Aveda Twisted Ponytails Backstage at Jason Wu

Hello Divas!

Always forgive and let go.  Harboring anger and resentment only poisons your body and soul.

As promised, I am updating you Divas on some fabulous beauty looks being created for Fall 2011 at New York Fashion Week.  First up, hairstyles from Aveda:

At the Jason Wu show, lead Aveda stylist Odile Gilbert created a sleek and elegant gilded twist using Aveda Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener, Aveda Brilliant Spray-On Shine, and Aveda Control Force Firm Hold Hair Spray.   Odile also coated the hair with 24 karat gold leaf to echo the gold accents and feathers from the collection.  Now walking around with 24 karat gold leaf in your hair is definitely not "everyday practical" but the twisted ponytail is definitely different and intriguing.





And of course Jason Wu is a fashion star and never disappoints.  Love these clothes!








All photos are courtesy of Aveda.


Toodles! 

Monique Lhuillier Spring 2011 - Euphoria

Euphoria. The inspiration behind Monique Lhuillier's Spring 2011 Collection.

Feminine evening gowns. It's what Monique Lhuillier does best.  What surprises me about this season's collection is the choice of color palette, a departure from what we've come to expect for her.  Nude, white, gold ... yes, very familiar ... poppy red? Really? Ok ... we're willing to take a look. Let it sink in a little bit.  Ummm .... sure, I suppose this could be interesting. In fact, the more I study the collection with its pops of soft seafoam-y teal contrasted with the warmth of the golden red, the more appealing it becomes. 

"Welcome to the Garden of Eden," greets Lhuillier, gesturing around the hotel suite. "We have the angelic side, and the naughty side."

Slender metallics, draped silk sheaths and flamboyant ballgowns — poufed and appliquéd chiffons with plenty of fanfare like bustled, petaled or trumpet skirts. Your choice, ladies.

Lead makeup artist Val Garland for MAC created glowing faces that complimented the elegant feel of the line. The eye was for facial focal point here, using black gel eyeliner for a “sleek Fifties” winged feel. “It’s a bit of a cat eye,” said Garland. “It's a 1950's Audrey Hepburn look with an aerodynamic beautiful eye liner.  Very haute couture and red carpet, slightly debutant with gilded lilacs on the eye lid, liner and a delicate soft pink glossed lip.”

Proving you don't have to match your makeup colors to your clothing, Garland used MAC eye shadows in Digit and Vellum layered onto the lids, Crystal through the crease of the lids and a layer of Idol (one of my fave MAC shadows) applied wet on the top.  Woodwinked was dabbed on the inner corners of the lids for golden highlighting. Eyebrows were slightly extended to frame the face. MAC Face and Body foundation was applied as a base with Bamboo Cream Colour Base blended onto the cheeks and Shell Cream Colour Base to highlight the cheekbones. Garland’s “soft look” for lips was achieved by patting on MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipglass, a pigmented matte baby pink lip gloss.

Rudi Lewis, lead hairstylist for Bumble and Bumble described the look he created at Monique Lhuillier’s Spring 2011 show as “magical but modern.” Before beginning the updo, Lewis added Spray de Mode to blow-dried hair. He pulled hair up into a “sculpted high ponytail.” A section of hair on the top of the head was left out of the updo and given a softer texture. He then tucked hair up in a roll, using only one long piece of elastic to create the refined look. “This is reminiscent of an Irving Penn woman,” said Lewis. “It’s Fifties without being too retro.” Lewis added that models were styled to look “expensive” and polished. “It’s not about trends,” he said.

Nails, styled by Wanda Ruiz for CND, were gilded — a combination of two coats of Putty nail polish and a top coat of shimmering Perfectly Bare polish, for a “reflective three-dimensional, holographic effect.” Um, gorgeous is what I say!

Watch the video to really get the elegant feel of this collection, the look of beauty and backstage fun!

source: Monique Lhuillier, MAC, wwd, style.com

Christian Siriano and Victoria Secret Beauty

Hello Divas!

I hope you had a wonderful Wednesday! Only two more days and then we all can just relax!

