Manigram From Cannes: Weekend Edition
In addition to our live updates from the Cannes Film Festival, L’Oréal Paris global nail artist Tom Bachik will be keeping a daily diary for Style.com as he finger paints the brand’s ambassadors, including Inès de la Fressange, Liya Kebede, Freida Pinto, Julianne Moore, Natasha Poly, and more.
Another chilly, rainy morning [in Cannes]. Burr!
Early pedi with L’Oréal Paris Spokeswoman Doutzen Kroes to start the day using her signature color, “Doutzen,” from the Privé Collection. Always smiling no matter the weather, [Doutzen] is beautiful from the inside out. Nails and makeup done, now she’s off to hair.
A CC Cream We Believe In
Full disclosure: CC creams are starting to overwhelm us. The skincare industry’s supercharged answer to BB creams, color correctors are flooding the market like they’re going out of style (which the presumably will by year’s end). That said, it’s rare that a new CC cream elicits much excitement from us when it crosses our desk these days—which is why we were surprised to find ourselves so enamored with the latest from Amorepacific. The Korean brand’s Color Control Cushion Compact SPF 50 boasts unique packaging and an application that makes it stand out from a wealth of similarly conceived products. It looks like a regular puff and pressed-powder situation, until you open the lid; then the mind-blowing commences. Made from a 100 percent bamboo-sap base, rather than a traditional oil-and-water mix, the antioxidant- and amino-acid-rich complexion enhancer moisturizes and protects with green-tea-seed oil and camellia-flower extracts, inhibiting redness and inflammation and soothing and cooling skin in the process. Even more impressive is the cushion delivery system, which features a spongy layer that, when pressed, releases just enough product onto the corresponding hydrophilic “puff,” which contains microscopic holes to ensure that no liquid is absorbed, thus preventing it from becoming a breeding ground for bacteria. (The unique design was apparently inspired by ancient Asian stamp-and-seal practices). Available in four different shades, the compact travels quite well and delivers dewy hydration in a few easy swipes. Consider our interest renewed.
Prince, Still Charming
Between the never-ending red carpets in Cannes and last night’s Billboard Music Awards, there was an overwhelming amount of heart-stopping beauty on display across the globe this weekend. But it was Prince—not Carey, or Rooney, or Kirsten, or Nicole—who managed to stop us in our tracks. The man, the symbol, the best Super Bowl halftime performer who ever was or will be, received a Billboard Icon Award in Las Vegas, performing with a Jimi Hendrix-esque afro and mint-green-turtleneck-and-bell-bottom ensemble, as well as some very impressive eye makeup. Not only did the Purple Rainmaker line his upper and lower rims with a black kohl, extending the stroke into a smudged, elongated flick, he used a gold pencil to carefully trace the inner corners—an editorial trick that acts as a highlighter to open the eye area. Not that this was ever in question, but the guy’s still got it—don’t you think?
Beauty Nostalgia: Reminiscing With…Rita Hazan
Beauty Nostalgia is a weekly column on Beauty Counter in which we ask influencers, tastemakers, and some of our favorite industry experts to wax poetic on the sticks, salves, and sprays that helped shape who they are today.
The Pro: Rita Hazan, celebrity hair colorist and founder of Rita Hazan Salon.
The Product: “When I was going to beauty school, I used to perm my aunt Esther’s hair. I was about sixteen or seventeen at the time, living at home with my parents in Midwood, Brooklyn. I went to the beauty supply store to get these perm rods and I remember finding Apple Pectin Acid pH Perm Shampoo there. I loved the smell of the original Apple Pectin shampoo—it was so fruity and everyone was obsessed with it at beauty school. So I was, like, really excited to find the same thing for permed hair. My aunt was about twenty at the time, and I permed her hair every two months, washing out the solution in the kitchen sink. What’s funny is that my Aunt Esther is now the hair model for my Root Concealer; she’s been my guinea pig all these years. She doesn’t have a perm anymore and my taste for scents has evolved a bit (I’m more into the white florals and tuberose fragrances these days), but back in the eighties, Apple Pectin really was the coolest thing.”
Pink Lips And Ponytails, Backstage At Dior Cruise
“It’s a mouth in full bloom,” Pat McGrath told our man on the ground in Monaco this weekend backstage at Christian Dior’s Cruise show. “It’s more intensely pink,” the makeup artist said, referring to the bold fuchsia color she revived for Resort following Fall’s blurred-around-the-edges iteration of the same color. Looking for a “lightness of skin” and, more specifically, a “lightness of eye—lighter than the ready-to-wear [show]“—McGrath diffused a pearly white, shimmering pewter shadow from the inner corners of the eyes toward the temples, rather than return to the precise liquid chrome pen she preferred back in March. “Raf [Simons] said he wanted to ‘feel the girl’—really see her beauty,” she continued, keeping brows groomed and skin slightly sporty with highlights on the cheekbones.
In an effort to keep things from becoming too “over-referenced,” Guido Palau went with the “sophisticated simplicity” of a slicked-down, center-parted ponytail gathered low at the nape of the neck. “There was a future thought,” he admitted, explaining that Simons did mention the 1997 sci-fi flick Gattaca, but without the theatrical undertones. A damp, piece-y texture through the lengths ensured that strands registered as undeniably modern.