THE DAILY MAIL ... MARCH 28TH 2014 ..

Joan's latest TV role... QVC's best-selling beauty queen: Products from actress's range sell out within an hour of appearing on the shopping channel

• Her Timeless Beauty collection includes £23 foundation and £25.50 lipstick
• QVC claims customers desperate to recreate look from 1980s series Dynasty
• Appearance follows TV commercials for Snickers and Marks and Spencer
  By Laura Cox

PUBLISHED: 23:07 GMT, 27 March 2014 | UPDATED: 23:08 GMT, 27 March 2014

  
 Actress Joan Collins has stepped into a new role – as creator of a cosmetics range that’s flying off the shelves.

Products from her Timeless Beauty line for shopping channel QVC have proved so popular that many sold out within an hour of her first appearance this month.

A £23 foundation, a crystal compact mirror at £33, a lipstick for £25.50 and a £32 ‘eyelift in a bottle’ all proved best-sellers for Miss Collins, as viewers rushed to copy her glamorous Hollywood style.
And three subsequent shows on the satellite channel saw two other products sell out within the hour – a fragrance called I am Woman, priced at £21, and a £17 Fade To Perfect concealer.

 

Miss Collins has picked up a number of beauty tricks and tips throughout her lengthy career – including from Marilyn Monroe’s make-up artist Allan Snyder – and no doubt will have encompassed many into her 18-piece range.
Yesterday, QVC’s senior beauty buyer Sandra Vallow explained that customers were desperate to recreate the glamour of Miss Collins as Alexis Carrington Colby in Dynasty during her 1980s heyday.
She said: ‘Who wouldn’t want to own an Alexis lipstick? The QVC beauty buying team were so excited to be launching the Joan Collins cosmetics collection and it didn’t disappoint.

 

‘With six sell-out products it just shows that Joan’s glamour and beauty is inspiring for customers of all ages.’
Miss Collins was just 18 when she was voted the Most Beautiful Girl in England by the Photographers Association.
She made her name as a Hollywood star in her 20s, and went on to land the role of Alexis in 1981, when she was 48. Although the beauty range is a first for Miss Collins, she has also put her name to several popular novels she has penned.
Most recently she took part in a Snickers advertisement, in which she poked fun at her reputation for being a diva. And she has appeared in a number of other commercials, including one for high street retailer Marks and Spencer.
Her latest venture makes her one of a number of stars to have enjoyed success selling products on QVC, which has seen a turn-around in its fortunes from the days when it was dismissed as a poor alternative to the high street.

Now it is the world’s most watched television retailer and reaches 26million homes in the UK. Miss Collins will next be appearing on the channel on May 30 and May 31.

The star was 22 when she headed to Hollywood and landed sultry roles in several popular films, including The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955) and Rally ’Round the Flag, Boys! (1958).
While she continued to make films in the US and the UK throughout the 1960s, her career languished in the 1970s, where she appeared in a number of horror movies.
Near the end of the decade, she starred in two films based on best-selling novels by her younger sister Jackie.
Returning to her theatrical roots, she also played the title role in the 1980 British revival of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney and later had a lead role in the 1990 revival of Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
She won a Golden Globe  Award for Best Actress in 1982  and received a star on the  Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 for career achievement.

THE DAILY MAIL ... MARCH 18TH 2014 ...

By Bianca London
PUBLISHED: 16:45 GMT, 18 March 2014 | UPDATED: 16:52 GMT, 18 March 2014       

She's a red carpet stalwart renowned for her timeless beauty and glamour and now Joan Collins is using the years of expertise she's accumulated to launch her own beauty range.
Joan, who learned all her techniques from Marilyn Monroe's make-up artist, Allan 'Whitey' Snyder, has curated Joan Collins Timeless Beauty for QVC.
The actress hopes her new range of skincare, fragrance and make-up will bring 'sophisticated, attainable and effective beauty to women of all ages'.

'Beauty is not just for the young,' she said. 'I believe with a little care and attention any woman can look good through her 40s, 50s, 70s and beyond.
'Looking good and feeling great is the right of every woman no matter how old she is. Beauty is timeless.'
Joan's new range, which is priced between £12 - £50, comprises a skincare regime, which she says contains a complex range of cutting edge anti-ageing ingredients that aim to achieve the results she demands for her own skin.
There are also lipsticks, nail varnishes, blushers, eyeshadow, fragrances, as well as crystal-embellished tools and accessories.

In an exclusive interview with You magazine, the former Dynasty star revealed: 'I have always worn sun protection, and have kept my face away from harmful rays since I was 20.
'You should see me when I wake up  in the morning: my face is so white, it’s like a sheet.'

The five-times-married actress added that it takes her 'no time at all' to transform into a glamour queen: 'Half an hour for a full face with lashes. I shove it on - that’s why it’s called slap.'
Ms Collins also works out with a personal trainer twice a week and swims every day, yet admits: 'I’m  a chocoholic - but I believe that moderation is the key.'
She adds that she has never defined her style by her age, saying: 'I’ll wear a leather skirt - even a bikini - if I want to. Clothes are my passion and I adore them.'

JOAN'S RANGE: TRIED AND TESTED BY SIMON GLAZIN

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved a diva. I’m not talking about the Britney school of diva-dom.
When I was old enough to find out that Elizabeth Taylor had released a fragrance - White Diamonds - I became obsessed with her and it.
The beauty of White Diamonds is that once you have a whiff, you can immediately imagine that that is EXACTLY how Elizabeth Taylor smelled: heady, super-sweet and fabulously floral.
Fast forward 23 years, and Taylor’s friend Joan Collins is having quite the comeback. She is the face of Snickers, appeared on Benidorm, launched a wig line and now…her very own beauty collection complete with signature fragrance – I AM WOMAN. What I love about it, and White Diamonds for that matter, is that they are unapologetic in their extreme femininity. They totally overthrow the garden salad minimalism that a lot of fragrances now bow to.

Simon has tried and tested Joan's I Am Woman perfume and thinks her range would make the perfect mother's day gift

The press release states that: 'Joan believes that fragrance works in maximum effect when applied in layers'. It basically means that not only can you spritz yourself, but you can use the Essence as a room scent or bath fragrance. Just to get a bit technical too, ingredients such as lemon peel, orange zest, rose, jasmine, vanilla and sandalwood make up this scent.
You can just picture Joan dousing herself in this. This is exactly how I imagine her to smell. And I love it! I almost forgot to mention the brilliant Contra Time Skincare Collection (£35) too. We are told, ‘Joan’s favourite skincare products in handy travel sizes to keep the most jet-set women looking flawless and fabulous all day, every day. A regime to cleanse, tone, moisturise day and night’.

And don’t they just sound fabulous? These are just the most perfect Mother’s Day gift!
Read more from Simon on his blog theverysimong.com