Makeup Artist : Beauty and Fashion Tech

Get Keri Hilson’s TRL Look

Keri Hilson is the girl who sang in Timbaland’s “The Way I Are,” and was the love interest in Usher’s “Love In This Club” Video. She has now made a name for herself as a songwriter, writing for Justin Timberlake, The Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and Usher.

Keri Hilson MTV TRL Energy Video MAC cosmetics

Hilson will be appearing on MTV’s TRL Wednesday, July 16, 2008 to promote the video for her first single, “Energy.” M.A.C. Cosmetic’s Sr. Artist Romero Jennings did her makeup for the show (pictured above) and explained how to achieve the look:

Pump up lashes top and bottom with 2 coats of prep and prime mascara, then add one heavy winter coat of Plushlash mascara in Plushblack.

I then add the #7 lashes which I cut into fine pieces and place on the top lashes!

The skin was primed with Prep + Prime Skin and polished with a sheer coat of Moistureblend Foundation that is highlighted with Moisturelush Eye Cream and contoured Matte Bronzer!

Shadows were pumped up with Creme de Violet used as a liner/shadow under eye while Saddle and Black Tied shadows frames the eye!

Here is a complete list of the products used:

Prep ₊ Prime Skin, Moisture Blend Foundation NC42, NC43, and NW45 Matte Bronzing Powder

Blush in Sunbasque and Frankly Scarlet

Eye shadow: Saddle, Blacktied, Cream de Violet, Blacktrack Fluidline Gel Liner

Spice and Plum Lip Liner

Prep + Prime Lash Primer, Plushlash Mascara in Plushblack and Fascinating pencil

Mineralized Skinfinish Natural in Medium and Dark for contouring

From the Electroflash Collection: Mineralized Eye Shadow Duo in Love Connection and Two to Glow, Lipstick in Mellow Mood, and Lipglass in Major Minor

I love the use of Moisturelush (read review) to highlight!

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Question and Answer With Chase Aston, Makeup Artist for The Body Shop

I love the Body Shop, it is one of my favorite mall stores, and I particularly love their Satsuma Body Wash. It has the best citrus scent that I have ever found!

So, when I recently had the opportunity to ask a question to Chase Aston, International Makeup Artist for The Body Shop, I jumped at the chance.

My question:

I am noticing lots of pinks in many of the Spring cosmetics lines and some of them are rather bright. How can a person pull off wearing some of these pretty pink shades, especially on the eyes, without looking too much like a made-up Barbie Doll?

Chase Aston’s answer:

If there is one color which looks great on everyone… it’s pink! The pink tones in our lips and the blushing rose of our cheeks, give us a natural beauty which you can enhance by wearing shades of pink in your makeup. You have probably tried on a pink lipstick before and sworn never to wear it again, but rest assured - there is a shade of pink to suit everyone.

If you want to be a little more daring for a night out on the town, use a bright fuchsia eyeshadow over the lid, taking it as high as the crease of the eyelid. This gives a striking look when you blink. Compliment with some black eyeliner and lashings of black mascara. Keep the look clean by toning down the blush and using clear lip gloss. If you aren’t quite ready for such a dramatic look, try using a soft baby pink eyeshadow across the entire eyelid, strengthened with smoky dark shadow across the upper lashline and at the corner of the lower lashline. This gives a gorgeous baby doll look that’s girlie but with attitude!

Want to see more questions and answers with Chase Aston? Coming soon will be a list of links to question from other other members of the Beauty Blog Network.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Kicking Off Chicago Fashion Week Backstage with M.A.C. Cosmetics

I had the pleasure this past week of meeting up with representatives of M.A.C. Cosmetics and watching M.A.C. senior makeup artist, Konstantine Mironychev in action before the GEN ART Fresh Faces in Fashion show, a show held the evening before the start of Chicago Fashion Week.

Held in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago, the show highlighted emerging area designers. For the makeup, Konstantine developed two looks–A Modern 70’s era inspired look, and a smoky eye look. Salon Blonde provided the hair services.

First off, backstage at a fashion show tent is a cramped experience. If you thought such a thing would be high glamor and luxury, think again. Instead, there are numerous models, makeup artists and hair stylists working at once in a rather small area. Nails were being done in the center, and everything was moving at a pretty good pace. It was also a rather warm day, so the tent was a bit on the warm side for the artists and the models.

To get the makeup started, Konstantine performed a demonstration of each look for his assistants, who would later duplicate the looks with each overseen and checked by Konstantine. The assistants were all Chicago based, and well trained. Konstantine told me that he is a rather strict trainer, with high standards, but also happy to witness his artists succeed. As a result each artist in Chicago represented a high level of expertise and quality.