Today's post will conclude my New York Fashion Week coverage. One of the "hottest" shows around was the Christian Siriano show. As you Divas know, Christian Siriano was an instant hit on Project Runway and since he won the grand prize he has become a major celebrity and fashion designer. I tell you backstage and the line to get into his show was insane! Plus he did not disappoint. The clothes were GORGEOUS!!

I had the opportunity to interview Polly Osmond, the Lead Make-up Artist for Victoria Secret Beauty. Polly said her inspiration came from Siriano's collection which derived from his love of the beach and water. Polly also stated her inspiration came from the Almafi Coast which is Christian's favorite beach in the world! Nice!

To create the look for the show, Polly used Christian Siriano for Victoria Secret Beauty products! Yes, Christian has created a make-up line for Victoria Secret! She used Black Mascara, White eye pencil, bronzer and a highlighter for shading and pale lip gloss. I was particularly fascinated with the lip gloss. The color is called Embrace and it is a pale champagne color.

Here is the look

Polly working her magic

Here are the clothes!




Toodles!

MAC Cosmetics Backstage at Georges Chakra and Alice + Olivia

Hello Divas!

Due to computer issues, this post is a day late but the "Beach Chic" look created by MAC Make-up Artist, Gregory Arlt, was well worth the wait.

Artlt wanted to create a look that was "straight from the beach to the red carpet." As a result, he created beautiful glowing bronze Goddesses to compliment Georges Chakra's gorgeous gowns. He used warm tones like golds, peaches, and bronzes.

The MAC products used were:

Cheeks: Sun Basque Blush

Face: Motif eyeshadow as a highlighter underneath the eye.

Lips- Love Nectar, which Arlt called the "American Express of Lip Glosses..Never Leave Home Without It!"

Eyes- All That Glitters on lids and Dip Down Chocolate Brown Eyeliner to line the eyes.

The result is simply gorgeous! This was one of my absolute favorite looks for Spring 2010.


MAC also did the make-up for the HOT design house Alice + Olivia. The look created by Lead MAC Make-up Artist, Nadine Luke, was inspired by the movie Pretty in Pink! Pretty in Pink is one of my favorite movies of all time! The look was Rock & Roll with a soft edge. Nadine used soft washes of color including lilacs, pinks, and mauves.

The MAC Products used were:

Face - Mineralized Foundation and So Sweet So Easy on Cheeks

Eyes- Rosy Outlook, Turkey, and Jessie in the inner corner of the eye

Lips - Angel lipstick and English Accents and Underage Lip Glosses.

The look is soft and pretty! Love!

I also had the opportunity to speak with the Lead Fekkai hair stylist, Andre Rodman. The hairstyle he created was classic Alice + Oliva...funky and fun! He created a "Rocker Sheek" look that included waves waves waves! He created this look curling the hair with a double barreled curling iron in a figure eight pattern. He used Fekkai Coiff Strong Hold Volume Mousse before curling and finished with Fekkai Coiff Magnifique Ultra-Light Finishing Creme. The look is soft but sexy!

Beautiful Alice & Olivia multi-pink colored dress!


Toodles!

THISDAY ARISE AFRICAN COLLECITVE AND JUAN CARLOS OBANDO FASHION SHOWS: MAC COSMETICS

Hello Divas!

Remember no matter what you are going through, you can always turn it around!

So far Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week has been simply fantastic! MAC Cosmetics is definitely setting the tone for Spring make-up. The face for spring includes healthy looking skin with natural warm colors.

At the Thisday Arise African Collective Show, the lead MAC Makeup Artist, Fatima, created a simple but classic look. Her inspiration for the look was the fiery orange red color used in the Jewel Collection. Specifically she used a strong red lip with sheer lightweight foundation, black smudged gel eyeliner, and no mascara. Here is the look:

The MAC Products used were:

Lips - Mix of Pure lip Pigment and Park Side lipstick

Face- Face and Body Foundation

Eyes- Fluid Gel Eyeliner. No Mascara just curled lashes.

