In Beauty

So I just purchased my copy of In Beauty's newest issue from Indigo, at $45.95 cad this magazine is quite an investment. However, it truly is an invaluable resource for makeup artists, hair stylists, or anyone who is interested in the beauty side of fashion. Inside you will find a city by city breakdown of all the hair/makeup looks from literally every single show for spring/summer 2010. The magazine even goes one step further and organizes all the major trends together. If you can justify the price tag, I highly suggest you run out and buy your own before they're gone!

Le Dessin, C'est Chic

I came across these perfect, minimalist fashion illustrations on my hard drive today. The artist is Garance Dore, I absolutley love how clean and precise her lines are. So much beauty is conveyed with such little use of line, texture or color. Here are a few more to enjoy:

Don't Let Shimmer Ruin Your Fun

A question was just posed to me recently " how do I keep shimmer from ending up all over my face, not just my eyes?". A common problem, rest assured here are three simple solutions:

1.Use an eyelid primer before applying shadow

2.Apply your eye makeup first, if using high shimmer/glitter shadow. your foundation will clean up any mess you happen to make.

3.Use a pigmentless, loose powder like Makeup Forever's HD microfinish powder, with a large fluffy brush to remove any stray particles. It will absorb excess oil, but won't add a visible layer of makeup to your face.

Genie In A Bottle

Urban Decay's eyeshadow primer potion $22.00 cad, is one of those rare products you will see vaunted on numerous blogs and videos across the net. A liquid base that dries down almost instantly it provides the perfect surface for your eyeshadow to adhere to. shadow will become vibrant, resist creasing, and last all day.

Glittery Eyes And Personality

The Makeup Geek shares a fun, flirty, glittery eye thats perfect for a night out. Isn't she just too adorable to watch, like in a Nigella Lawson kind of way?

All That Glitters

Check out Sephora.com and thier page dedicated to almost every conceivable way to wear glitter: eyes, lashes, lips, and more.

Grab Your Glitter Girls, This New Years Eve

There is no such thing as "less is more" this new years eve, that being true, one must still look attractive when all is said and done. To get a wearable version of this new year's ultra reflective glitter trend, diffuse a matte shadow like M.A.C.'s shadowy lady matte eyeshadow from lash line up slightly past your crease. Then top with a generous dusting of M.A.C.'s glitter in reflects gold. Finish with black eyeliner, 2 coats of mascara and shimmering pink lipgloss.

Conquer Redness!

Red in the face? Well luckily there are a few solutions in the fight for an even toned complexion. Here are some of the best ones to help you do just that.

1. Clinique Redness solutions daily relief cream $53.00 cad 2. Smashbox Photo finish primer in green $48.00 cad
3. Clinique Redness solutions instant relief mineral powder $39.50 cad 4. Thierry Mugler Bleu glacis cooling effect concealer $45.00 usd 5. Aveda Outer peace cooling mask $46.00 cad 6. Georgio Armani Master corrector in #4 $34 usd
7. La Roche Posay Rosiliac gelee micellar makeup removal gel $24.50 cad

Dior Show

Dior has recently added to their website a series of videos designed to teach a comprehensive array of makeup application technique. The features are divided into three categories: foundation, eyes, and lips, with piles of tips and techniques in each category.

Link: Dior makeup techniques

So Long Old Friend...

Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. has announced that the prescriptives line of cosmetics will be discontinued as of Jan 31st. Customers can still purchase product through thier website until backstock runs out. The line has been around for 3 decades, but has been underperforming in recent years. Follow the link for more information.

The Future Embrace

Visionaire magazine has just launched issue number 57, a plug in, digital 2010 calander/magazine. It contains 365 artworks, chosen by 52 curators including photographer Mario Testino and Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo. This calander is a harmonious fusion between art and technology, and if you can afford its price ($295 usd) a gorgeous collectors item as well.

Lash Blast

Women are always looking for the perfect mascara, and cosmetic companies are always inundating us with new and improved versions. Heres a smart way to try 10 of sephora's most popular mascaras without breaking the bank. Sephora's lashstash deluxe mascara sampler will run you $50 (a $104 value).

