London department store Selfridges in Oxford Street has been granted the worldwide privilege of housing the largest collection of makeup color by Dior ever to have been displayed in one location. On October 1, 2009 when the equally record-breaking largest Dior beauty counter in Europe opens at Selfridges, it will offer the richest library of colors you can feast your eyes upon and test...
Singer Seal and wife
Heidi Klum attend the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre
on September 20, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
If you asked yourself if wearing nail polish is an option for you, a man, you can now turn to Seal's example who thinks gray nail polish is just the right tint to wear with a suit...
As announced previously, Hard Candy which was established originally in 1995 by sisters Dineh and Pooneh Mohajer is making a comeback to Walmart in a spruced up packaging for some of its items like the lipsticks while the nail polishes will retain their iconic appearance complete with plastic toy rings. The line-up includes 261 items at an average price of $7. A veritable treasure trove for cheap thrills seekers.
The idea behind this operation is to democratize prestige makeup by bringing it to the mass-market shelves of Walmart. Walmart will gain in coolness and Hard Candy will look suddenly extra familiar and empathic to a bigger segment of the market. Walmart has a far-from-the-madding-crowd quality about it due to its retail locations in rural areas that in a way can be turned into a relative notion of exclusivity. It will also be a great, easy way for teens to enter the fashion-makeup culture and develop a taste for it. More mature women, those who read More, will be able to tap into the urban girly culture for grownups.
Here are some highlights from the upcoming collection to be introduced next week....
The black-soot look is great on model Malgosia Bela, but it is really hard to pull off outside of the spotlights (and Halloween revelry). To me, there is always a big distinction to be made between makeup that looks good in front of a camera in a studio with all the sources of light and angles that one can control, and a versatile street makeup that has to work effortlessly. Bela has big, clear, even transparent blue/green eyes and a pale complexion so it counterbalances the black pigments. The lip color here looks good because it is layered with some red plum in it. I was surprised to see how the lipsticks in Les Noirs Obscurs were going for some uncompromisingly dull-ish shades (Maniac, Hysteria, Obscure). It takes a whole different kind of attitude to wear those...
I did not imagine that I would find a beauty product that is meant to work both for your lips and body, but Dr. Allan Kurtz came up with it so let's see what it claims to do. Kurtz's brainchild developed by Pacific Shore Holdings is a lip Balm which contains ingredients targeting weight gain issues. The Burner Balm literally claims it burns fat thanks to Hoodia Gordonii extract which is an effective appetite suppressant, Green Tea extract which stimulates metabolism, Chromium Picolinate which acts on the metabolism, helps build muscle and increases energy level, Natural Caffeine which helps with calorie control and L-Carnitine which helps prevent fatty tissue buildup. On the website, they explain that you have to be a little restricted in its use, because apparently, it works,...
London Fashion Week is in full swing but let's take a look back at New York Fashion Week for some of the ideas that might influence street wear in Spring-Summer 2010.
L'Wren Scott Spring 2010 ready-to-wear collection was called Madame du Barry as it was inspired by the mistress of Louis XV and her sense of style, especially her liking for pinks. There were many subtle deep cranberry outfits on the L'Wren runway and you may choose to see it as a pink or a pink veering in the direction of red, as I do. Antique pastel roses were also used, often for contrast with that rich ruby color. The color story is slightly different but complementary. Lancôme Makeup Artist Director Aaron de Mey on the other hand took inspiration from the roses-and-cream complexion of Marie-Antoinette (the two women hated each other by the way). The whole look came together as one inspired by the preciosity and refinement of the court of Versailles in the 18th century and the beauty of two women who ruled it.
Here it's the colors and embroidery work that give an 18th century feel to this sleek, simple sheath.
We got the lowdown on the makeup products, colors and techniques used by Lancôme's Aaron de Mey.
Red, as we all know is more often seen on lips, relatively less often on cheeks
(real red that is, like Exhibit A by Nars, say) and even less frequently
on eyelids. Making up your eyes in red can be dramatic, romantic, antiquated or Goth. It's a
look with historical precedents like the Geisha look, the Chinese Opera
singers look, the courtly lady's look with her rouge that was applied so high up on cheeks in
the 18th century that it went up to the eye level, the ethnic look like in the use of red mud
to adorn the body in Africa, or the vampire/Gothic look, and more. And no, not the rabbit look.
In
Part 1 we present some of the makeup product launches this fall that have been inspired to make the color red migrate onto the eyelids. In Part 2, we will round up red eye
makeup from alternative brands. In Part 3, we'll take a look at the
runway looks that used red on the eyes. And how about a bonus Series on Red Perfumes? This fall we are seeing a lot of red both on the runways and in the makeup pans. Chanel has launched its Venetian collection and one of the most interesting items in it is the eye-gloss quad featuring a deep antique red that could also make you think of a nature morte depicting a butcher's display. This red can be both kept saturated to the point where it looks like makeup for the stage to make believe you were bruised or be worked into a more classic red look.
