A couple of months ago I had the chance to sit down with Daria Werbowy to talk about her upcoming collection for Lancome. Our small group - Carolyn from The Daily Obsession, Susan from My Beautyberry, and myself - had a great time chatting Daria up on the new colors, the charity connection, and what it's like to play around in the Lancome lab.

First off, Daria is incredibly down to earth, super-friendly, and totally gorgeous. And guess what, girls? She does her own makeup! (It looked fab, by the way.)

Beauty For A Cause

The Brazilian Earth Color Collection was created by Lancome and Daria to benefit Centro Espacial Vik Muniz, a non-profit program for at-risk teens in Rio de Janeiro, focusing on art programs, education and training.

Daria traveled to Brazil to visit the center and was inspired by the work being done there to keep kids off the streets, out of gangs, and away from drugs. "High schoolers are such an important age group," she said. "These kids are all from different favelas [shanty towns]; they'd probably be rivals if they weren't at the center."

The Color Story

The neutral, earthy tones of the Brazilian Earth collection were inspired by "fabrics, textures, landscapes, the natural beauty of Brazil in general...and of the kids," said Daria.

The Carnet de Velours palette is an eyeshadow quad stocked with "great everyday shades, something everyone would want to wear." Indeed, this palette is perfect for creating looks ranging from an everyday wash of neutral color to a deep chocolate smokey eye.

Beige Caracai lipstick is a neutral beige toffee, and Nude Prainha lip gloss is a light, sheer neutral beige with no shimmer. The gloss is excellent for a soft nude pout since there's "no washout," said Daria. "It lets your own lip color come through."

All 3 products are housed in limited edition packaging (the palette is especially lovely) with Daria's signature.

Weird Science

So, what's it like to set foot in a cosmetics lab? "I was expecting it to be like a Tim Burton movie, with things exploding," she said. "But it was really calm, relaxed and clean."

"It was really hard to come down to four shades" for the quad, she said, noting that "the actual pigments they start with are incredible. They're unearthly."

The Brazilian Earth Color Collection is available at Sephora and www.lancome-usa.com.