Nails: Kristina Estabrooks for CND

The nails at The Blonds show during New York’s Fall/Winter 2011 fashion week were nothing short of theatrical. If you all know the RuPaul-esque experience that is The Blonds, then you’ll know that theatricality is part of the cunning (and masterful plan).

In our books, it was all about the nails. Kristina introduced 22 handmade theatrical manicures that took their cue from Eastern tales: there were nails covered in fortune cookies, swarovski crystals, crushed glass, and cute “knots” taken from kimonos.

There were nails with red sparkly Chinese characters (translated into “Blonds Love Diamonds”); HIYA and googly-eyed nails, Thai nails with blinged out hair clips (aka seriously long golden digits), and the dragon.

The centerpiece of the nail confectionary was the extraordinary dragon, made at the last second by Kristina and her team. This long, winding tube was designed to weave in and out of the fingers. To look at the meticulous nails, feast your eyes on these:

The hair was mostly wigs and shiny sequins applied to hair secured with a spray.

Kabuki, the lead makeup artist for the show from M.A.C. says his inspiration was “Asian theatrical makeup, cross-pollinated with late 70′s disco sirens.” To create this look, Kabuki blocked out the brows for a slightly alien look, and elongated the lower lash line with a touch of black liner. The mouth was painted small and doll-like, with just a touch of glitter and gloss in the center.

Kabuki used the red Lip Mix for the blush, eye shadow and lips in one section, and gold and bronze for another. There was no mascara at all. He used Select Cover-Up, the eye kohl pencil in Smolder, an eye kohl pencil in Ebony, paint sticks in coral, magenta, burnt burgundy, gloss texture, pigment eyeshadow in Kitschmas (a Violet), glitter and Lip Mix.

Take a look at the final do for The Blonds, with all three makeup looks and nail pairings together:

Above Photo Source. All other photos by BeautyStat

Tell us, do you like this geisha meets disco roller look? Would you pull this off during Halloween?

- Charu Suri

If you like this post, give it a LIKE on Facebook and share it with your friends

It’s color without compromise, texture with spunk and PUNK. The makeup was done by Philip for MAC Cosmetics, who described the look as a tiny part punk, a tiny part tribal, but mostly beautiful as a 1970′s movie star.

He smudged Pro Pigment in Chocolate Brown on the upper lids, but dotted the lower lash line with Flat Orange and Electric Coral to get a sheer wash of color, as opposed to a stripe. After mixing bright cream blushes on the back of his hand, Philip gently applied it to models’ cheeks for a fresh pink flush. He reminds us that when it comes to cream blushes, it’s a good idea to go brighter and bolder since a pigment that looks too bright in the packaging will wear sheer on the skin. By blotting on lipsticks such as Smoked Purple and Red Pepper, Philip gave the models a simple matte stain for their lips.

Unique makeup requires unique hair, so Roland Beachamp prepped models’ hair with Bumble and Bumble Hair Powder in White to matte it down and give it texture at the same time, then braided tiny sections on each side of the face, but left some locks loose. After gathering the back part of the hair into an unfussy bun, Beachamp left one medium-sized braid down the back, then covered the head with a bright wrap.

This season, the backstage beauty showcased a very flowing, loose flowing hair that was more gritty in texture (think elegant and disheveled … a bedhead-inspired mass of strands that still could be paired with elegant cocktail dresses and evening gowns).

The hair was done by Jordan M for Bumble and Bumble, the makeup by Sarah Tanno for MAC Cosmetics, and Pattie Yankee of Dashing Diva for the nails. In keeping with the raw elegance theme, Pattie Yankee created a gritty, animalistic texture for the nails and pressed on Chrome nails with an appliqué of crushed glass glitter in black and silver for some fierce added texture.

Nanette Lepore Fall 2010 Backstage Beauty

But this was precisely the beauty trompe l’oeil at Lepore’s Fall 2010 collection.

When she powwowed with her the hair and makeup stylists for her Fall 2010 show, Nanette Lepore brought a visual aide: a Renaissance painting. Makky for MAC and Esther Langham for Moroccan Oil let it guide their creative decisions for the show. After creating the now-standard perfect matte canvas of the face, Makky gave models a smoky eye with Eye Kohl in Smolder on the top lid as well as the inside rims and finished off with Zoom Mascara.

He painted on a two-tone lip with pink lip pencil and an as yet unreleased pink lipstick on the the top lip and smoothed on burgundy lip pencil and a mixture of Odyssey and Charred Red lipstick on the bottom. This technique works, Makky explained, because the pink on the top lip contains a hint of burgundy itself.

Nanette Lepore Fall 2010 Backstage Beauty

Langham mixed together the Moroccan Oil Oil Treatment and Intense Curl Cream and applied it to the models’ hair before using curling irons to create tight ringlets from a side part. After spraying on a layer of Luminous Hair Spray, coming this March to the Moroccan Oil line, Langham brushed the hair out so it fell in loose, romantic waves. For some models, Langham stopped here, but for others, she finger-combed hair back into a loose braid, then rolled the braid up and pinned it at the nape of the neck. After a final shot of the Glimmer Shine Spray, the models were cat-walk ready.

