Sandra‘s Closet

Remember playing dress-up during your childhood? Well, you’re about to take a walk down memory lane with this new makeup collaboration by Coach and Sephora. The two brands have collaborated to debut a collection of makeup that playfully reimagines the American fashion house’s iconic mascots, Rexy, Sharky and Uni. All housed in colourful and glittery hardware, those palettes will make your time spent at your vanity tables even more enjoyable than it already is.

I am most excited about the Rexy and Sharky eyeshadow palettes, which offer a wearable selection of shades that can take you from day to night in a range of finishes – from buttery mattes and bold metallics to soft shimmers.

COACH X SEPHORA COLLECTION – SHARKY EYESHADOW PALETTE
A limited-edition eyeshadow palette created in collaboration with Coach, featuring six eyeshadows in soft mattes, metallics, and shimmers.
CHF 63.90

COACH x SEPHORA COLLECTION – REXY EYESHADOW PALETTE
A limited-edition eyeshadow palette created in collaboration with Coach, featuring six eyeshadows in buttery mattes, bold metallics, and soft shimmers.
CHF 63.90

COACH x SEPHORA COLLECTION – UNI FACE PALETTE
A limited-edition face palette created in collaboration with Coach, featuring a soft and creamy blush, radiant highlighter, and matte bronzer.
CHF 63.90

The new Coach collection is available now in Switzerland at manor.ch/sephora.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sephora 

Last Friday was World Sleep Day, a call to think about the importance of sleep for achieving an optimal quality of life, improve health and look younger. And it’s true that sleep keeps you looking young. When you’re fast asleep, the body goes into repair mode and regenerates skin, blood and brain cells, as well as muscles. Regular sleepers have better mood, psychomotor performance, and academic achievement. During sleep, your skin’s blood flow increases, and the organ rebuilds its collagen and repairs damage from UV exposure, reducing wrinkles and age spots. Science shows you can sleep your skin younger.

THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
Today’s post is dedicated to giving that renewal process a helping hand. Here is how to pull a beauty overnighter with the new GENAISSANCE DE LA MER The Concentrated Night Balm. A sumptuous balm that accelerates natural renewal while you sleep.

This silken, ampoule-strength treatment penetrates deeply during nighttime, plumping skin with healing hydration, helping skin rebuild natural collagen and elastin, and strengthening its natural barrier. It softens the look of fine lines, wrinkles, pores and age spots and helps skin feel firmer. Night after night, an ageless transformation unfolds.

HOW TO USE IT
Each night before sleeping, pick up a small amount with the moon-shaped applicator. Use fingertips to massage into skin in upward motions, allowing the balm to softly melt and gently infuse into skin. Follow your regimen with a moisturizer of your choice.

WHAT’S INSIDE
Composed of legendary sea-sourced ferments merged with potent active ingredients,
discover the time-transcending elements that make up The NEW Concentrated Night Balm.

CRYSTAL MIRACLE BROTH™
Crystal Miracle Broth™ is the purest expression of La Mer’s legendary Miracle Broth™ elixir. Crafted in small batches, it helps skin’s natural renewal process and infuses skin with the healing energies of the sea, transporting it to a more ageless dimension.

THE GENAISSANCE FERMENT™
A 24-karat gold-infused rarity. The Genaissance Ferment, created with rare red algae and combined with wavelengths of natural light, helps boost natural collagen to infuse skin with a new look of life.

THE ESSENTIAL AMINO ACID FERMENT
The Essential Amino Acid Ferment empowers skin to enable it to restore its vital extracellular matrix including strengthening elements like collagen, fibronectin and hyaluronic acid so skin appears transformed, smoother and firmer.

I can absolutely recommend the GENAISSANCE DE LA MER The Concentrated Night Balm, you will see a difference extremely fast. After all, the phrase ‘beauty sleep’ didn’t come from nowhere!

TO SHOP THE GENAISSANCE DE LA MER THE CONCENTRATED NIGHT BALM,
CLICK HERE PLEASE!

Stay tuned for all the details of my look coming up tomorrow!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © David Biedert Photography and © La Mer
DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored. We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise. 

«Tubéreuse Nue merges lush florals with spices, mimicking the surprising duality of night-blooming tuberose—a fresh flower with an intense aura awakened at night.» — Tom Ford

My avid readers know how much I love Tom Ford’s Private Blend collection, among my favorites are Lost Cherry, Rose Prick, Lavender Extrême and Bitter Peach. Therefore, I was very excited to explore the newest fragrance launch, Tubéreuse Nue, that conjures the fresh petals of night-blooming tuberose and jasmine as they sway in the moonlight, exuding extravagant sensuality. One word: beautiful! Rising to a rhapsody of unparalleled pleasure, spiced akigalawood and time pepper add an illicit potency to this mystical dance. A soft, sensual blanket of musk captures the erotic afterglow, promising the mood – and the longing – endures.

