Estee Lauder announces a six percent increase in sales this year. The report can be found the official website of The Estee Lauder Companies.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2013-- The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) today reported net sales for its first quarter ended September 30, 2013 of $2.68 billion, a 5% increase compared with $2.55 billion in the prior-year quarter. Excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, net sales increased 6%. Net earnings for the quarter were $300.7 million, compared with$299.5 million last year and diluted net earnings per common share were $.76, which was flat with the prior year.

Image Source: www.wkrb13.com

The fiscal 2014 and 2013 first quarter results included charges associated with restructuring activities of $1.2 million and $0.4 million, respectively. Additionally, in the fiscal 2013 first quarter, the Company recorded a pre-tax charge of $19.1 million ($12.2 million after tax), for the extinguishment of debt, equal to $.03 per diluted common share.

Excluding these charges in the first quarters of fiscal 2014 and 2013, net earnings for the three months ended September 30, 2013were $301.6 million, and diluted net earnings per common share were $.76, versus a comparable $.79 in the prior-year period. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures is included in this release.

Image Source: media.corporate-ir.net

Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “I’m pleased that our sales growth was in line with our target and we exceeded our earnings per share estimate for the quarter, despite softer-than-expected market conditions in certain countries. We achieved these results on the strength of our brands, many of which have introduced successful new innovations that we have supported with strong marketing programs. Our luxury brands, online and travel retail channels, and emerging markets continued to generate excellent results, lead our growth and contributed to broad sales gains in each of our geographic regions and major product categories.

“Looking ahead, we are well positioned for the important holiday shopping period, with the strongest slate of new fragrances in more than a decade, as well as other innovative products across our categories. We are focused on achieving superior top-line growth by driving sales momentum throughout the fiscal year with our product and service innovations, backed by creativity, product quality and comprehensive marketing programs. For the full fiscal year, we continue to expect to grow sales 6% to 8% in local currency, which is double our global prestige beauty estimate, and we are revising our earnings per share estimate to $2.80 to $2.87, after taking up the bottom of the range.”

Image Source: www.beautylish.com

Net sales growth during the quarter was particularly strong in the Company’s luxury and M•A•C brands, online and travel retail channels and overall in emerging markets. Many developed countries reported solid gains as well. The Company made further progress on its strategic goals and realized a solid improvement in cost of sales. As planned, the Company increased global advertising spending versus the prior-year quarter to support its biggest innovations and certain existing products

William Lauder is the executive chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies and is simultaneously serving as chief strategist, overseeing the company’s expansion in international presence and distribution channels and strengthening the brand portfolio. For more Estee Lauder news, go to this blog

REPOST: Lessons from Lauder

The Estee Lauder Companies' executive chairman recently spoke with the The University of Delaware about the company's shift from a family-owned corporation into a dual class-structured company. 

William P. Lauder (left), executive chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies, discusses corporate governance issues with UD's Charles Elson. (Image Source: University of Delaware)

8:55 a.m., Nov. 4, 2013--When Estée Lauder founded her business in the mid-1940s, it was all in the family; the company sold cosmetic and beauty products directly to salons and hotels. 

Fast forward five decades and her children and grandchildren took over the family business. But when they decided to open it to public investors, one of the first things they had to do was address the corporate governance.

“By going public we accomplished a couple things long term,” said William P. Lauder, executive chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies. “First of all we cleaned up the internal corporate governance structure. No longer were board meetings also known as Thanksgiving dinner.”

They also grew the company with attention to public investors, but were careful to maintain a long-term attitude toward investing.

“We needed to learn how to manage in this environment,” said Lauder. “Our management team was really expert at our business but not this one aspect. 

Avoiding “fashion” of the moment investment decisions based on a short-term focus was one of the key drivers for the family in deciding upon a dual class structure, said Lauder, or one in which the public has shares with less voting power.

To shed light on how such a controlled structure can influence the board and governance of a company, Lauder fielded questions from Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, during a Distinguished Speakers Series event held Tuesday, Oct. 22, on the University of Delaware’s campus in Newark.

“Because of its sunset provisions, among dual class structured companies, The Estée Lauder Companies is one of the best," said Elson, “so the question becomes how does the governance structure play in to this highly successful operation?” 

Read the rest of the article at The University of Delaware's website.