Armani has a terrific mascara, Eyes to Kill, in Rouge Iron. The swatch on the Armani site does not do justice to the original color which is a rich terracotta red and makes me think most of an African color, like a landslide of red clay after the rain. It applies beautifully and although it will not make your eyes stand out as much as with a darker color, it's so luscious you want to find a way to use it to full effect. They also have the new Eyes to Kill Eye Shadow in Red Iron: 3 colors to apply at different levels of the eyelid. Isn't this a to-die-for coral-y tomato red?...
Love this picture above: it's cute, funny and contemplative. On the picture below where you can see how tired the face of the model looks, you just realize how taxing the job can be.
In the frenzy that occupies the space backstage during any fashion week, you would imagine that food is not the models' main concern. But they still need to refuel themselves up during the long waits during and after the makeup sessions before all hell breaks loose. Here is what photographer Gabrielle Revere found out models ate backstage at New York Fashion Week 2009.
You can see a variety of foods with a preference for fruit, and always, portion control.
In an effort to restructure the Estée Lauder companies in an efficient manner, their beloved brand Prescriptives developed in 1977 and founded in 1979 by Estée's second son, Ronald Lauder, will cease being in existence.
Its first, ex-director, Sylvie Chantecaille said,
"It was a great introduction for young
women. It changed the face of makeup. Everyone learned from
Prescriptives about warm and cool."
One of the early factors explaining Prescriptives's demise are seen in retrospect to have been the rise of the makeup-artist brands in the mid-nineties with Bobbi Brown and M.A.C which made it appear less edgy...
The legendary Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris has partnered with Sephora to launch a limited-edition collection of makeup colors and accessories which is reportedly full of "show girl goodies!" The line called Crazy Horse Paris pour Sephora will comprise "Crazy lipstick, eyeshadow, pasties, body shimmer, etc.", even a Crazy duckie, false eye lashes, (but no makeup brushes per the insider's spill)...
For the makeup Chris asked Daniel [Martin] to create a sun-kissed, fresh look. He wanted a healthy skin and prominent lip.
Daniel gave the models a natural glow by applying Généfique Activating Skin Concentrate to clean skin followed by Généfique Eye to open up and brighten the eye area. The complexion was perfectly even and polished. Shu Uemura Nobara Foundation was applied to even out the skin tone and Lancôme Ageless Mineral Transluscent powder was dusted over the entire face. Pop 'n Cheeks in Coral Flirt was used as a highlighter and lightly applied to the cheekbones near the temple for just a hint of color. To define the eyes, Daniel smudged Le Crayon Khôl in black coffee on the upper and lower lash lines. Several coats of Hypnôse Mascara in black were applied for thick, black lashes...
Fred Farrugia is the ex-international artistic director for makeup for Lancôme and the inventor, amongst others, of the Juicy tubes. He just launched his own line of makeup at Sephora France, developing a nomadic concept of 104 stackable palettes of colors that can be easily carried in your bag and more originally, used without a mirror thanks to the (amazing) textures. One of the ideas behind the line is that this is a collection you can use even if you know more about
finger-painting from your days in day-care and kindergarten than about
makeup.
The textures may be called easy now but it took Farrugia five years to create the products in his apartment. (By the way, he is the brother of comic French TV personality Dominique Farrugia.) His collaborator on the project is designer Ora-Ito who conceived the stackables which are simple, functional elongated palettes that just need to be clipped on, unclipped, stacked at will. Ora-Ito is also the thinking head behind the new beautiful flacon for the latest perfume by Guerlain, Idylle (it looks better in reality than on a picture)....
Sephora has introduced a new collection of hair brushes that was studied to incorporate both the traditional know-how by using 100% natural bristles and the still traditional but nevertheless new, edgy awareness that certain minerals -- tourmaline here -- release negative ions that are beneficial to haircare. The latter is dubbed "Ionic technology" and promises an anti-frizz effect as well as a "maxi-shine." The encouraging tag line is "...for the woman who wants to achieve mane magnificence sans the damage."
Well, I have to say that I literally jumped on the Sephora Brand Boar Detangling Brush (or Brosse Démêlante Sanglier) upon spying it without even reading the fine print as my personal hairbrush-radar activated itself automatically. This particular brush from the collection looked very well balanced..
Mariah Carey unveiled the new advert for her upcoming fragrance, Forever. The ad is very much photoshopped to the point where it is hard to recognize Carey. They have given her the taut face of someone who has undergone a not-so-subtle lift surgery and who on top of that is addicted to Botox. Do you think some people are getting confused about what's the in-look? Could it be that the entirely fake "surgical look" might have become a status symbol in some circles?...
I find the woman's voice in this commercial quite hypnotic; I realized it's because the intonation mimics the meowing of a cat, but in a very stylized manner.
London department store Selfridges in Oxford Street has been granted the worldwide privilege of housing the largest collection of makeup color by Dior ever to have been displayed in one location. On October 1, 2009 when the equally record-breaking largest Dior beauty counter in Europe opens at Selfridges, it will offer the richest library of colors you can feast your eyes upon and test...
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