British Invasion

Mad about plaid? Not to worry, you're amongst friends. Catching up on my fashion magazines this past weekend, the July issue of In Style gave me something to celebrate: this month, Burberry is launching it's very own cosmetics line. Now how's that for a British invasion?

According to Christopher Bailey, Burberry's Creative Director, It started because I felt that, at shows and the shoots, the whole [Burberry] attitude is epitomized through the shoes, the bags, the clothes, the accessories, but then the face was the one thing I really struggled with. When we were doing makeup, I felt like we weren't able to get the right attitude. It was either caked-on makeup or then just the wrong colors, the wrong tones, the wrong spirit for makeup. I wanted it to be this kind of effortless elegance.

Sometimes, when you want something done right, you have to do it yourself--and so Burberry has, with a 96-piece collection that reflects the same ease and class as a Burberry trench. For its freshman year, the Burberry Beauty collection will be sold exclusively at Harrod's in the UK, Nordstrom in the US, and Faces in Hong Kong. Perusing the selection at Nordstrom online, I was captivated by the Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow, whose color selection captures the ease and versatility of the collection and ranges from classic trench coat-inspired shades to smoky metals. In fact, "Trench" is indeed one of the available colors, and seeing how obsessed I am withmy actual trench, I may need to throw in a bit of Burberry eye color for good measure.

In Christopher Bailey's vision, The Burberry girl wears just a trace of makeup — no crazy eyes or crazy lips. This sounds about right to me, especially in the summer when less is more. Granted, I won't know for sure until I actually try it, but I have a good feeling about this... To date, I've never gone wrong with Burberry, and I sort of feel like this may be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Cheers to the British invasion!



Christopher Bailey, as quoted (1) on Stylelist (http://www.stylelist.com/) and (2) in the New York Times Magazine Blog (http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/). Images, in order of appearance: (1) Burberry advertisement, image thanks to Neverwoodhigh (http://www.neverwoodhigh.com/); (2) Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow in No. 6 Almond $29 by Burberry Beauty, available at Nordstrom (http://www.nordstrom.com/); (3) Select products from the Burberry Beauty collection, photograph also from the New York Times Magazine Blog.