William Lauder is The Estee Lauder Companies' chief strategist. He is in charge of expanding the Company's international exposure and maintaining ELC's status as one of the leading beauty and fashion conglomerates worldwide. Check out this blog to learn more about ELC's leader and how he has managed to keep the company on top.

REPOST: Estée Lauder -- A Beauty Company To Be Reckoned With

This Forbes article reports how world-renowned beauty brand Estée Lauder may be well-positioned to take advantage of the ever-changing landscape of the beauty sector.

Image Source: stdavidshospicecare.org

 
Estée Lauder Companies manufactures and markets prestige skin care, makeup, fragrances and hair care products. The company was founded in 1946 by Joseph and Estée Lauder. Two years later they landed their first department store – Saks Fifth Avenue. From there the company expanded their products and customer base in the United States. In 1960 the first international account was opened, Harrods in London. Today Estée Lauder is a global company that has prominent counters in the world’s leading department stores.

Recently Estée Lauder reported net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013 of $10.2 Billion an increase of 5% over the $9.7 Billion achieved in the previous year. It places the company in the rarified club of companies generating $10 Billion plus in sales where it is now the world’s fourth largest beauty company. The top ten are:

1. L’Oreal 2013 beauty sales $28.3 Billion 
2. Unilever 2013 beauty sales $23.2 Billion 
3. Procter & Gamble 2013 beauty sales $20.0 Billion 
4. Estee Lauder 2013 beauty sales $10.2 Billion 
5. Avon Products 2012 beauty sales $ 7.6 Billion 
6. Shiseido Co. 2012 beauty sales $ 7.3 Billion 
7. KAO Corp 2012 beauty sales $ 6.8 Billion 
8. Beiersdorf 2012 beauty sales $ 6.5 Billion
9. Johnson & Johnson 2012 beauty sales $ 5.8 Billion 
10. Chanel 2012 beauty sales $ 5.3 Billion+

I have used in the conversion $1.28=1 Euro and $.0010094 = 1 yen +Industry estimate

Image Source: moodiereport.com

The company indicated that it had increases in every major category that includes skin care (+7%), makeup (+6%), fragrances (+4%), hair care (+6%). I show these increases in local currency terms as it shows the true strength of these classifications. Management has indicated that skin care is a strategic priority, and the gains were made through the introduction of the Moisturizing Soft Cream from La Mer and Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector from Clinique (which I badly need myself.) There were also several other new skincare launches that were well received by the target consumer.

There were also new introductions in makeup, fragrances and hair care with such names as Zegna Uomo, DKNY Be Delicious So Intense, Tommy Hilfiger Freedom Men and Coach Love. Business was strong in most of the world – about 6%, with the Americas rising about 5% driven by a double-digit increase in Latin America.

A long time ago – maybe 25 years ago — I met Leonard Lauder, then chairman of the company – now Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors, who explained to me the secret of his business. While each brand had to have pleasing fragrances, the most important, and expensive, part of the fragrance business is the bottle. The design of the bottle was as important as what was in it. With great pride, Leonard Lauder showed me some of the beautiful bottle designs – even today this remains one of the hallmarks of his company.

The company has changed as lot since its early days. Leonard Lauder, son of Joseph and Estée, is still very active in the company (the Lauder family owns about 70% of the outstanding stock), but day-to-day management is now in the hands of Fabrizio Freda who joined the company in 2008 as President and Chief Operating Officer. In 2009 he succeeded William Lauder, Leonard’s son, as President and Chief Executive Officer; William then became Chairman of the Board and Executive Chairman.

Image Source: thegroundmag.com

The company has expanded the market for Estée Lauder under Freda’s leadership. Right now the company’s focus is on China, an underdeveloped country as well as Germany and France. Freda is focused on tapping new selling environments in locations such as airports where traffic is strong and travelers have a propensity to buy. As a manager, Freda’s approach is to bring everyone together as a team and to develop strategies together. Using this approach new products and innovative marketing strategies are being developed by mainstay brands such as Clinique, MAC and Bobby Brown which some may have thought mature. For instance, Bobby Brown, one of the company’s larger brands, is going after millennial customers by launching a You Tube channel called I Love Makeup that will feature makeovers as well as comedy. This marketing platform will be interactive – allowing Bobby Brown to communicate directly with youthful, social media savvy, customers. As the first brand to take such a step it will be watched closely by everyone, inside and outside the Estée Lauder Company. No doubt, other Estée Lauders will soon follow in their own unique way that aligns with each brand’s attributes and target customer tastes.

