Fashion Week Sept 2009

I always love watching all the news coming out of New York fashion week.

When I lived in London runway was my thing, and I did endless shows, so its always cool and exciting to see where makeup is trending for the next season.

Right now they are showing Spring 2010, and for the most part the makeup is somewhat predictable.

Runway makeup is frequently low key, or focusing on one feature, partly to let the clothing be the star of the show, and partly because you have so little time to do the makeup, and girls are literally running in from another show still in that previous show's makeup. Its incredibly fast paced, but incredibly good fun to work on though!

Anyhoo, what I'm seeing this week more than anything is that precision brows are really dominating the runway.
The brows are making a statement. The shape is played up, the color is a little intensified but not too bold. The overly structured, overly groomed brow has stepped aside and a fuller, nicer, more natural shaped brow has arrived.

This was the look at Tory Burch. Beautiful, soft, natural, with the fuller brow. See how the brow is the statement in this makeup?


Tony Cohen's models also had a beautiful, put together natural look. Some of the shows had the girls looking too bare for my liking, but the looks I am showing here, in my opinion, are just right.


Carolina Herrera, as elegant as ever, wanted her girls to look beautiful and gorgeous, with the bolder brow and soft kissable neutral pink lips.




At Rebecca Taylor makeup artist Rie Omoto worked the nice full brow, soft eyes but threw in a bold orange lip.


Mark Jacobs I love you!!! This look was a deliciously mad breath of fresh air from the rest of the shows. Makeup Artist Francois Nars created a "Ballerina Goth" look. Who knows why?
We probably wont be seeing too much of it on the street, but what a show that must have been! I love the Nars wine lip stain in Pop Life.




My absolute favorite so far? The very talented Polly Osmond created this Barbie-meets-Marilyn look for Tuleh.
I love everything about this. The brow is not too thick, the eyes stand out but don't overwhelm, the cheeks are a soft fresh flush, and the lip is a lovely glossy pink.


This is the look I predict you'll be seeing most of come spring.

Love it!

xo

C

Well Good Morning Miss Allergy Face!

Ugh! Ever wake up with allergies? Today I did. I dont get them too often, but today I woke up with the full on blocked up, congested, swollen face, swollen eyes thing going on, and felt somewhat like death warmed over. Hardly glamor-rama.

In fact I looked like an alcoholic after a mad dog night of party-hearty binge drinking.

And, of course, I had to get out the door to go do makeup on a client.

So whats a gal to do?

I have a trusted routine that I swear by, that gives me results like crazy, but that I'm sure the medicos will say is all old wives tales...

So here's what I find to be the best solution.

First up if you can squeeze even a couple of extra minutes in to your already rushed morning, grab a clean washcloth, soak it in icy cold water, and lie back down with it over your eyes.
I have bought those eye masks that you keep in the refridgerator before, but find that they never quite mold to the shape of my eyes, whereas a wash cloth will, everytime.
I am convinced the lying down part is important too.

Next up I pour boiling water into a bowl which I place in the sink and add a couple of drops of peppermint oil. With a towel over my head to hold in the steam, I do some deep inhaling. This helps clear out congestion.
It also seems to help allergy headaches, and on top of that, I find that when I have allergies my skin feels pulled and dry, so the steaming and the peppermint oil help open it all up so that my moisturizer can really get in there and do its job, rather than just sit on the surface of the skin.
I swear by steaming the skin - it really does work wonders.

I have this great product in my makeup kit that I throw on next. Its called Morning After Rescue Gel and its by Nickel Spa for men in NYC. And its brilliant!
It was designed for men who've had a big old night on the boogie, and now are looking truly hungover and crap-tastic the next morning. But it also works brilliantly when you're puffy from allergies.

I found out about this magic potion a few years back on breakfast TV. The early morning crew frequently have puffy eyes and swollen faces, and this is fantastic for bringing their skin back to life.
It has caffeine in it, which really does waken the skin. It also is genius at reducing puffiness around the eyes (although you're not supposed to put it there).
Its mentholated so sometimes can get a bit fumey, but I absolutely swear by it!
In fact on mornings like this morning, I would have loved to just dunk my head into a bucket of it.