At the Juan Carlos Obando Show MAC Lead Make-up Artist, Fulvia Fanolfi created a look that was reminiscent of "Old Westerns", which was Obando's inspiration when he created the Spring 2010 Collection. Fulvia used colors that included the colors of the desert. As a result, she used browns, bronzes, and taupes to create a dusky look.

The MAC Products used were:

Face - A blend of MAC NC45 and NC55 on the cheeks, Bronzer, and the color Taupe for countouring.

Eyes - Brown Breeze eyeshadow was used on the eyes.

Lips - Brown Breeze eyeshadow was used on the lips as well.

Here is the look:



As Fulvia stated, "the look is very monochromatic and cinematographic as if the model had been exposed to the sun for a month."

Stay tuned for more Spring Beauty Trends!

Mercedez-Benz New York Fashion Week Day One

Hello Divas!

I hope life is grand! Remember life is what you make it, so make it beautiful!

I am in New York for Mercedez-Benz New York Fashion Week, Spring 2010 Collections! Last year I set a goal to attend and I am here! I will be reporting on beauty trends for Spring 2010 and will also throw in some fashion trends. It has been an exciting and fun filled day.

Yesterday morning, I attended the Total Beauty Summit hosted by Loreal Paris. The Summit was held at the Loreal Paris corporate headquarters and we received an amazing presentation on hair color from celebrity Loreal colorist, Patty Slattery. She stated that you can achieve your desired color at home or in a salon if it is applied correctly..."Its all about application." The Loreal technical color team gave us a class on how to properly apply color. Here is the mannequin I worked on:

Loreal Paris then treated us to a fabulous lunch. I dined with some of my favorite beauty bloggers. Here is Kia of Yummy411 and Nikkia of Silverlips.

I had to leave the summit a little early to attend the Ports 1961 show. Ports 1961 is a new line that is all the rage. The pieces are modern, fluid, creative and gorgeous! The new line, Fluere Spring 2010, "draws inspiration from the elements of nature." The colors in the collection included peaches, mauves, reds, grays and yellows. There was a gorgeous yellow and gray jumpsuit that I simply adored! I also loved that the pieces were very simplistic and realistic. Any woman could wear the pieces. Here are a couple of pics. They are not great because I was in the absolute last row! LOL! Hey you have to start somewhere.

I then attended a few Fashion's Night Out events. Fashion's Night Out was like a big fashion shopping party. Hundreds of retailers kept their doors open until 11pm and encouraged people to shop with music, food, cocktails and special discounts. My first stop was the Milly/Clinique event. Michelle Smith, designer of Milly created a signature bag for Clinique using her signature pink. HOT! I did interview Michelle and I will post the interview later. Check out the Milly bag in the pic:

I then attended two Lancome events...of course. LOL! Lancome hosted a blogger bash at their SOHO Bloomingdales Counter. I met the new it girl, model Arlenis. Simply gorgeous. She is tall beautiful and her skin is like chocolate silk. Plus she is the absolute sweetest person ever. So personable. Lancome did a fantastic job picking Arlenis as one of their "faces" of the brand. She represents Lancome well! Here is a pic!

Lancome intern Ilene. She is so sweet!

I also met my girl, DE of Beautylogicblog. Remember she turned me on to coconut oil. It was like we were old friends! Love her.

My next stop was backstage at the Julie Haus show. Stila's lead make-up artist, Sarah Lucero, created a gorgeous look for the show. The focus was on the eyes and she used purples, plums, and navys on the eyes with lots of Mascara. The rest of the face is a matte neutral. I was given the opportunity to interview her and can't wait to share her inspiration for the look. Stay tuned.

I then went to another Lancome event at their boutique store on 69th and Columbus Circle. The highlight of my evening was meeting Keri, VP of Public Relations at Lancome. She is VP and still writes the Lancome Blog! She is personable, sweet, and super nice to the blogging community. It was so nice to finally meet her in person. Here we are:

My first day was fun and jam packed with beauty and fashion. I will regularly post updates as Fashion Week continues!

Toodles!