I am very impressed with how Estée Lauder keeps growin–one innovation at a time. Enough innovations, and the now $10 billion company will soon be much bigger.

William Lauder is the executive chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies. Under his leadership, the cosmetics company has expanded into new markets while maintaining the heritage of the family matriarch in its core strategy. Visit this Facebook page to learn how the company redefines beauty one step at a time.

REPOST: The season’s 12 hottest beauty products

This fall, Leah Faye Cooper excites fashion enthusiasts with the latest and hottest beauty products. Read further to find out her top 12 in an article for the New York Post.

The leaves are changing – why shouldn’t your face? Experts at four luxury-laden NYC department stores shared their fall beauty obsessions with The Post, divulging their top 12 finds. Earth-toned eyeliners, citrusy scents and berry-hued glosses all made the cut, along with skin-softening tools and multi-use color sticks. According to the experts – Jason Ascher, resident makeup artist at Barneys; Howard Kreitzman, vice president of cosmetics for Bloomingdale’s; Jen Miles, senior buyer of beauty and fragrance for Henri Bendel; and Barbara Zinn-Moore, general vice president of cosmetics for Lord & Taylor – these are the products no vanity should be without this autumn.

1. Lancome Artliner eyeliner, $30 at Lord & Taylor, 424 Fifth Ave. Long a fan of Lancome’s easy-to-use felt-tip pens, Zinn-Moore says Artliners are delighting customers this season with autumn hues like navy, amethyst, forest and aubergine: “Every girl should have two or three Artliners in her makeup bag to go with a new fall wardrobe.”


Image source: thenypost.com

2. W3ll People Universalist Luminous Multi-Use Colorstick in “Creamy Pink,” $33 at Henri Bendel, 712 Fifth Ave. “You can use this on your cheeks, lips and eyes,” raves Miles, who brings the color wand with her everywhere. “And you don’t need a brush – just dab it on and rub it in with your fingers.” The natural ingredients are another draw: “A lot of people are looking for beauty products that don’t have chemicals in them.”

3. Butter London Lippy Sheer Gloss in “Berry Whipped,” $20 at Henri Bendel “This is a great fall color,” says Miles of the lustrous lip finish, which comes with a brush applicator and can be used over lipstick for a dark, glazed finish. “The consistency isn’t sticky at all and it smells amazing, like cake batter!”

4. Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour SPF 15, $57.50 at Lord & Taylor “Chanel Les Beiges became an instant classic as soon as it hit the counter,” Zinn-Moore says of this Lord & Taylor best seller, which can be used as a powder or a bronzer. “[It's] perfect as we enter fall as it’ll pick up your summer color, complement your fall wardrobe and keep your skin looking smooth and clear.”


Image source: thenypost.com

5. Kevyn Aucoin Essential Mascara, $32 at Barneys New York, 660 Madison Ave. “I didn’t think any mascara would ever compare to Giorgio Armani’s ‘Eyes to Kill,’” says Ascher. “But Kevyn Aucoin’s Essential Mascara has taken the torch and run with it.” He adds that the formula offers enviable length, curl and definition with just one application.

6. Clarisonic PLUS Sonic Skin Cleansing System for Face and Body, $225 at Bloomingdale’s, 1000 Third Ave. According to Kreitzman, autumn must-haves go beyond makeup and moisturizers. “Devices are a big beauty trend that will continue into fall,” he says. The price tag may shock at the out- set, but at-home devices could end up saving you bundles on spa treatments. This one exfoliates and cleanses the skin at three speeds for a smooth, polished result.

7. Illamasqua nail varnish, $17 at Bloomingdale’s “Polishes in wild colors, metallics and textured- and flat-finishes are all the rage,” notes Kreitzman, pointing to British import Illamasqua as a go-to for all four trends. “We love the varnishes from this brand,” he enthuses. “The colors are endless!”

8. Estee Lauder Modern Muse Eau de Parfum, $78 at Lord & Taylor “Customers have been raving about this product from the moment it arrived,” say Zinn-Moore, who suggests updating your fragrance along with your clothes for fall. Estee Lauder’s first major fragrance release in a decade, the scent is marked by jasmine and amber wood notes. “[It] has the potential to become a future classic!” Zinn-Moore predicts.

