coutorture --

Birth of Venus

coutorture — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:25:36 -0700

Bringing out the soft side of an American beauty is an exciting prospect for a makeup artist. The temptation to rely on a spectrum of browns when presented with a face like Margaret Pridgen is strong. Her strong cheekbones, flowing curls, and blue blood coloring evoke barn jackets, feisty mares, and open country sides; all of which almost require liberal use of shades from chocolate to hay. With spring clothing that ranged from easy whites to eye catching metallics we knew we had to bring out the inner pale goddess in Margaret. And indeed, with the theme of birth and the sacrifices of spring in our shoot, it seemed only appropriate that we captured the emotion from an original birth. Our summoning of the goddess of beauty brought us an evocation of Botticelli's Birth of Venus. But unlike Botticelli, our Venus was just a little bit more misty thanks to liberal applications of shimmers, some pearlised colors, and naturally the silver clothing.

After cleansing Margaret’s face with hot water and olive oil (our favorite tip for nourishing all skin types, particularly oily ones that are not responding to other treatments) we applied a few dabs of Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in SC-1 for fair skin on a few trouble spots. Our Venus was on spring break from school in Massachusetts so the stress of finals had led to a few minor blemishes but nothing that secret camouflage couldn’t handle thanks to its two shade system that allowed us to match Margaret’s natural color and undertones. We swabbed her cheekbones, nose, and eye brow arches with MAC Strobe Liquid Lotion. The iridescent pigments gave us just the misty soft focus sheen we wanted. We then applied a light dusting of Therapy Systems Loose Mineral Foundation to even out the color. The final touch on her face was MAC Beauty Powder Blush in Joyous. The silky smooth texture combined with pearly particles gave us just the subtle color required. The pink of Joyous was a natural complement to the shimmer on her cheekbones and the metallics of her garments. We applied it lightly for a sheer look but it can easily be applied in layers for a more dramatic color.

To open her eyes we used Tarte Rest Assured Brightening Wand nude pink liner pencil around her tear ducts and to the inner rim of her eyelids. We then swiped its pink highlighter across her lids and under her eyebrows. We then layered in MAC’s Fascinating Eye Kohl in White (sadly sold out but if you want to experiment on the cheap try Rimmel Soft Kohl in Pure White) and MAC’s Eye Kohl in Mac Eye Kohl in Smolder to get a gray effect. The combination of the eye opener and various kohl gave us a dove gray that we couldn’t find easily anywhere else to match the coloring of the clothing. Finally we used our favorite Maybelline Great Lash in Very Black.

The final touch? Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Salmon. The semi-matte neutral gave Margaret a little polish without distracting from the overall look.

La Belle Dame sans Merci

coutorture — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:23:13 -0700

The promise of the new has its cost. Spring may be a time of fresh starts but birthing something new is no easy matter. The very newness of the season has its price. This spring it is pain and rawness that gives us the inspiration for the light and mesmerizing clothing of the season. Light textiles, cool colors, and metallic sheens that span spring and fall from Harlan Bel, Alice Ritter and Trovata sit beautifully on a layer of struggle that has us savoring the joy even as we contemplate the cost of the new. Elite Fresh Faces, Margaret Pridgen, Kyla Jamieson, and Marie Lunde Fossdal's ability to hold the space between joy and sadness brings the editorial alive. Their pale beauty reminds us of John Keat's La Belle Dame sans Merci evoking a hint of the flip side of birth. But even in death there is still the new waiting to arise. And lest we have a silent spring in which "no birds sing" we should take the time to remember, fresh from the womb, the pain of entering the world is the price we pay for spring. And that makes the light even stronger.

Lovely Lana

coutorture — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:14:57 -0700

Winter white is a lovely hue and so is a deep golden bronze, but what happens when neither is appropriate? The transition from pale winter skin to glowing summer sheens is a trick one for beauty fans in the springtime months. The lovely Lana Kasheva, the star of our Siwy Summer photo shoot, helped demonstrate some of the key makeup products necessary to exist beautifully in the transition between pale winter ice queen and tawny summer beauty without resorting to spring Easter Bunny pastels.