But be careful, this new oriental floral fragrance is an unpologetic tuberose scent. If you love the flower, you will become addicted to this new scent that dries down amazingly with its beautiful base notes of suede, musk, tonka bean and agarwood. Warm, different, sensual … a wonderful addition to my collection.

The perfume is housed in a matte-ivory iteration of the iconic Private Blend bottle. Adorned with a glossed, barely pink label and gilded accents, the 50 mL flacon has a sleek, architectural look of a chess piece, and the 250 mL decanter adds monumental beauty to any vanity.

TO SHOP TUBÉREUSE NUE EAU DE PARFUM, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Tom Ford #TFTubéreuseNue #TomFord
The photos of me are taking with the special Instagram filter « Tom Ford Tubéreuse Nue».
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise!

On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, La Prairie announces lead patronage of Niki de Saint Phalle‘s most substantial U.S. retrospective at MoMA PS1 in New York.

On view from March 11 to September 6, 2021, Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life will feature over 200 works created from the mid-1960s until the artis’s death, highlighting Saint Phalle’s interdisciplinary approach and engagement.

Niki de Saint Phalle. Californian Diary (Order and Chaos). 1994

La Prairie honours Niki de Saint Phalle’s audacious and visionary feminist spirit – her defiance of social norms and her willingness to break the codes both in her personal life and work. The work of Niki de Saint Phalle has a particular resonance for La Prairie as it was her striking use of cobalt blue that was the inspiration behind La Prairie’s iconic Skin Caviar Collection colour.

Niki de Saint Phalle. Flaçon de parfum. 1982

In 1982, Niki was developing her eponymous fragrance from her atelier in a shared design studio in
New York where La Prairie’s team would often engage in creative exchanges. When La Prairie
encountered Niki de Saint Phalle’s cobalt blue – her favourite colour that she describes «as the colour
of joy and luck» – the link became clear: only cobalt blue would do. A fortunate encounter that would
spark a bond with the House of La Prairie and seal it forever.

La Prairie Skin Caviar Collection

Just as Niki de Saint Phalle raised awareness on modernist, progressive views, La Prairie’s founder paved the way to pioneering discoveries. Dr. Paul Niehans was a dreamer, a seeker of beauty. Art was central to his science, central to his dream to hold time in his hand, central to his pioneering spirit. A spirit mirrored in Niki de Saint Phalle’s inner flame of audacity. She expressed a new femininity, one which stood in opposition to the conventional influences and values of society.

Niki de Saint Phalle working on the set for The Travelling Companion at her studio near Milly-la-Forêt. 1977.

Through her lifetime, Niki de Saint Phalle used her platform as an artist to bring attention to various issues advocating for women’s equality to provoke and trigger conversations – a legacy that today continues to inspire new generations of artists and women beyond. Niki de Saint Phalle also shaped art movements such as Nouveau Réalisme. As the only woman in the 1960s-founded group, she offered a unique perspective and proved her art was as innovative as her male counterparts.

Niki de Saint Phalle. La femme et L’oiseau fontaine. 1967–88

«Niki de Saint Phalle created artwork that explicitly rejected patriarchal values and artistic convention. Her Nanas confront Western standards of femininity and decorum: they are brash, ecstatic, and embrace sexuality. She created her Nanas at such a large scale specifically so that they could dominate – literally tower over – men. Saint Phalle was also an iconoclast in her personal style and way of life,» according to Ruba Katrib, Curator of the exhibition.

Last Night I had a dream, 1968-1988

This collaboration with the upcoming exhibition at MoMA PS1 in New York is an opportunity for the Swiss luxury house to enable the world to experience Saint Phalle’s revolutionary work. It is also an expansion of La Prairie’s support of art and culture by creating new connections with the world of art and its various representatives, whether emerging or established artists or cultural institutions. A commitment that continues to flourish and to build on the House’s existing partnerships with art fairs Art Basel and West Bund Art & Design and the iconic Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland.

More information at moma.org/ps1. I would love to see this exhibition and truly hope that we will be able to travel to the U.S. soon again.

