Few things are as personal for women as the beauty products they use. And so marketing for make-up companies is all about establishing a personal connection between the brand and the consumer.

To help build this relationship, leading French cosmetics company Lancôme used both an iPhone app as well as social media to launch “Declare Indigo“, the new fall line of make-up by Aaron de Mey, Lancôme’s Creative Director of Make-up.

The iPhone app lets women try out the new color combinations, get make-up tips from Lancôme experts, and even share their creations with their friends!

“Lancôme was the first brand in the market to launch a mobile commerce website in Japan in 2007,” said Julie Thompson, Interactive Marketing & CRM Director of Lancôme. “Today, we continue our strategy of innovation in offering an iPhone application that makes full use of the possibilities of the touchpad. We are committed to the sensation and are ready to offer an experience that is intuitive and truly personalized.”

The iPhone app is designed not only to provide information about the new product line and to reflect the essence of the Lancôme brand, but also to give an interactive experience that lets consumers virtually try out the new make-up colors and experiment with various combinations and looks.

In the “Create Your Look” section of the app, consumers are invited to design a complete look by applying the Declare Indigo products to the face, eyes, or nails of a model face.

This is all done by using the touchscreen and applying the make-up with the finger in a fairly natural way.

And, after you have finished, if you like the look you’ve created, you can save your creation and email it to a friend.

The message your friend receives has a nice full color image of your creation, and of course also explains how to download the Lancôme app.

In addition to this interactive My Creation feature, the app provides a Lancôme news feed which gives customers a glimpse of the activities in the world of Lancôme and lets them feel closer to the brand.

Lancôme has also launched the Make-up Blog which contains a series of tips about make-up from Lancôme’s experts. With this blog, Lancôme is intending to create a real opportunity for dialogue with the brand’s National Make-Up Artists, allowing them to share their know-how, experiences and expertise.

Not only do users benefit from the advice of Lancôme professionals through this dialogue, but they are also at the heart of exclusive content: meetings with Aaron de Mey and the Lancôme National Make Up Artists, backstage photos and clips, and “making of” videos.

These same tips and information from The Make-up blog feeds through and are shown on the iPhone application.

Available in English and Chinese, the iPhone Declaring Indigo application was designed and implemented by mobile agency Phonevalley, a subsidiary of Publicis group.

Alexandre Mars, Phonevalley CEO and Publicis Groupe Head of Mobile commented, “With this make-up application, Lancôme has chosen a highly innovative and engaging way to launch its fall 2009 collection: it’s personal, relevant and fun.” (read the MobiAD interview with Alexandre Mars).

Lancôme is informing their customers about the iPhone app via Lancôme’s 15 existing web sites worldwide, as well as through weekly emails. Interactive Marketing Director Thompson declined to say exactly how many times the app has been downloaded since its Oct. 14 launch, but she did tell Marketing Daily, “Although I can’t give you any figures, we are extremely satisfied with the number of downloads so far.”

When mobile applications first appearing on smartphones with great quality color screens and innovative interfaces, one of the big promises was that brands could use these to deliver richer, more interesting experiences to consumers, and thereby build stronger brand connections.

With applications such as Lancôme’s Declare Indigo, it is good to see that this promise is starting to be delivered.