Tag Archives: Illamasqua

The Interview – Alex Box

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Alex BoxThis is a lady who really needs no introduction, and I am very proud to include her in my Interviews. She is the most creative of makeup artists, the Creative Director of Illamasqua Cosmetics and a regular contributor to Italian Vogue, I-D, Numero and Harper’s Bazaar, to name but a few. She works with photographers like Nick Knight and Karl Lagerfeld and her work is renowned across the world for it’s completely iconoclastic and other-worldly approach to beauty. It’s makeup, but not as we know it.

On a personal level I have assisted Alex for over six years now in London, Paris (and even Sydney!) and she really is magic with a brush. Her makeup truly is art, and she is still one of the most wonderful, down to earth (and hilarious!) people I know. Without further ado, I give you The Interview:

1) What are you working on at the moment?

MY DRAWINGS. RESEARCHING AND COLLECTING MY THOUGHTS TOGETHER FOR ILLAMASQUA’S SPRING SUMMER COLLECTION AND TOP SECRET PROJECT THAT COMES OUT NEXT YEAR, BOTH INCREDIBLY EXCITING. I’M ALWAYS JOTTING DOWN IDEAS OR DRAWING LOOKS ON THE BACK OF SOMETHING OR IN MY SKETCH BOOK, I’VE ALWAYS WRITTEN INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES OR WORDS TO PROMPT ALTERNATIVE AVENUES OF THOUGHT, INSTEAD OFJUST CUTTING OUT PICTURES ALL THE TIME, BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT ALLOWS YOU TO GO OFF IN YOUR OWN WORLD MORE. MY HOUSE LOOKS LIKE A CRAFT SHOP AT THE MOMENT AND I KEEP FINDING DOUBLE SIDED GLITTER TAPE IN THE MOST UNUSUAL PLACES!

2) Favourite makeup job ever?

Alex BoxTHATS EXTREMELY HARD, I ALWAYS LIKE TO SAY ‘THE BEST ONE IS THE NEXT ONE’, I DONT LOOK BACK MUCH, I’M ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT HOW MY OWN PRACTICE COULD EVOLVE AND BE IMPROVED OR FIND A NEW TECHNIQUE , THE HOLY GRAIL OF MAKEUP, THE PERFECT MOMENT. AS A BODY OF WORK DOING THE BOOK WAS DEFINITELY A FAVOURITE, IT WAS AN OPEN SKETCH BOOK, I TURNED UP AND WHATEVER WAS IN MY HEAD THAT DAY, THAT’S WHAT WE SHOT…THEN I WOULD GO HOME AND WORK ON THE DRAWINGS. I THINK ALONE DRAWING AND BEING ALONE PAINTING ON A MODEL AND BEING INSPIRED BY HER FACE AND ENERGY IS MY FAVOURITE…

3) Top 5 products?

THAT QUESTION ALWAYS FREAKS ME OUT BECAUSE I NEVER USE THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER, I’M A MAGPIE AND A HOARDER AND WILL USE BEAUTIFUL PIGMENTED LUXURY MAKEUP AT THE SAME TIME AS CHEAP HORROR KIDS FACE PAINTS…FORCED TO CHOSE I’D SAY…..

  • ILLAMASQUA EYESHADOWS AND BLUSHERS
  • ILLAMASQUA SATIN PRIMER
  • MAC BEAUTY POWDERS
  • LAURA MERCIER SECRET BRIGHTEN POWDERS
  • BLACK AND LOVELY COLOURED HAIR SPRAYS

4) Best makeup tip ever?

BOLDNESS OF ATTACK, LET YOUR MIND AND SPIRIT BE FREE, THERE ARE ‘NO RULES’, YOU ARE YOUR OWN CREATION.

5) How did you get started in the business?

I WAS AN ARTIST WORKING PRIMARILY ON INSTALLATIONS USING THE BODY AS THE CENTER OF THE ART, AND MY FRIEND INTRODUCED ME TO A FASHION DESIGNER WHO USED DANCERS INSTEAD OF MODELS MUCH LIKE LEIGH BOWERY AND MICHEL CLARK. I DESIGNED THE MAKEUP LOOK FOR THE SHOW AND THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE SEEING MY WORK IN THAT CONTEXT I BECAME A MAKEUP ARTIST. MY ART WORK IN THE FRAME OF FASHION BECAME ‘MAKEUP’.

6) How is it different to when you started?

