Founded in 1935 by Armand Petitjean and his business partner Guillaume d’Ornano as a perfume house launching five perfumes. The name Lancome comes from the ruins of Chateau de Lancosme, inspired by the forest of Lancosme, France, and the surrounding roses inspired the two partners to use a single rose as the brands symbol. The following year, in 1936, Lancome launched their first skincare with Nutrix an all-purpose repair cream and two years later they progressed into make-up and launched a rose scented lipstick in a pinkish/red color, it remained a bestseller for the next thirty years. Armand Petitjean continued to develop luxury makeup and skincare and grew rapidly. To this day Lancome is very popular within makeup, skincare and fragrance and by 1964 they joined L’Oreal and are now a part of L’Oreal luxury brands, with ambassadors such as Isabella Rossellini, Kate Winslet, Lupita Nyongó and Penelope Cruz to name a few.

Le Teint Particulier - Custom Made Foundation
One of the most popular products made by Lancome is the iconic mascara Hypnôse, personally it is one of my favourite mascaras and I keep going back to it. One product the brand continues to develop are their foundations so that every woman can find the right shade and formulation that suits her skin best, from liquid to cushion- texture, sheer to powder finishes with an array of 130 shades. The latest innovation  custom made foundation is made in only 20 minutes in front of your eyes. First your skin gets scanned in three different spots on the face, for example the forehead, top of the cheekbone and the chin to get the distribution of color pigment (red, yellow, black and white) for the perfect match of your skin tone. The fascinating thing is that there are 72.000 possible combinations, you can choose your level of moisture and coverage -sheer, medium or full, It’s also free from parabens, spf and fragrance! The data relating to complexion is processed via an exclusive algorithm that accurately orchestrates a perfect match between the skin and the foundation.

The Technology: an innovative, carefully honed algorithm
Le Teint Particulier is the most sophisticated customized beauty service ever created by Lancôme, and understandably so: it originated in an unprecedented collaboration with the L’Oréal Group’s brand new Research & Innovation arm based in San Francisco. They specialise in, among other things, machine learning and algorithm modelling. The secret of Le Teint Particulier stems from precisely that: an innovative, carefully honed algorithm that is covered by patent. It can predict the ideal shade based on the three local measures taken by the scan. This represents a real technological achievement, since, once applied, the foundation colour adapts to real-time changes in skin tone. To maintain colour accuracy, the custom-made machine is equipped with peristaltic pumps for an airtight blending and dispensing process of the ingredients, which are: the white foundation base, yellow, red and black pigments that allow the shade personalization, along with the moisturizing and texturizing agents that allow for a personally tailored level of moisturizing and coverage.

The Formula : fluid, silky and ultra-natural
Also brand new, Le Teint Particulier formula marries intense colour with extreme delicacy. It gives a real second-skin feel, richly pigmented despite being surprisingly light. The fluid, silky formulation of Le Teint Particulier glides onto skin smoothly, evening out colour and enhancing the complexion in an ultra-natural way that’s imperceptible to others. Its long- wearing, non-greasy and breathable formula makes it suitable for all skin types and is easily buildable.And this is how you will get your ideal formula in front of your eyes with a Lancome Beauty Expert. Within twenty minutes you will have a bottle with your name on it ready for a refill whenever you need, with your shades personal code on the bottle as a reference. The technology is only available at selected Lancome counters in Paris, London, Milano and Stockholm, and selected cities in USA.