Today is Génifique Day (formerly Genes Day), a one-day national event benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and Lancôme will donate $7 from in-store or online sales of select Génifique products to St. Jude. Last year’s events and activities helped raise over $300,000 in support of lifesaving research and treatment.

"Our three-year partnership stands as a testament to Lancome's commitment to supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, an organization that shares many of our core values," says Serge Jureidini, president of Lancome USA, in a press release.

Lancome, the world's largest luxury beauty brand, sold at 2,000 counters across the U.S., applied ten years of research to Genifique, introduced in 2009, which “re-plumps, refines and re-illuminates the skin as if infused with life.” Fans of the product include "Mad Men" actress Christina Hendricks, Lancome ambassadress Julia Roberts, British songbird Lily Allen, supermodel Veronica Webb and star makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury.

Making it easy for people to spread awareness of Genifique Day, the Lancome Facebook page is inviting users to create and share photo booth photo strips about “occasions when they feel their best.”Continue reading...

In a world that is constantly shoving the idea of a woman only being beautiful if she looks like Kate Upton or Kate Hudson or … well, whoever the latest aesthetic ideal is, it can be hard for a preteen girl to figure out how to own the fact that she’s beautiful, too, no matter how different her body is from the supermodel du jour.

Along with most of American society, Unilever’s Dove soap has girls becoming more anxious, instead of more confident. And rather than prey on that lack of confidence by offering beauty "solutions" and use that info to their marketing advantage, Dove is actually trying to get at the root of the problem and boost girls' confidence and self-esteem.

For three years, Dove has been hosting events for preteen girls across the globe to help them feel better about themselves, according to Cincinatti.com. The aim is to reach 15 million young women globally by 2015, thanks to Dove's Self-Esteem Fund, with an empowering message that takes the brand's highly praised Real Beauty campaign to a critical age.Continue reading...

It's been 20 years since Evelyn Lauder created The Estee Lauder Companies' Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, which is now active in over 70 countries worldwide. It's a testimony to the work Lauder and her company have done to make October into a monthlong platform for Breast Cancer Awareness.

That journey began in 1992, when 44,000 women in the U.S. were dying of breast cancer each year and nobody was paying attention. Twenty years later, BCA has raised $35 million for research and education and paralyzing fear has been replaced by hope and inspiration.Continue reading...

A warning by the FDA over anti-aging claims is causing a furrowed brow at L'Oreal and its competitors.

Beauty creams, especially those that target the effects of aging on the skin, are the cream of the crop when it comes to getting consumers to . In 2011, the market for these typically expensive premium skin care products grew by 15 percent vs. just 1 percent for mass market products, according to research firm Euromonitor International.

Now one of the leaders in the market, L'Oreal's Lancome brand, is getting its manicured hand slapped by America's Food and Drug Administration over product claims the agency says have gone too far. The products are sold under the Genifique, Absolue, and Renergie brand names.Continue reading...

The September issues of fashion magazines tend are closely watched because of September's annual fashion frenzy, but at least one October fashion magazine issue is garnering attention. And not for its take on hemlines and the new runway collections, but for one of its ads, which will play a video. In print.

The October issue of Marie Claire UK incorporates a black-and-white commercial for Dolce&Gabbana fragrance, the first UK display advert of its kind. Appearing on pages 34 and 35 in a limited run of a few thousand copies of the issue, a male and female model pose in a coastal scene and when the page is opened, the 45-second spot (directed by Mario Testino) automatically plays. And hopefully won't remind readers of those annoying greeting cards that play music upon opening.

D&G's description of the spot: "In the campaign that launches the Dolce&Gabbana classic fragrances Pour Femme and Pour Homme, Mario Testino sets a scene of fairytale romance, as the backdrop for a tale of love and transgression, like a gem of ancient storytelling. Starring Laetitia Casta and Noah Mills, and set to the strains of 'Città Vuota' by Mina. Shot on location in Sicily in the magnificent baroque village of Erice and the beach of La Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro."

The underlying technology that whisks them from the screen to the page is produced by Americhip, which has been developing multisensory advertising and marketing technologies since 2001.Continue reading...

In his address at the International AIDS Conference that wrapped in Washington, D.C., on July 27th, Sir Elton John told the audience that "I should be dead" for having not taken precautions against HIV in the past.

AIDS 2012, as it's better known, was the most attended global HIV/AIDS conference to date. It made headlines this year not only for its return to the U.S. for the first time in 22 years, but for companies including Levi Strauss and MAC who continue to support the fight against the disease and prejudice that surrounds it.

The MAC AIDS Fund (MAF), the philanthropic arm of MAC Cosmetics, announced two major initiatives at AIDS 2012, continuing its leadership position as the largest corporate non-pharmaceutical funder in the HIV/AIDS arena.Continue reading...

Sephora, the high-end beauty retailer owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, operates more than 1,600 stores worldwide where customers can try and apply make-up before they buy. Under digital head Julie Bornstein, Sephora is in the midst of its own “social and mobile makeover,” bridging the worlds of offline and online — stylishly, of course.

Case in point: today Sephora announced a partnership with Pantone, the global color authority, for a digital app. Dubbed SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ, it's described as "the most advanced foundation matching solution available in North American beauty retail. Using Pantone’s color capture and measuring technology, SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ is the first and only beauty system to scan the surface of the skin, assign an official PANTONE® SkinTone™ number, and match a scientifically precise foundation shade from Sephora’s 1,000 foundations, brands and formulas." The service launches today at Sephora's Times Square flagship in New York, and on August 2nd in San Francisco.

Social business, as Brian Solis calls it, is de rigueur for brands today, iterating from social to digital and experiential. That's why Sephora is taking its digital operations to the next level in a redesigned website with amped up search, an iOS mobile app and a new mobile website, Sephora is installing iPads in more than 100 of its stores in an integration with Pinterest replete with “Pin It” buttons for all its product pages.Continue reading...

Macy’s, Sephora, Lancôme, and Michael Kors are ranked as Facebook “Geniuses” in the second annual L2 Facebook IQ Index, the New York-based luxury think tank that measures the aptitude of 100 luxury and prestige brands across Beauty, Fashion, Specialty Retail, and Watches & Jewelry.

The study, conducted in partnership with Buddy Media, ranks brand efforts across four criteria: Size & Growth, Engagement, Programming, and Integration, and each brand was scored against over 350 qualitative and quantitative data points, and assigned a Facebook IQ ranking of Genius, Gifted, Average, Challenged, or Feeble (a description we'd quibble with, by the way).

The rest of the top ten prestige brands in L2's new Facebook index? The envelope, please...Continue reading...