YOU ARE MUCH MORE VISIBLE NOW, THE BUSINESS IS ALMOST TRANSPARENT, THE RISE OF BACK STAGE FILMING ETC AND NEED FOR CONTENT HAS MADE AN UNSEEN WORD PERMEABLE. I DO LAMENT THIS BECAUSE THE WORLD OF FASHION NEEDS IT SECRETS, THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT ALLURING, WITHOUT MYSTERY YOU HAVE NO MAGIC WITHOUT MAGIC YOU HAVE NO BELIEF.

7) What do you love doing in your spare time?

RUNNING, DRAWING, STARING INTO SPACE, TAKING CLOSE UP MICRO PHOTOS OF NATURE. MAKING SURE I TAKE IN THE ‘DETAILS OF LIFE’…

8) What are your favourite looks for the coming Autumn/Winter season?

I DONT REALLY PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO LOOKS…I NEVER KNOW WHAT TO SAY HERE….I JUST WANT TO SEE THE ‘LOOK’ OF CONVICTION AND CONFIDENCE REGARDLESS HOW YOU CHOSE TO PAINT YOUR FACE.

Here is Illamasqua’s new Brand Film as well, explaining their roots in sub-culture and pre-war Berlin. And frankly any makeup film that references Fritz Lang’s Metropolis – well I’m in!

Stop Press: Kelly Cutrone Book Signing at Illamasqua Flagship Store

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Kelly Cutrone IllamasquaKelly Cutrone, star of MTV’s The Hills and The City, and now with her own show, Kell on Earth, will be signing copies of her memoir at the Illamasqua flagship store at 20 Beak St, London, W1, on Monday the 18th October between 5 and 6.30 pm.

Kelly’s pull-no-punches New York bestselling memoir, “If You Have to Cry, Go Outside (And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You)” combines personal and professional anecdotes that share her stories for success whilst remaining true to yourself. All profits from the book sales at the signing will go to the S.O.P.H.I.E charity, to benefit the Sophie Lancaster foundation.

Kelly will also be working on some exciting upcoming projects in the US with Illamasqua and their US retail partner Sephora. Watch this space!

Illamasqua Launch the Art of Darkness Collection

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When Alex Box was in Sydney a couple of months ago, she first told me about the new collection and I was hooked from her description – graphic gold liquid eyeliner, jewel toned pigments and BLUE LIPSTICK! Oh sweet heaven I have been looking for a great blue lipstick for years, never being able to find one that actually felt like a lipstick (not a gloss or a sheer lipstick, but a straight up out of the bullet, true blue colour). When I saw some of the pre-release imagery I nearly passed out as it was like some mad makeup World of Warcraft, a world that I never knew could exist, but the world of Illamasqua and their creative director, Ms Box, made reality.

Here are some of the campaign images and the film – enter a world where makeup has never gone before…

Illamasqua Launch at the Myer Spring/Summer Parade in Sydney

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Illamasqua makeup for Myer by makeup artist Alex BoxThursday’s fashion parade for Myer’s Spring/Summer collections was all glitter and mayhem backstage, with 22 makeup artists, 75 models, 7 manicurists and a veritable fleet of hairdressers all working their creative magic to make the girls look breathtaking.

New makeup kid on the block, Illamasqua, just arrived from the UK and selling like the proverbial hotcakes at Myer, was sponsoring the show so we were using all of their products to create the looks. We were also fortunate enough to have the Illamasqua creative director, Alex Box, here to direct the show, which is a rare treat.

I’ve assisted Alex in London and Paris for a long time so I was heading up the Ready to Wear section of the parade whilst she was looking after the Avant Garde Gold section. Dressed in the season’s hottest trend of nude dresses the models literally looked like they’d swum out of a golden, glittery sea. Genius hairdresser Brad Ngata did an amazing job on the hair, which was either loose, gorgeous and sexy hair for the Ready to Wear models, or for the golden girls slicked back with gold leaf through it.

We were lucky to get some of Sydney’s top makeup artists to work on the show as many of them are fans of Alex’s editorial work, so backstage it was lovely to see some of our major makeup stars working side by side.

Illamasqua very kindly gave every artist a full set of Illamasqua brushes so we were all getting into those, particularly the Contour and Buffing Brushes. I love the feel as they are made of synthetic fibres so they are cruelty free, super soft and easy to clean. This was big makeup so we put those bad boys to work!