A little side note here: you often hear about people using Preparation H around puffy eyes. The ingredient that supposedly reduces puffiness was removed from Prep H years ago. In all my years in the business I have never seen it used on any set that I've worked on. My theory is keep backside products to your backside, and facial products for your face....

The last part of my routine if I'm doing the allergy thing, or if I'm just looking super tired & wrung out in the morning is to leave out the java. For some reason coffee seems to make the skin look worse when taken internally on a bad day.
I'll either put lemon slices in hot water, or drink peppermint tea. It may be urban myth, but it seems to either detox a little, or maybe just invigorate the skin and get rid of the bloaty face that we're battling.

So ice it, steam it, keep your caffeine topical, and rock on looking all kinds of fabulous!

Bridal Promo Shoot

lashes, starbucks, Julie Hewett palette& lips, brushes galore....

Yesterday was too much fun! Just waaay to much fun.

We shot a super cool bridal promo piece at Studio 5, with all my favorite players. Of course the fabulous Kelly Cappelli shot all the stills, Will Zecco and Kristin Isaac did hair, and we used my favorite models Tamara Anthony, Mallory Nevin and Emely Soto.

The dresses were off the charts killer fab, and came from Mariee in Scottsdale, the jewlery was by Claudia.

Serendipity filmed the piece. Hopefully I will be able to post some of it before too long.

We shot some cool makeup tutorials while we were there, using some fantastic new Julie Hewett products and the off the charts brilliant Reign Collection from Smashbox.

There were plenty of personal cameras on set, so I'm going to post some behind the scenes stuff as pics come in.




















Airbrushing Mallory's foundation

























Kelly checking makeup, new Julie Hewett palette in foreground...



















No idea what was so funny, but Will Zecco no doubt had something to do with it!









































ooohh!



















I so love the Smashbox Reign collection packaging that I keep all the products in their original boxes. Geeky, I know, but the little things in life can bring so much happiness...



















How cool is Kelly??? I'm chatting to twitter and facebook, & looking all kinds of serious, meanwhile Kelly looks all kinds of fabulous while waiting to get miked up.




































Mallory snapping some pics while Jeff from Serendipity gets Kelly miked.

























Cameras rolling. Kelly showing one of the dresses and talking about the look.

























Me holding up the dress while Kelly speaks.



















Me telling TV-land about this cool Nicole Miller dress and what makeup to do with it.

No doubt I'll be posting more from this shoot this week, and as Will was in fine form, there's bound to be some silliness involving him!

xo

C

MAC Eyeshadow Makeup Tutorial

Today I am going to teach you a very clean and pretty eye makeup using MAC eyeshadows.

We shot this at a photoshoot for our teen model, Monica, so I have referred to it as a clean, teen eye makeup, but really it is fabulous for any one.

So here we go:



First up, apply an eye shadow primer. This will help the shadows to bind to the eyelid, and stay there all day, instead of disappearing as the day wears on.



Next, using the Oval Shadow Brush, apply MAC eyeshadow color Hush from the lashline to the eyebrow in clean, smooth strokes. Badger hair brushes make this very simple and get it done in just 2 or 3 strokes.

Now take the Chisel Fluff Brush and apply the color Quarry onto the lid only. This is where you feel eyeball underneath. Take it from the lashline to the crease.

Using the flat edge of the Angle Blender Brush, press the color Mystery into the outer corner of the eye



The effect should be quite soft and pretty.




Now add some dimension to the eye by using MAC Pigment in Shimmertime.
I used the Oval Shadow Brush, and just gently pressed it into the inner corner of the eye, and up to the brow.


You can see below how lovely this looks.

Use MAC Stubborn Brown eyeliner pencil and supporting the upper lid, run the pencil along the lash line, lifting it a little at the outer corner.

Using the Taklon Liner Brush take MAC Expresso eyeshadow, and press it into the pencil liner. This will set it and stop the pencil from moving and disappearing as the day wears on.



Make a second pass with the Taklon Liner brush and smudge the line a little, making it softer.


Now run the Taklon Liner Brush and Expresso shadow under the lower eyelid, keeping it right up in the lash line. This will give you a much softer, smokier look than using pencil under the eye. It will also stay on all day.
Anytime you are using powder shadows, particles will drop below the eye, so use a fan brush to sweep away under the eye. Pictured is the Delux Soft Fan Brush which is made from badger hair, and picks up product better than any other fan brush I have ever used.



