Carol Brown Reviews The Make-up Of The SS10 Shows
Make up from all the major Ready To Wear Spring/Summer 2010 shows.
There are lots of browns, varying in strength from the very natural through to the “how-good-I’d-like-to-look-in-a-perfect-world” natural (enhanced / hyper-natural) and in this first section ending with the quite natural skin but a little bit more of
an obvious eye or lip. It’s all about the care and the subtlety, often with little or no mascara and no lip gloss. Think well conditioned lips!
If you’re working on these shows, don’t forget that although these are Spring/Summer shows, they take place during October so watch out for dry lips – start popping on a bit of lip balm asap and repeat applications if necessary while the make up is being done.
I like Lucas’ Papaw Ointment (good-for-everything) and I’m loving a (new) Alph-H Intensive Eye & Lip Treatment Cream which works amazingly well for lips and isn’t shiny.
With the range of natural looks, so much depends on the detail and the quality; I aim for the same quality of application that I would hope to achieve in a beauty shoot because I’m aiming to impress the front row audience and the photographers (both backstage and the end of runway) as this is how the designers get their publicity!
ALBERTA FERRETTI (Milan) Attention to skin but with remaining controlled sheen. Groomed brows. Barely there natural blush. Hint of soft brown eyes – upper lids. Subtle mascara (black/brown?). Natural, conditioned, lips.
ALEXANDER WANG (New York) Groomed soft bare natural neutrals. Brows featured by brushing up and drawing brown pencil strokes feathering upwards beyond the brow hair.
BALMAIM (Paris) Soft, barely there
BURBERRY PRORSUM (London) Groomed – attention to skin. Soft glowing cheeks. Soft mid-brown eyes. Natural lips.
CALVIN KLEIN (New York) Groomed natural. Soft brown eyes.
CAROLINA HERRERA (New York) Glowing healthy cheeks, mid brown eyes, emphatic black mascara on top and bottom lashes.
CHLOE (Paris) Soft, glowing and healthy. Groomed brows. Mascara top and bottom.
CHRISTOPHER KANE (London) Natural. Touch of brown kohl pencil?
EMILIO PUCCI (Milan) Glowing healthy natural, touch of bronzer on cheeks. Gold glaze on eyelids, black mascara and neutral lips.
GUCCI (Milan) Carefully groomed base, powdered but not powdery. Subtle soft brown shadow smudged over socket line. Black mascara (top) and subtle black liner. Neutral peachy soft blush and lips. Groomed defined brows.
My favourite tools for working with eye brows are a spiral ‘lash and brow’ brush (or an old, washed clean Mascara wand works just as well). After wiping the brows clean, to remove foundation or powder debris, I like to brush the lashes into place. Work through with a colour to smarten up the line (Shu Uemura have just launched a range of eyebrow gel and “Seal Brown” is great for natural on fair to medium skin tones and “Forest Black” for dark skins – waterproof and resistant to sebum) and finish by setting them with hair spray or setting lotion which I spray on to the brow brush (NOT directly on the brows!!) and have a final comb through.
GUY LAROCHE (Paris) Very soft, barely brown eyes. Peachy bare lips.
HERMES (Paris) Improved-natural. Good summer skin. Soft rosy cheeks. Soft ‘just there’ brown eyes with careful mascara top and bottom.
JAEGER (London) Clean “I’ve-been-staying-out-of-the-sun-and-using-a-good-SPF” base with light semi-sheen. Overall neutral. Clean lids with discreet (brown) mascara. Hint of nude blush. Matte taupe-ish brown lip (remember the original Mac “Spice” pencil?)
JILL SANDER (Milan) Groomed natural
JONATHAN SAUNDERS (London) soft brown eyes, little or no mascara, several models with light/ bleached brows. Touch of ruddy lip on inner lip but not to edges.
MATTHEW WILLIAMSON (London) Groomed light natural. Barely there soft brown eyes. Discreet mascara. Nude hint of blush and lip.
MEADHAM KIRCHOFF (London) Groomed healthy natural
MULBERRY (London) “Natural-but-better”. Subtle but careful base. Discreet soft brown on eyelids. Little or no mascara. Groomed brows. Soft pinky/ruddy cheeks. Neutral lipstick, smooth colour but not shiny.
NARCISO RODRIGUEZ (New York) Good skin. Mid brown eyes – close to the top lashes and quite a pronounced blended brown under the eyes, smudged to elongate. Groomed but not coloured brows. Matte tan lips.
PHILIP LIM (New York) Groomed neutrals, but with short black nails.
RICHARD CHAI (New York) Groomed natural base. Soft brown eyes. Stained mid brown lips.
RM (Paris) Pronounced brown eyes with the emphasis on a sweep of colour running along under the eye and sweeping out towards the hairline where it meets and blends with the (slightly subtler) brown from the upper ourt lid, Groomed brows. Neutral blush and lips.
