Sandra‘s Closet

Pearls and Chanel go hand in hand. Coco Chanel’ s belief that „the light-reflecting property of pearls enhanced a woman’s natural beauty by bringing a delicate luminosity to her skin“ inspired Peter Philips, the Global Creative Director of Chanel make-up, to design the S/S 2011 Les Perles de Chanel make-up collection. He used the iridescent reflections of pearls to flatter face and fingertips.

Some products were seen already on the runway, please click here for my previous post.

There is no doubt that the three limited nail polishes will be absolute bestsellers.

511 Pearl Drop – white pearl

513 Black Pearl – pearly grey shimmer with deep blue and green reflections (so hot!)

515 Pêche Nacrée – soft tender peach

The limited edition Ombres Perlées de Chanel eyeshadow palette is also among my must-haves.

It includes beautiful shades that you can play with, perfect for summery smokey eyes: Blanc Perle, Rose Porcelaine, Violine Clair, Gris Vert and Gris Noir Scintillant.

Another gorgeous product is the limited edition Poudre Universelle Shimmering Powder in Rose Merveille – a pale pink with subtle sparkles that will make your skin look fresh and radiant.

The Glossimers are available in two new shades: Nakkar (raspberry) and Aragonite (iridescent white).

The S/S 2011 Les Perles de Chanel make-up collection is available now in the US, other launch dates (depending on where you live) are January 8th and January 28th, 2011.
Please contact your nearest Chanel beauty counter for further information.

LoL, Sandra

Just when you finished off your wardrobe for this winter and have started thinking about next summer, I am challenging you once more with something very beautiful for next year’s fall.
Who said following fashion was an easy task?!

This Tuesday was a very snowy day in Paris but the guests who enjoyed the atmosphere in the Chanel Haute Couture salons were transported to another era, time and place. Karl Lagerfeld was inspired for his pre-fall 2011 collection by Byzantium, one of Coco Chanel’s major inspirations when she was the first to launch a line of costume jewelry in the 1920s.

The Paris–Byzance Métiers d’art show broadcasted Chanel’s specialist craftsmen that the French house has gathered under its umbrella: Desrues the costume jeweler, Lemarié the feather specialist, Lesage the embroiderer, Massaro the shoe-maker, Michel the milliner, Goossens the goldsmith and Guillet the floral accessory specialist.

In a decor reminding of an Ottomanesque chill-out room with 400 metres of squined fabric covering the walls, Lagerfeld revisited the bold colors and antique golds. Byzance and its splendor embellished every look from belts adorned with square glass beads to gold running through burn-out tweed and embroidered silks.

The make-up was kept in the same color family with one star product: The cream palette is combining five different golds and is said to be limited to only 1500 pieces.

This collection is for the modern Theodora empresses who might be Chanel’s clientele of today. Celebrating Chanel’s strong heritage is surely a smart move and one key to remaining a powerhouse in the decades to come, especially with the opening of a second Chanel boutique in Istanbul.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Chanel

Claudia Schiffer was spotted recently in London on the way to pick up her kids from school in a cozy and stylish combination. The nautical dress/top is still in style and worn together with a chunky knit coat like the Stella McCartney one adds this little spice to the classic piece. Skinny jeans, a pair of comfy boots and the quilted Chanel bag finish off this casual look perfectly.

Two thumbs up!

LoL, Sandra

Ladies, get ready. A few months ago, I gave you already a glimpse, now it is official! The new must-have nail polish shade from the St. Tropez Chanel Cruise 2011 show, so-called “Riva“, will be in Chanel stores only! on December 1st.
This time, we can enjoy a 70’s inspired beautiful pastel baby blue shade. Even if you have not planned a trip to the caribbean islands, it will also look good in the snowy mountains of St. Moritz.

LoL, Sandra

I have a lovely subscriber who recently asked me about my favourite make-up look. I have to admit that I change my look every day. That is for me the most fun about fashion, being able to try out something new each morning. If I had to live with one single look, it would definitely be smokey eyes and pale lips.

Please find herewith my personal list and description how to achieve this style:

1 a good concealer: Christian Dior’s Skinflash (I use it also as a eyeshadow base)

2 a moisturizing foundation: Christian Dior’s Diorskin Nude make-up (great for dry skin), I use N° 020 or 030 depending on my tan

3 a complexion enhancer: Benefit’s High Beam (I like to use it over the foundation)

4 cream blush for contouring: Nars Lamu and Orgasm

5 brow lifting: Benefit’s High Brow

6 a brow powder to fill in the gaps: Anastasia in Ash Blonde/ Taupe

7 a brow gel to fix them: Anastasia in Clear

8 a gorgeous eye shadow palette with easy-to-follow step by step instructions: Too Faced’s Smokey Eye (I love blue shades)

