Sandra‘s Closet

I always love those days when the new makeup collections for the festive season are hitting the shelves. Extremely beautiful is Girgio Armani Beauty’s limited edition HOLIDAY COLLECTION 2013 ECCENTRICO for Christmas. An unexpected mix of colorful and glamorous hues, this winter Giorgio Armani Beauty is shaking up the conventional.

To create this exceptional palette of explosive shades, Linda Cantello, International Make-up Artist Giorgio Armani, took her inspiration from Giorgio Armani’s travelling fashion exhibition Eccentrico, which reveals a collection of 51 equally bold and extravagant dresses designed by the Maestro. The result is an unprecedented palette of fresh and luminous tones that breaks away from the House of Armani’s traditional codes.

ECCENTRICO BLUSH PALETTE (CHF 117.00)
In its red lacquered case, it reveals a harmony of four blushes multi-compacted with micronised powders. Their light texture melts over the skin. With a sweep of the brush, the four Eccentrico shades blend together to create a fresh and sophisticated universal blush, illuminating the complexion.

LIP MAESTRO (CHF 51.00) and NAIL LACQUER (CHF 39.00)
302 Clash – 303 Dazzling – 505 Eccentrico

The lips and nails display matching dazzling shades, while offering contrasting matte and shiny textures.

EYES TO KILL QUADS PALETTE (CHF 83.00)
The eyes are ethereal, almost bare, adorning the eyelids in flamboyant shades, such as pink, coral, Parma violet and pearly white.

In stores now.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Giorgio Armani

To celebrate the Christmas season, Swatch has created “Red Knit”. The strap is decorated with classic winter images; snowmen, snowflakes, a white rocking horse and snow-covered pines. The hand-knitted silhouette evokes the warmth and pleasures of winter nights by a crackling fire, with the fragrance of pine trees and woodsmoke.

The limited edition watch comes in a beautiful gift box and for those extra-cold nights, there’s a little something extra inside: an overly cute mini hot water bottle!

Limited to 14.999 numbered pieces, available now for CHF 120.00. What a lovely gift idea!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Swatch

Today, I would love to share Bobbi Brown‘s beautiful Hollywood Glam Collection that is mainly dominated by the festive colors of gold, red and black. Perfect to get the right Christmassy sparkle. Doesn’t Katie Holmes looks absolutely gorgeous wearing the new must-have shades of the holiday season?

OLD HOLLYWOOD EYE PALETTE

What to pair with a leading lady-worthy lip? This palette plays the perfect supporting role to any look, from the season’s rich reds to alluring nudes. Featuring a mix of cool and warm colors for eyes with glitter and flat finishes, it includes a dual ended mini Eye Shadow Brush too.

CHF 125.00 (Limited Edition)

OLD HOLLYWOOD LIP COLOR

Red lips really never go out of style and this “Old Hollywood” shade is the perfect shade to sport red pouty lips.

CHF 40.00 (Limited Edition)

NAIL POLISH

A great complement to a dramatic Hollywood red lip or a sultry smokey eye, Bobbi’s nail lacquers polish off your look, making you glam from head to toe. Fun and festive, these two glitter polishes (Chrome and Solid Gold) add texture and a pretty touch of color, and can be layered over Siren Red or Tuxedo Black for added drama.

CHF 27.00 (Limited Edition)

INK LINER

With an improved formula and felt tip, this easy to use pen-style liner delivers the blackest black line. Inspired by the crisp cat-eye looks of the silver screen, this eyeliner is destined to be your go-to trick for standout eyes every time.

CHF 38.00

LIP GLOSS and HIGH SHIMMER LIP GLOSS

Bobbi’s limited edition shade of red (Siren Red) lets your smile take center stage. This Lip Gloss gives lips a brilliant, high-shine look and contains soothing botanical extracts to keep lips supple and soft. The other three sparkling High Shimmer Lip Glosses (Candlelight, Rosé and Pure Gold) provide a light-catching glimmer on bare lips (or added dimension over your favorite lipstick).

