Less Expensive Vibrating Mascara and Other Inside Dish from Estee Lauder

At the Total Beauty/Estée Lauder Breast Cancer Awareness Cocktail party last week, we were SO honored to have the chance to mingle with top execs, especially Dan Brestle, the president of Estée Lauder North America and Canada. He amused JSG and the other bloggers with tales of his days as the head of Clinique and Prescriptives. Turns out that back in the day Dan used to bribe flight attendants with free Clinique lipstick to get upgraded to first class!

And just in case you were wondering, the 29 companies under the Estée Lauder umbrella really are run separately. So much in fact, that when Dan was at Clinique and had to walk by the president of the Estée Lauder brand's office, he would call ahead so she could shut her door!

We also asked about the move towards more eco-friendly products. Dan says that each brand is heading up its own initiatives, with Aveda making the most headway. He did say the company is looking for a way to make more recyclable and reusable packaging (JSG hates that a compact with plastic, metal and glass can't be recycled, so this one is close to our heart).

Our ears really perked up when he started talking about the Estée Lauder Turbolash Motion Mascara. No surprise--the vibrating mascara has been consistently selling out at Saks, the only place where you can currently buy it. What we were delighted to hear is that Dan and his team are hard at work making the $30 mascara more affordable. We love that the company is doing that even while the mascara has been flying off the shelves. We have yet to try it ourselves, but plan to buy a tube ASAP!