TFWA 2013 in Cannes - ArtDeco, Leonor Greyl, the Balm and Mercedes Benz

I am having a great pleasure to attend this year’s TFWA 2013 trade show event, which is taking place at the famous Palais des Festivals in Cannes. This premium duty free and travel retail exhibition brings together over 440 companies and the world’s best known brands of premium goods.

I am having a beautiful opportunity to attend the event this year and to meet the representatives of many famous beauty brands. In the next couple of weeks, I will be publishing a series of articles about my experiences from Cannes, and I hope that you will enjoy discovering what our favorite beauty brands are up to for the next year.

TFWA opened its gates yesterday and, on the very first day of the show, I had a pleasure to meet with two lovely ladies from ArtDeco, who walked me through their upcoming collections and product innovations. In addition to the beautiful Glam Vintage collection, which is soon going to be available from your local stores and artdeco website, the brand is launching a number of exciting novelties such as a line of brand new nail lacquers and gel manicure home kit. Unlike their famous ceramic nail lacquers, these new nail goodies are delivered in square bottles with decorative double caps. The brand is into classic creamy formulas which are offered standard feminine shades, ranging from soft neutrals all the way to the vibrant reds. There will be no holographic shades, glitters or gleams – it is all about elegance, refinement and looking beautiful in all occasions.

The gel manicure home kit is a revolutionary new product, which is scheduled for release next year. In includes a range of professional quality gel polishes, which will be offered in many basic shades and priced at approximately 14 euros per bottle. The starter kit will include a special UV lamp, a gel manicure base coat and a chemical remover – priced at somewhere around 100 euros. It should be very easy to use and its professional quality results should last for about to 2 weeks, or until the nail growth becomes noticeable. Before applying the new layer of the gel lacquer, the old one should be removed with a little help of ArtDeco’s special remover. This is actually the most complicated step, since it requires a bit more time than in a professional salon. On the other hand, it is gentler to the nails and it doesn’t damage the nail plate.

As for the upcoming color cosmetics launches, I can only say that you won’t be disappointed, since ArtDeco has prepared three gorgeous and lively collections. First of them is launching just before the Valentine’s Day, and it features beautiful feminine pinks in fashionable, urban cases decorated with handwriting print. For the spring/summer, the brand has prepared a Miami-inspired collection painted in popping flamingo shades. In addition to new limited edition colors, ArtDeco will launch some of its best-sellers in newly designed, limited edition packaging with iridescent metallic caps. The late summer collection is exotic, inspired by the jungles, freshly green tropical herbs, and delicate dragonflies. It beautifully complements the fashion trends for the next year and features some of the most beautiful case-designs we have seen so far. For the last couple of years, ArtDeco’s prints have been more ornamental, inspired by African tribal or flamboyant Oriental prints, but 2014 collections are very fresh and original, very urban and certainly appealing to modern-day beauties. Last but not least, ArtDeco’s mineral makeup collection will welcome a number of new releases, while the most interesting of them are the marble-finished eye shadows… This is all for now, but stay tuned for more news as I will be back to you once the brand decides to share these super-secret information publically!

On the first day of the trade show, I have also met with Mr. Brooks who is a head of the R&D team at Leonor Greyl. As you may already know, Leonor Greyl is a brand that creates premium quality hair care products based on high grade natural ingredients. They were actually the very first brand to incorporate vitamins in their shampoos, and their motto is: “Healthy and glamorous hair using natural ingredients.”

Their products, loaded with ingredients, plant extracts and natural aromas are now present in more than 450 salons, in 50 department stores, 60 Sephoras and in more than 20 countries. I am currently testing out a whole line of Leonor Greyl products that are suitable for my very long, curly and frizzy hair: Nourishing Shampoo for Long and Dry Hair; Lait Luminescence Bi- Phase, which is a detangling milk and a styling spray that offers protection, shine and manageability; Masque A L’Orchidee, a softening mask for frizzy hair; the very promising Eclait Naturel, a styling cream for dry hair; the brand’s famous Palm Oil, which is now reformulated and comes under the name L’Huile de Leonor Greyl; as well as a special blend of natural oils for hair and body named Huile Secret De Beaute. I update you in a couple of weeks to share my impressions about Leonor Greyl products, when their results become truly noticeable. However, I have to say that Eclait Naturel really helped me today in managing the frizz, since the humidity of the French Riviera isn’t really flattering for my hair!

My third meeting was with Jordana Shipman of the Balm. The brand has a very cute little booth but, unfortunately not many information to share. The only novelty they had to present was the Balm Voyage holiday makeup palette, which is soon going to be available for purchase all across the world. It’s a classic Balm i-pad sized combination palette that features 16 eye shadows and three lip and cheek balms. The palette is priced at $42.50.

And for the grand finale of a successful day – a Mercedes Benz launching party at the fabulous Majestic Barriere Hotel in Cannes. The brand has unveiled its new fragrance – Mercedes Benz Club - which is, this time, dedicated to young, relaxed and stylish men.

The edition is inspired by the spontaneous lifestyle, the night on the town and living the life to the full. The fragrance is signed by Olivier Cresp of the Firmenich, who combined fresh citrusy notes with sensual woody sillage. As you can see, the bottle is looking gorgeous. It combines transparent glass and silver metal, decorated with polished Mercedes star embossed in relief. As you can see, the new EDT fragrance will be accompanied by a 150 ml shower gel and 75 gr alcohol-free deodorant stick. You can read more about this issue on Fragrantica.com, as my dear colleague Sandrina reported live from the event.

I hope you enjoyed my TFWA Cannes overview! Stay tuned for more exclusive information!