5 posts tagged "Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen"
Eau De Elizabeth And James
Fresh on the heels on another set of successful Spring presentations for their lines The Row and its more contemporary counterpart Elizabeth and James, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have officially announced what they alluded to at the latter show just yesterday: Starting next year, the sister duo will be back in the fragrance game, creating a signature Elizabeth and James scent with Sephora. Back in 2006, before the fashion fame, the Olsens dabbled in fragrance with a series of body sprays that were evocative of travel destinations (Malibu Style, London Beat, and South Beach Chic were the toast of the tween beauty game). Their newest perfume project will prove a much more sophisticated offering, and if Sephora’s recent partnership with Marchesa is any example, it should be pretty luxe, too. Stay tuned. [WWD]
Taking A Powder Backstage At The Row
Reporting the backstage look at The Row takes a certain level of dedication, what with that 6 a.m. start time and all. But Tom Pecheux’s siren call is hard to ignore—especially when he collaborates with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. “They want the girls to feel absolutely not made up,” the makeup artist said of the sister duo’s direction, which often results in gorgeous highlights, beautifully natural built-up brows, honey-kissed lips, and for Spring, an impressive English rose complexion. “British garden” is how Pecheux described the inspiration behind the velvet skin finish that was the result of some purposeful prep with Sunday Riley Good Genes treatment and its Juno serum, a precise wash of its sheer Liquid Light Foundation, and a dusting of its Soft Focus Finishing Loose Powder. Powder is key to creating this kind of plushness, but it can be hard to wield. “It can cause patchiness,” Pecheux admits of the mattifying agent, which frequently sits on the skin in a heavy, unflattering way if not applied correctly—and there is a correct way to apply it, says Pecheux:
Step 1: Don’t dip your brush into your powder and apply directly to your face.
Step 2: Do spill product into the cap of your powder tub.
Step 3: “Squeeze” your brush into the lid, pressing it down and twisting to ring out excess.
Step 4: Swipe onto the face in long strokes.
Et voilà—skin so fresh no one will be the wiser that you got up before sunrise.
“American Dream Beauty,” Backstage At The Row
Requesting “American dream”-caliber beauty from a makeup artist when the model call time for a show is 5 a.m. is asking a lot. But if any makeup artist is up to the task, it’s Tom Pecheux. “Fifty percent of good makeup comes with good skincare,” the face painter said in the wee hours of the morning backstage at The Row yesterday, where he was conducting facial massages with Sunday Riley’s Good Genes treatment cream and its Juno Serum for Body (it’s a bit lighter than the line’s similar omega oil-rich formula for the face). “It just gets rid of the puffiness and the lines,” Pecheux said of taking the extra step to stimulate the skin before starting in with foundations and primers. “And more than anything, it makes the girls feel well treated”—”girls” being the models, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and hairstylist Odile Gilbert, who all took a turn in Pecheux’s chair.
Going for a completely classic look, Pecheux alternated between Riley’s Light Foundation and its more opaque cream formula before building up brows and applying a slight shadowed veil to lids. Skipping mascara in favor of Riley’s Eye Shadow in Little Black Dress, a dark charcoal powder that he “painted” onto the roots of lashes for definition, Pecheux turned his attention to crafting “pinky, rosy, bronzy” cheeks, which he highlighted with Riley’s shimmering Eye Shadows in Moon Dust and Camille. “American dream beauty is not easy to get,” he joked, slicking on a coat of its Lip Gloss in Chameleon, a brownish berry pigment that the makeup artist applied three hours before the Olsen’s first presentation of the day so it left a natural stain on lips without all the shine. “It’s like what I do at Ralph,” Pecheux surmised, comparing the face to the kind of American, upper-crust look he’s become accustomed to whipping up for Ralph Lauren. “But this is a little more urban,” he insisted. “You could think of Gwyneth Paltrow.”
Or an “American girl aristocrat,” Gilbert chimed in, putting her stamp on a series of sleek side-parted updos by brushing hair up at the hairline and fashioning a mix of soft ponytails and chignons using Kérastase’s Double Force hair spray for slight hold. “For years, everyone was doing flat side parts, but here we’ve brushed the hair up on the side and suddenly, it’s not trying too hard—just like the clothes.”
Angels In America—And Backstage At The Row
A lot of designers are just starting to get on the skincare tip, inviting complexion-saving experts backstage to join their hair and makeup teams, but Tom Pecheux has always been a firm believer in a thoroughly cleansed, toned, and moisturized base. The Estée Lauder creative makeup director brings a selection of the beauty giant’s face salves with him wherever he goes. “You can see the difference,” he said yesterday morning at The Row, where he was layering the brand’s Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator and Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher with its DayWear Plus Multi Protection Anti-Oxidant Crème for a dewy, refined canvas. Proper skin prep was particularly important for the bare-faced beauty directive Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen gave to Pecheux, referencing angels. “It reminds me of a Peter Lindbergh woman—slightly fresh, but a little moody,” Pecheux said of the luminous skin he created using a new Estée Lauder transparent liquid foundation and its new-for-Spring limited-edition Gelée Bronzer, which he brushed on in vertical swipes, rather than horizontally for contour, to “catch the volume of the cheekbone.”
“There’s a gentle power to it,” Pecheux surmised. “The only thing you can see is a strong eyebrow,” which he embellished with Lauder’s Sumptuous Extreme Bold Volume Mascara in either black or brown. Lids remained bare, but lashes were treated to a signature Pecheux trick, in which he applies black mascara at the roots to top lashes only and reserves brown pigment for the bottom. “All black is too dense,” he pointed out, before moisturizing lips with Homeoplasmine and topping them with Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in Beige, a creamy nude.
Hairstylist Odile Gilbert received the same divine inspiration from the Olsens, which led her to a textural updo. “It’s a small head, a bit like an old statue of angels̶not Victoria’s Secret angels,” Gilbert clarified. Prepping strands with Kérastase Volumactiv Conditioning Mousse and its Mousse Substantive for guts and density, Gilbert sprayed on copious amounts of its Double Force Hairspray for a matte effect. Then, taking random sections, she twisted and braided the lengths, pinning them up onto themselves to create a concentrated mass of coils. “Everything is round—like the head and the earth,” she philosophized.
NYFW Backstage Beauty Alert: Lancôme Gets In On The Sister Act
One of the hottest tickets at NYFW this season is shaping up to be The Row, the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen-designed line that will make its catwalk debut on February 16. The prospect of seeing what the sisters can do live and in person—and maybe catch a glimpse of either or both of them (or Nate Lowman) backstage—is exciting enough for us to add the presentation to our color-coded Excel spreadsheet, but things just got a little more interesting. Style.com has learned that one Aaron De Mey—the Lancôme artistic director of makeup and the man that Riccardo Tisci trusts for both his ready-to-wear and couture shows—will be doing the backstage face painting. (Three words on Mr. De Mey’s handiwork at the Givenchy Fall 2009 Couture presentation: gilded face rhinestones.) His presence at The Row’s show should add a layer of wow to what we’re already expecting to be a pretty exciting 15 minutes.