Chanel are at it again with another adorbs video, this time for their nail polish (which makes up the bulk of my nail kit as the colours are so divine).

www.chanel.com

Woo-hoo! Celebrate good times, come on dah dah dah dah dah dah – OK so Kool & the Gang is not quite the same when you write it down, but you get the gist. Mega London makeup artist, Kay Montano is doing more fabulous how-to videos for Because London. This one is a homage to Debbie Harry and a time when glamour met punk met disco met – well let’s just say some rules were meant to be broken!

Makeup by Florrie White

Alexa Chung is a bit of an MM fave as she’s lovely, cool, has the wardrobe that everybody wants and she’s rather gorgeous as well. Here’s a beautiful shoot she did in Paris recently as a Chanel Cruise exclusive for the Australian edition of Harper’s Bazaar, shot by Angelo Pennetta. Known for her lovely cat eyes and signature flicked eyeliner it was a bit of an exciting day since she agreed to wear a bright lip. I think she looks phenomenal!

I have a breakdown from her regular makeup artist, the wonderful London-based Florrie White who reveals what she used on an impeccable summer day on the lovely Alexa:

Skincare

• Decleor Sun Expert – it was so hot in the magnificent Parisian garden. Alexa did not complain while I hid in the shade guzzling cold water!

Foundation

• None – she has perfect skin and I love her freckles.

Concealer

• Chanel Long Lasting Concealer only under her eyes.

 Powder

• Due to the heat and the clean skin I just used Givenchy’s Mister Matte to control any shine.

Blush

• MAC Cream Blush in Cheery and Cherche

Eyes

• MAC Eye Pencil in Smolder
• Lancome Hypnose Mascara
• Chanel Ilusion d’Ombre Emerveille, Epatant, Illusoire, Mirifique used individually and/or mixed together, blended and changed around throughout the shoot.

Lips

• MAC Pro Lip Mix in Orange

Nails

• Dior Vernis Underground 824

Here’s a gorgeous behind-the-scenes video showing Florrie at work:

Regular MM readers will know that I’m not generally a drugstore girl. I’m not a big cosmetics bargain hunter as I’ve tried a lot of the cheaper lines and found the pigmentation quality insufficient for my makeup work, and thus most cheaper makeup has no place in my kit, or my makeup bag.

The two exceptions to this rule are MyFace cosmetics, and Revlon. I do love a bit of Revlon (always have, ever since I used to fantastise about being one of the most Unforgettable Women in the World when becoming a woman was far in the future). I think the products are great quality, well priced, and practically and elegantly packaged. I love the work of their Creative Director, Gucci Westman, who has been working hard to make the brand more glamorous and more practical for modern women (her Multi-Use palettes are a work of genius). I also love that they were one of the first companies that banned animal testing, so they get serious kudos for that as well in my book, and I’m a fan of their new animal-friendly and beautiful Revlon faces, Olivia Wilde and Emma Stone.

So I was pretty excited when I got the chance a couple of years ago to work on the Revlon Age Defy TV commercial in London, assisting Kay Montano, who has made something of a specialty in working with the original supermodels. Not only is it an iconic makeup brand, but it starred none other than the original Aussie supermodel, Elle Macpherson. This was a woman who I used to plaster my school books with, who epitomizes outdoor Australian beauty, the ultimate girl next door (if you happen to live next door to Glamazonia).

It turns out, Elle is lovely. We swapped holiday plans with children – her, skiing in Aspen, me, bike riding with my son in Wandsworth Park. Both Australian, both working mums, we had A LOT in common, let me tell you. And if I look that good at 48, I’ll be one happy woman.

Shot by Jake Nava (of Beyonce’s Single Ladies video fame), and Kay’s makeup as immaculate as ever it was a blissful, easy day of shooting on a country estate outside London. One of those days that just doesn’t feel like work.

So when in the makeup trailer Elle told me that the Age Defy foundation was one of her favourite Revlon products and one she uses herself, I had to check it out. The makeup trailer is where you get the real deal, the behind the scenes action and the type of gossip – well let’s just say it STAYS in the makeup trailer. No PR teams, no camera crews, and no reason to say it if it ain’t true. To get a genuine celeb endorsement of a product is rarer than you think.

Age Defy is a very creamy, moisturizing foundation with a dewy finish – a little bit like an MM fave, Chanel Vitalumiere. I like to apply it with my fingers and go lightly, just where needed as I find that a heavy application can look like too much on the skin. With a light application it gives great coverage and the extra moisture that dry or older skin needs. It’s not oil-free, so if you have oily skin this wouldn’t be one for you, and I do like to give it a loose powder afterwards. It has a decent range of shades (although to be honest if you have a very deep skin tone, you won’t meet your match here. Try MAC, Illamasqua or Becca instead).

