Makeup

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Beauty

How Fashion Week Gets Made With MAC Senior Makeup Artist Victor Cembellin

A lot goes into making fashion week happen. And despite the proliferation of fashion reality television shows, there is still a lot that you might not know about. So, we decided to ask some of our friends in the industry what their day to day life is like leading up to, during and following fashion week. From the perspective of a designer, a publicist, a show producer, a pit photographer, a makeup artist and more, keep reading to learn how fashion week gets made.

Makeup, from natural to full-on body warpaint, is an integral piece of any runway show. It adds to the aesthetic of the show and helps to showcase the clothes, because makeup is truly transformative. We chatted with MAC senior artist Victor Cembellin, who has been practicing his craft for designers/labels like Zac Posen, Balenciaga, and Vivienne Westwood for over 15 years, and who has put his time in the backstage trenches (He once spent an hour and a half gluing feathers on one girl at an Alexander McQueen show.) Here’s what it’s like to be a makeup artist on a runway show.

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Beauty

Exclusive: Watch Pat McGrath Give Jessica Stam Statement Lips and Answer All our Lipstick Questions

By Cheryl Wischhover Monday, Feb 6, 2012 / 12:16 PM


Jessica Stam is the new face of the CoverGirl LipPerfection print ads, and a few weeks ago we got to sit at a spring trend mini-seminar with makeup guru Pat McGrath and Stam. McGrath is fresh off her first-ever movie gig, helping to transform Rooney Mara into Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And now she’s prepping to do the makeup looks for 24 fashion shows in New York and Milan, but we got to catch up with her before the madness starts.

CoverGirl is releasing some videos highlighting their new spring beauty launches which feature McGrath giving some how-tos, with Jessica Stam as muse. Fashionista has the second such video exclusively today, and we also had the opportunity to ask McGrath all our pressing lipstick application questions. Check out Stam’s transformation below, and also get answers to such complicated issues as: When should you use a lip brush?

Click through for our full interview with Pat McGrath and the new CoverGirl video. Read more »

Beauty

Beth Ditto Gets Her Own MAC Makeup Collection

By Cheryl Wischhover Thursday, Jan 26, 2012 / 9:03 AM

Photo: WWD

What do Johnny Weir, Daphne Guinness, Iris Apfel, and Beth Ditto have in common? They all have a distinct style point-of-view, and now they all have MAC collections. WWD announced today that Beth Ditto is the latest quirky MAC muse.

The brand and the singer have a bit of a history: Ditto performed last September at the MAC store in NYC’s Soho neighborhood for Fashion’s Night Out, making it one of the top stops on everyone’s FNO agenda. The match makes a ton of sense–MAC loves a strong makeup statement and so does Ditto. She’s rarely seen without heavy, winged black eyeliner (sometimes purposely smeared all over her face).
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Beauty

Cats Finally Get a Beauty Campaign: Check Out Paul & Joe’s Spring Makeup Collection

By Cheryl Wischhover Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 / 6:32 PM

Fashion has a long and storied history of using cats in campaigns. Not so much in beauty–it’s usually a whole lot of humans giving us smoldering looks with impossibly flowy hair. Until now. Read more »

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Beauty

Francois Nars Shares His Holiday Makeup Tips and Secrets with Us

The holidays are officially upon us. Do you have a makeup plan yet? You probably have a few more holiday events to attend, and of course there’s the night to end all nights coming up–New Year’s eve. Or maybe you just feel like getting dramatically made up for a random Wednesday night. Perfect.

We got to pick the brain of none other than Francois Nars, the creative director and founder of NARS Cosmetics. Nars is known for drama and color, and we couldn’t think of anyone better to answer all our pressing holiday makeup conundrums. Read on for his wise words and product suggestions.

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Megan Fox
Beauty

Giorgio Armani’s Makeup Guru Tells Us How to Get the Perfect Red Lip

A red lip is one of the most classic and visually stunning things you can do to your face (well, makeup-wise), and it’s perfect for the holidays. But the perfect red is hard to get right–and apply. From the color getting all over everything (your teeth, your glass, whoever you’re kissing) to choosing the right red for your coloring, it’s just one big pain in the ass. After sticking firmly to neutrals and the occasional fuchsia for years, I’ve recently been experimenting with reds and decided that some professional help was required.

Enter Tim Quinn, who is Giorgio Armani Beauty’s celeb makeup guru. He trained with Pat McGrath and has worked with the likes of Gwen Stefani (arguably the patron saint of red lipstick) and Victoria Beckham. His handiwork and words of wisdom have been featured in countless glossies, and I was lucky to snag him for a quick tutorial. Read on for advice on how to apply red lipstick, how to get it to stay on, and how to choose a flattering shade, just in time for all those holiday parties.