The Bronze Effect

Here once again is makeup artist Beau Nelson to show us how to properly apply bronzer. This basic technique can be used for all textures of product, cream, liquid or powder.

My Fair Lady

Bronzing correctly can be tricky for most. However, for those with fair, porcelain, or downright transparent complexions, bronzing can be absolutely anxiety causing. The goal with fair skin isnt really to "bronze" at all. The real objective is to warm the complexion, and also to add dimension to the face.

Contouring & Highlighting 101

Here is smashbox national makeup artist Hank Hoffman, to teach us the basics of contouring and highlighting. Remember, practice makes perfect, and once you master these techniques you really have the power to alter your's or anyone elses' face shape!

The Good, The Bad, and The Contoured

So I'm checking out the cover of Allure's January 2010 issue, (which by the way is absolutely packed with amazing product reviews and tips), and I noticed something odd about Jennifer Lopez's nose. Namely, the utter lack of contouring. Now Jlo is a stunning woman by any standard, however, I can't help but feel she was let down by either the lighting in this picture or her makeup. So I took it upon myself to crudely correct this oversight in photoshop, as to illustrate the power and importance of contouring and highlighting. On the left her nose looks rather blobish and spread out, on the right it appears slender and perky. Next post, a wonderful tutorial on exactly how to contour and highlight, for women in the real world without the benefit of photoshop!

Victoria's Secret Revealed

Just in time for the weekend, Charlotte Tilbury, one of fashion's leading makeup artists, demonstrates how to achieve an ultra glamorous, sexy, Victoria's Secret face. This is definitely for the girls who want to go out there and make a statement, go at it girls!

Multitasking Master

As much of a beauty junky that I am, I'm also paradoxically a firm believer in simplifying one's regime. That's why I'm always on the look out for products that can perform multiple tasks, this is truly the future of skincare. Enter Aveda's Enbrightenment Toner. Developed to even out skin tone by breaking up patches of overdeveloped melanin (the stuff that gives your skin color) Ive found, due to its high level of salicylic acid (3%) and anti inflammatory ingredients, it clears up acne, deep cleans pores, evens skin tone, increases cell turnover, and all without drying.

Chic Beats

The weekend is upon us my beauties, Here is a little getting ready music courtesy of a fabulous new artist named Jinder. Turn it up, grab your liquid liner, stilettos and sequins and party hard!

Liner Notes

As a makeup artist, one of the most difficult looks to master is the classic winged liquid eyeliner. The product used to achieve this look has itself gone through major metamorphosis over the course of its life. And clients often ask me, which is the best version to use, classic inky black liquid in a tube coupled with a hard brush, a gel or cream version in a pot, or a self dispensing pen? All three have their own strengths and challenges:

American Beauty

American Apparel has just entered into the beauty forum with an offering of nail polish. With 18 assorted shades to choose from, colors like Hassid (a blacky blue) and downtown LA (a bright red), you can now coordinate your leggings, T shirts, panties and nail polish! All are formaldehyde free and will set you back $6 a piece. Stay tuned for a perverted, somewhat creepy add campaign in the near future ; )

Scents and Sensuality

Etat Libre Has created quite arguably the world's most erotic and subversive collection of perfumes available anywhere. These perfumes and colognes have an incredibly strong cult following in Paris, and all over Europe for that matter. I just discovered Etat thanks to a client who returned from 6 months in Italy, and fell in love with Etat's olfactory expressionism. scents like Jasmine and cigarettes, Secretions Magnifiques, Putain des Palaces (hotel slut), Eloges traitre (such a traitor), all put an erotic spin on classic french perfume. They even have a perfume based on the works of Tom of Finland (if you know who he is, this warrants no further explanation. If you dont, then look him up!). A limited selection of Etat Libre is available at Murale http://www.murale.ca (shoppers drug mart's answer to sephora) at the shops on Don Mills, 1090 Don Mills Road.