LoL, Sandra

Niki de Saint Phalle with La Fontaine Stravinsky

Photos: Courtesy of La Prairie, © 2021 Niki Charitable Art Foundation
© Michiko Matsumoto, © Leonardo Bezzola Estate

The highest light. The deepest glow. Enter a new dimension of beauty with a collection of luminizing essentials for eyes, lips, and face. Featuring Euphoric Color Complex, an exclusive blend of light-reflecting pearls and pure color pigments that imparts a natural glow and sheer wash of color to skin. Eyes illuminate. Lips scintillate. Skin exhilarates. A total aura of euphoria.

THE COLLECTION
EUPHORIA FACE PALETTE  – CHF 79.90
Glow to another dimension. Turn skin on with a limited-edition palette of eight eyeshadows in a range of satin, matte, and glittering finishes, with three glistening shades of highlighter. Build and blend your way to an irresistible sheen that catches light from every angle.

SHADES:
• EYESHADOW SHADES:
o EYE TO EYE (matte light taupe)
o PHAEDRA (shimmering white with pink pearl)
o DREAM STATE (shimmering magenta with blue reflective pearl)
o ATHENE (matte light peach)
o ILLUMIA (shimmering medium gold with red undertones)
o OUT OF BOUNDS (shimmering chocolate brown)
o SLOW BURN (shimmering hot pink)
o DARK SKY (matte chocolate brown)
• HIGHLIGHTING POWDER SHADES:
o TEORAMA (shimmering medium peach)
o SPELL (shimmering medium gold with yellow undertones)
o SOLARIS (shimmering light pink)

EUPHORIA FACE DEW – CHF 42.-
Dew more. Boost your skin with a lightweight, multipurpose liquid luminizer that instantly creates the look of dewy, super-hydrated skin with reflection and light – no sparkle. Skin appears translucent. Transcendent. Transformed. Create an instant glassy glow by applying to high points of the face, over makeup or on top of bare skin.

AFTERGLOW LIP SHINE – CHF 36.-
Surreal feel. Divine shine. Introducing a new, comfortable lip gloss that effortlessly glides on a veil of lustrous color and mirror-like shine. Infused with Raspberry Seed Oil and Pomegranate Extract to hydrate and protect against environmental aggressors. Lips appear fuller. Luminescent. Iridescent. Available in a spectrum of five gleaming shades.

SHADES:
o DEEP REALM (glossy neutral peach)
o EGOISTE (glossy bright peach)
o LA CHAMADE (glossy bright pink)
o DARK DEEDS (glossy fuchsia)
o BROKEN GLASS (shimmering clear base with reflective pearl)

In stores now for a limited time.
TO SHOP NARS ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

LoL, Sandra

Stills: © Nars, Collages: © Sandra Bauknecht
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, OPI returns to its birthplace with the Hollywood Collection! Featuring 12 red carpet-ready colors in four different formulas, the Hollywood Collection celebrates «then» with a nod to vintage Hollywood glamour and «now» with the season’s most trendsetting colors. High-intensity, deeply saturated reds and pinks evoke classic Hollywood style, while sporty blues offer a trendforward palette. Refreshing, subdued hues of pale lemon, slate blue, bubblegum pink, and kelly green radiate positive energy. Warm neutrals in cream, terracotta, and mauve shades provide natural elegance.

OPI first made its big screen debut in 2001 with product placement in the iconic movie, Legally Blonde. From here, OPI became the first nail care brand to collaborate with films, going on to work with productions ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Fifty Shades of Grey. Working with movie studios provided a natural segue into working with celebrity brand ambassadors, a trend OPI pioneered. Having collaborated with actors, musicians, and athletes including Katy Perry, Kerry Washington, Serena Williams, and so many more, OPI’s out-of-the-box partnerships cemented the brand’s position in pop culture.

«Over the past 40 years, we’ve taken women on a wonderful tour around the world with our destination collections. Now, to mark our anniversary, we’re headed home to the homestate of OPI, with the first stop being Hollywood,» remarks OPI Co-Founder and Brand Ambassador Suzi Weiss-Fischmann.

«We’re introducing a beautiful mix of neutrals paired with pops of color,» adds OPI Global Director of Color Collections Jill Bartoshevich. “This collection really brings together diva extravagance and old school glamour. We’ve reinterpreted classic styles and given them a new twist, which is epitomized with the launch of I’m Really an Actress, an updated version of the iconic bestseller I’m Not Really a Waitress.”

