Photo: Imaxtree

Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquière went for avant-garde makeup both this season and last, but each had decidedly different vibes. While his spring 2010 models resembled futuristic warriors with their graphic black eye makeup and neon shadow, the fall 2010 Balenciaga girl appeared more classic, save for a dash of unexpected pastel color across the brow.

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This week, a 37-year-old Florida woman caused a car accident…because she was shaving her bikini line while driving, in preparation for meeting up with her boyfriend. (If that’s not weird enough, she did it with her ex-husband in the passenger seat.) I admit that back in my car-driving days, I occasionally applied lipstick at a red light. That’s pretty tame compared to the beauty acts I’ve witnessed from other drivers, from flossing (the grossest) to applying mascara (the most dangerous). My rule on en-route primping is: don’t apply anything while moving, especially nothing on the eyes, because it leads to nightmarish visions of me (or the driver, if I’m sitting shotgun) slamming on the brakes, sending that kohl pencil right into my eyeball. Ack! Now that I ride the subway to work, I see even more public makeup applications; it’s safer, but not less crude. Female commuters stick mostly to eyes and lips, though I have seen a woman painting her nails (the smell in the train car made me lightheaded) and a man clipping his (um, barf).

We all know it’s dangerous to do anything but drive while driving. But admit it—what primping have you done (or witnessed) in planes, trains, or automobiles?

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

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Are you an excited beauty pageant contestant?  Congratulations and best wishes to you for a successful pageant!  Now, about showcasing your beautiful face….
 
Do you know how to apply your own makeup so it looks ‘professionally done’? 
Do you know which lip, eye and cheek colors will flatter you and your dress color?  
Do you know which products and colors will show up on stage and on camera, without looking overdone? 
Do you know where to find an online resource for makeup tips and guidance to help you create your very own ’show-stopping’ makeup look?  
 
One of the most important, on-going skills a pageant contestant can possess is understanding how to apply and adapt her makeup, not only during each segment of pageant competition, but for any occasion.  Looking ‘camera-ready’ for those important personal appearances, impromptu photos or TV interviews is necessary for a successful pageant contestant and winner.   (continued below)     
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Attention Beauty Pageant Contestants:  We are offering a Coupon that can be redeemed for a FREE full-size product with first order.  Please contact us to receive this valuable coupon!   

Attention Pageant Directors:  For all your contestants, please contact us to obtain Coupons that can be redeemed for a FREE full-size product with first order! 

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“Many young women want the self-confidence that learning how to apply their makeup will give them – whether they wish to create a fresh, natural look or all-out red carpet glamour for a big night on stage.  Mastering their makeup abilities can be especially important to contestants preparing for beauty pageants, giving them extra confidence when presenting themselves to the judges,” says Jennifer Kalman, Commercial Makeup Artist.
 
Some beauty pageants do not have access to a professional makeup artist, therefore each contestant is responsible for applying her makeup suitable for her age and outfit.  But how to achieve professional results without professional guidance?   One online makeup resource is especially useful for pageant contestants, showing how to: 
 
- Select lip, eye and cheek colors to coordinate with the colors they are wearing…avoid makeup colors that clash with the dress.  
- Find highly-pigmented makeup color products that are ‘camera ready’ for stage, photos and videos…avoid ‘washed-out’ photos!
- Locate and print online how-to-apply makeup tips, techniques and directions to use as a reference guide during makeup application 
- Skillfully blend eye shadows to enlarge, contour and brighten the eyes
- Apply false eyelashes  
- Define and add fullness to the lips
- Find help from a professional makeup artist if they have a specific makeup question.
 
The solution is an online makeup resource for pageant contestants interested in refining their makeup skills!  This online resource shows specially-selected makeup tones to match their dress, identifying high-pigment lip, eye and cheek color products, all shown in a fresh Natural Look or a glamorous Dramatic Look.  The packages are complete with illustrations showing where to apply the high-pigment makeup colors and how to blend them.  On the site, pageant contestants can also join the “Make Me Dazzle” club to gain special website access to advanced makeup tips, techniques and instruction to help them showcase their beauty!  This online resource is similar to having your own personalized makeup lesson with a professional makeup artist! 
 
Make sure YOU steal the spotlight every time!