Complexion Perfection

Here is a great tutorial on how to achieve a flawless natural looking complexion courtesy of smashbox lead makeup artist Lori Taylor. Beautiful skin is the most important part of any makeup regimen. I love smashbox photofinish primer, of all the primers Ive tried it really does outperform, the color correcting primers are absolutely divine and contain the perfect amount of pigment to help correct redness, sallowness, dullness or add bronzing.

Beautiful Music

In keeping with the holiday themed lips, here is a gorgeous Christmas song by the smashing pumpkins. It always puts a smile on my face, no matter how crusty I'm feeling, and seriously, the smashing pumpkins doing a christmas song? how utterly random, and equally delightfull!

Holiday Lips: Classic vs Modern

The holiday season is upon us, and what better way to celebrate than to break out your classic red lipstick? The absolute classic pinkish vibrant rouge being Chanel's coco red of course! however, for those a little more daring why not try something slightly more gothic and very mode indeed, like MAC's ultra matte deep plum lipstick in night violet. Both of course pair well with a generous amount of mascara and a clean fresh complexion.

Beauty Pioneer: Way Bandy

Before Pat mcgrath, Bobbi Brown, Gucci Westman, or Kevyn Aucoin there was Way Bandy. Way started his career in the 70's when makeup artistry was just beginning to come into its own as an artform. During this time it was common for models to be expected to do thier own makeup, Way was at the forefront of this paradigm shift, elevating the whole concept of a makeup artist. He continued to be at the top of the industry all through the 80s as well. He worked with all the top talent of his time: Farrah, Diana Ross, Paulina, Gia, Christie Brinkley, Linda, and Naiomi. Way died in 1986 at the age of 45 due to complications from AIDS, and the beauty industry lost one of its pioneers, but not before he radically improved the industry.

Eye-Tea Support

Not only does this stuff taste amazing, is certified organic, aids in digestion, it also makes an amazing depuffer and refresher for your eyes. Dip a cotton pad into Aveda Comforting Tea then place on eyes, and be amazed at the instant results!

Have Beauty, Will Travel

Forget wrapping all your cleansers, toners and specialty skin care products in plastic ziploc bags, packing for your next vacation just got a whole lot easier thanks to the Somme Institues five step regimen that contains a weeks worth of product in a super cute little plastic container. neat orderly and beautiful.

http://www.sommeinstitute.com/

Foundation Supreme

Of all the foundations I've tried and tested in my career as a makeup artist, one stands head and shoulders above the rest- Georgio Armani's luminous silk foundation. Truly a next generation foundation, developed by makeup artist extraordinaire Pat Mcgrath. It contains the highest quality ingredients, silk polymers and light refracting particles that create the optical illusion of glowing, radiant, perfect skin. It comes in 14 shades as well, so matching all skin tones is never a problem. Armani cosmetics are available exclusively at Holt Renfrew. http://www.giorgioarmanibeauty.com/

Perfect Smokey Eye

The ultimate smokey eye: Sexy, diffused, multi dimensional, and thanks to Beau Nelson's expert direction, easy as 1, 2, 3. This is my absolute favourite technique to creating that coveted oh so sultry look, infinitely adaptable to all eye colors and skin tones, have fun and experiment with color and texture.

Sex And The City 2

The Fab Ladies of NYC are back, and though I am a bigger fan of the show than the movie (it lost some of its edge and humour) I am delighted to see SJP looking so ferocious in this sublimley retouched movie poster.

The Tao Of Brow

Lets begin with the basics. The cornerstone of all beauty, the alpha and the omega, the all mighty brow. Our idea of what constitutes a "beautiful" brow has evolved over centuries, its shape has been drawn and redrawn as perceptions of beauty have changed, and as hierarchical structures in society have changed. However, as true as this may be, trendy eyebrows are rarely flattering. The best shape is the one that looks effortless in its perfection, provides strength, stability, and lift to the entire eye area. This is the essence of a truly modern brow: that it was created for you and only you. Thick or thin (though fuller is better) porportion is always key. Book yourself an appointment with a trained makeup artist, and let them perfect what nature gave you.