Both the looks were heavily contoured so we used cream foundation to perfect their skin, and then spent quite a bit of time buffing in contouring and highlighting powders (key to both looks was the layering of products). Here is a breakdown for Alex Box’s Gold Avant Garde Goddesses.

Illamasqua Avant Garde Gold
All products are by Illamasqua

Face

  • Flatten brows against the skin using soap and a toothbrush to create an exaggerated bushy shape
  • Illamasqua Satin Primer all over face
  • Using Illamasqua cream foundation about two shades darker than their natural skintone, start bronzing the skin with the Foundation brush.
  • Contour the skin using Illamasqua Rumour powder blush (a grey tone) then work into the same area with Disobey Powder blush, a biscuit colour, using the Blush Brush 2 over the brow, up into the temples, under the chin and down in to the neck. The combination of colours is what brings dimension to the face.
  • Using Illamasqua Bronzer duo in Glint/Burnish, dust the dark side of the bronzing duo over the same contoured area again.
  • Use the lighter side of the Bronze duo Glint/Burnish, fill in the areas of the face that weren’t covered with the contour/bronzer to start bringing radiance to the centre of the face.
  • Using Create blush, go over the chin, forehead, neck, ears and cheek area using wide, sweeping motions and a Blush Brush 1 brush, but avoiding the nose.
  • Take Marvel pigment and a Blush Brush 1 brush to go over the whole face, but adding more gold through the centre of the face. Work gradually to build the colour.

Eyes

  • Illamasqua Wolf Powder shadow is used first to get the shape of the eye, creating a strong contour shape up into the crease and over the lid. Take the Wolf shadow quite high on the crease, and use an Eyeshadow Brush to smudge underneath eye to make a dramatic round shaped eye.
  • Using Gimp shadow, a matte black, go over the whole lid and up into the crease, with the Eyeshadow Brush, and under the eye as well. Make sure it is stronger on the outer 2/3rds and up into the crease area for extra drama. Soften the outer edges with a Blend Brush 1 underneath so it blends in with the gold on the cheeks.
  • Line waterline with black Sophie pencil and smudge all around eye. Blend in well with the Gimp shadow.
  • Spatter Solstice Liquid Metal (Gold) on inner eye corners and tear ducts using fingers and a Lip Brush. It should cover the inner 1/3 of the eye, and look quite organic. Take under the inner eye corner as well with the Lip Brush.
  • Gold Marvel pigment goes over this, with the same Lip Brush.
  • Harness mascara (black) top and bottom lashes
  • No 13 lash is applied to top lashes.
  • Use Gimp shadow with Eyeshadow brush along the upper lashline to make sure there are no gaps in the black
  • Illamasqua Android pigment goes on the outer corner of the lid, just up to where it meets the gold on the inner corners, with Eyeshadow Brush
  • Solstice Liquid Metal is painted all over neck, body and ears with Foundation brush.
  • Spatter large craft glitter in gold randomly over hairline and neck and shoulders

Lips

  • Gold highlight lip using Solstice Liquid Metal on cupid’s bow and Lipliner Brush.
  • Add Brilliant clear gloss with Marvel pigment in it with fingers in the centre of lips.

Stop Press! Alex Box runs a 2nd Master Class in Sydney

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Alex Box's beauty shoot - Japanese Vogue

Most of you will no doubt know by now that makeup master Alex Box is in Sydney this week for the launch of her makeup brand, Illamasqua, at the upcoming Myer show. It’s been a pretty action-packed few days but yesterday’s Hair and Makeup trial for the show was an amazing experience – the glitter came out and Alex put her brushes and the full Illamasqua palette to work.

A very rare opportunity has come up as part of this visit – Alex will be conducting Master Classes this Saturday, 31st of July at the Myer store in Sydney, so if you want to learn makeup from one of the world’s best makeup artists, this is your chance. The cost is $95, redeemable in Illamasqua product, and after yesterday’s makeup fun-fest I can tell you I have a wish-list as long as my right arm! I found out today there are only a couple of spaces left, so for bookings call 1800 661 210.

Stop Press! Illamasqua Makeup Amnesty

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illamasquaWhat a genius idea – cult UK makeup brand Illamasqua has come up with a way for you to clear out your old makeup and embrace the extraordinary.

Bring in your old makeup (that can be in any condition, including smashed, broken or just plain out of fashion), and replace with fresh, spanking new Illamasqua products at 25% off! There is no limit to how many pieces you can bring in and it’s 25% off ANY Illamasqua product – so if that isn’t a good excuse to go and refresh your makeup bag, I don’t know what is. My current favourite is their Liquid Metals palette.