STELLA McCARTNEY (Paris) “How-good-can-I-look-without-looking-like-I’ve-done-much”. Natural, but in a groomed, polished way. Good skin, lightly powdered. Groomed brows. Little or no (brown?) mascara. Conditioned lips. Discreet, healthy cheeks.
THAKOON (New York) Browns – obvious but soft, mid-strength eyes.
VERA WANG (New York) Soft brown eyes, neutral lip. Focus on the brows – groomed brown (colour filled to emphasise, without over exaggerating the shape).
These are good examples of how you can take very similar, basic make up looks and change one focus detail. The difference that just changing a brow can make. Compare Vera Wang with the light/bleached brows at Jonathan Saunders; a small but effective shift. Or the impact of putting bold nail varnish with a natural make up and of course, the difference that the variety of hairstyles make to these looks.
WILLIAM TEMPEST (London) Browns, but with an inclusion of cool/ silverish /cold gold metallic
ZAC POSEN (New York) Browns. Black mascara top+bottom. Soft pink cheek. Chestnut brown moist lip.
The following have a bit more of an eye.
D&G (Milan) Attention to base, semi-sheen. Glowing, slightly bronzed, cheeks. Natural brownish coloured lips. Groomed brows. Black eye pencil upper and lower inside and in lash line. Obvious black mascara upper and lower lashes.
There is a lot of debate about hygiene issues regarding mascara and, in an ideal world, I would love to have those small sample sized tubes and use one per model, and if a make up sponsor is generous enough to provide a full size mascara per model then that’s fabulous – but in reality we have to be as clean and careful as we can possibly be with the best that we’ve got.
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG (New York) Stylised dusky rose shadow on eyelids sweeping outwards and curving down and round onto cheeks. Touch of silver accentuating the inner eye corners. Natural, conditioned, lips.
DKNY (New York) Groomed matte base. Groomed brows. Groomed soft pale pink cheeks and lips. Lots of very pale blue mascara built up on top and bottom lashes.
DONNA KAREN (New York) Featuring strong white eyeliner, flicked outwards, over soft bronze eyeshadow (on upper lids and also blended along under eye). Groomed matte base, soft blush and gently paled lips.
ELIE SAAB (Paris) Matte base with a hint of neutral blush. Strong, precise, black eyeshadow/liner surrounding and elegantly slightly lengthening the eye with just that little bit of the classic ‘flick’. Black kohl pencil inside the lashes. Careful, subtle black mascara top+bottom.
ETRO (Milan) Elongated smokey eyes, darker on the outer corners smudged outwards, and with a pronounced socket line. Soft goldish glazed highlight on mid eyelid. Black mascara. Neutral lips and blush.
FENDI (Milan) Sultry dark smokey brown/bronze smudged to lengthen. Touch of soft gold glaze on central eyelids to highlight. Lots of black mascara top and bottom lashes. Neutral blush and lips.
The stronger the eyes get, the more important to balance with good skin – keep it looking like skin – allow freckles to show through. Just enough powder to set; depending on how long before the show start – I often powder generously and allow it to relax in if there’s an hour or 2 to go.
GILES (Paris) Matteish but not heavy base. Darkened (brown) pronounced brows. Foundationed eyelids (clean) and a strong sweep of bright orange eyeshadow between socket line and brows, blending outwards. Neutral blush and lips.
HUSSEIN CHALAYAN (Paris) Groomed base. Groomed eyebrows. Black eyeliner along top lash line with obvious extended flick. Black kohl pencil inside/in lower lash line. Black mascara, and possibly false lashes on uppers. Soft brownish lips and neutral blush.
LANVIN (Paris) Groomed base. Light/bleached brows. Intense black blended eyes (eyelids and along through lower lashes), blended to elongate. Greased lids. Black kohl pencil inside lash line. Black mascara – not easily seen against the dark eyes, but it’s there. Nude blush. Natural pinkish lips.
LUELLA (London) Good skin – so many of these looks work best when the skin looks perfect but the freckles show. Minimum neutral blush. Natural lips. Bold solid precise colour on eyelids from lash line to brows, rounded past inner corners and rounded at outer corner curving up to the brow line; some Wedgewood Blue, some Brick Red, some Black.
MICHAEL KORS (New York) Classic smokey brown eyes, but with a blue/grey on the middle eyelid. Black mascara. Structured soft tan blush to contour. Neutral soft brown lips.
OSCAR DE LA RENTA (New York) Groomed base, soft neutral blush + lips. Groomed defined (brown) brows. Black eyeliner surrounding eyes - classic line with outer flicks on top, slightly softer blended line along lower lashes.
PPQ (London) Dramatic false (top) lashes with bright white zig zags . Bottom lashes drawn on with big pencil strokes. Neutral contoured cheeks. Neutral lips. (Bright pink nails).
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD RED LABEL (London) Clean matte base. Stylised brown eyeliner, running from half way across under the eye, elongating outwards to a point where it meets in a < with brown shadow running along the socket line (blended upwards). Groomed and elongated dark brown brows. Mid taupe/brown lips. (Little bright orange circles on nails).
ROBERTO CAVALLI (Milan) Heavy black, thick, liner elongating from outer corner (to half way between end of eye and hairline). Healthy cheeks. Neutral lips.
SPORTMAX (Milan) Another classic smokey eye done in browns. Mid tone neutral lip. Soft neutral blush.
VALENTINO (Paris) Another take on the strong black liner but, this time, following the curve of the socket line extending out from the outer corner to a point (but not flicking up). Pinky neutral lips.
VERSACE (Milan) Mauve smokey eye. Black mascara top and bottom. Soft peachy nude blush and lip.
YSL (Paris) Groomed neutrals. Black (not extended) eyeliner on top. False lashes on bottom, “tufted” top lashes which have been chopped short and put on upside down with the black band acting as a defining line.
These have all got focus on the eyes – but the skin is carefully groomed to conceal blemishes, immaculate but not masked. Powdered but not powdery, blotting down the T zone.
The following focus mostly on the lip.
DOLCE & GABBANA (Milan) Flawless base. Groomed arched brows (arrogant – moi ?!). Soft elegant brown eyes (socket line, blended). Black mascara, emphasis on upper lashes. Hint of beige blush. Immaculate Deep Red matte lips ( + matching nails).
EMANUEL UNGARO (Paris) What a difference a red makes… good skin, fresh and glowing with healthy cheeks. Elegantly groomed brows slightly elongated. Soft brown eyeshadow blended outwards. Precise matte Scarlet lips ( +red nails).
HOUSE OF HOLLAND (London) Clean groomed base. No colour on eyelids, so base taken all over. Little or no mascara. Groomed brows. Precise, intense lips; purple or vivid orange.
MARC by MARC JACOBS (New York) Clean, fresh base. Soft brown eyes, little or no mascara. Red lips.
MARNI (Milan) Soft brown eyes, very discreet mascara. Matte blotted dusky rose/plum lips.
The balance of these looks depends on the detail. The impact of intense lip colour becomes even more of a focus when you strip away everything else. Not using mascara was a big editorial thing in the 80’s, my first Harpers cover (May’85 with Kristen McMenamy) had the same look of paled base, nude eyes, tan lip. Be deliberate in what you choose not do do.
PAUL SMITH (London) Hint of soft brown eye, little or no mascara. Nude blush. Various strong matte lip colours: leaf green, orange or china blue.
PRADA (Milan) Groomed matte ‘bare’ face. Light or bleached brows. Statement burnt orange lips.
Eyes and Lips. (If you’re looking for natural look elsewhere)
CHRISTIAN DIOR (Paris) Veronica Lake Hollywood Glamour. Flawless base. Precise matte bright red lips. Groomed and defined/exaggerated arched brows. Black mascara with false lashes on uppers, longer at outer corners. Black eye liner over coloured lids – sky blue, purple or coral.
JOHN GALLIANO (Paris) Inspired by B&W Hollwood film stars – Theda Bara, Tallulah Bankhead, think “Sunset Boulevard”. Take out the eyebrows and draw in or over a thin black idea of a brow (not necessarily with too steady a hand). Big, black eyes daubed with splashes and flashes of fuchsia “blush”. Mark Traynor lift tapes (an old theatrical/movie trick to lift eyes) featured on some models, covered in glitter and tied over stocking wig caps.Tiny black and burgundy lips – cupid bows. Fashion show make up at it’s most fabulous theatrical. Each model has an individual look within the theme.
ALEXANDER McQUEEN (Paris) Futuristic Alien/Star Trek… Prosthetic (pyramid) applications on temples and upper cheeks / mid brows merging down sides of nose. Blanked out skin, brows and lips. Long Gold metallic false nails. Similar pale base and pale partially concealed brows. Silvery pale grey/blue sweep of colour along upper eyelids winging out into temples. Slightly paled lips. Very long silver fake nails.
GARETH PUGH (Paris) More Mark Traynor tapes (lifting the eyes up and out), but this time concealed by head bandages. Blanked out eyebrows covered by a full base incorporating shading and paler highlighting ares down nose and under eyes to sculpt. Bold greyish brown eye shadow shading inner eye corners and running down sides of nose and along socket, blending outwards and upwards. Ashen. The only warmth is a touch of bronze smudged along lower lashes. Pale ashen matte lips. Grey nails.
I think this gives a broad selection of looks, some of which are user friendly and can be worn as shown. Some are beautiful and entertaining or just incredible.
