East meets West: The Blonds Backstage Beauty, New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2011

Makeup: Kabuki for M.A.C.

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 Blonds New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2011

The Blonds New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2011

The Blonds New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2011

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:

The Blonds New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2011

The Blonds, Backstage Beauty, New York Fashion Week, Fall/Winter 2011

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

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