CHF 35.00 (Limited Edition)

LONG-WEAR CREAM SHADOW STICK

Effortless and high impact-that’s the essence of Bobbi’s Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick. This do-it-all formula glides on tug-free and can be used to shade, define, smoke up and highlight eyes. Available in three shades Tuxedo Black (New), 24 Karat (New) and Bronze (Limited Edition).

CHF 38.00

In stores November 2013.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Bobbi Brown

Swatch and post-modern pop star Mika have collaborated for the latest Swatch Art Specials, KUKULAKUKI and KUKULAKUKU. Swatch invited the singer to create “art for the wrist”. Like the Swiss watch brand itself, Mika turned 30 this year.

Born in Beirut and raised in Paris and London, he developed two different designs in collaboration with his sister Yasmine, both of which express his idea of the watch as a totemic object. Mika ‘s creative approach always begins with a story. For this project he imagined a totem pole/watch appearing on an unknown planet. The inhabitants are at first puzzled, then terrified of the alien object, which they come to worship. When it fails to give them what they want, they chop it down, and all that remains of the totem pole is the watch itself. Mika’s two timepieces feature a simple, bold pattern on the strap, with an image suggesting a traditional African tribal mask on each dial.

GZ287S KUKULAKUKI
Model: Gent
Dial: multicolored prints
Case: solid mat blue plastic
Strap: red silicone with multicolored prints on front and back
Available in a strictly limited edition of 999 pieces.

SUOZ171 KUKULAKUKU
Model: New Gent
Dial: multicolored prints
Case: solid mat dark blue plastic
Strap: blue silicone with multicolored prints on front and back
CHF 70.00

Mika speaks with great enthusiasm of his venture with Swatch: “I don’t come from a design background, which is why I have so much fun designing stuff and why I love collaborating with people. Doing this was fun, because for me the process is exactly the same as making music. I don’t see any difference between the two.”

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Swatch

Finally, Evian®‘s newest designer collaboration has hit the stores and you can enjoy your usual water bottle in style. For the seventh time, the brand has teamed up with a designer and for 2014 it’s not other than ELIE SAAB.

Being inspired by common theme of purity, the bottle is decorated with a signature ELIE SAAB lace pattern, that recalls the feminine and elegant designs featured so prominently in the brand’s collections. The ELIE SAAB for Evian® bottle will be available in three sizes: 150cl, 75cl and 33cl, worldwide in selected restaurants and stockists, as of November 2013.
In Switzerland for CHF 3.90 (75cl) at Globus and Manor among others.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Evian® and Elie Saab

Time is flying and you might want to get in the Christmas mood just looking at your nails. OPI‘s new 2013 holiday nail polish collection in collaboration with no other than Mariah Carey contains 18 different limited edition nail polishes which are of course heavy on red and glitter. No doubt, those must-have shades are for Christmas.
CHF 23.90 (15ml) each

The 18 colors come in three textures: cream, glitter and the famous liquid sand. The names are all dedicated to the famous singer.

“Mariah Carey is truly synonomous with the holiday season,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “People around the world listen to her festive, iconic songs – ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ is a personal favourite – and these 18 lacquers evoke the warmth, beauty, energy and positive spirit that’s present in Mariah’s music.”

My favourite that I am wearing today is: “Underneath the Mistletoe” – a dark red with just enough glitter to give it a nice little twist.

In addition to this beautiful winter collection, a limited edition “Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Leaf Top Coat” (similiar to last year’s “The Man with the Golden Gun”) adds precious metal texture over any OPI shade or can be worn alone for a subtle but luxurious look. This genuine18 karat white gold & silver leaf top coat comes packaged in a special limited edition collectable box.
CHF 49.90 (15ml)

All colours will be in stores in Switzerland starting October 28, 2013.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of OPI and © Sandra Bauknecht

It was fall’s most amazing fashion event, when Vogue Fashion Night took over the most prestigious streets of the big metropoles for a unique shopping experience. CHANEL has been launching new collections to celebrate this fabulous night since its beginning. Do you remember when the nail hype in 2009 started with the mint-green shade Jade, followed by Les Khakis de Chanel (2010) Les Jeans de Chanel (2011), Les Twin-Sets de Chanel (2012), all launched at Fashion’s Night Out.

