Attention Fashionistas!

As you know, Purple Lab is extremely inspired by fashion, hence our creme blush, Cheek Implants in Six Inch Heels and our Huge Lips Skinny Hips lip gloss in Red Sole!

To celebrate the launch of our new foundation, Silk Sheets, we partnered with Chictopia, the ultimate destination for style-obsessed clothes horses (me being one of them) to launch the “Foundation of Style” contest.

We know that every girl has those key items that make up their Foundation of Style, be it your go to shoes that are impossible to walk in (walking is so overrated!) or a fedora, made chic by adding a broach, feather, or a crystal necklace around the base.

Between now and Oct.27, enter the Foundation of Style Contest for a chance to win the latest beauty must-haves from Purple Lab and a chic Balenciaga clutch makeup bag. Plus, we will be featuring our winners on Purple Blab as the guest beauty blogger for the month of November!

For details on how to enter, check out the contest on Chictopia and a few of our favorite looks!

Slicari

Maryvannotes

Red Lipstick

To celebrate our contest you can receive 20% on Purple Lab products using the code “chictopia” at checkout, now through Oct 27!

Cant wait to see your looks!

Mwah!

Karen

Purple Lab Creatrix

If you are not yet familiar with @MsAmandaGreene or @LALupus Lady you must get to know her. now. She is the sweetest, kindest and spunkiest gal in Los Angeles, not to mention a huge advocate for raising awareness of Lupus (and Purple Lab)! Amanda has been a loyal Purple Lab customer and friend of our brand since our launch.

Here is Amanda’s entry to one of our Brickfish contests.

She hosted a Purple Lab on HSN Screening Party!

Amanda recently traveled to New York City and wanted to make it memorable – including an experience with Purple Lab. So, here is what happened. As told to me…

On a recent trip to New York City, I was asked by my friends at Purple Lab NYC if I was going to see a Broadway show while I was in Manhattan. I was in fact, I had just purchased tickets for “Promises, Promises” starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. That is when I sent an email to Karen. I came up with a self-imposed “Ultimate Broadway Challenge.” The challenge: would I be able to get Kristin Chenoweth, star of stage, screen and Twitter, a Purple Lab lip gloss? E-mails flew and soon it was arranged that I was going to meet a Purple Lab intern to get the lip gloss that I was going to (attempt to) give to Kristin Chenoweth.

I was as nervous as someone who would be going on the Broadway stage that night during my pre-theater dinner. I was hoping that the timing would be perfect. I did not want to fall flat on my face for Purple Lab NYC, especially when I was the one who came up with this idea in the first place). I am a Multi-tasking Maven and I wanted to complete my mission.

My husband said I had a look of determination in my eyes, but also hoped the night wasn’t going to end with us at explaining Hoodia- infused lip gloss to an NYPD officer.

After the show, The excited crowd waited about 20 minutes before the cast started exiting one by one. Then there she was: the uber-petite Kristin Chenoweth! She was smiling and signing autographs. She was coming down the barricade–making her way along the very rail where I was. I started snapping pictures of her and I got one of the lip glosses in the foreground.

Then it was time to accomplish my Ultimate Broadway Challenge. I gave Kristin Chenoweth a Purple Lab NYC “Huge Lips, Skinny Hips” lip gloss. As she looked at the curvy box, I told her that it is lip gloss that is a plumper and had Hoodia inside to curb your appetite–that’s why it is called “Huge Lips, Skinny Hips”! Kristin’s reaction was priceless–I caught her smile in a classic “open-mouthed gasp” with my digicam. As Kristin walked away, she held a tight grip on her new Purple Lab NYC lip gloss.

Ultimate Broadway Challenge: Mission Accomplished!

Thanks Amanda! You rocked it!

MWAH!
Karen
Purple Lab Creatrix

What I’ll wear on HSN is always the most stressful part of going on air for me. I can deal with the pressure of being on TV in front of what could be 10 million people. But the outfit, that’s another story. TV clothes are tricky. I can’t be as over the top as I am in real life (i.e. no million layers of accessories… no major hats… no feathers). I have to think colors, what will pop. And remember, the camera really does add 10 lbs.

Panic! Help! This time, I’m not leaving my outfits to whim. I have partnered with AOL Stylelist to ask for your assistance in choosing my final outfit for my broadcast. Check out the contest to vote for your favorite outfit and leave a comment to enter to win a Purple Lab Huge Lips Skinny Hips Lip Gloss.

Don’t forget to watch me on HSN at 8pm on August 19th to see the winning outfit!