Konstantine described his 70’s era inspired look as a modern version of Debra Harry. Red lips and 70’s eyes and brows, but modernized–no blush or foundation. He began with an application of concealer only where needed and used M.A.C. Mineralize Skinfinish for contour. The eyes were done in brown with large amounts of mascara, and the brows were brushed upwards. The look was finished off with a gorgeous red lip.

Above: Konstantine demonstrates the 70’s inspired look. Below: The finished look:

M.A.C. Gen Art Chicago 70’s Inspired Look

The focus of the second look was a smoky, sultry, multi-textured eye. For this look, Konstantine began with a base of one of my favorite products, a painterly paint pot, in a light brown shade. From there, he created a dark brown corner and applied a silvery black from the smoke signals collection around the lash line. The inside rim of the eyelids were lined. The eye was finished off with a bit of mascara. There was no blush and the look included a nude lip using a shade from an upcoming collection. This look was all about the eye! It was gorgeous, and unfortunately doesn’t really show as well as I would like in my photo (below).

M.A.C. Gen Art Chicago Fashion Week Smoky Eye Look

Talking with Konstantine and Heather Park, M.A.C.’s Manager of Global Communications, I learned that M.A.C. utilizes items from upcoming collections for shows well ahead of release. This allows the company to use input from the artists and re-blend or reformulate products as needed. At the Gen Art show, the artists had available lip products from a future collection.

When asked about upcoming trends, Konstantine stated that the modern 70’s inspired look continues to be in style. When he was in New York and other areas this fall, he observed that gold or silver also remained popular with metallic “eye bling” seen as an accessory at many shows.

I asked about regional trends, curious if anything is done differently for a Midwestern show. Konstantine explained that nothing is particularly changed regionally. Trends develop from across various shows, resulting from the communications among the makeup artists and the designers. Each designer takes what he or she likes from various traits for their collection. Thus, the current looks are not particularly regionally based.

I also got a sneak peak at some of the items from M.A.C.’s upcoming holiday collections, including some gorgeous mineralize eyeshadows, a deep red shimmery lipglass that makes me want to try to break out of my fear of dark colors, and an interesting nail polish set consisting of a white polish, and if I understood correctly, a gold polish that will crackle when applied on top of it. I have them and will give them a try soon. So stay tuned!

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Carmindy, The 5-Minute Face: The Quick and Easy Makeup Guide for Every Woman

One of the most popular makeup books this year is The 5-Mintue Face by Carmindy. I recently took a look at this book and think it is a good basic book for anyone who feels that they could benefit from an easy to use makeup guide.

Right off, I have to say that the book is pretty straight forward. That means that people with a lot of makeup experience might not find it all that useful, but that isn’t really who it is written for. This is really just what the title says it is: A “quick and easy makeup guide.” It gives easy to follow, and very sound advice and instruction on doing basic everyday makeup and then includes some extras such as tips for brows and special occasion makeup.

Overall, the book has nice photos and illustrations. It also explains things clearly and provides a good amount of easy to duplicate instructions. A few things I particularly like are that it covers makeup for all different skin tones and colors, including a consideration of hair color. It also provides information relevant to various age groups. The book also contains product recommendations for both inexpensive and expensive products to suit differing tastes and budgets. On the nit picky side, I do wish that there was a bit more to the book. I recognize that it is supposed to be basic, quick, and easy, but I was left wanting just a bit more. But that really is a compliment I think. Obviously if the book wasn’t good, I would not be left wanting more of it!

If you are looking for a quick and easy makeup guide, give Carmindy’s The 5-Minute Face a try!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Get M.A.C Cometics Tips: Chat With Hip-Hop Recording Artist Eve and Her Makeup Artist JJ

M.A.C Cosmetics recently released its C-Shock Collection; an 80’s inspired collection of “brazenly bright” colors that I have been having some fun playing with. Look for more on that early next week, when I will give details on how this shockingly bright line of colors can be used to create some really fun looks, even for a forty-year-old and cosmetically conservative person such as myself! Right now, I want to share an announcement from M.A.C related to the line that is pretty darn cool!

Hip-Hop recording artist, and Viva Glam Spokesperson, Eve, wore items from the collection for the filming of her video “Tambourine.” On Wednesday, June 27th, from 5-6 pm EST (2-3 pm PST), Eve and her makeup artist, JJ, who is also a former M.A.C artist will be available for a public online chat. The chat will be located at: www.maccosmetics.com/EVE.

This is great opportunity to get tips on using the C-Shock collection and to learn more about the looks that can be created with M.A.C products.In the photo above, Eve is wearing:
Mega Lipstick (c-shock)
Cork Pencil
Overrich Lipstick (c-shock)
Saddle Eye Shadow
Electric Eel Eye Shadow
Bang On Blue Shadow (c-shock)
Technikohl Pencil in Auto-de Blue
Fancy Ray Crème Blush

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Popularity: 8% [?]