This offer runs from the 17th to the 31st July at the following counters in the UK – Selfridges Oxford St, Trafford Centre, Birmingham Bullring, Fenwick Newcastle, BT2 Grafton St Dublin, Debenhams Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff.

Unfortunately it doesn’t run on their online shop, but to whet your appetite go to www.illamasqua.com

The Return of Lipstick

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There is a bonafide revolution going on in makeup halls not just around the country, but around the world – Lipstick is Back.

Relegated to the status of a makeup also ran since, ooh, about 1999, when gloss usurped its position as women’s choice of lip enhancer, lipstick has quietly been easing its way back into our lives.

For me the tide turned on a shoot with David Bailey over a year ago – Kay Montano had these beautiful, creamy lipsticks from Bobbi Brown that she had been using on Nicole Kidman (aptly named ‘Creamy Lipsticks’), and I fell in love all over again with their delicious texture and the fact that they were moisturizing and had a sheen on them, but no stickiness. Gloss had been feeling a little passé for awhile, but this was the first time I had tossed an actual lipstick in my handbag in years.

My gloss bag at work started to shrink, and my lipstick palettes increase. I was using bolder colors at work – bright oranges, corals, fuchsia, red in all its permutations from deep wine to eye-popping cherries and strawberries.

Then came the launch of Chanel’s Rouge Coco lipstick in March this year with its ethereal image of Vanessa Paradis. Chanel’s Global Makeup artist, Peter Phillips, was so vocal in his championing of the forgotten makeup product, that it heralded something of a return. In the last couple of months it feels like every line is bringing lipstick back, and when the master of the fashion zeitgeist, Tom Ford, decides to launch a line of lippies, you know it’s a done deal.

My new-found love of lipstick has led me to try out quite a few lately, and my top winners at the moment are:

YSL Rouge Volupte – love the colours and they are super-creamy

Bobbi Brown – perfect for your natural lip shade but better

Chanel Rouge Coco – they really are as good as the buzz

Estee Lauder – if you’re re-investigating the classics, why not go to the source?

Illamasqua – For mouth-watering statement lip shades

NARS – from nudes to reds, his colour selection is unparalleled

MAC – like a lipstick candy store for grown ups

Lipstick is not just about applying lip colour – it’s an attitude, a feeling, a gift to yourself. It’s time (if you haven’t done so already), to make like a lady, and get yourself a lipstick.

Stop Press! Cult Makeup Brand Illamasqua Are Coming to Australia

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Illamasqua Australia

Great excitement at MM HQ! Illamasqua, the incredible UK makeup brand with an almost evangelical cult following in the UK and US (where they sell nationwide through Sephora) is launching in Australia in June. It caused a sensation when it launched in the UK last year with its theatrical grade pigment, amazing range of foundation shades (from pure white to dark chocolate), and its extraordinary aesthetic make it beloved of makeup heads everywhere.

Having worked with Alex Box, the brand’s Creative Director, for a number of years I can attest to the fact that no-one does avant-garde better than Alex (even, and I’m going to whisper here, because it’s heresy) Pat McGrath. Just witness some of the work from her best selling makeup book, The Makeup Artist, full of the most incredible and creative makeups. But Alex also does incredibly beautiful straight makeup as well. Last time when I worked with her in Paris, at Karl Lagerfeld’s studio for Numero magazine, she had Freja Beha, one of my favourite models and a Chanel muse, looking incredible in nothing but gleaming skin, contour and graphic eyeliner (and couture darling – needless to say!)

Alex’s creative approach to makeup infuses the whole brand – quality pigments in unique colours and finishes, an artistic sensibility and the idea that difference should be celebrated, diversity is wonderful and everyone should be able to express themselves with makeup – all ideas that I can fully get behind.

I for one can’t wait until it hits stores Australia-wide. It will be on counter in Myer as of the 21st of June. To whet your appetite, have a look at www.illamasqua.com, which is a dangerous site as they also ship internationally for those of you who just can’t wait!