9. Terry de Gunzberg fragrances, $195 each at Barneys New York Beauty doyenne Terry de Gunzburg added five fragrances to her cache of cosmetic offerings this season, serving up citrus notes like grapefruit and orange blossom. “Each one is evocative of a different time and mood, yet totally original,” says Ascher. Reve Opulent comes with a touch of Sri Lankan cinnamon, while almond essence heightens Flagrant De?lice.

10. Serge Normant Meta Morphasis Hair Repair Treatment, $60 at Barneys New York After a summer swimming in pools and baking in the sun, Ascher says this intense treatment restores hair to its natural brilliance. “[It's] my rescue product of choice,” he says of the lava clay-infused tress tamer. “It reconditions hair without leaving it flat or greasy.”

11. Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream hydrating colour corrector broad spectrum SPF 30, $35 at Bloomingdale’s “[These] are the newest all-purpose products,” Kreitzman explains of Clinique’s wildly popular CC creams. Available in eight different shades, the next-generation balm offers a trifecta of benefits: color correction, hydration and protection from the sun.


Image source: thenypost.com

12. Sjal saphir concentrate anti-age face oil, $175 at Henri Bendel Miles compares this luxurious oil to an overnight facial, explaining that it absorbs into skin to diminish fine lines and improve elasticity. Infused with the essence of precious sapphires and aquamarine stones, she says the hydrating formula promotes youthful-looking skin and protects against harsh weather. “It makes your skin look beautiful when you wake up,” she adds. “It really gives you this unbelievable glow!”

An authority in the beauty product industry, The Estee Lauder Companies is headed by executive chair William Lauder, whose strategies and marketing skills were watershed in brand development and market discovery. Follow him on Twitter to get the latest in the cosmetic and skincare industries.

New Yorkers team up: Estee Lauder and Michael Kors reach new markets at home stores

Image source: esteelauder.com

When the Estee Lauder group acquired licensing rights to the Michael Kors brand in 2003, loyal clientele of each braced themselves for revolutionary innovations. The two companies were started decades apart, yet they are all too similar, even with their humble beginnings. Estee Lauder, like Michael Kors, got her start in a Manhattan department store. In the 40s, Lauder got the nod from Saks Fifth Avenue bosses, allowing her to put up a kiosk where she could sell skincare products and perfume.

In the 70s, Kors, too, got his break when he was allowed to sell some of his creations at Bergdorf Goodman. After gravitating toward the partnership with ELC, it was only natural for the Kors brand to diversify toward makeup. With the experience of the Lauder group, Kors makeup products are finding its way through department store shelves to New York women’s purses.


Image source: fashionbi.com

Recently, the partnership was fostered by another department store giant. Macy's newly launched Michael Kors collection presents the brand's Sexy Amber eau de parfum, bronzers, lip luster, lip lacquer, and nail lacquer all exclusively available through its department store partner. In signature Lauder and Kors marketing style, these items are being sold at mid-range luxury. Makeup is priced at $24, while nail lacquer is sold for $18 a bottle. Fragrances are either $75 for 1.7 ounces, or $95 for 3.4.

The two brands trace their humble beginnings from the same borough in New York, and now they are some of the most notable companies in the cosmetics industry. Consumers expect to see more innovation and collaboration from the two in the years to come.


Image source: mrlobang.com

Being Estee Lauder’s grandson, William Lauder owes his leadership of the Estee Lauder Companies to legacy as much as he does to a commendable career and academic background in business. Read more about his hard-earned ascent to the head of the family business on this website.

The principles of green chemistry

Image source: ucla.edu

“Green” pretty much defines the preferred lifestyle of the new honorable humanity. Sharing in this ideal are some big businesses for whom the social responsibility of restoring the planet comes in small, measured steps that pay off rewardingly.

In the United States alone, the cosmetics industry hauls in a revenue of approximately USD 54.89 billion. This was the staggering figure in 2012, and it could balloon in the years to come. With that kind of economic leverage, the cosmetics industry is well-placed to institute green reforms in its own backyard. Green habits introduced in business processes go a long way, even in saving costs for the companies.


Image source: healthnaturalproducts.net

The increasing clamor for more “natural” skincare and cosmetic products recently snowballed into an industry-wide rethinking of production methods, and green chemistry is in the core of these overhauls. Significantly, its application directly impacts product quality and sustainability.