Here at Allure, the Oscars are practically our Superbowl. Not so much for the ceremony and the speeches, but for the hair, makeup, and dresses. We’re counting down the hours until kickoff, a.k.a., the red carpet, and dying to see stars like Diane Kruger, Zoe Saldana, and Emily Blunt. These women also had some major beauty moments on screen—check them out here, tune in to the show, and follow us on Twitter for updates all night long.

RELATED LINKS:
· The Top 9 Big-Screen Beauty Moments of the Year
· The Best and Worst Oscar Beauty Moments of the Decade
· The Top 10 Oscar Beauty Trends

PHOTO: UNIVERSAL PICTURES/THE KOBAL COLLECTION

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If Belle de Jour’s Séverine Serizy suddenly found herself living in the mid-1990s, we have a feeling she’d look a lot like the models on the Nina Ricci runway. Makeup artist Pat McGrath and hairstylist Guido lightened up the notion of ’60s French glamour with neutral makeup and a roughed-up version of the teased bouffant.

To create a look that was polished but didn’t scream “makeup,” McGrath used muted tones and focused on making every feature look flawless. “It’s about hyper-perfection—perfect skin, perfect brows, and perfect cheeks,” she said backstage. She blended a soft brown cream shadow all around the eyes for a hint of smokiness, then gave the cheeks a bit of rosy color. Brows were filled in and defined, but there wasn’t any other color on the face.

Guido whipped up a more relaxed version of ’60s big hair. “We’re doing the shape of a sophisticated lady’s hairdo, but making the texture a little grungy, which gives it a cooler feeling that’s not so ‘done.’” Guido worked Redken Aerate 08 Bodifying Cream-Mousse through dry hair at the crown, rustled it around with his fingers while blow-drying to add volume, then teased the hair at the crown and draped the front and sides back over the heightened hair. The ends were left natural and piece-y, and he set everything with Redken Forceful 23 Super Strength Finishing Spray. With the understated makeup, the overall look was done-up without being heavy. Which is just how we like it.

RELATED LINKS:
· Designer Faces: The Latest Runway Beauty.

PHOTO: WWD

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The best just got better—both L’Oréal and Nars debut new versions of top-sellers (and ELLE editor favorites) this month: L’Oréal True Match Roller Perfecting Roll On Makeup delivers its perfect formula with a pint-size paint-roller, and Nars—a brand that sells two Orgasm products in the U.S. every minute—gives women a fuller flush with its Orgasm Illuminator, a sheer liquid glow for the face.

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Fresh off a No Doubt reunion tour and the spring show of her fashion line, L.A.M.B., Gwen Stefani touched down in New York recently to introduce the latest iteration of her Harajuku Girls fragrance franchise (this time, the fab five are reimagined as tanned, bikiniclad Sunshine Cuties). An inspiring blend of superstar and supermom, Stefani was in full regalia—sharp brows, pink-painted lips, gobs of gold jewelry—while Zuma, her faux-hawked one-year-old (“my bunny,” Gwen cooed), attempted a sweet escape from her lap.

Fans love that your look wasn’t dreamed up by some music exec. It’s authentic.
No Doubt was together for nine years before we even got on the radio, and I’ve looked pretty much the same since the beginning. In one of the first interviews I ever did, I’m sitting on the floor, gluing together this jailbird costume—basically the same one I wore two years ago in the “Sweet Escape” video. I still use the same references: old Hollywood– Marilyn, chola girls, Anaheim girls, English schoolgirls, and Japanese Harajuku.

You seem to have an abiding love affair with Japan.
Whatever trend is happening there, it’s everywhere—like, oh my God, lots of zippers! I look at millions of Japanese magazines, and my design associate goes there on inspiration trips. I’ll be in bed at 11 p.m. and she’s sending me pictures: “Want this $350 fleece motorcycle jacket for [son] Kingston?” I’m like, “Yes, he definitely needs a $350 motorcycle jacket—not.”

Was the makeup at your spring runway show inspired by your own look?
I’ve basically done the same makeup since ninth grade: eyeliner, a strong brow, not much eye shadow, and red lips. For the show, we did the big, thick liner I’ve always done, but in pop colors: red, blue, and
yellow. I thought it was going to look tough, but under the lights, it was soft, pretty.

What’s the secret to doing your own makeup on tour?
Sweatproofing. I don’t know how many calories I must burn every night. I’m dying up there! You can get waterproof stuff at the beauty supply, but it’s mainly about layering. And double lashes: I stick two rows of false lashes together. Luckily on this tour, I had a little break to go backstage and re-spackle.