We started with a quick once over with Vincent Longo's Water Canvas Creme-To-Powder Foundation in Soft Amber for that perfect middle ground that is natural skin somewhere between matte and moisture. But the real trick to transitional beauty is our favorite new product Borghese's Splendore. We find most shimmer products have an unfortunate tendency towards disco ball sparkle even with the light application. Splendore actually lives up to its extraordinary claims of imparting a subtle glow while brightens any complexion. And while we are naturally skeptical of beauty copy involving light-diffusing liquid camouflages and other "miracles of marketing" we can genuinely say that Splendore is a girl's secret spring weapon for adding glow without resorting to bronzers, blush or any other extreme color solutions.

We dabbed it over Lana's cheekbones and then blended the remainder over her entire face. With the Splendore we also found we significantly reduced our unfortunate desire to over-apply blush, simply subtly applying one sweep of Benefit's plummy Dallas to each cheek did the trick.

On Lana's eyes we went with the classic MAC's Eye Kohl in Costa Riche to complement her natural brunette. We lined her lower and upper lids with the soft brown to avoid the harshness of darker hues while still giving her that subtle "eye opening" that good eye liner gives. We applied a light dusting of MAC's classic pigmented eye shadow in Daisychain.

Last but certainly not least we gave her a liberal coating of Kiehl's Lipgloss in French Rose from our own stash just because the color was so perfect. Lana was complaining of classic post winter dry lips so the moisturizing formula of the gloss with Mango and Grape Seed, Rose Hips, and Apricot Kernal was just the ticket. And miraculously one coat lasted all the way through the two hours of our Siwy summer shoot. How is that for an endorsement?

Beauty: Quick Change Artist

coutorture — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:53:24 -0700

We loved the versatility displayed by Kyla, the lovely Canadienne featured in our recent La Belle Dame sans Merci shoot. So much, in fact, that it inspired our makeup look for the shoot. We aimed for simple makeup that could be quickly and easily modified to play up Kyla's natural features. These are, indeed, useful tricks for those of us who like to party hop but are too lazy or pressed for time to switch up our staid beauty routines. Here are the evolutions of a basic makeup look, one that started with opaque gloss and sheer foundation, and finished with a smokier eye and deeper lip color. We like to think this manner of application is more realistic than the zero-to-sixty makeup routines used on other professional photo shoots. The truth is, a little goes a long way--even in the pictures.

The basics: Since Spring looks should be relatively unfussy, we skipped the foundation. In lieu of the dreaded cake face, we aimed for a fresh, radiant complexion, which we achieved by highlighting Kyla's bone structure. We swept MAC Strobe Liquid across her cheeks (fingers work best for this) and on the browbone, and added just a dab on the inner corners of the eyes and above the bow of her lips. The easy to blend potion glided on like silk and left just a subtle, creamy shimmer. The best part? It took all of two seconds.

For eyes, we used Tarte's Rest Assured Brightening Cream, in shimmery gold liquid form, on the eyelids, blending up to the browbone. We had to blend quickly so it wouldn't leave uneven color across the lid, but the beautiful sheen it left behind was worth the mad scramble. Instead of a heavily made up fringe, we opted for delicate lashes using Maybelline's Lash Discovery Mascara, which deposited just the right amount on each and every little lash.

On lips, we tried the ultra subtle MAC Strobe tinted lip conditioner stick in Current, which, besides being friendly to fair complexions, also comes equipped with moisturizing ingredients and SPF 15. We topped it off with a quick swipe of Kiehl's Lip Gloss in Earth Day, a shimmery brown that punched up the color a bit but without being too opaque.

The evolution: With our basic look down pat, we tweaked and toyed with it to create two versions of a more dramatic look. The first involved a smokier eye, which we created with Borghese Satin Shadow Milano Trio in Il Bacio Grey. We used the medium shade as an allover color and smudged the darkest shade into both the upper and lower lash lines with the tip of a sponge eyeshadow applicator. It's a fantastic tool because it doesn't create a harsh line, as a pencil or eyeliner brush might. We used the same dark shade on the outer half of the lid, blending it up from the lashline into the crease.

To up the drama factor even more, we switched Kyla's lip color to MAC Lip Glass in 4N, a sophisticated, burnished bronze with a red undertone. The result: flim noir gorgeous in under 60 seconds.