-Katharine McKenzie

Yesterday, the makeup look for the show was done by Kabuki for MAC Cosmetics and the look was very jungle princess. The nails were done by CND Co-founder Jan Arnold, along with talented nail artists Roxanne Valinoti, Angi Wingle, and Kristina Estabrooks.

Photo courtesy of Heather Park/ MAC Cosmetics

Kabuki was inspired by Marlene Dietrich in the movie Blonde Venus who epitomized a chic yet glitzy glamor. The focus was on concealer on the eyes and false lashes to give a feathery, almost winged effect.The eyes were lined in Eye Kohl and MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack.

The cheeks were dusted in Pink Swoon and Salsa Rose Blush, and the lips wore Cherry Lip Pencil with a bronze or coppery pigment on them.

Inspired by Hollywood, Napoleon Perdis created a luxurious purple lip contrasted with dewy skin and a simple eye using only eyeliner and mascara.

Create the look with the below Napoleon Perdis products and his video below:

Face: Auto Pilot Pre-Foundation Skin Primer & Boudoir Mist Foundation.

Eyes: China Doll Eye liner in Equinox.; Colour Disc #29 Black; Mesmer-Eyes Mascara

Lips: Lip Pencil in Deep Plum; Lip Pencil in Suede; Lip Finish in Divine Goddess Selene; Chandelier Shine Lipgloss in Voodoo

A purple manicure created by the J.Sisters finished the look.

- Catia Carvalho Trooskin

Alice + Olivia Fall 2010 Beauty

Arlt foresees Fall 2010 trends to include fresh faced looks and a focus on the lips in particular deep red lips. Check out his video on the look:

Gregory Arlt at Alice and Olivia Fall 2010 Alice + Olivia Fall 2010 Beauty

Master hair stylist Ric Pipino continued the Parisian theme and added a little rock’n’roll with textured hair that used lots of product. Products used were from Pipino’s own line Revolution in Cut – namely Lift Me and Long Layers. Pipino forecasts that Fall 2010 hair trends will include texture and strong haircuts.

Check out the video for details:

Ric Pipino at Alice and Olivia Fall 2010

- Catia Carvalho Trooskin

The makeup was done by Val Garland for MAC Cosmetics; the hair by Rudi Lewis for Barex and the nails by CND.

Makeup: Val Garland says, “the look is a very Lolita lip, lined with a red lip pencil, then stained with a crimson red lip pigment and then topped off with Apple Red Blush Powder.” The eyes have virtually no mascara and she applied a lilac Lip gloss in Romantic Rose as eye shadow. The cheeks were left bare to give the appearance of porcelain skin.

Hair: For Barex, Rudi Lewis went for a simple long braid on the top of the hair, with silk woven in all the way until the end. Then the braid was curled into a bun on top to resemble a chignon.

Nails: CND did a killer red nail with two coats of a lacquer called Rouge Red. Then they applied an air dry top for a very shiny look.

To get the hair to look as fabulous as it did on the runway, the models wore a mousse on their hair for around 45 minutes, and bunched their hair with pins (above). To get this look, Bob Recine says:

“We used a TIGI Spray Mousse to give added definition and texture to the hair. The hair started out wet, and we sprayed this all over and set the hair with pins for around 40 minutes and just took them down right before show time.”

For Recine, hair should be imperfect. “When you perfect beauty, you sacrifice charm. Hair is a message and we must never forget that. There’s nothing perfect about beauty because there is an emotional part to it. It can never be plastic.”

Catherine Malandrino Fall 2010

The makeup created by Tom Pecheux for MAC focused on emphasizing the eyes and the cheekbones leaving the lips bare.

Check out his video here:

Tom Pecheux talks about Malandrino Fall 2010 Beauty

Jan Arnold, the co-founder and creative director of CND took her inspiration for the “leather like” nails from Malandrino’s theme of Mongolian Nomad. Called the “ bark mani” the CND team created the look with 1 coat of Deep Ruby, 1 coat of Copper Shimmer, 1 coat Super Matte Topcoat.

Malandrino Fall 2010 Nails

The look was completed by pressing a special pad on top of the nail polish to create a textured leather effect. Nails were clipped to a shorter shape. For Fall 2010, Jan foresees “a bolder, stronger, tailored shape inspired by all of the menswear looks on the runway.”

A “tree” shape was the look for the hair at Malandrino. Odile Gilbert for Phyto aimed for an organic look inspired by Mongolia and Africa. Using Phyto Professional Fiber Paste and Phyto Pro Mousse Volume Spray, the Phyto team used their hands to create the unique “tree” shape.

- Catia Carvalho Trooskin