This year, the CHANEL Creative Makeup Studio designed the NUIT MAGIQUE collection, a nail colour trio which expresses the richness and depth of dark or shimmering fabrics as seen on the F/W 2013 runway. Eyes dress up with a simple line of scintillating eyeliner, the everyday version of the sequins worn by the runway models at the base of their lashes at the last fashion show.

LIGNE GRAPHIQUE
NOIR SCINTILLANT An intense black sparkling with silver.

LE VERNIS
ELIXIR A milky pink, worn at the F/W 2013 runway show.
MAGIC An incredible deep blue.
COSMIC Intense black sparkling with blue and silver.

Great news is for my Swiss readers that the new creations presented during VOGUE FASHION NIGHT will be available exclusively at Jelmoli from October 23, 2103. See you there!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Chanel

No other than Cara Delevingne is the face of Yves Saint Laurent’s campaign for this year’s fall beauty look, so-called ELECTRIC CHIC. As described in the press release as Cara herself, the YSL woman “is urban, strong and self-confident. She knows how to play with cosmopolitan codes and contrasts. She gets inspired by the electric energy of the town. She accentuates all her facettes. She invents herself every day and every night.”

As always, here is a good look at the collection that is in stores now. The star products pay tribute to pop art and NYC’s street art.

The two limited edition graffiti-embellished eye palettes are called City Drive Classy (black and gold case), and City Drive Arty (fuchsia and gold case).

Left: PALETTE CITY DRIVE ARTY
Right: PALETTE CITY DRIVE CLASSY
CHF 89.00 each

BLUSH RADIANCE N°9 and N° 10
CHF 67.00 each

ROUGE PUR COUTURE N° 50- Rouge Néon, N° 51 – Corail Urbain, N° 53 – Beige Promenade – N° 54 – Prune Avenue
CHF 48.00 each

From left to right: EYELINER BABY DOLL N° 14 – Reflets Cuivre CHF 51.00
DESSIN DES LEVRES N° 20 – Mocha and N° 21 Sepia, CHF 35.00 each
MASCARA VOLUME EFFET FAUX CILS SHOCKING N° 8 – Noir Asphalte – CHF 49.00

LA LACQUE COUTURE N° 38 – Gris Underground, N° 39 – Beige Gallery (Limited Edition), N° 40 Sepia 7e Art (Limited Edition), CHF 38.00 each

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of YSL Beauty

As promised in my previous post last week, here are all the details concerning the amazing collaboration between Dom Pérignon and Jeff Koons, which was launched during New York Fashion Week.

Personally speaking, I am crazy for this project as it involves three things I adore: champagne, the colour pink and one of my favourite artists! The limited edition ‘Balloon Venus’ is based on Jeff Koons’ work that was inspired by the Venus of Willendorf, a tiny paleolithic figurine discovered in Austria and dated to around 23 000 BC.

The Balloon Venus is part of Jeff Koons’ Antiquity series that begun in 2008, playfully exploring motifs from the History of Art with his trademark creative verve. The artist adapted the Balloon Venus sculpture for Dom Pérignon, by transforming the original statue in a smaller version which when opened, reveals a bottle of Rosé Vintage 2003. 650 will be produced, of which 20 will be sold in Switzerland for CHF 18’500.00 each.

Jeff Koons also designed better priced limited-edition gift boxes for the Dom Pérignon Rosé 2003 (CHF 449.00) and the Dom Pérignon Brut 2004 (CHF 199.00), available exclusively at Globus in Switzerland.

The launch event in NYC was held at the Stephan Weiss Studio in Greenwich Village. The berry-coloured ambiance was truly amazing, with different installations to explore the ‘Balloon Venus’ by Jeff Koons.

