LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) fall 2010 beauty and fragrance preview

There comes a day in every beauty blogger's life when she gets an invite that is like the Holy Grail of invites. When I got an invite to preview fall products by LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) I nearly passed out from excitement. You know that feeling you used to get on Christmas Eve at the prospect of your parents letting you possibly open a present that night? Well that was me yesterday when I walked into the "magic room" at the LVMH NYC headquarters. As if my excitement wasn't enough already, these gift bags were the first thing I saw when I walked in. (Second was icy cold bottles of none other than Moet & Chandon. Delish!) I took home 2 Givenchy eye quads, a bottle of Flower by Kenzo, and Guerlains Les Voilettes mineral powder (read below).

But on to the important stuff. The magic room was filled with new fall product, and some interesting twists on some old favorites. Best-selling Kenzo fragrance, Flower by Kenzo, is still going strong, but given a new twist for fall with eco-friendly refillable bottles. Why has nobody thought of this before? You buy the bottle once, and then you can buy the refills for less cost out of your wallet and less waste to the environment. 1oo ml bottle of fragrance is $92, and a 100 ml refill is $78. (30 ml and 50 ml fragrance bottles also available).

Also new at Kenzo is Kenzo Ki, a luxurious skin care collection that smells just as good as the fragrance collection. There is a Nightshift Cream with ginger that revitalizes the skin while you sleep. There is also a Fresh Jelly and Gumdrops cleanser that exfoliates and purifies at the same time. Belle De Jour is Kenzo Ki's white lotus line that has anti-aging benefits and smells incredible. This sacred white lotus flower is said to moisturize, soothe, and protect skin against damaging free radicals. I'd buy this face cream for the smell alone.

Speaking of fragrance, Pucci fragrances have expanded and introduced new scent, Miss Pucci. This fresh fragrance embodies a more youthful Pucci woman, who is still as sophisticated and beautiful as the original Pucci Vivara-wearer. This floral scent has top notes of magnolia and lemon, heart notes of Turkish rose, ylang-ylang, jasmine, and orange blossom, and then is grounded by a woody base including Texas cedar and white musk.

If you need a fragrance for your man (and you surely do, because boys are smelly), Acqua Di Parma's Colonia is bringing back an era where men were men. They were dressed in tailored suits from Italy. They shaved, daily. They smelled nice. Wait...I'm daydreaming. But that's the point of this fragrance. It's elegant and refined, just like we HOPE our modern men to be.

On the fun side of Colonia, there is a new powder soap coming out in August. This is pulverized soap mixed with talc powder and rice starch that lathers up when mixed with water. If you have to con your significant other in to using soap, this is the way to do it. This is affordable at $36 retail, and is packaged in a cute metal tin that makes for a nice decorating accent for any bathroom.

Have I saved my favorites for last? Indeed. The 2 G's: Givenchy and Guerlain. While I enjoyed testing all the afore-mentioned products, anyone who has read this blog knows that I'm a bit of a makeup collector. At some point, I will inevitably be adding all of these products to my collection.

At Givenchy, they've had success with their Le Prisme eye quad ($56), and are now offering 6 different combos: Purple Show (great for green-eyed gals like myself), Midnight Look, Pastel Model, Khaki Egerie, Blue Collection (my favorite!), and Siena Silhouette.

They are also introducing Mister Lash Booster ($30), an eyelash primer that nourishes and strengthens. Unlike other primers, this goes on clear so it can be worn under mascara or on its own. Also the applicator is not in a germ-y pot, but in a slanted-tip applicator. The applicator gives you the option of twisting out just the amount you need, so there's no waste.

Guerlain had almost too many fantastic new products to keep track of, so I hope my summary can do it a small amount of justice. Let's start with an old favorite, Shalimar. While it would be silly to re-invent a fragrance that women love the world over, you can still re-invent the bottle. Who better to do so than rock royalty, Jade Jagger? Jagger revisits the bottle by both modernizing it with a fan-shaped jewel stopper and a midnight blue ribbon signet, but still paying respect to its heritage and not entirely re-creating its shape.

Lingerie de Peau ($56) is a new lightweight foundation that you have to try to believe. For someone like myself who loves natural looking makeup and not heaviness, this is a dream come true. The formula includes natural polymers, like silk and linen, so your skin recognizes it and its able to naturally adhere to the skin's surface. This can be worn alone, or combined with another great product, Les Voilettes loose mineral powder ($56). This is a lightweight mineral powder that evens out the skin tone when worn alone, or has the ability to set your makeup without feeling caked-on.

Last, but not least, is Abeille Royale. Guerlain's intensive research on anti-aging and repairing damaged skin led them to one source: the bee. Yes, those little stingers produce a sweet and nourishing substance we all know: honey. Of course Guerlain couldn't just use regular, old honey in their Abeille Royale (heavens, no!), they found a source some of the most pure honey in the world. The black bee from Ouessant lives in a parasite-free environment and is able to produce exceptionally pure honey. This Ouessant honey is combined with royal jelly to create the Pure Royal Concentrate, which is the main ingredient in Abeille Royale. In plain speak, Guerlain did extensive research and brought you the purest of ingredients in this serum. Skin is smoother, more elastic, and youthful after just one use. Not to mention that the serum comes in a cute dropper-style bottle with a bee emblem on top that you push when you need a dose of this formula.

Though I don't think I touched on everything, I'm sure you can see that there are many new products out there to be excited about for fall. Only one more month until the products are released and we can start doing damage to our bank accounts. I will personally be stimulating the economy by buying all the Givenchy eye quads and the Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation.