Last September in Paris I worked on one of my favourite shows–Giambattista Valli, with one of my favourite key makeup artists–Val Garland. The look was clean and sleek and focused on the lash line. The brunettes all got black lower eyeliner and mascara. The blondes all got white eyeliner and mascara. The liner was achieved with black cream liner or black eyeshadow. For the white liner we used MAC fascinating eye kohl. A heavy application of mascara was required without it getting too Tammy Faye! For the white mascara we mixed a concoction which included white MAC Lipmix. I used lash primer to build the lashes quicker, then set powder, then the white mixture applied with a small fan brush. Skin needed to be flawless with a sheen. A touch of Elizabeth Arden eight hour cream was dabbed on the high planes of the face, a little on the eyes, and lips. This show had over 30 models so only a couple of changes were made. Which meant once all the girls were in first looks we slathered their arms and legs with gloss to give them super sheen. On the runway the glow on the face and body looked absolutely gorgeous.

1. Smashbox layer lash primer 2. MAC fascinating eye kohl 3. MAC blacktrack fluidline 4. Dior extase mascara 5.MAC set powder 6. Elizabeth Arden eight hour cream 7. MAC clear gloss 8. Armani luminous silk foundation 9. MAC #205 brush

Today is the first full day of Spring, and we celebrate with our first post of the new season! So it’s quite obvious that one major trend we all need is brights. Everything from neon to electric shades and hues are a must for Spring. Runways were lit up with hot pink lips, chartreuse eyes and tangerine nails. Bright bold makeup and clothes should be on every girls shopping list for SS11.

1. Illamasqua Gamma nail varnish 2. Nars Burn it Blue duo cream shadow 3. Nars Celebrate soft touch shadow pencil 4. Revlon Party Pops customeyes 5. Topshop Ablaze lipgloss stick 6. Estee Lauder Electric  Pink lip gelee 7.YSL Fuchsia Temptation Creme de Blush 8. Topshop Neon Rose blush

I managed to snap a few shots while working on the Christopher Kane show. This was such a pretty collection. I adore the gingham dresses and the pink and navy colour palette. Lucia Pieroni was the key make up artist for the show. She wanted the girls to look young, innocent, and not overdone. We kept the foundation to a minimum and just covered imperfections so the skin looked fresh. Champagne highlight was applied to the tops of the cheekbones for dimension. For the eyes we used a cool brown shade on the lids and wrapped around the eye. The shape was not to look deliberate so soft brushes and lots of blending were required. In the waterline we used a dark coco pencil and then removed it with a q-tip so only traces were left. To complete the look we dabbed a toffee shade of lipstick on the lips with no liner. This make up is very muted but quite beautiful.

Additional images from style.com & insideout.topshop.com

I have just returned from my favourite city that was celebrating twenty five years of fashion week-London was amazing! In contrast to New York, London is known for it’s edgier more hard hitting street style both on and off the runway. The make up for Spring Summer 2010 was not really about looking tan and perfect but more about creating a statement. Burberry has been revived from it’s stuffy old English history to be youthful and fresh. At Jonathan Saunders we perfected and slightly paled out the skin so the models looked almost waxy. Virtually every girl had her eyebrows bleached to non existence. Lips were toned down with concealer except the very inner part which had bright red and deep currant coloured liners applied to the mouth, very “new moon” style. What’s a London runway without colour? Marios Schwab, Luella, and Richard Nicholl had variations on colour from soft to bright. Erdem gave us long lush lashes. Now Milan is in full swing get ready for heavy doses of glamour.

Images from style.com