45 posts tagged "Diane Kendal"
Once A Cavalli Girl, Always A Cavalli Girl
The Roberto Cavalli girl likes her black eyeliner; always has, always will. But she lightened up just a touch for Spring. “It’s more fresh and modern this season,” makeup artist Diane Kendal said, skipping heavier shadows and pigments and sticking with MAC Eye Kohl in Smoulder, which she used to rim lids, blending as she went.
Kendal, one of the season’s biggest “contours, not color” proponents, flexed her MAC Sculpting Cream muscle again here, using the Coffee Walnut shade, a medium brown, to carve out cheekbones and eye sockets before adding a few swipes of its Haute and Naughty Mascara to “help keep the eyes open” amid the blur of black. As Kendal took lips down a nudge with concealer, MAC’s resident nail art junkie, Keri Blair, mixed up two custom polish colors for the show. “I wanted to do a clean neutral nail that nods to the salmon pinks and dusty corals in the collection,” Blair said of the sheer stains she made by mixing MAC Nail Lacquers in Snob, a bubble gum pink, and Fiestaware, a warm melon, with its high-shine, clear Overlacquer and its matte topcoat to pick up the glossiness of Cavalli’s clutches and the flat finish of the bounty of leather in the lineup.
Guido Palau looked right to the collection when devising a hair look as well. “The clothes are saying it all, so the girls can be a little downplayed,” he explained of middle-parted, straight strands that were dampened with water, dried with a little bit of Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Foam mousse, and then treated to a few spritzes of its Wax Blast 10 High Impact Finishing Spray for a “satin” texture. “When the girls came in [for the casting], we saw how naturally gorgeous they looked,” Palau revealed of the inspiration behind the simplicity. Sometimes, it’s that easy.
The Life Aquatic, Backstage At Alberta Ferretti
The “girl coming out of the water” motif that tends to rear its soaking wet head come Spring is oft-charted territory. But there is something singularly gorgeous about it when it’s executed well—particularly when damp strands and luminous skin are paired with diaphanous, flowing, bead-encrusted fabrics like the ones Alberta Ferretti sent down her runway.
“It’s a wet look,” Guido Palau confirmed backstage at the designer’s show, spritzing strands with water before raking in a good amount of Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Foam mousse and finishing with a few pumps of its Shine Flash 02 Glistening Mist. “There is a feminine softness to it, though,” Palau insisted, which came from ridged waves that he created by combing hair backward away from the hairline and setting it in a series of low, loose buns that were taken out just before the show to create definition and movement through the lengths.
Makeup artist Diane Kendal picked a palette of shimmering gold and silver to hold up her end of the watery bargain. Prepping fashion week-weary complexions with her trusty bottle of organic rosewater “to freshen the skin,” Kendal created a base with MAC Face and Body Foundation, contouring with its Powder Blush in Taupe and using its Powder Blush in Peaches to impart a warm flush to cheeks. But Kendal’s main focus was eyes, which she coated with MAC Pro Sculpting Cream in Copper Beach to serve as a tinted canvas for its Pigments in Gold and Tan that were dusted across lids for a metallic shine. Skipping mascara, as she’s been wont to do this season, Kendal drew a fine stroke of MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack along the upper lash line for definition. A final sweep of MAC Iridescent Powder in Silver Dusk across cheekbones created a reflective surface that contrasted with the mattifying Prep + Prime Transparent Finish Powder the face painter patted down the T-zone.
The Backstage Secret To Big, Bushy Brows
Ever since big, eighties-era brows re-entered the beauty picture during the Fall 2010 season, we’ve been all about arch maintenance. After a few years of regrowth following some trigger-happy tweezing days, we’re proud to report that our brows are in pretty good shape. Still, though, a brow pencil takes them to another level. Whether to use pencils, powders, markers, or waxes to enhance your natural shape is a personal decision that every girl must make on her own, but Diane Kendal demoed something at Proenza Schouler last night that warrants mention here, as it will revolutionize your routine whatever your pigment preference may be. It’s called the Brow Finisher, and it’s one of MAC’s amazing multitasking products that has somehow managed to go under our radar until now. Here’s how it works: The clear, waxy, slim-line tool is basically a pre-pigment step. You scribble it into the root of the brow, then apply your pencil, powder, wax, what-have-you, and it helps emulsify the color so that when you put brush to brows, the blending action is seamless. No errant strokes or an obviously drawn-on look here. Needless to say, we’ll be purchasing one before we leave for Milan next week and we recommend you do the same; if this week’s shows are any indication, bigger will still better come Spring.