9 for glitter: Mac’s Pigment Colour Powders in Frozen White, Cornflower and Dark Soul (they are not easy to handle, so please try them first, but they last forever)

10 a good eyeliner: Bobbi Brown’ s Gel Eyeliner in Granite Ink

11 best eyepencil in the world: Prescriptives, Softlining Pencil in Jet

12 a good mascara (this is very personal): YSL’s Mascara Singulier in Black

13 this blush suits everybody: Helena Rubinstein’s Wanted Blush in Glowing Peach

14 for deeper colour: Burberry’s Natural Blush in Russet N°1

15 best face glow: Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Brick Compact in Nude

16 one of my favourite lipsticks: Mac’s Sandy B. combined with C-Thru lipgloss

17 for more sparkles: Chanel’s lip definer in Natural and Glossimer N°257

18 camouflage for emergencies: Benefit’s Erase Paste

19 to refresh your look during the day or for a more natural foundation, the new Christian Dior Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Creme-Gel Make-up (amazing product! -available from October 29th, 2010)

20 a good powder: Mac’s Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in LightMedium

21 best brushes: Bobbi Brown

22 please never forget to clean your brushes on a regular basis: I love Bobbi Brown’s Brush Cleaning Spray

Let’s get started: Happy Colouring!

LoL, Sandra

Today, I would like to give you a sneak preview of the make-up holiday 2010 season. The collections always include limited special editions and hit the stores from the end of October until end of November. Herewith you will find my pre-selection of the soon-to-arrive must-haves. The overall trend is lots of gold and silver sparkles. Glitter against the Christmas Tree is the motto! Deep browns and burgundy reds combined with popping fuchsia let you shine during cold gray winter days.

Chanel’s new limited nail polish is so-called Pulsion, a beautiful bright fuchsia shade. Get yourselves on the wait lists now! The matching lip gloss in Pink Pulsion is also a must. The divine blush duo with tweed effect (Les Tissages de Chanel) in Tweed Fuchsia will give you those young rosy cheeks everybody loves.

Les 4 ombres in Tentation Cuivre is an eyeshadow set including copper brown, light beige, shimmering pink and plum copper that will work for every skin type.

Les Ors de Guerlain is a feast for the eyes! The gold theme that features the famous Guerlain bee, will introduce a silky loose powder creating a light-reflecting veil with a subtle golden iridescent finish, in a gold copper shade (Or Imperial Sublime Radiant Powder Face & Body).
The It-lip colour will be a subtle shiny, violet shade: Rouge G Le Brilliant in B64 Bee.

My favourites are the 4 eyeshadows in 410 Velours d’Or, including two shades of violet along with gold and an intense black liner, embossed with a honeycomb Arabesque pattern taken from past imperial Guerlain bottles.

YSL has created a decadent collection for the holiday season, bursting with the beloved cocktail hour shade gold in combination with pink, chocolat and red. Get your hands on the limited Palette Metallic Colorama, a pink-gold face highlighting powder.

If you are more on the wild side and are looking for some crazy colour combinations, Mac will offer you a lot of choices with their Tartan Tale collection. So stunning! I am completely in love with the packaging and how the pattern is for example imprinted into the eyeshadow.
Best Shade: Semi-precious – an aubergine with chocolat Tartan striping.

I am always a big fan of the Dazzleglass Creme colours– lipglosses with a lot of glitter.
Best colour: Lightly Prancing – a light peach with gold pearl.

Nars is this holiday season all about shimmering nail colours, lustrous lipsticks and glistening glosses with gold, rich berry reds and purples leading the way. The limited eyeshadow trio in Okinawa ( silver, deep cobalt blue and black onyx trio) is a must along with the single eyeshadow in Etrusque, an antique gold.
The two nail colours Bad Influence ( a smoky taupe) and Pokerface ( a lilac) are also on top of my list.

But I saved the best until last: Christian Dior’s Evening Gold collection offers some fabulous products. The perfect gifts for your fashionista girlfriends or the best treats for yourselves:

The Dior Minaudière is the star product for Holiday 2010. The It-accessoire was inspired by the little cosmetic pouches the ladies were carrying at the beginning of the 20th century – the forerunners of the clutches that we know today. It includes 3 eyeshadows and 2 lipglosses that are covered with a gold plated flap to protect them (love that!) and comes in two different colour combinations: 001 Grey Golds and 002 Pink Golds for CHF 120.- each.

Also divine is the new Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss in 992 Noir Lamé – for your sexy winter moments!

LoL, Sandra

Feathers are a trend that seems to be always there. For F/W 2010 designers showed that fine feathers make fine birds. From beautiful marabou plumes to ostrich feathers, the creations were versatile. Being dressed in full feathers stands for a certain glamourous allure.
So Ladies, start looking for your feathers of prey:

A marabou jacket or cape is a piece for eternity. It adds the right amount of sophistication to every evening outfit or ball gown. I especially adore the ones from Balmain this season and would opt for a colourful piece.