Do you ever leave the house without makeup?
I’m not in full-on makeup every day, but my husband and I just had our seventh anniversary—he makes an effort for me, I make an effort for him. It doesn’t take me very long. I’m fast!

Well, you have professional experience, right?
When I was 20, I worked in a department store—basically a mature women’s shop with, like, polyester slacks. The clothes were horrible, but I really enjoyed helping women pick outfits. Later, I graduated
to be one of the stuck-up girls at the makeup counter, which was a big deal. I never thought I’d get there [laughs]. I got to smell all the fragrances and be with all the pretty girls and intimidate everybody. Well, I didn’t, but they did.

Where are you headed next?
Back into the studio for a new No Doubt album…I hope. I’ve had writer’s block for a while, maybe because I was too homebound. How was I supposed to be modern when I was sitting there with this postpregnancy body, in the house, banging my head against the wall? On tour, I freed that all up and got inspired.

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An extra incentive to take up journaling, Le Labo The Notebook releases a rich, smoky fragrance with every stroke of the pen. “We encapsulated our perfume Santal 26 in the pages,” says Fabrice Penot, creator of Le Labo. Each notebook is handcrafted in France from natural, eco-friendly materials.

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Bored with the same old buns? So were we. But these four great hairstyles (straight from the NYC runways!) are inspiring us to try something new.

Michael Kors: These roughed up ponytails (see one, above) might just convince us to give frizz a chance. To create them, hairstylist Orlando Pita sprayed the hair with T3 Elevate, then backcombed lightly. He then pulled the hair into a tight, low ponytail, and backcombed the front for a pretty, wind-blown look.

Thakoon: Leave it to hairstylist Eugene Souleiman to make messy hair actually look super sexy. “The look is really disheveled, savage, and raw,” he said. “We wanted the girls to look like they had a really nice blow dry destroyed by a night out.” To get the bad-hair-day-gone-good feeling, he pinned the hair up in layers, then curled every other section with a 1.5 inch curling iron for a dual-textured effect before pinning them up. Just before show time, he unpinned the curls, then doused the roots of the hair with talcum powder to add volume and texture. (In real life, we’d suggest skipping the powder—or going with a dry shampoo like Oscar Blandi Pronto Spray instead.)

Zac Posen: These are the waves we wish we were born with. But since we weren’t, hairstylist Odile Gilbert showed us how to get them. She parted the models’ hair down the middle, then curled it, leaving the ends free. She finished up by using a Mason Pearson brush to loosen the curls and add lots of gorgeous movement, before misting on a strong-hold hair spray.

Anna Sui: Here we saw solid proof that straight hair doesn’t have to be boring. To get the sleek, sexy look, hairstylist Garren pinned up the models’ hair, then took it down slowly, working with tiny sections. He brushed each section with a rat-tail comb, then flat ironed the hair before brushed it through again. He finished off with a misting of Garren New York Designing Spray Tonic.

RELATED LINKS:
· Daily Beauty Reporter: Backstage Beauty: The 4 Best Makeup Looks From New York City.
· Designer Faces: The Latest Runway Beauty.
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From the Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From 3.1 Phillip Lim’s Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From Anna Sui’s Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From the Marchesa Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From Peter Som’s Fall 2010 Runway Show

PHOTO: WWD

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Backstage at Reed Krakoff, we chatted with hairstylist Guido Palau to find out his thoughts on the hair we’ve seen so far at New York Fashion Week. “Natural texture is the new straight hair for New York this season. It’s easy to do and not forced looking. Women have spent so much time straightening and ironing their hair, they don’t even remember what their natural texture looks like.” His secret texture-inducing weapon? Redken Style Connection Wool Shake 08 Gel-Slush Texturizer (one of three new products out soon). “I’m spraying it onto the models’ dry hair and letting it dry naturally.” And, with just a few tousles…voila.

RELATED LINKS:
· Daily Beauty Reporter: Allure’s New York Fashion Week Scoop
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From Marc Jacobs’s Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From Carolina Herrera’s Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From Zac Posen’s Fall 2010 Runway Show
· Designer Faces: Hair and Makeup From DKNY’s Fall 2010 Runway Show

PHOTOS: JESSICA PRINCE

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