The Makeup Mole

Kay Montano loves an Icon – and really, who doesn’t? Beautiful 60′s chanteuse France Gall is her inspiration this week with a black liner that puts the Eye in Icon. Enjoy.

Über makeup artist Kay Montano shows us how it’s done in her gorgeous new tutorial for Because London, in a video with more than a nod to Josephine Baker. Love the model, love the modern take on metallics, and yes I WILL be most definitely needing those new Armani Eyes to Kill shadows, thank you very much.

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: