7 posts tagged "House of Holland"
Seeing Red For Spring
Black cat-eye liner was the eye makeup trend of the Spring season (click here for more of our top ten beauty moments), but there was another unlikely eye pigment shade that got a fair bit of play: red. It turned up in varying degrees of opacity—from a wash of color at Clements Ribeiro and Anna Sui to a much more “fab, fun look,” as Pat McGrath referred to the heavily rimmed crimson lids she slicked on at Miu Miu. “It’s really the idea of a splash of color—be it red, blue, or green,” McGrath explained when we recently had the pleasure of recapping the season’s most significant beauty developments with her. “It’s not like every girl is going to be walking around with red lids.”
But if you do want to give the look a whirl, there are myriad ways to successfully go scarlet. For a more subtle effect, try buildable semi-sheer pigments, like MAC Pro Chromacake in Crimson and Coral, which makeup artist Lucia Pica smudged across eyes at House of Holland for a “watercolorlike” finish; or go with a creamy blush, like CoverGirl and Olay Simply Ageless Sculpting Blush in Lush Berry, which McGrath multitasked on eyes and cheeks backstage at Anna Sui. To go bold with the fiery hue, McGrath recommends tracing upper lash lines with—get this—lipstick, and coating that with a professional-grade pigment in the same color. In a recent trial run, we found chubby lipstick pencils, like Mirabella’s new Velvet Lip Pencils in Red Velvet, are the easiest tools for the task. Top that off with a theatrical red shadow, like Lime Crime’s Magic Dust Eyeshadow in Siren, and you should be good to go.
Sophy Robson, Nail Porn Star
By all accounts, it has been a big year for Sophy Robson. When we last caught up with the manicurist with the most-est back in March, she was masterminding some of Fall’s more luxe nail looks (the red talons at Ungaro and the brown and black matte French manicure at Loewe immediately come to mind). Now, she’s got a nail art collaboration with Sephora under her belt and a brand new salon at Hari’s Hairdressers in Chelsea to call home. “I’m only doing six shows in London,” Robson told us backstage at Topshop (more on that in a bit) about lightening her fashion week load to focus on other endeavors, including Nail Porn her recently conceived polish-and-party concept. “It’s nails and clubs, and music and fun,” she says of the for-hire service, for which she hand-picks members of her talented team and brings the lacquer love to a rager near you (her latest gig was at the Chanel store in London for Fashion’s Night Out). “I like to look at it as my diffusion line,” she says. Robson is also skipping Paris this season—who will do the nails at Vuitton?!—because she’s hard at work on a new product. “It’s a nail accessory, rather than a polish—that’s all I can say.” Consider our interest officially piqued.
This Is England, Backstage at House of Holland
With influences as far-flung as Shane Meadows’ 2006 film This Is England, about a group of skinheads in 1983 London, and what he termed “pastel punk,” Henry Holland gave his glam squad plenty to work with for Spring. And believe us when we tell you it was a legitimate squad, featuring Lucia Pica on makeup duty, Sophy Robson heading up nails, the Percy & Reed salon’s Adam Reed and Paul Percival tending to hair, and St. Tropez’s Nichola Joss taking care of the skin. “It’s supposed to look bold, but not glamorous,” Pica said of the makeup look, which focused on a peachy red, heavily lined eye. Blending shades of MAC Pro Chromacake in crimson and coral, Pica smudged lids for a “watercolorlike” wash that resembled the natural undertones of the truly pale. Beneath the bottom lash line, she etched a thick black stroke using MAC Eye Kohl in Smolder, which she topped with its Fluidline in Blacktrack and an extra dusting of matte black shadow so it looked “fairly lived-in,” Pica said. A few coats of “pulled-out” mascara and a completely bare lip finished the face, which was given a heavy hitting of shine, courtesy of MAC Shine Mixing Medium and St. Tropez’s Skin Illuminator in Rose Gold, before models strode out onto the runway.
Joss was also after shine, which she imparted to exposed legs, arms, and clavicles using St. Tropez’s Wash Off self tanner that was sprayed on in a mobile booth erected backstage. “It’s very British,” she said of the finish, which, for the record, bore zero resemblance to the stereotypical orange faux glow preferred by some locals. Instead, Joss imparted a dewy quality to skin—as though “the girls had been out partying,” she said. “This just evens it out and gives an undercurrent of glow so you can put an illuminator on top.”
Reed was going for something quintessentially British, as well. “It’s a mod finish,” he said of the hair, focusing his attention on a severely sleek updo that was prepped with the Reassuringly Firm Session Hold Hairspray from his newly launched Percy & Reed product line. Straightening with his trusty Babyliss iron, Reed created a top section of hair that he pulled back at the temple and pinned with a long, rose-gold barrette, before gathering the rest of the lengths into a low ponytail and securing with a second barrette at the nape of the neck. To add “quirkiness,” he gently “ruffled up” some wispy sideburns. Robson also brought the quirk, fashioning half-done, candy-colored tips that benefited from a sponge technique bringing three different Leighton Denny lacquers in a pale lavender, mint green, and peach halfway up the nail bed, which had been filed into a round shape. “They’re supposed to look chipped,” she noted.
Fergie’s On-Trend Talons
We recently had the pleasure of chatting up London’s reigning nail queen, Sophy Robson, who treated us to some trend predictions for next year. “The shape of nails is getting longer. And it’s definitely the oval look,” she told us. It looks like an homage to the fashion world’s open-armed embrace of all things seventies, to us, and a style she herself helped give wings to in full gold glitter at shows like House of Holland. Right on cue, we spotted said extended rounded tips in a creamy nude on the red carpet this weekend, as a bejeweled Fergie showed up in London for the Jingle Bell Ball. The decadent length is longer than we’re used to, but not in an I-can’t-use-my-computer-keyboard way—so, in other words, totally within the realm of functional possibility, if you’re ready to go there. So, are you?
Meet Sophy Robson, The Manicurist With The Most-est
There is a lone nail guru in London whose blog we have long followed and whose backstage handiwork in Europe must be credited for the nail art movement that’s picked up steam over the past few seasons. Her name is Sophy Robson, and this ode to her nail art prowess has been a long time coming. New York may have had a few high-profile designer polish collaborations, but thanks to Robson, London has had pink and orange gemstone-encrusted tips at Topshop Unique; densely layered glitter oval-shaped nails at House of Holland; and—let us not forget—the multicolored sherbet lacquers she used as a base for Giles Deacon’s trademark cartoon eyes, which she meticulously hand-painted onto over 50 models’ fingers at the designer’s show on Monday. (Devout readers of her blog will recognize said manicure from a little experiment she posted back in June). It’s for all of these reasons—and her impressive editorial portfolio—that Robson has been given her own pop-up nail bar at Selfridges for one week only, beginning September 24 through September 30, giving her just enough time to hightail it to Paris, where we’ll be holding our breath for more great works of art on the tiniest of canvases.