The Makeup Mole

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.

I decided at MM HQ that it is time to pay homage to the greatest makeup artists of all time, the ones that have paved the way for makeup artists like myself, particularly in the past when being a makeup artist wasn’t really a job. They were the real innovators. Before the internet and “co-branding opportunities” and “celebrity makeup artists” and products that have been developed using NASA technology, there were amazing makeup artists who transformed women with simple powders and paints and showed what today we take for granted – that beauty can be mentally and physically transformative.

These are the people who have not only forged a career and a permanent place in the lexicon of fashion, but throughout their working lives have created images that have fed the imaginations of today’s creatives – a shared lexicon and a sort of collective unconscious that every day is referred to on fashion shoots around the world. It is time we honored those who blazed a trail for us to follow.

Witness please, the re-birth of Full Makeup – from the late 70’s to the 80’s every model was re-sculpted with makeup (and not just in earth tones!) Eyes, lips, contoured cheeks – it was all there, in every image, creating a hyper-real Amazonian woman of unparalleled glamour. And at the forefront of this was Serge Lutens.

Born in 1942, in Lille, France, he started as a hairdresser and by 1962 was working for the already hugely prestigious French Vogue. Mr Lutens was the first makeup artist appointed to create Dior cosmetics in the 1960’s – bearing in mind that the brand then became the original powerhouse of luxury cosmetics through the 70’s and 80’s. Not content with just being a makeup artist, he went on to become a very well regarded photographer and film-maker in his own right. He is perhaps best known for his work with the Japanese brand Shiseido – the inspirational and haunting print and TV ads of the 70’s and 80’s really took the brand international. I remember at a very young age being astounded by these ads and the world beyond my own life in rural Australia that they suggested.

But he didn’t stop there – in the 90’s he launched a range of scents that redefined luxury perfumes and that are sold at the best stores across the world – there are now 23 perfumes in all, including the cult classic Ambre Sultan.

In this millennium he has created a new challenge for himself – he has launched a small but perfect range of makeup items that are designed to be the best at what they do – the perfect black kohl, the best mascara, and I think regular MM readers know what a fan I am of the lipstick! It is very expensive, beautifully packaged and a true makeup lovers’ dream – the perfect encapsulation of Serge Lutens’s interpretation of modern beauty. Simple, classic, timeless – always in style.

His influence cannot be overestimated – I know the extraordinary makeup artist Alex Box cites him as one of her makeup inspirations, and seeing his work from the 70’s it looks as fresh today as it did then. Here are two videos for your enjoyment – one of the great master at work, and the other one of his Shiseido commercials from 1973.

Necessaire Beauté de Serge Lutens is at Harvey Nichols London and Barney’s New York in the US.

Selfridges, Oxford Street, London

The genius makeup artist Alex Box is doing her first master class for her eponymous line, the wonderful Illamasqua, at Selfridges on Friday July 3^rd (6-8 pm), and Saturday July 4^th (11-1pm).  The class costs £20, redeemable in product, and places are filling fast so if you want to go you’d better call them NOW on 0207 318 3788.

Having seen Alex work I can tell you that you are in for a real treat – she is an absolute master at what she does. To get you in the mood, here is another of her Illamasqua videos, the Siren.

Also don’t forget to check out their new blog at www.illamasqua.blogspot.com

Oh how I love me some beige – lipstick that is. And it was all over the runways again this season, although most makeup artists used concealer and lip balm to create the perfect nude lip. kgpz9iwmn8

Great! I hear you say. I have concealer. I have lip balm. I can rock this beige lipstick look.

But I have to warn you, there are some questions you have to answer first:

1. Are you 8 feet tall with legs up to your armpits?
2. Were you born in Lithuania, Latvia or Russia?
3. Is your name Svetlana?
4. Did you stalk the runway for Balenciaga?

No? Well then you are not a model and clearly need to work a little bit harder to get a beige lip that looks gorgeous and not like Wednesday Addams.

If you have a lot of pigmentation in your lips, then you are a good candidate for the concealer, or MAC’s genius concealer lip balm (they really do think of everything, those people!) Lip Erase in Dim or Pale. Again don’t go nuts, a touch is enough. For everyone else, go straight to the lipstick.

Now here comes the tricky part – getting the right beige for your skintone. The secret is to make sure it doesn’t match your skin too closely, because then your lips just disappear into your face and you look like a honeydew melon with eyes – I give you Exhibit A, Antonia Kidman.

You want something with a slight peach or pink effect to it, and as much as I would love to be able to offer you the perfect nude for everyone, this one is one of those trial and error jobs. So get thee to a makeup counter!

Good ones to try:

• NARS Honolulu Honey, Belle de Jour and Blonde Venus
• Laura Mercier in Discretion
• Estee Lauder Pure Color Lipstick in Vanilla Truffle
• YSL Rouge Volupte in no. 2 Sensual Silk and no. 3 Ultimate Beige
• Rimmel Lasting Finish lipstick in Birthday Suit
• Christian Dior Hi-Shine Addict Lipstick in Nude Silhouette 214 and Casual Beige 222
• MAC in Myth, Freckletone and Jubilee

Adding a clear or nude colored gloss can help cut the cadaver effect also.

Glosses I like:

• Dior – Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in Linen Beige 317
• NARS – Chihuaha, Turkish Delight, Chealsea Girls
• Laura Mercier – Champagne GlaceWe’re looking to do this

This week’s video is Kay Montano demonstrating how to do the makeup she did on Thandie Newton for the premiere of W. It’s a great video for learning how to do eyeliner!

Can I be really honest? I had misgivings about this line when I first heard about it – the fact that Charlotte Tilbury, one of the world’s biggest makeup artists known for her high-octane glamour shoots with fashion darlings, photographers Mert and Marcus, was launching a budget – BUDGET I tell you! – makeup line to be sold in Boots, well it just didn’t seem quite right. I am not generally keen on drugstore brands at the best of times because I think life is too short to have inferior pigment, nasty why bother sponge applicators and over-inflated ideas of a product’s abilities due to how gorgeous Kate Moss looks in the advertising (cough cough, RIMMEL), but as they say in the classics there is a time and a place for everything.

So in the interests of fairness I decided I had to give it a try, starting with a pale pink lippie called Vintage Lace. The range itself is quite a clever idea, dissecting the line into Fair, Medium and Dark skin tones, and has been well parlayed into very user-friendly colors. I hated the packaging though, all based around the whiteness and shape of an Ipod (it’s working on the blushes because they are actually shaped like an Ipod. On the lipsticks? Not so much. They are white plastic with clear lids like some nasty Avon tester from the 70’s).

However – the Vintage Lace color is the perfect nude, just a notch down from your own lip color to give you the illusion of supermodel lips, and although the texture is not super creamy (like, say, Estée Lauder), it does have good pigment to it which I like. It’s dense and matte and can either be dabbed on with a finger (my preferred method), or applied with a lipbrush.

It’s not what I expected Ms Tilbury to be putting her name to, but this lipstick has me sufficiently intrigued that I’ll probably try some other things. Tune in for more updates. Below you can find a video of her version of the myface.cosmetics 5 Minute Face.

Major makeup artist Alex Box demonstrates how to do smoky eyes the Illamasqua way.

Today we have the first in a series of  ”How-To” Makeup videos by über-makeup artist Kay Montano. This one is all about creating flawless skin, whether you were born that way or not!