway, who you will remember from ‘The Devil wears Prada’, for the promotional material. The advert shows the actress in a Paris that is bathed in a bright red light. I personally find it all a little too impersonal, and the choice of model is questionable, as Anne Hattaway seems to me to be fairly dull…
The bottle, however, is a real success. Designed by the H5 group, its multi-faceted shape gives it a sophisticated appeal, and its flame-red tint creates a beautiful effect – a success that is repeated with the packaging.
The afternoon was dedicated to new cosmetic products, presented by Aaron de Mey, Lancôme’s new artistic director, and it was a revelation!
The man is a talented make-up artist of New Zealand origin, and well known not just for his collaborations with Jean-Paul Gaultier, but for his inimitable look: long platinum blond surfer locks, spindly physique and rock ‘n roll outfits. Aaron arrived and it initially seemed like we were dealing with a reserved, quiet character, but he actually turned out to be both charming and passionate.
The evidence for this is in the fact that the hour passed quickly as we talked about everything and nothing – about his friends Kate Moss and Courtney Love, his New York neighbours, his skateboard, tecktonik, shopping… I told him that I liked his feather necklace – it turned out that Ann Demeulemeester offered it to him as a token of their friendship! He then timidly asked me, “Where did you find your jacket? You look awesome!” The answer was Bill Tornade. “Let’s go shopping together afterwards!”
This was followed by a presentation of the new make-up items developed by Aaron de Mey, glam rock style! The first products to go on sale will be a dazzlingly powerful scarlet “Phila Red” lipstick and a beautifully effective black gloss lip-gloss. We love them!
Congratulations to Lancôme for this atypical choice of products. The wind of youth, rock ‘n roll and chic is blowing through this luxury brand, and nobody is complaining!
Congratulations also to the agency Balistik*Art for their immaculate-as-ever organisation.
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J’ai beaucoup aimé le film “Le Diable s’habille en Prada” et son actrice Anne Hattaway. J’aime beaucoup ce qu’elle dégage en général mais je suis d’accord sur son côté fade présent sur les affiche publicitaire que l’on retrouve petit à petit sur Paris.
Aaron est DA mais Maquillage chez lancôme je crois bien…ce n’était pas en juin la journée avec les bloggeurs?
Excusez-moi d’avance, je ne vous parlerais ni de packaging, ni de make-up, ni d’Anne Hattaway, mais de parfum… je sais c’est ridicule ;-P
MAGNIFIQUE est probablement le pire lancement de cette rentrée.
Les notes de tête, alcoolisées et aigres, sont difficilement supportables. Le parfum évolue à mi-chemin entre Trésor de la même marque, et l’horrible note “sébum” de Nina, signé par le même duo (Jacques Cavallier and Olivier Cresp).
Pour faire écho à la critique précédente, Je rajouterais que linvestissement com est énorme sur ce lancement, mais les efforts un peu vains. La pub TV est à tomber de ringardise, le lancement sur M6 fut un flop, le choix de l’actrice plus que contestable (en tout cas pas bien exploité) quand au flacon, H5 m’avait habitué à mieux. Enfin le jus n’est pas à la hauteur. Dommage, j’apprécie les efforts. D’autant plus que j’imagine qu’au final tout ces choix résultent des directeurs (mkt, artistiques…) mais qu’on sent qu’il y a eu une volonté de faire bien en bas.
[...] tendance maquillage de cet hiver est assurément au dark. Nous l’avions vu avec Aaron de Mey et sa gamme sombre chez Lancôme, voici celle de Make Up For [...]