Backstage At Proenza, Where Simple Beauty Is Anything But
Paul Hanlon was psyched backstage at Proenza Schouler. “This collection is quite exceptional—it’s beyond,” he effused. “These guys are always ahead of the pack.” This will be the hairstylist’s fifth season with Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, and at this point, he’s got the “Proenza girl” pegged—as well he should; Hanlon’s special brand of downtown cool has helped further define the designers’ woman. “She’s not a good girl, she’s a dangerous girl,” he offered—”whose hair looks like it needs a wash.”
With Kurt Cobain’s iconic, languid locks as his guide, Hanlon set to work on building a “vey stringy” texture, misting hair down with water and using his hands to layer Frédéric Fekkai’s Perfectly Luscious Curl Wave Activating Spray through the lengths. Every girl wore a stretchy latex, leather black cuff to elongate her neck, and rather than pull center-parted strands through the accessory, which he felt would look “too conceptual,” Hanlon had other plans. To give a “natural effect,” he braided under sections to remove extra weight and gathered hair into a ponytail, the base of which he spritzed with Fekkai’s Sheer Hold Hairspray. “We’re going to cut it right before they go out,” he explained of the elastic, tying mesh scarves on top of the cuffs and around the ponytail to further set the resulting indentation. Hanlon added a final “electric” element by using his fingers to rub the crown of the head for a frizzy, static effect, which created a further dichotomy between his contribution and the clothes. “You’ve got these incredibly expensive fabrics and hair that’s just whatever,” he said—a directive that came right from McCollough and Hernandez. “They’re really good at describing hair,” Hanlon attests. “I’m sure Lazaro was a hairdresser in a former life.”
Makeup artist Diane Kendal is a similarly longstanding member of team Proenza, and she too is well versed at channeling the house’s “urban feel,” which reliably calls for strong brows, smudged lids, and clean skin. Using MAC Studio Finish Concealer where needed, Kendal applied a nude-pink lipstick on the apples of the cheeks to get a sheer flush with a bit of sheen. Lower lash lines were then lined with its Eye Pencil in Coffee, which was also placed in the crease and blended over lids for a subtle stain. Skipping the mascara, Kendal’s finishing touch came via her signature “boyish” brows, which were filled in and brushed up. Even “real girl”-inspired beauty requires a few extra steps.
Gatsby Goes Graphic, Backstage At Thakoon
Last season, we sat in on the creative process as Thakoon Panichgul and his crack team of beauty experts—that’s Odile Gilbert on hair and Diane Kendal on makeup—trouble-shot a few different looks before arriving at a keeper for the Fall show. This time around, success was immediate. “We got it on the first take,” a jubilant Gilbert confirmed backstage of the “strict, graphic” hair that stemmed from Panichgul’s Spring “garden, flowers, and birdcages” reference points.
“He brings to me, and I bring to him,” Gilbert continued of the idea sharing that helped her arrive at the collection’s dual-textured style. Starting with a generous application of Kérastase Elixir Ultime Imperial to get a glossy, conditioned quality, Gilbert center-parted hair, smoothing front panels behind ears and using a three-branch iron to create defined waves through the lengths. “When we love, we don’t count,” she said, translating a French-ism while slipping a haphazard number of black bobby pins across the back of the head in a half-circle pattern and gathering ends into a low-lying elastic.
“Fantasy” was the Thakoon directive that Kendal picked up on, a theme that was helped along by mood board images of Mia Farrow in The Great Gatsby. “That’s where the 1930s eyebrow came from,” she explained; ditto the sunken eyes and rosy flush. Dusting NARS’ new-for-spring Light-Reflecting Setting Powder over a freshly cleaned and spot-treated base, Kendal blended NARS’ forthcoming raspberry-hued Blush in Seduction onto models’ cheeks, lining lids with its Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Santa Monica Blvd and blending its Eyeshadow in Bali and Blondie across lids. As for those brows, it was important to Kendal that models’ natural arches were visible, “so your eye is drawn to the dark line,” which she drew on top of natural brows with NARS Eyebrow Pencils in either Jodphur or Mambo. “We wanted that eccentric quality,” she explained of why she chose not to bleach brows or glue them down—a quality the models certainly appreciated.