Care by Stella McCartney challenges the conventional cosmetic laws by raising the following question: why are we more careful about our food than we are about what we apply to our skin, whereas it’s the latter that is our larger organ. This line is made with 100% certified bio-active ingredients, with no petrochemical products, no silicone or synthetic preservatives. Moreover, it doesn’t contain any animal derived components, or endangered plant species and its formulas aren’t tested on animals.

A truly organic line that offers formulas made of organic components that are more concentrated in essential nutrients than the traditional ingredients. Namely vitamins, antioxidants, oligo elements, and other essential organic components, such as the amino acids and the fatty acids, that support the vital functions of the skin. The line Care by Stella McCartney is Ecocert certified.

It’s because it combines this ecological commitment without concession with a luxury positioning that Care by Stella McCartney is distinguished from all care lines. Stella McCartney refuses the idea that it is necessary to make sacrifices to apply an organic product to one’s skin. With Care by Stella McCartney, she proves that it’s possible to offer a luxury product, highly powerful, with a perfume that is both extremely pleasant and organic, in a well designed packaging, without compromising her personal convictions or the safety of the environment.

The packaging is far from the austere corrugated boxing that goes generally with the so-called natural products. The concept is simple: air tight bottles when needed to protect the natural formulas they shelter, sober cases, perfectly elegant and meant to be in the bathroom or sport bags or simply be re-used. A modern packaging, for a modern product, both by its philosophy and its esthetics.

The line Care by Stella McCartney is perfectly integrated into current life styles. It is actually appropriate for both men and women, of any age. It brings to the skin, of any type, all it needs and nothing else. The products were conceived to be joined indefinitely, but can be used separately. No way to impose anything.

The environment, in which Stella McCartney grew up, has largely inspired the communication campaign. She grew up in an organic farm and wished that the visual would be the reflection of the natural beauty, and that the outside shots convey vulnerability and softness without giving up an elegant and sexy atmosphere.

With Care by Stella McCartney, take care of yourself and your environment; offer yourself an infinite universe of beauty.

That she’s so refreshingly normal for a chanteuse is, of course, what makes her appealing. Still, Norah Jones now seems determined to spice things up. On last year’s « Sucker », a duet with former Faith No More singer Mike Patton for his Peeping Tom project, she delivered the word « motherf***er » and she regularly performs with a glammy New York rock band.

Norah doesn’t really show up in gossip magazines and she made a concerted effort to stay low-key in a way that not a lot of other people with her success do.

The little slidehow is by Danny Clinch. He really got her looking gorge! don’t you think she has an angelic smile ?

For more on Norah Jones, check it out here

http://www.norahjones.com

Catch up on what’s new on Blue Note (an amazing label featuring the likes of jazz and blues musicians from around the globe)

http://www.bluenote.com

Sophistication and spirituality

According to the stylist we meet, the natural beauty trend is the biggest. This will be reworked to have a more sophisticated edge. Spirituality and emphasis on inner beauty will become increasingly important as products cater to body rhythms and energy cycles, in ergonomic or eco-friendly designs. To the other extreme, the surgically inspired trend will become more laboratory-like and translate to new applications such as treatments in syringe-shaped packaging; colors and textures will be more advanced, lastly, we will see a return to a Retro 1940s look. But colors will be more audacious, and textures more brilliant.

From tweed to gouache

A french trend forecasting agency proposes 4 dominating themes in beauty. In a nod to the 1960s, the Playtime theme predicts a very graphic approach to cosmetics with bright colors, new shapes, and fashion merging evermore in makeup giving rise to jacquard and tweed patterns. From the realm of science fiction, Mutations probes into the stranger side of nature. It involves a play on contrasts, colors that change, and unconventional textures from sticky glosses to jelly-like elixirs. Natural beauty, under the Origins theme, goes ultra-modern: Colors become earthy, and textures take on a gouache or pasty aspect. Finally, the Epure theme suggest harmony and softness inspired by the Japanese art of living, with pure white products, porcelain-like sunscreens and snow-like powders.

Osmosis of the interior and the exteriorBeauty is so vast that it is turning to the more fundamental aspects—staying vital, staying healthy. Nutrition, wellbeing, emotions, and new parts of the body—like the skeleton or nervous system—will be key elements addressed in beauty. Skincare and makeup products that restructure and sculpt the body will translate to a new beauty ritual where the user is the artist. Surgically inspired beauty will become more refined, and more laboratory-like in its applications. Neutral shades (plasters, marble, metals, minerals, burnt blacks) with nuanced or light- effects will figure largely in the palettes.