Born in 1955, Jeff Koons is one of the most recognised and solicited of all contemporary artists. He currently resides and works in the city of New York. Earning worldwide acclaim with his large-scale sculptures he has received numerous awards and honours in recognition of his cultural achievements. For him, “the real power behind art is to put us in contact with feelings”.

Throwing a bottle of Dom Pérignon with his wife.

Today, Dom Pierre Pérignon’s visionary mind and exceptional boldness to declare, at the end of the 17th century, to make “the best wine in the world” is in the hands of Chef de Cave Richard Geoffroy who creates each vintage of Dom Pérignon with pure excellence.

Champagne is my guilty pleasure and when it comes in a package like the ‘Balloon Venus’, I feel like a kid in the candy store, being on cloud nine!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Dom Pérignon, all event photos: © Sandra Bauknecht

Christian Dior was a man who believed in fate. One April night in 1946, the couturier stepped on a metal star and saw it as a sign. The next day, he set out to create his Couture House. Since then, this star has continued to sparkle in the Dior constellation, and particularly on the Fall 2013 make-up collection, with trendy shimmering shades and metallic reflections.

5-COULEURS MYSTIC METALLICS

Christian Dior’s lucky charm shines over the new must-have collection and decorates the mythical 5 Couleurs palette. Sculpted with stars, the eye shadows shimmer with metallic shades and reflections. Shrouded in mystery, eyes have never been so magnetic.

Two colour harmonies exist in shades of violet and silver (864 Constellation) or blue-greens and browns (384 Bonne Etoile).

CHF 92.00

DIORSHOW FUSION MONO
Long-Wear Professional Mirror-Shine Eyeshadow

In a single step, Diorshow Fusion Mono creates multidimensional contrasts for a professional makeup effect. Its unique cushiony gel-foam texture brightens the eyes with faceted, long-lasting colour and a weightless finish.

Apply two ways for two different effects:
Soft fusion: applied with the fingertips, the texture blends into the skin for a weightless finish and subtly shimmering result. Bold fusion: using the smudging applicator, the finish is intensified to reveal pure and extreme colour.

Pro tips: dampen the applicator slightly for a spectacular lamé effect.

Available in 8 shades:
Lune sublime, immaculate and iridescent, for poetic eyes. – Étoile the glittering sparkle of stardust. – Aventure a dense, gleaming black, the bearer of infinity. – Cosmos the magical blue of a night beneath the heavenly skies. – Millenium khaki with bronze facets for an avalanche of light. – Météore a flamboyant and passionately sensual amber. – Chimère the charm of opaline pink, flowing on your skin. – Hypnotique a deep purple made sublime with silver.

CHF 49.00

DIOR VERNIS MYSTIC MAGICS

Mystic. Edgy. The new Dior manicure creates surprise and makes your look pulsate with a shadowy blue lacquer which, owing to its integrated magnet, reveals an enigmatic motif. Luxury in its raw state.

CHF 42.00

DIOR VERNIS

Shimmering lights of silvery pink (382 Destin) and brocade prune (992 Galaxie): these two shades propel nail lacquer into a new dimension, for a half-shadow, half-light aesthetic that is always stylish.

CHF 37.00

DIORBLUSH

The Diorblush has been reinvented. A new formula gives maximum expression to pigments. This micronized powder goes on as a veil of pure, evanescent, weightless colour. In red, pink, coral and nude, with the new motif, colours explode with uncompromising energy. Face make-up is stylish and blush is the new dress code, determining dress colour and lipstick. Addictive and a fashion whim, Diorblush promises to be the new «must-wear.»

Fusion: apply with the flat of the brush, to fuse colour with the skin. Perfect for a healthy look. Sculpting: apply with the bevelled edge of the brush for professional «contouring » to shade temples, redefine face shape and define cheekbones etc.

Diorblush is available in 13 colours divided into 4 colour spectrums (pink, red, coral and
nude) and 3 finishes (iridescent, matte and satin).

CHF 68.00

This amazing Dior makeup collection is in stores now.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Dior, Bettman CORBIS