«In Los Angeles, ‘I’m not really a waitress – I’m an actress (or singer/model/artist)!’ is a well-known mantra,» remarks Weiss-Fischmann. «The name exemplifies that we’re more than just our job. It speaks to anyone laboring for a dream, offering a reminder that our goals are worth pursuing. With the shimmery red ‘I’m Really an Actress’, we’re giving a nod to today’s self-empowered woman who is not just working for her dream, but living it.»

All 12 of the Hollywood Collection shades will be available in GelColor, Infinite Shine, Nail Lacquer and Powder Perfection* (select shades) formulas, including:

Suzi Calls the Paparazzi*
A pop of pretty persimmon pink to hit the tabloids and create nail fashion frenzy.
I’m an Extra
Extra special that is! OPI brings us extra-ordinary passionate pink to please any nail palette.
Movie Buff*
OPI is on the big screen! Featuring a provocative kiss of color that will make nails blush.
Hollywood & Vibe
Your nails will stop traffic. A vibe-rant combo of ravishing pink roses and lilacs.

Bee-hind the Scenes
Special props to a sunshine yellow sure to brighten any movie or manicure set.
Destined to be a Legend*
Ready for your close-up? This brilliant blue makes your nails the stars that legends are made of.
Rated Pea-G
Approved by all audiences, OPI premieres a glamorous green gleam of color. Get in line!
Oh You Sing, Dance, Act and Produce?*
OPI fans want it all! Enjoy a blockbuster blue that never skips a beat.

Award for Best Nails goes to…*
Nails sparkle with winning color to capture the essence of legendary Hollywood.
I’m Really an Actress*
Got a plum part! My nails will star in OPI’s newest, hottest Hollywood Collection. My role? I’m Not
Really a Waitress.
15 Minutes of Flame
A lush and luminous fuschia that makes nails famous forever, not minutes!
Emmy, have you seen Oscar?
The hunt for the perfect red ends as OPI rolls out the red carpet.

GelColor provides a salon-perfect finish with up to three-week wear, while Infinite Shine offers a highshine finish and traditional lacquer application. Nail Lacquer features a highly-pigmented, rich formula for even application without streaking.

Launch in Switzerland: February 15th, 2021.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © OPI #OPIHollywood

The power of an eye-cream in a longwear concealer. This sounds like a dream coming true. Formulated as skincare, By Terry‘s Hyaluronic Hydra-Concealer is your new secret weapon to both blur imperfections and take care of the sensitive eye area. Starring hyaluronic acid, this vegan skincare concealer fully hydrates, blurs imperfections, brightens dark circles and smooths fine lines, erasing signs of fatigue. With a light, silky texture that sets to a lumi-matte finish. Available in 6 auto-adaptable shades.

How does it work? Hyaluronic acid locks moisture into skin, smoothing and plumping out fine lines while boosting elasticity. Smartly combined with Horse Chestnut seed extract that stimulates the micro-circulation, dark circles are instantly brightened, micro-vessels are less visible, skin looks even. Hydrophobic coated pigments ensure a long-lasting lumi-matte finish while the mineral coated powders complex provides a soft focus, mattifying effect for a silky second skin feeling.

How to apply it? Click to release the right amount of formula and gently dab onto dark circles, blemishes and imperfections, fine lines and wrinkles. Using your ring finger, tap lightly to gently blend. Apply a second coat if necessary. The formula is absolutely buildable and non-cakey.

Available now for CHF 47.90.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © By Terry
#byterry #hyaluronicacid @byterryofficial

CARTIER launches right in time for Valentine’s Day three new three new fragrances dedicated to the queen of flowers. So many roses in perfume, but where is the daring? So many stories with rose water. Mathilde Laurent, Cartier’s perfumer, hates the archetype of the rose— an emblem of femininity withered before it blooms — and desires to give it back its true nature. «I only love wild roses», she says.

Avant-garde, she communicates its freedom in three acts. Cartier roses are neither meek nor submissive, they show their thorns with pride and dare to do anything!
Three perfumes, three strokes of rose take over the Maison’s High Perfumery:

PURE ROSE
for the Les Épures de Parfum Collection (a fully naked rose),
L’HEURE OSÉE
for Les Heures de Parfum (a punk rose),
OUD & PINK
for Les Heures Voyageuses (a shocking, androgynous rose in a tuxedo).

So, let us discover the rose… and above all, not cut it, so that it stays fresh, raw, lively, wild, acidic and daring. May it never wither.

