The Friday Forum - August 26 Plus an Exciting Estée Lauder Launch

There's hope for Estée Lauder. Most of you know that after years of profitable, but unexciting existence, Estée Lauder brought in Tom Pecheux, who reinvigorated the brand. Suddenly, Estée Lauder was hot again, and we bloggers had fun with all of the color products he created or inspired. Unfortunately, he left. From that point, the company became what I called the Aerin Lauder Company. Most of the new color introductions were Aerin's, and I found them boring - to the point that I seldom browsed the company's Web site.

More recently, in its efforts to attract Millennials, Estée Lauder made Kendall Jenner its new face (along with blogger Irene Kim) and rebranded many of its new products Estée Edit, which are "curated" by Ms. Jenner and guest bloggers. Intended for rule breakers and risk takers - the way Millennials like to think of themselves - Estée Edit products strike me as modern, but traditional at the same time. In other words, they are a product of marketing. If anything, Kendall Jenner was a turn-off to me.

Little of Estée Lauder's recent marketing has impressed me or enticed me to buy. Then the news broke. Estée Lauder would be partnering with Victoria Beckham to launch a limited-edition color cosmetics line. The collection is set to debut on September 13, with a preview at Beckham's runway show two days before. It will be sold in select retail outlets, including department stores and Victoria Beckham Dover Street, plus the retailer's Web sites. The full collection will be sold at Bergdorf Goodman and bergdorfgoodman.com, Selfridges, Victoria Beckham’s Dover Street store in London and on victoriabeckham.com and esteelauder.com starting September 13. It will launch in the rest of the world from October 1. I can't wait!

In an interview with WWD, Beckham said her aim is to empower women, fill a few market niches, complement her fashion collection, and relay some of the makeup and skin-care wisdom she’s gathered from a life spent on airplanes, red carpets, and in the full glare of paparazzi flashbulbs.

“I was very specific about what I wanted. It was about the must-have items that I felt everybody should have in their makeup bag, things that are really quite difficult to find because I know, I’ve searched,” Beckham told WWD. The aim was also to deliver products people could immediately associate with her, “whether it’s a smoky eye, a nude lip, or dewy skin. So I’ve been very honest, very true to myself. This has been something that I’ve wanted to do for so many years,” she said.

WWD told us there will be 15 units, including a limited-edition, portable mirror that casts a flattering light for makeup application. Prices will  range from $30 for the designer’s signature nude-matte lip pencil to $45 for an Eye Metals Eye Shadow, $95 for the Morning Aura Illuminating Crème and $1,200 for the Victoria Beckham Collection Daylight Edition, a light box that includes a removable lighted mirror as well as eight products.

While the focus will be mostly on lips and eyes, there will also be a bronzer, a highlighter (Beckham convinced Lauder to bring back a version of its limited-edition Modern Mercury highlighter - yea!) and the Morning Aura cream. There is more, but I'll save some surprises for you.

I finally have hope for Estée Lauder again. Victoria Beckham has proven that she has a talented eye, and her experience in the limelight as a celebrity and successful designer should give her the one-the-ground knowledge to develop a cosmetics line that will appeal to everyone, not just Millennials. Are you as excited as I am?

It's time for the Friday Forum. The Friday Forum has always been an opportunity to share information. Are you using a fabulous product and want to sing its praises? Tell us about it! Did you find a beauty product disappointing? Tell us why! Do you have questions others might be able to answer? We can help! Want to talk about skin care? I'm game. Just use the comments. We have busy weekends and slow ones on the forum. I hope to see you in the comments.

Photos courtesy of Estée Lauder and WWD