The Gucci dress from the F/W 2010 runway collection is a smart choice as it comes with a removable feather-trimmed bolero.

In case you do not like to ruffle your feathers, I recommend a feather print or just a little detail like the ostrich-trimmed satin bag by Lanvin.

For F/W 2010, the possibilities are numerous. If you turn up your glam factor, you will surely not be shedding feathers.

And good news is, the feather trend is going to stay for S/S 2011. So those pieces are definitely great investments.

Ladies, it is time to adorn yourselves with borrowed plumes!

LoL, Sandra

As Chanel is always a big trendsetter for make-up looks, I was eager to have a closer view at what is coming next for S/S 2011.

Since 1994 (the launch of Rouge Noir), Chanel has consistently turned out must-have nail polishes. So what is it going to be next spring?
Et voilà, question answered: It will be all black and white.

But it would not be Chanel if it was an ordinary black. Black Pearl is more a metallic green-gray colour reminding me of an oil-black sheen. On the toes, it was all about Pearl Drop, a milky white, beautiful for summer.

The make-up itself was focused on the eyes, emphasizing them with a smokey look. Peter Philips, Chanel’s gobal creative director of make-up, used an emerald tinged onyx black shade and for the lips and cheeks just a little rosy shimmer. It might seem a little dark for summer but I always like the spot on the eyes. Very pretty!

A total invention was the sleek hair with a liquid eye pencil line down the model’s center part. Who is up for this?

By the way, the show was absolutely amazing, more coming soon…

LoL, Sandra

Last year at the first Fashion’s Night Out, the launch of Chanel’s mint green nail polish “Jade” went done in nail polish history. Peter Philips, global creative director of Chanel make-up, started a hype that has not come to an end yet. Fashionistas all over the world have craved for the limited vernis colours since then.

This fall at the second Fashion’s Night Out hosted by Vogue , that will take place in 16 cities around the globe (like New York, Paris, London, Berlin and Tokyo) it won`t be any different.  
The world’s biggest shopping event stands for a fab night with late store opening hours, fashion shows, pop-ups and exclusive offers.

Chanel will launch the very limited Les Khakis de Chanel, a collection of 3 Le Vernis Nail Colours that can be worn alone or combined for a camouflage effect. With the ongoing military trend, the shades in so-called Khaki Rose, Khaki Brun and Khaki Vert are a must!

Get ready for Sept 9th (like Berlin) or Sept 10th (like New York )! Book your flights, call your girlfriends in one of those 16 metropoles and  pray for the grace of the Beauty Gods!
Nothing else will help…

I will be on the field in London that night!

LoL, Sandra

It is August and the majority of fall campaigns can be seen now in the new fashion magazines, ads just keep coming out of the woodwork and so I wanted to give you a brief summary of the most important ones and by whom they were shot.
It is funny to see that this world in particular is pretty small and some photographers are ahead of the game.

My personal favourite is Bottega Veneta`s strong expressive F/W 2010 campaign. Shot by the godfather of energetic graphic photography himself: Robert Longo. The artist has became famous in the late 1970s and early 1980s with his series „Men in the Cities“ that depicts men and women in business attire contorted in extreme positions.

The winner this season seems to be renowned Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott. The dream team that has defined the look of the past decade, shot the most campaigns. Enjoy my preview:

The American photographer and long-time protégé of both Franca Sozzani and Anna Wintour, editors-in-chief of Italian and American Vogue is also a big shot in the world of fashion photography. No wonder, Steven Meisel shot all those gorgeous campaigns.

Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinood Matadin, a fashion photographer duo that is well known for their independent art work. Most of their photographs are both critical and slightly disturbing as you can see in the campaigns they shot for F/W 2010.

Italian-born Mario Sorrenti is a photographer and director best known for his spreads of nude models in the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Peruvian fashion photographer Mario Testino has shot many fashion stories and celebrities. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums.

Hermès has come up with another really beautiful advertising campaign shot by Paolo Roversi. I love his romantic, vintage looking photos that always seem to tell a story. To me, a perfect choice for the French house!

Bruce Weber is a well-known face in the world of advertising photography. His career really took of in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his famous advertising images for Calvin Klein.

Juergen Teller‘s work is extraordinary and with a distinctive design. His raw style makes him one of the most influential fashion photographers working today.

Multi-talent Karl Lagerfeld likes to keep everything in his own hands. So no wonder that he shoots the advertising campaigns for his own collections for Chanel and Fendi.

Steven Klein is an American photographer that shot many high-profile advertising campaigns for various clients. This season he was hired by Dolce & Gabbana to capture a close knit Italian family with Madonna as the matriarchal figure through his lens.
Great job!

LoL, Sandra