This website takes a long hard look at traditional ingredients, which are usually petroleum- and fossil-derived. Plant-based unguents, such as moisturizers, serums, and lotions, are easing into the comfort zones of increasingly environment-friendly consumers, thanks to advanced and diffused research on best practices. Green chemistry in the skincare and cosmetics industry cuts costs by harvesting sustainable and renewable ingredients while significantly reducing toxicity and waste. It works in the way of both environmental and human preservation.


Image source: climateinc.org

The Estee Lauder Companies is a huge cosmetics conglomerate that has successfully instituted green methods into its models of corporate social responsibility. Headed by William Lauder, the company prioritizes green chemistry and allocates significant funds for research on sustainable practices in the industry. See the company’s website for an update on its CSR campaigns.

En backstage du défilé Jean-Paul Gaultier haute couture automne-hiver 2013-2014 | Vogue

 Jean-Paul Gaultier makes a new thing out of hackneyed animal print:

En backstage du défilé Jean-Paul Gaultier haute couture automne-hiver 2013-2014 | Vogue

Sun Protection: Fact or Fiction - ABC News

Sun Protection: Fact or Fiction - ABC News

A career in the Estee Lauder Companies

Image source: huntlogo.com

The beauty industry is a hotbed of interests for young professionals, and the Estee Lauder Companies receives many aspiring candidates yearly. An impressive resume is well and good, but the conglomerate’s unique and upstanding corporate culture requires more in terms of character, not just background.

The company prides itself in taking care of its employees. In fact, the company is cited as one of the quality workplaces where the welfare of human resources is most desirable. Not making good on making the company an ideal workplace wouldn’t have been apposite to what the brand stands for. Apart from beauty, it seeks a healthy and balanced quality of life for its consumers.


Image source: forbes.com

“Uncompromising ethics, fairness, integrity, diversity, and trust” are just some of the prized values enumerated on the company website. Creativity, meanwhile, is a legacy exemplified by its founder, Estee Lauder, and inheritors of her business, Leonard Lauder, and subsequently, William Lauder. As one of the most successful family businesses in history, the Estee Lauder Companies lives by the values that hold the company together which are founded on familial principles. There, workers are “family from day one.”

Headquartered in New York City, the Estee Lauder Companies inspires a jostle among creative professionals for a place inside it. Its sheer size allows it to employ individuals with remarkable creative visions and foresight about consumer cultures. Rightly, the company is in turn reputed for nurturing talent further by equipping employees with opportunities and facilities to grow and develop innovative business ideas.


Image source: businessinsider.com

Want to work for the Estee Lauder companies? Visit this Twitter page for William Lauder and see how the company Chair’s work ethic and business vision could rub off on you.

REPOST: Cannes 2012: live blog - the awards

Missed the Cannes Film Festival this year? The Guardian's liveblog, trademarked by saucy comments about Awards nights and the slippery Frenchness of the occasion (classic English to point out conceptual barriers), should be an entertaining catch-up:

6.23pm: Hello and welcome to the climactic moments of Cannes 2012, which will reach its crescendo in little over an hour from now, when the Palme d'Or, the Golden Palm, is bestowed by Nanni Moretti and his panel of jurors.

Rather appropriately, the skies have opened over Cannes: thunder and lightning are crashing over the Croisette and rain is pounding on the Palais. It's a suitable backdrop for the anointing of a new presiding genius, a magician of cinema. Will it be Michael Haneke, whose Amour has wowed the critics? Or might Leos Carax, whose Holy Motors hasboggled and excited in equal measure, carry off the prize? All we do know is that it won't be a woman. Bah.

6.33pm: If you've kept alert, you'll know that a bunch of awards have already been dished out.

Image credit: Alt Film Guide

Here's the Directors Fortnight list:

ART CINEMA AWARD 2012
No (Pablo Larrain, Chile-U.S.-Mexico)

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL 2012 for best European film in Directors' Fortnight
The Repentant (Merzak Allouache, Algeria-France)

SACD PRIZE 2012 for best French-language film in Directors' Fortnight
Camille Rewinds (Noemi Lvovsky, France)

No is the well-regarded Chilean film about the 1988 Pinochet referendum; it's a popular choice.