Age Defy has been developed for more ‘mature’ skins – and when you reach that age bracket, you will know about it. You want a foundation that is going to slip on the skin, and have a slight luminosity to disguise those incipient wrinkles (let’s call a spade a spade, it’s not an “expression line, it’s a wrinkle) and any discolorations that are another one of those joys of aging. I’ve tried it and liked it, and I think that if your budget is more Superdrug than Harvey Nichols, it’s a fantastic foundation in that price point. Elle MacPherson loves it and if it makes me look anything like her – Unforgettable indeed.

www.revlon.com

Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes of the Age Defy commercial I worked on with Kay:

Love this new Burberry Body ad with the divinely radiant English supermodel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Shot by Mario Testino, with makeup by Charlotte Tilbury and music by The Feeling, it’s as beautiful as we have come to expect from this legendary British brand.

www.burberry.com

I never blog about my brushes, (not because I don’t love them, because I do – the same way I love macaroons, vintage Brooke Shields and moon bears, which is to say A LOT) but because blogging about them is like blogging about my own arms – they are so much a part of me that it almost seems silly to talk about them.

However when I come across something new that I haven’t seen before, I feel honour bound to tell you all. This is my new dude in my extensive brush collection – it’s Benefit’s Powder Shadow brush from their new range of brushes. This brush is noteworthy as it’s great for laying down shadow. Sounds boring, I hear you ask? Well a good lay down brush is surprisingly hard to find these days, as you want one that is dense and soft, where the bristles aren’t too long (as then it blends instead of laying down product). MAC do a few, Laura Mercier does a good one and I have a bunch left over from makeup college, but of late I have been very short of a good lay down brush. The Benefit brush is very soft as they’re made of real hair, yet the bristles are just the right length to do the job, and as a double extra added bonus, it’s slanted, so if you wish to buff in a liner it’s perfect for that. It’s also quite genius as a crease brush too, so it can do double-duty in your makeup bag.

The new line of Benefit brushes is reasonably priced (which is nice as brushes can be very expensive), and I’m quite keen to try some more of them on for size. Because, as with vintage Brooke Shields, so it is with makeup brushes – you can never have enough.

Here’s Brooke in Louis Malle’s 1978 classic, Pretty Baby so you can see what I mean – the Benefit Powder Eyeshadow brush you’ll have to get on your own.

www.benefitcosmetics.com

Makeup by Kay Montano using Illusions D’Ombres De Chanel Autumn Collection

Kay recently shot the beautiful actress Freida Pinto for the cover of Instyle magazine, and Kay told me this about what she used to enhance her already naturally gorgeous good looks:

“Freida has truly perfect skin, a perfect pout & Bambi eyes – she’s a make-up artist’s dream! I wanted to make the most of her natural beauty by emphasising, not recreating any of her features.

I used the most sparing amount of foundation, leaving most of her face transparent & clear with a minimal amount of translucent powder on her ‘T’ zone only.

I kept her skin dewy looking with L’Oreal Hydrafresh moisturiser and L’Oreal True Match Liquid foundation in C2 Rose Vanilla so that when I added the Chanel Rose Ecrin blush her skin had a genuine looking glow.

I lined Frieda’s upper eyes with Chanel’s eye pencil in Brown & smudged in with my fingertips. Then, using a round, short haired brush, I applied the new Chanel Illusion D’Ombre in Ebloui over the lash line & blended until smoky. This product has the most extraordinary texture, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before but the real beauty of it is how easy it is to use, smoky eyes are made easy at last!

New Chanel eyelash curlers arrived at the studio so I got those out straight away followed by lashings of Chanel Inimitable Obscure Mascara in Black.
Freida’s pout needs no definition so I kept the emphasis on the eyes by using a subtle slick of Chanel’s Glossimer For Lips in Braise.”

Check out the Behind the Scenes video of the Instyle shoot:

I found this lovely video of Alexa Chung, with makeup done by celebrity makeup artist, Florrie White (who I used to assist in London). Find out why everyone loves Alexa…

How major is this Paris Vogue video of Anja Rubik, Isabeli Fontana and Natasha Poly? Shot by Inez and Vinoodh – Happy Tuesday!

Feast your eyes on the incomparable Natalie Portman as she stars in the new ad campaign for Miss Dior Cherie, shot by English photographer, the wonderful and whimsical Tim Walker. I had the privilege of working with Tim Walker a number of times in London as I assisted his main makeup artist Sam Bryant for shows and big campaigns. The most memorable occasion was shooting in a field of roses with a giant skeleton hanging from a crane for US Harper’s Bazaar! Oh who am I kidding – it’s always memorable shooting with Tim Walker. This ad campaign is gorgeous, and Natalie looks luminous as always. Music by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin – how can you go wrong?