Add some mascara (I used MAC ProLash) and you are good to go!


For the shoot we added individual eyelashes at this point, and the tutorial for that can be seen here in the For The Ladies Who Lash photo tutorial and the Lash Me Lash Me video tutorial.

So here is our final shot of the lovely Monica with her makeup complete. Isn't she just gorgeous? She is completely adorable to work with too.







And here is my Elusive Cowgirl Love Comes Without Warning T-shirt. I keep wearing this one over and over because I love it so much!
You can get them online at www.ElusiveCowgirl.com


Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

xo

C

Loving Lorac Style...

Today I had a little time to kill before my pre-production meeting for the big shoot that's happening this weekend, so I took a little dash through Sephora to see what was up.

Its so easy to overlook a really cool product in a store like Sephora because there are so many new products coming out all the time. And when something new comes out it might not excite you that much, so you just breeze on by it. Or maybe there are just so many killer things that you overlook something you'd otherwise love.

So periodically I go into Sephora (I also do this at MAC), and while I'm cruising around I watch the employees to see who seems to be loving their job their job the most.

Then I ask that person to show me the product that is totally rocking their world this very minute. What is your favorite, most exciting, most killer item, right now?

So much fun! They always get extra excited and race off to show you whatever it is. And if you keep your eyes and ears wide open, you just might learn something new.

Today I had this wickedly excited dude. He grabbed my wrist and said: You. Have. GOT. To see this! And hauled me halfway across the store to look at a product I've walked past many times.



The Lorac Starry Eyed Baked Trio. Shown here in Super Star (Bronze) and Evening Star (Silver).
It also comes in Starlet, which is purple, and not shown here. Highly pigmented, long lasting, shimmering baked shadows.





Now I have passed these by frequently, thinking they weren't so exciting. But man, this guy was totally into them, and got me all fired up too! He used up every spare piece of skin on each of our arms, showing me all kinds of tricks he likes doing with this product.
He showed it wet, he showed it dry. He showed it soft, he showed it full power. He showed it blended, he showed it striped. And he converted me.


So sometime when you have free arm space and a few extra minutes, get someone to show you what they are loving most. No matter how good you are at makeup, give them free reign to tell you all their ideas, and show it to you their way.
Its really fun, both for you, and for them.

xo

C

Prada in Red

Oh wow!
In the middle of a crazy day of meetings I had to go to the lingerie department at Saks to check out some pieces for a shoot that's coming up. I love getting consulted on wardrobe, love getting to look things over, but frankly, it all works so much better when they bring wardrobe to the studio, instead of me to Saks of all places!

You see, walking through Saks 5th Avenue is like skipping through a minefield to a girl trying to stay on budget. The lingerie department? Forget it! Danger zone.
I went in through the back door so I didn't have to go through the makeup department, but unfortunately, the error in that plan was that it sent me directly into the shoe department.

So I forgot about Plan A altogether, and meandered on in. Well actually, it was the siren song of Prada, that like the Lorelei to the ancient sailors, lured me in.

Check this out!



How perfect is this shoe? Completely, magnificently, alluringly perfect. And frankly, quite festive too! Can't you just imagine it paired with a little black dress at a Christmas party? I can see it with grey, it would be a divine statement with winter white....
So as I was test driving these perfect shoes around the department, and the salesman was mentally calculating the commission he'd be making on me, I was planning the makeup - Julie Hewett's new Soiree eye palette, MAC's #45 lashes, Julie's Bibo lip - soooo fabulous!

But then my phone started going crazy as the crew waiting for me upstairs started texting and calling me to find out where I was.

Saved by the proverbial bell!

I deliberately left all my plastic at home, so that I couldn't do any impulse buying. I cant really remember too much about the lingerie I was there to look over, as I am still so completely mesmerized by the shoe.

If I wait a week and then go back and get it, can it still be called an impulse purchase? Or by that point has it become an investment in what would have to be an amazing future?

Because in a shoe like that, life could only be truly amazing....

Lash Me, Lash Me!

Hi everyone!

Today I am posting the video tutorial on how to apply individual false lashes.

Some of you like the the photo tutorials best, some of you like the vids, this way I got you all covered!






xo

C