Here are my outfit choices. All photos taken by the amazing and fabulous Vinnie Merlot.

Look 1: Green Lanvin dress and purple and gold YSL wedgies.
What I love: the color. Emerald is amazing on the little screen – and what better way to wear it than with purple shoes! My fear… are the ruffles too much for HSN?

Look 2: Thakoon graphic print dress, vintage Gucci gold belt, Lanvin shoes.
What I love: It’s fun and flirty. The colors are beautiful and while the graphic is busy, it won’t overwhelm on television. The little puckered sleeve is heaven.

Look 3: Marc Jacobs satin pants, red Celine blouse, Nicholas Kirkwood lace booties.
What I love: Black and red is killing me right now. Love the contrast and slightly 80s feeling of it. It’s so chic! I think this look is kind of perfection, do you?

Look 4: Black Zac Posen tuxedo pants, Lanvin silver brocade top, Alexander McQueen belt.
What I love: I’d normally stay away from dark colors for TV but the silver is so happy and shiny that I thought it would work well. Agreed?

Look 5: Orange Marni dress, Lanvin lemon necklace, Givenchy wedgies.
What I love: Okay, this is one of my favorite dresses on the planet but it could be too sack-like for TV. The color is rad, but the shape? Thoughts?

Look 6: Black Givenchy walking shorts. Balenciaga turquoise drapey top and crystal necklace. YSL pumps.
What I love: the aqua is made for TV and it’s high fashion without being unrelatable. Plus, a crystal necklace. I can’t resist some sparkle.

Can’t wait to see what you choose!

Mwah!
Karen
Purple Lab Creatrix

Told to you by Purple Lab’s one and only male intern, Vinnie…

When I first heard that I would be able to attend the second speed dating event taking place at the W Hoboken, I was immediately filled with anticipation. This was due the fact that I’ve been interning with Purple Lab since mid-June and I’ve heard countless stories about the FAMOUS Purple Lab Speed Dating event. I was also present upon the arrival of the Guinness World Record certificate in the mail, which managed to evoke a serious amount of excitement in the office.

Now, I would finally have the chance to experience the scene of a mega speed dating event first hand. Fortunately for the Purple Lab team, it was a bit smaller this time around but I’d say it was just as fun. Instead of organizing the event, Purple Lab was responsible for making over female daters before they began to meet the boys.

Armed with a full supply of Purple Lab products, Sharon, Julie, Eve and I were chauffeured by Todd to the W Hoboken. Upon setting up our products, I wasn’t sure what to expect by the crowd or the speed dating process in general. As the daters started pouring in, the women were immediately drawn to our products (can’t blaim them!).

Not knowing much about the application of make up (I’m more the office photographer/photoshopper/videographer), Julie and Eve did an awesome job of being pseudo make up artists for the night as I told the crowd about our lineup of double duty beauty products. Huge Lips Skinny Hips was a crowd pleaser as always, even drawing attention from the male speed daters! Continuing through the night, when women found themselves dateless, the Purple Lab team was ready for touchups.

The salon Toni & Guy did a great job of providing hair 911 style action and together we proved to be an unbeatable team. After the speed dating was finished, the crowd moved downstairs to indulge in the 80s tribute band in the living room. Julie and I walked around to do some sampling of the products to a lucky group of girls.

Overall, the event was a definite success. not only for the speed daters (I did see some getting cozy in the living room after) but also for the Purple Lab team.

Thanks to everyone who came out, we hope you found a match!

MWAH!
Vinnie
Purple Lab Multitasking Maven

After months of patiently waiting, it finally arrived. It arrived on an ordinary Thursday, when I least expected. When I first saw it I wasn’t quite sure it was it. It wasn’t until I saw those three words GUINNESS – WORLD – RECORD that I immediately knew. That’s right folks, Purple Lab is officially in the books as the record holder for the Largest Speed Dating Event in Guinness World Record History.

Guinness World Record!

For those of you who are a bit lost and may be thinking why a beauty brand would break a record for a dating event, I’ll refresh your memory. Back in January, Purple Lab teamed up with the W Hotel in Hoboken, NJ to launch our latest lip stain and gloss duo, Luvah, equipped with libido stimulants and aphrodisiacs. How better to launch the sexist lip product on earth with “Find Your Luvah,” the largest dating event on earth?

Speed Dating in Action

To add that extra dose of dating and relationship street cred, we signed on Steve Ward, the expert matchmaker behind the VH1 reality series, “Tough Love.”