L’HEURE OSÉE
Les Heures de Parfum Collection
No, this rose is not cute! It hates girly, baby doll, pastel pink or layettes. It is the pink that flushes the cheeks. It is blushing and bright, and this rose boasts only four letters: dare!
Fearless, it’s the hour of the exploding rose. An unprecedented pink, in touch with its time, with what is fresh and pop, as iconic as Warhol’s style…

PURE ROSE
Les Épures de Parfum Collection
We could devour it, now, raw, naked. A raw rose found in nature, bursting with life and essence that pulsates with freshness and permeates the nostrils.
No frills, just the pure and simple pleasure of a hyper-realistic rose that chooses to offer up her authentic, naked truth.

OUD & PINK
Les Heures Voyageuses Collection
This rose plays with gender, mixing the floral and the masculine, the rough with the smooth; a male rose. For women who flirt with contradiction and adore men’s fragrance.
Take a leap and plunge into the rugged and shadowy oud whilst wearing a dinner jacket with nothing underneath. Unstoppable.

TO SHOP THE NEW FRAGRANCES ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Cartier
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise. 

Last week, I spotted an amazing fragrance on display at my hair dresser Charles Aellen Company in Zurich. It is exactly as I am loving it, powdery, yet sugary, reminiscent of how babies would smell in my imagination.

The Different Company Pure eVe, Just Pure (the name was changed from Pure Virgin. Honestly I think that this was a smart move, who would like to say they are wearing something similar to olive oil …) is a kind of «innocent and soft» fragrance. Its beautiful dry-down of a powdery white musk with a lot of vanilla, powdered sugar and delicate candied almonds feels like a second skin, like wearing a fluffy piece of cashmere. Pure eVe was launched in 2011 as a unisex fragrance. However I personally find it very feminine. The nose behind it is Céline Ellena, the daughter of famous perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, who launched The Different Company in 2000.

Céline Ellena with her father Jean-Claude Ellena

« Je compose mes fragrances avec l’objectif de créer la meilleure senteur possible, sans aucune contrainte de coûts ou de marketing. » Céline Ellena, 2004.

Eau de Parfum Gourmand – FLORAL WOOODY MUSK
Top Note:  Aldehydes
Middle Notes: Mimosa, Flax and White Rose
Base Notes: Candied Almond, Musk, Sweet Notes, Dried Fruits and Cedar

Give Pure eVe a try if you like powdery scents or white musk fragrances like me. I got it delivered in one day to my hotel in Gstaad by Spitzenhaus.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht, The Different Company
DISCLOSURE: This post is not sponsored. I am just loving it!

Beauty fridges? Of course you need one! A skincare fridge keeps your makeup and facial products cooled which is prolonging their shelf life and increasing absorption. Furthermore, it is very practical to have your products close by so that you don’t need to run to your kitchen fridge to get them as I used to do before.

 Designed in sleek black just for Net-à-Porter, or in a girly pink, the Beauty Fridge has plenty of space for your top picks, plus two removable shelves for organization and extra storage on the door. It includes hot and cold settings, depending your needs.

But what should you store in your beauty fridge? Not just what looks good on instagram, actually. Here is my personal list of favorites:

FACIAL TOOLS
Rose Quartz Face Roller by Omorovicza
Facial rolling is an age-old technique used to sculpt features and stimulate lymphatic drainage.

SHEET MASKS
The Treatment Lotion Hydrating Mask by La Mer
Sheet masks kept in the fridge make for the ultimate hangover cure. You can do the same with your eye mask patches, making them ultra-cooling and de-puffing.

FACE MISTS
Pure Rosewater by Chantecaille
Rich in antioxidants that help tired skin look more youthful, there’s no doubt that keeping this face mist cool will make it feel more refreshing and skin-tightening.

DAY CREAM
Moisturizer With Cucumber by Sisley Paris
Known for its refreshing properties, this skin-balancing moisturizer is infused with cucumber to restore hydration levels, giving your complexion a visible boost within half an hour. Storing it in the fridge will double the effect. Keep some fresh cucumber slices in the fridge to put them on your eyes for 5-10 minutes, this will work wonders.

PROBIOTIC SKINCARE
Overnight Recovery Mask by Aurelia Probiotic Skincare
I recommend probiotic skincare to be refrigerated to extend the life of the bacteria. This overnight mask works to repair hidden damage while you sleep, leaving your complexion nourished and more luminous.

NAIL POLISH
Nail Color by Christian Louboutin Beauty
Mum’s old trick works wonders. Keeping nail polish in the fridge will maintain the stability of the formula, preventing it separating and going all gloopy.

Happy Weekend!

LoL, Sandra

 Photos: Via The Beauty Fridge – Stills: Courtesy of the Brands
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.