The Makeup Mole

Daisy Lowe at a film premiere

Last week the unfailingly gorgeous Daisy Lowe was being shot at London’s Spring Studios for photographer Jacob Sutton, with the best of the upcoming season’s new trends from Vogue’s fashion director, Kate Phelan.

Kay Montano was doing her makeup, a sexy rock n’ roll look that’s perfect for Daisy’s modern It girl style. She used Chanel Vitalumiere foundation in 20 Clair on her skin, Myface black eyeliner and Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner for smudgy, sexy eyes, and Nude lipbalm and Chanel Rouge Coco lipstick in Beige Felin to finish off a modern bombshell. Hairdresser James Pecis used Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray to get the perfect rough texture on the hair. And voila! Who knew Spring was around the corner?

Last Thursday was the Hugo Boss Black show which is the biggest show I’ve ever worked on. A total of 35 models (both men and women) walked the extra-long runway in a gigantic museum in Berlin as the snow fell outside.

Kay Montano was the makeup artist and the amazing British hairdresser Sam McKnight and his team worked their magic on the models’ hair. A total of  22 hair and makeup artists worked for 6 hours to get everybody perfect for the show (which ran a little late as Hilary Swank was chatting to reporters outside.)

It was the Scottish designer Graeme Black’s first season designing with Hugo Boss and the resulting collection was absolutely immaculate – androgynous Austrian model Iris Strubegger stole the show in a thigh high pair of suede boots and intricately beaded minidress.

The makeup concept according to Kay was “vintage Catherine Denevue via Kevyn Aucoin heavy natural, with noughties rock eyeliner”. Lips were classic beige courtesy of  NARS Belle de Jour, and it was the first outing for the new Max Factor Lash Extension mascara, which is my new must-have product.

The amazing Alasdair Mclellan ** shoot in Chinese Vogue is out on newsstands, and the pictures are gorgeous. Anastasia Barbieri styled it, and the inspiration was Romy Schneider in the iconic 60’s film La Piscine.

Kay Montano did the makeup and to achieve Eniko’s golden girl glow, she used a slightly darker foundation and lots of Chanel Bronze Universal crème. On the eyes she used Bobbi Brown shadows, with Mahogany in the crease for that true 60’s style.

The beige nails to end all beige nails were done by none other than ‘Nail Queen’ Sophy Robson. She has a fabulous blog on her website which is a must for any serious fashionista – it’s a real inside view of the very top end of fashion and showcases her work in Vogues around the world and campaigns like YSL and shows for Louis Vuitton (amongst others). Her website is www.sophyrobson.com

We had a lovely day in the studio yesterday shooting the ultimate range of beauty products for Grazia’s Beauty Awards. After judging the Beauty Awards, makeup artist Kay Montano was using lots of color and all the winning products to create the makeup looks of the year – and let me just say it has been a big year for beauty. Makeup is back in a big, big way!

Fabulous hairdresser Johnny Sapong was there, tending to the model Holly’s locks with Leonyr Greyl’s Eclat Naturel styling crème, and Kay was perfecting the skin with Jurlique’s Rose powder, and warming her skin up with a touch of Chanel Bronze Universal crème (a fab crème bronzer). But to find out the winner’s of the Beauty Awards, you’re going to have to get Grazia on December 15!

Last night was the champagne fueled and much anticipated launch of makeup artist Alex Box’s amazing new book, The Makeup Artist, with photographer Rankin.

At the Annroy gallery in North London over 400 of the city’s fashion luminaries were there to mark the occasion. Jefferson Hack, Anouk Lepere and Erin O’ Connor were just a few of the fashion pack who came to admire Alex’s incredible makeup artistry. Blown up and super-sized it was possible to really admire her attention to detail and her extraordinary imagination. It is the first publication and exhibition of her work – if you want to see makeup without boundaries, this is it! The exhibition is on at the Annroy Gallery, Kentish Town, from the 23rd October to the 23rd November, and the book is published by Turnaround and retails for £50. For any lovers of the divine Miss Box’s work – and they are legion! This book is a must-have.

Alex Box is creative director of Illamasqua Cosmetics and her editorial work can regularly be seen in V, Numero and Vogue.

Yesterday we were shooting French Vogue on a common in South London with the unbelievably gorgeous and iconic (in all senses of the word) Claudia Schiffer. The look of the day was red lips, and makeup artist Kay Montano gave Claudia carte blanche to choose her own red, as one of the few genuine supermodels she definitely knows which red suits her best. Her pick? NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella (a MakeupMole fave!) Also key to the look was beautiful skin and a curled lash, to keep the look modern and minimal.

Keep an eye out for the Alasdair Mclellan story in September French Vogue.

Last week working on British Vogue I met the beautiful Senegalese model, Kinee Diouf, and she showed me her top foundation pick for  black skin – Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet + Matttifying Foundation.

It evened out her skin perfectly, and the redness of its undertone was just right for her polished ebony coloring. Even better for darker skin tones? It’s got a mattifier built right in, so your skin shines just the right amount when topped with powder, and means fewer makeup touch-ups throughout the day.

Make Up For Ever is very hard to get in England – PAM in Shepherd’s Bush (a wonderful little professional makeup shop) has some of the range, but I’m planning to stock up when I go to the US in August. Sephora, here I come!!

Prepare to be dazzled by a revolutionary new polish coming out from Marian Newman Nails in the near future – it’s matte and it’s nude but the finish is completely different to others of this type that are currently on the market. The ones that I have seen so far tend to be chalky, but these babies give a flawless, satin texture that still dries perfectly, deliciously matte.

And we all know that’s we’re going to be wanting for the colder months!

Plus Marian knows nudes like no-one’s business, as she’s pointed me in the direction of some fabulous ones in the past. (If it wasn’t for her I’d still be standing in the nail polish section of Boots right now!)

She used the new polish which can be applied alone OR mixed in with other polishes, on a very big advertising campaign last week, and quite frankly the client went crazy for them. As did we.

Matte Daddy indeed!