Karen and Steve Ward, the hosts

The event was a huge success attracting 313 speed daters which can be seen in the official certificate. The funny part was, gathering 313 people into one room to speed date was a breeze. The challenging part was proving to Guinness that we met the task. To be officially recognized as a record breaker we had to send in the following information:

1. A recap of the event

2. Signed statements from two witnesses that details exactly what they saw us do, including times, scores, dates and the location where the attempt took place. Each statement needed to be on letterheaded paper from the witness’ company, and include their contact details

3. A signature from each speed dating participant (which we collected at the event)

4. Official video footage of the event

5. Official photographs of the event

6. Official press coverage of the event

The above information had to be gathering and sent to Guinness within two weeks of breaking the record. We mailed the supporting materials in February, 2010 and we just received recognition on Thursday, July 1, 2010.

They take their time in London at the GWR head courters.

Receiving the official certificate from Guinness was a very exciting moment for me as I worked extremely hard on the “Find Your Luvah” event. Here I am holding our award proudly!

So its official, Purple Lab is in the books and has made world record history – we may be a small indie brand but how many other companies can say they achieved Guinness Record status?

Mwah!

Sharon
Communications Queen

Pearlesque Show, Purple Lab’s silicone-free primer with crushed pearls (for that perfect sheen), honey and kiwi, is inspired by old Hollywood glamour, femme fatale beauty embodied by the confident starlets and pin-ups of yesteryear.

So we hoofed it to the Tribeca studio of photographer Burke Heffner (you may have seen him on MTV’s Made) for an old-school style Varga girl shoot, starring the lovely Andrea Lavinthal, an editrix at Real Beauty. He is genius behind the lens and knows just how to bring out the best in his subjects.

On hand, Miss Veronica Varlow, burlesque chanteuse. She was the posing coach, there to show Andrea the art of unleashing your inner Pearlesque star!

You know we luv us some Va-va-va-Veronica! (This is her at our launch event last year!)

If you met Veronica, you’d think she stepped out of another time. Wearing a tight black 1940’s style flared dress with baby pink satin detail, she commands herself with a mix of poise and mystery that is utterly captivating. (The first time my mom met her, she said “It’s so cute that she’s in costume!” I was like, “Mom, that’s how she dresses EVERY DAY!”).

Andrea Lavinthal, our friend/pearlesque model, is a journalist who writes for Real Beauty (Note: when she first graduated from college, she almost interned for Karen and then she got a “real job” at Cosmo Magazine).

Here’s Andrea, pre-shoot (like the lavish bed set up?).

She strolled in with the Real Beauty camera crew who were on hand to capture the magic. In Andrea’s world as a writer, she normally challenges other women to beauty challenges but today, she is challenging herself.

Mission: Unleash your inner Pearlesque Star.

After Ani Hovhannisyan did makeup (using Pearlesque Show, of course) along with all Purple Lab musts, it was time for wardrobe: a curve loving black dress and a Gucci marabou feather shrug (Tom Ford’s last spring season from Gucci, plucked from Karen’s closet).

Andrea unleashed her inner Gypsie Rose and made herself at home on a white shag rug. “If you are ever feeling unsure when shooting, just think ICON ICON ICON …. And it is impossible to look bad,” Veronica said (sage advice and our new mantra!).

Burke has a warm approach and a way of making his subjects confortqable. And together, Veronica and her hubby brought out the best on Andrea, who looked stunningly gorgeous (a new Facebook profile picture, perhaps?).

Three hours later, it was a wrap.

For the final pic and video, you’ll have to stay tuned!

Mwah!

All of us at Purple Lab

If you’ve never been to a major designer sample sale, it’s something out of the Discovery Channel wild kingdom shows – a stampede of starving lions chasing its prey. And the lines of hungry girls typically wrap the corner.

I sent the Purple Lab girls on a mission last week – crash DVF’s sample sale for some street team marketing. Here they are en route (thanks to Todd, who drove them).

Ashley was the fearless leader, a true alpha lioness. Here is her story!

On Tuesday I headed the Purple Lab Street team and we crashed the Diane Von Furstenburg Sample sale. Guerilla Marketing and Purple Lab go hand in hand. We are a start up brand and have no marketing budget (Karen loves to imagine the amazing things we could do with an actual budget)!

So, we are forced to get creative, which is truly a blessing in disguise! These untraditional methods are going to be what sets us apart!

We arrive at scene on 28th and 5th Ave. to find a line snaking around the block. Where other people are groaning at the situation, we are ecstatic! This is our target audience… fashionable women who are in the know!