And here's the Un Certain Regard list:

PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
DESPUÉS DE LUCIA by Michel FRANCO

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
LE GRAND SOIR by Benoît DELÉPINE and Gustave KERVERN

UN CERTAIN REGARD AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Suzanne CLÉMENT for her performance in LAURENCE ANYWAYS directed by Xavier DOLAN

UN CERTAIN REGARD AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Emilie DEQUENNE for her performance in À PERDRE LA RAISON directed by Joachim LAFOSSE

SPECIAL DISTINCTION OF THE JURY
DJECA (Children of Sarajevo) by Aida BEGIC

Sorry about the broken English, that's copied directly off the Cannes website.

6.47pm: Great and good assembling to hear their fate at Nanni Moretti's hands. Michael Haneke, distinguished-looking silvery hair all a-quiver in the rainy breeze, must be quietly confident. Moretti, it must be said, is looking quietly confident too.

Xan Brooks reminds me I know who won't win: Carlos Reygadas. I was the last person to interview him yesterday evening, just before he raced out of town. If he was getting a prize, they'd surely have made him stick around.

7.02pm: Tears of patriotic pride moment: the French journalist behind me calls out: "Ken Loasssh!" as our favourite ex-Nuneaton boy is collared by the red-carpet mic-wielder. Can't hear a word he says, though, above the media babble. Still, I almost leap to my feet and salute. But manage to restrain myself.

7.03pm: Here's Matteo Garrone, whose Reality might be in with a shout, what with the Italian connection.

7.11pm: Audrey Tautou, star of closing film Thérèse Desqueyroux, stumbling to her seat, which means we're pretty close now.

7.18pm: Things really getting off the ground now. Berenice Bejo, she off The Artist, is on the mic and (somewhat nervously) is making some opening remarks. "Nothing will stop cinema," she says, "especially not the rain." Ho, ho.

7.18pm: Kylie Minogue steps forward to announce the best short film. And it goes to something called Sessiz-Be Deng by Turkish director L Rezan Yesilbas. Well done chaps.

7.22pm: The Camera d'Or, for first time directors is up next. And, my God, it's Beasts of the Southern Wild, by Benh Zeitlin. That did well at Sundance, as I recall, so it's bit of surprise winning here.

7.26pm: Zeitlin's almost breaking down in tears, God love him. "Thank you everybody at home," he says. He remembers to thank the jury and the festival of course.

7.28pm: Nanni introducing his jury now. Gaultier gets a big cheer.

7.29pm: Prix de Jury goes to Loach! Angel's Share. Bit of a shocker there, the third prize.

7.30pm: Loach stumbles through a few French phrases before switching to English. "I would like to send our solidarity to those in dark times resist the programmes of austerity and cuts."

7.32pm: Prix de scenario - for screenplay - goes to Beyond the Hills, directed by Cristian Mungiu. He doesn't look too excited.

7.34pm: I'm flabbergasted. Winner of the mise-en-scene prize is... Carlos Reygadas for Post Tenebras Lux. He told me he was going home, dammit! I'll never believe Mexican art-film directors again.

7.38pm: Best male actor now. Gong Li steps out to hand it over. And it's Mads Mikkelsen, for Vinterberg's Jagten (The Hunt).

7.40pm: Quite a few screeches here when Mads' name is read out.

7.40pm: Now it's the women's turn. Alec Baldwin, the male Gong Li, strides forwards. Winners are: Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur from the Mungiu film, Beyond the Hills.

7.45pm: Now it's the Grand Prix, the second prize. Nanni's up: it's Reality by Garrone! I told you he had a chance. Didn't think he would get anything, mind.

7.47pm: Can't say the assembled journalists greet the news with any kind of enthusiasm.

7.48pm: Now it's the biggie. Audrey Tautou and Adrien Brody do the honours. And Moretti says... the Golden Palm goes to... Amour! Haneke!

7.51pm: Only two years after taking the Palme for The White Ribbon, the Austrian does it again. I would say the reaction here is muted. No one is surprised, or especially excited either. He gets the usual standing ovation, but I don't think anyone is going nuts over it.

7.54pm: Nothing for Holy Motors or Cosmopolis, two of the films that some thought might sneak home. Audiard empty-handed too.

7.56pm: Haneke joins Kusturica, the Dardennes and Bille August (if memory serves me right) who have won the Palme twice.

8.07pm: Now all the clapping has died away, it's time to shift over to the winners' press conference, so I'll be knocking this live blog on the head. Short but very sweet!

Which makeup brands are omnipresent during red carpet events? William Lauder can proudly roll out high-profile loyalists of Estee Lauder brands. Visit this Twitter page to see who Estee Lauder's muses are.