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Beauty

Iris Apfel Is Getting Her Own Makeup Collection for MAC

By Cheryl Wischhover Friday, Dec 16, 2011 / 3:45 PM

MAC’s Senior Vice President/Group Creative Director, James Gager, once told me that MAC likes to collaborate with people who no one else would “ever think of using in a million years.” Exhibit A? Meet MAC’s new face, Iris Apfel.

Her line will debut on January 5, and follows closely on the heels of fellow fashion eccentric, Daphne Guinness‘ collection. It’s a full line, complete with five lipsticks (our fave is called Loudmouth Orange), lip pencils, and eye shadows like Howzat, a sparkly grey. It’s rounded out by mascara (gotta make your eyes pop through those glasses, right?), a peachy “beauty powder,” and three nail lacquers–a bright blue, bright fuchsia and a neutral.
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Daphne Guinness for MAC
Beauty

Daphne Guinness on Her Beauty Routine and Why All Men Should Wear Makeup

Last weekend Daphne Guinness–like thousands of other art lovers–hit Miami for Art Basel. While we couldn’t be there with her, we had the chance to chat with her and James Gager, MAC’s Senior Vice President/Group Creative Director about her new color collection. (We couldn’t really imagine the somewhat goth Daphne in Miami among the palm trees but for the record: she loves the sun and always wears a lot of sunscreen.)

The Daphne Guinness MAC line, which launches December 26, is full of shades on the cool end of the spectrum. We got our hands on it and can say that the eye shadow quad is a must-have and the sage/silver green nail polish and lip gloss are especially intriguing. We were dying to talk to the mistress of all things over-the-top about how she came up with the surprisingly wearable collection. Click through for her thoughts on guys wearing makeup, her own (minimal!) makeup routine, and why she doesn’t think very highly of trends.

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Photo: Armani (Yep, that's Megan Fox)
Beauty

Here Are Our 10 Favorite Pieces From the 2011 Holiday Makeup Collections

It’s December, and that means one thing: You can now indulge in all the Christmas music listening that you want, and you are free to abuse glittery eye shadows to your heart’s content. It’s the holidays!

The holiday makeup collections are always our favorites, because of the sheer fantasy of it all. Forget about sedate neutrals–go metallic and smoky and red and fuchsia. And this season’s offerings are truly stellar. We picked through all the collections and chose our favorite pieces, which was no easy feat. From the most gorgeous red lipsticks to shimmery face highlighters (and even something “lickable”), click through to see the winter wonderland of makeup available now.

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Photo: Getty
Beauty

Victoria’s Secret’s Secrets: Tips and Tricks from the Folks Who Make the Angels Look Their Best

Okay, so that was sort of a rhetorical question. I mean who wouldn’t want the flawless skin, perfect bods and flowing, perfectly-undone hair we see on any given VS model–and it’s all totally natural, right?

Well, not exactly. Because while these ladies are certainly gorgeous, they’re not as perfect as you might think. They, too, have puffy eyes, dull skin, bad hair days and, yes, even blemishes, just like the rest of us. That’s where Colleen Creighton and Pasquale Ferrante–the beauty and hair geniuses behind many a Victoria’s Secret and Victoria’s Secret PINK look–come in.

We went behind the scenes at a Victoria’s Secret PINK shoot in Miami, courtesy of Alison Brod PR, to find out all the secrets that go into looking like a VS model straight from the source. Read on to find out how you can get the look, with tips from Creighton, Ferrante and some of the models themselves!

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Beauty

Finally! Here’s the Gareth Pugh for MAC Makeup Collection

Back in June, news leaked that Gareth Pugh was doing a makeup line with his long-time runway collaborator, MAC. We got to meet and chat with the designer at an event back in July, where we ogled his nail polish and learned that the packaging was like a weapon. Well, now we finally get to see it in real life.

“With a collection that goes from strong, deep and mysterious to light, fragile, and ethereal, I think we’ve created a truly versatile collection that hopefully you’ll be inspired by and want to wear.” Gareth Pugh said in a release. And based on the individual pieces and the beauty look at left, we definitely want to wear it.

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Beauty

Rachel Zoe Talks Lipstick, Designing a Kids Collection and Dressing for Spit-Up

Rachel Zoe may have her hands full with her four-month old baby boy Skyler, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowing down. She’s taken on a new project as the brand ambassador for new beauty line Exude, in addition to talking about designing a kids line and somewhere down the road, even launching her own beauty line.

It was the technology behind Exude’s first product, their lipstick, that drew the superstar stylist in. “I’ve been obsessed with lipstick since I was 10–I feel naked without it,” said Zoe. “I was skeptical [of Exude] at first, but then I was like, it’s kind of amazing.” Exude is a lipstick that’s applied more like a gloss. The color is contained within a special crystal applicator (shaped like lipstick) that protects the product so it never melts or breaks and is applied evenly every time. “There’s no wasted product and it’s not messy,” said Zoe of the lipstick, which will launch officially in October and retail at $29.00.

Of course, having just watched Zoe’s Nightline special “Mommywood,” where she said she wants to design her own childrens line, we had just a few more questions.

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