Plan of attack: break into groups so we can cover more ground. We talk to people, get emails, give out Huge Lips Skinny Hips samples in No Panty Lines and VIP cards for shopping on our site. The girls are tres responsive! (You would be too if these three sweet, cute girls appraoched you!)

The key is to sound incredibly informed! I could talk about Karen and Purple Lab all day but the question is, “how can I say everything I need to in 3 sentences?” If you’re poignant, witty and relatable they are like putty!

A few hours and 60 glosses later, we’re ready to head home… Then we spot her… Alex McCord from the Real Housewives of New York. I can hear Karen in the back of my head saying, “GET HER THE GLOSS!”

I am cursing myself for running out of product and then I remember I stashed one HLSH in the bottom of my purse! My mom always instilled in me to be prepared… having raw almonds in your purse at all time and never leave home with out a toothbrush to name a few.

I had a feeling there would be someone special. I sprint over to her and say, “I have something for you!”

“Oh yeah?” She says in a sweet welcoming manner.

As I catch my breath, I say, “I am from Purple Lab NYC a fashion inspired beauty brand started by Karen Robinovitz…” All the while, I am digging around in my hand-me-down Prada, fishing for the gloss.

Through a sea of cameras, phones and my own HLSH’s, emerges the gorgeous purple box with metallic fuschia writing. “This is for you” I exclaim triumphantly. She replies with a high-pitched muffled “oh”! I continue to tell her about HLSH and how it was the inspiration for the brand.

The light turns Red and all the cars on 5th avenue stop. I say thank you and she is off crossing 5th avenue with a Purple Lab VIP card in one hand and a HLSH box, which she is intently reading the copy while she crosses the street.

Mission accomplished!

Mwah!

Ashley
Purple Lab Multi-Tasking Maven

Every season, fashion designers have a look book, a book that’s curated to perfection, showcasing the collection. It’s not something beauty brands would typically do. Being that I’m such a fashion girl at heart, I was a little jealous! I wanted one!

Today we launch our look book (the cover image is above)!

So I asked some of our favorite bloggers and F.O.P.L. (friends of Purple Lab) to strike a pose. We turned my apartment into a photo studio.

The kitchen was the Dolce Gusto coffee and muffin “craft station” as they say on movie sets.

The living room is was saved for hair and makeup. Turns out that Britt, our multi-tasking maven (a.k.a. intern) who also wound up in one of the pics, is genius with hair! To give you a sense of the mayhem – 11 models, 3 makeup artists, Sharon and a team of 4 interns, 2 Dolce Gusto girls manning the cappuccino, 1 photographer, and me.

Our makeup artists rocked! Thank you to Stacie Ford, Ani Hovhannisyan, and Donna Beretsky-Neidecker, who are so talented and smoke out an eye like nobody’s business! And then there’s Ana Schecter, photographer (or as I like to call her, photographess). She is sooooo talented, it hurts! Love, love, love you Ana, Stacie, Ani and Donna!

We carefully plotted which look would be right for each model. Extreme and edgy red liner (Huge Lips Skinny Hips in Red Sole doubled as shadow for the day) for Karen Blanchard of Where did U Get That – she has such a downtown vibe that we knew she could pull it off (not everyone in the world can, but we also gave her a natural look).

Meanwhile, Todd was on the roof deck, morphing it into a photo ready studio. We hung a white blanket on the fence between our deck and our neighbor’s (for a stark white background), removed the table, chairs and grill and set the stage.

This is Ana at work, shooting a pregger and beautiful Mildred of Beauty Logic Blog.

And here she is with the lovely Audrey of Homerun Ballerina, whose birthday is today by the way! HAPPY B’DAY PRETTY GIRL! J’ADORE! Audrey has such a natural glow about her so it was fun to get enhance it with the highlighter of Luxury Squared.

Now, Virginia Nam of Lovely 20s and The Examiner. She looks like such a perfect little porcelain doll so we had to go with it for this very Asian-inspired look, using Huge Lips Skinny Hips in Lychee Martini on the eyes (it really works well as a shadow but you do have to let it dry!)

P.S. We’re working on shadows, BTW! Coming somewhat soon-ish!

Christine from My Style Pill pulled off a really out-there, runway-ready eye – words won’t do it justice. The rest of the face was super natural so that the eyes were the main attraction. See below and drool!

It took a while to perfect the heavy rock star eyes for Anne of The Jet Set Girls. I love the contrast of the dark, dark eye on her fair skin. And that red hair! She was so fierce, I couldn’t stop kvelling all over her!