New Collections – Illamasqua Body Electrics

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Illamasqua Body Electrics

Illamasqua Body Electrics

With summer on it’s way, even more exciting than getting out in the sun at lunchtime to eat your sandwiches is the new makeup collections coming out. The new Body Electrics collection by Illamasqua is based on body creams and kinetic energy, and if the videos and images are anything to go by, it is ace! The photos were shot by famed London based photographic duo Nick Thornton Jones and Warren du Preez (who I have also had the pleasure of working with on a number of occasions), and hair by the hair whisperer, James Pecis. Makeup of course is by makeup master chef, ALEX BOX. This is makeup for just the fun of it, and Illamasqua fans will be delighted to see a four palette of their Liquid metals in this collection – that’s right, gold, silver, bronze and frosty white, all in one handy little palette. Already, I’m I love. Plus the nail polishes – don’t get me started…

Here to get your pulses racing, I have for your enjoyment backstage footage of Body Electrics, and Alex talking about the inspiration for the collection.

Trends: Coral

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I don’t know about you guys, but I for one am Officially. Over. Winter. In my mind it’s done – I’m sick of the scarves and coats and hats and ready for some tropical style—ee warm weather.

So if I can’t have summer in actuality, I’m going to fake it. Which means getting into the color on everyone’s lips and cheeks. Yep, coral. A shade you might be frightened of, quite rightly, because you think “Oh my God, Nana”. But like lots of things (such as clogs and double denim) that are so wrong they’re right again, coral is the lip color for spring.

Why? Because it’s just really gorgeous and flattering, and it’s more interesting than pink and not as full on as red or orange, so you can feel like you’re making a statement and flirting with a trend yet not feeling like an escapee from Disney’s Small World. Coral is pretty, flattering and lady like. Call it the Mad Men effect.

It’s no longer a color for Mrs Slocum. It’s more a modern version of Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. (For really, who DOESN’T want to be cuddled up in a convertible with Cary Grant on the Riviera?)  It’s true, it’s a color that had its heyday in the 50’s and 60’s, called something clever like “Shrimp Cocktail”, and everybody’s gran had a tube of the stuff in their bathroom. But now with the improvements in technology and a wider range to cater for all skin tones, it’s possible to find a shade of peach for everyone.

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly

Corals to Covet

Bobbi Brown has a whole Coral collection out this season, called Cabo Corals. I’m loving the Cabo Coral Pot Rouge, which is the yellow-er sister to Calypso Coral Pot Rouge (which has a bluer undertone.) Cabo Coral would be beautiful on anyone, but it’s gorgeous on deeper skin tones, and those with more yellow-ish skin. The Cabo Coral lipstick and the shimmery nectarine Sunset Beach gloss are pretty spesh as well. I even like them all together – call it the Double Coral Face! Bobbi Brown  Lip Crayon in Coral Pink is also on my wishlist – it’s gorge.

Benefit – Coralista blush, which came out last year but is still right on trend for 2010. We do love Benefit’s blushes,( although why they insist on calling them “Face Powders” is beyond me –  I think it’s confusing and misleading.) But call them a blush and they are DIVINE. Coralista  went straight into the Top Ten of Benefit’s prodiucts as soon as it was released, so I’m clearly not the only one with a love of all things peachy.

Illamasqua – Obey lipstick, the perfect 60’s peach lip and Excite powder blush, a vivid apricot, are my top shades in their range.

Paul & Joe Cheek cream in 03 – this gives you that watercolor, lit from within glow.

NARS – Casablanca and Barbarella lipsticks are both classic corals, plus the new Summer 2010 collection which I’m BEYOND excited by, has Love Devotion Lipstick, a sheer guava stain, and Enchanted, a coral cream blush (which J Lo, and  Zoe Saldana  wore to the Oscars.) And let’s face it, full monty coral needs luminous skin, so add a bit of Orgasm Illuminator whilst you’re at it. Oh and you could add NARS lipgloss in Orgasm whilst you were there. You know, if you wanted.

How to Wear It

Even though grannies are cool again (witness the incredible resurgence of grey hair and the lavender rinse that Kelly Osborne has been sporting lately), still there are limits to how Gran can you go? Let’s think about it instead as how Grace can you go?

So I would advise  going coral strongly only on one feature – for instance, if you’re sporting a coral cheek, just do a peachy stain on the lips, and vice versa. There is no need to become a Technicolor Shrimp Cocktail billboard! I love it with a soft, neutral shadow on the eye, something like NARS Cyprus or Estee Lauder Cinnamon single eyeshadow. And natch, neat brows, lovely skin and lots of ladylike lashes (but no clumps please, this is the Riviera).

Serendipitously, I found a video from the new NARS Youtube channel that is the look from the Autumn/Winter 2010 Marc Jacobs show that has, drumroll please, Lilac Eyes and Coral lips together in one look!