Following the trend of beauty and fashion companies releasing atmospheric short videos as the best way to grab social media attention, NARS cosmetics filmed a short spot starring model Heather Marks looking mysteriously into several mirror sets. We like the effect; it reminds us of early '60s experimental beauty videos by famed photographer Erwin Blumenfeld.

Lately, it may seem like fashion companies big and small are lining up like neo-independent movie studios to commission short films, but at least one early advert-film experiment was proven extremely successful. In 2001, BMW cast then-rising star Clive Owen in a series of eight web-only commercials ahead of the launch of the 2003 Z4 Roadster. Rather than rely on a cast of unknowns, BMW recruited some of Hollywood's marquee names to lend their vision to each film. David Fincher and Ridley Scott were producers; Guy Ritchie, Ang Lee, John Frankenheimer and John Woo each directed an episode. Director Wong Kar-Wai's episode, "The Follow," screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Before BMW removed the series from bmwfilms.com in 2005, the films had been viewed over 100 million times, according to BMW.

Few fashion films will score such high view counts, but reaching a small core audience may be enough.

"This is the new advertising. It engages you more than still photos," said John Mincarelli, professor of fashion merchandising at the Fashion Institute of Technology. "It takes more than an ad today. The consumer and the audience are one."

"Some of these things are going to strike a significant chord in people that is going to make them want to associate with the brand," he said. "To become part of it -- you do that by purchasing and wearing."

While the Internet has facilitated the blossoming of fashion films, fashion photographers have long experimented with motion pictures. Fashion photographer-turned-filmmaker Nick Knight founded ShowStudio as a platform for contemporary as well as historical fashion films. ShowStudio has since unearthed previously unseen-film studies by Guy Bourdin and Erwin Blumenfeld.

In the case of Blumenfeld, his films were an attempt to persuade clients like L'Oreal and Elizabeth Arden to invest in that era's newfangled medium: television.

NARS's video is in honor of a new series of matte lip colors for the fall. Tip: If you want to create some "Mad Men"-type glamour, deeply pigmented matte lipstick is the way to go.