Noelle and Joelle of The Owls Are Not What They Seem, gave us the glamour – each with two looks.

But check out the eye on Noelle. When the eye was open, it just looked like a thin cat eye but when closed, it was ON!

And Joelle – no words!

F.O.P.L. included Amanda, the cutest blond! She entered our model search contest and we fell so in love with her that we asked her to be in our look book (she came with her mom, Andrea, who started a Twitter account called @vote4amanda when her daughter was racking up votes!)

Hello Bridget Bardot eyes (Ani, amazing job!).

Barbara Dial, our resident pole dancing teacher (from S-Factor, the inspiration behind Huge Lips Skinny Hips in Kitty Poledancer, soft nude-pink), is the consummate California girl. So we edged her up with a side bun and red-red lips.

There was one more look we were dying to do at the end of the day – something kind of hippie chic with a long side braid and we turned Britt into a model! How gorgeous is she here?

More Behind the scenes pics are on Facebook.

And there’s a great video as well, created by Kendra Elise (there she is below).

Mwah!

Karen

Purple Lab Creatrix

Guess what we did yesterday? All the girls in the office and I went to the Sex & the City 2 world premiere. Sort of. Crashed is more like it. It was time for some serious guerilla marketing action at Radio City Music Hall.

Our girls dressed in their cute Purple Lab tees, skinny jeans, and one key accessory: retro style cigarette trays, wrapped in purple velvet and harnassed to their bodies. A moving beauty counter of products!

A close up of the trays:

See, I was there two years ago and it was a SCENE! There were hundreds, maybe thousands of girls outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of SJP and lines of ticket holders that spanned four city blocks. (I actually had passes in my hand and got all dressed up like a total cliche, took one look at the crowd and the line I’d have to stand in, gave my tickets to two tourists, and went to dinner with a friend).

I thought, if we can’t afford to be there as an official sponsor, we could sure street-team-it. It’s the best audience I could imagine – pop culture loving, style obsessed girls who love all things fab and glam!

To give you a sense of how long the line was:

We offered makeup touch-ups and SATC makeovers to gaggles of girls and gave out ring pops (what better snack for the movies?) and Foot Petals (a must-have for hours of heel-wearing).

Don’t worry – we brought hand sanitizer and a billion applicators to keep it totally sanitary. New Yorkers tend to be germaphobic.

One of the “afters” with Huge Lips Skinny Hips in Red Sole and newly lined eyes!

She had this adorable tattoo!

We found some new fans…

While stationed outside of the Duane Reade on 51st Street, the women who worked there started to knock on the window to find out about our products. I was showing them by holding them up against the window!

Then one came out to try out some gloss and get my card (she wanted to show it to the buyer – you know how Duane Reade has that new chic beauty division with luxe brands? We’ll see what happens.)

It was a success of “Big” standards.

Video coming soon!

Mwah!

Karen

Purple Lab Creatrix

I have a pile of WWDs stacked up to my knees. I can’t quite find the time to go through them all but yesterday, I stopped dead in my work-tracks when I noticed the cover of Monday’s issue.

The makeup! I die! It was calling my name!

It was an image from Dior’s resort 2011 collection and the eye, which may be hard to really tell in the photo, was deeee-vine! A gray winged cat eye just below a pink liner that started at the corner of the eye by the nose.

I had Sharon drop whatever she was doing so we could recreate the look.

There’s something about her that’s so 60s to me! I always tell her she looks like she stepped off the set of Mad Men (counting the days until it’s back on air). Here we are in the “makeup lounge,” a.k.a. my closet.

Here’s how to get the look:

1. Using Lashionista Modelista’s liquid liner portion, line the top lid. This should be very thin.

2. To get the wing shape in a soft gray, create another line using the same product, right above the first line, but not touching it.

3. Smudge it out with a short bristled brush. As you smudge, it tones the shade from black to gray. The more you smudge, the lighter the shade becomes.

4. With a small eye liner brush, swipe Cheek Implants in Six Inch Heels (a soft pink hue) right above the gray smudged cat eye, like a stripe that extends from the tip of the wing to the corner of the eye by the nose.

5. Curl the lashes and use two coats of mascara for an extra thick lash

6. Using Luxury Squared’s highlighter, add a touch of shimmer under the brow to enhance the brow bone.

7. Add a nude lip. The nude is key because you want the eyes to stand out – a dark shade would be too much at once. I used Luvah in Mama’s Boy.

The final creation: