Every day for two weeks, we send beauty writer and punishment sucker Lindsay MacAdam to one Toronto fashion show. She’ll go backstage to get step-by-step instructions from a makeup pro, then follow them herself, delivering each time a verdict: do, or don’t, try this look at home. Today, David Bowie rocks a fishtail braid at Jean-Pierre Braganza.
At the show: Jean-Pierre Braganza’s girls were futuristic femmes with graphic blush and bouffant fishtails, looking like they just stepped out of a spaceship, or a really intense cult-rock concert. While some inspiration came from everyone’s favourite androgyne, David Bowie, the beauty team succeeded in balancing a hard-edged look with girlish hair.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: nothing screams fembot like a messy, bob-like bouffant that leads into a fishtail braid. OK, I’ve never actually said that, but that doesn’t make it any less true. To create this ‘do, Justin German, Consulting Stylist for Pantene Pro-V, and his team of hair magicians back-combed freshly washed and blow-dried hair for maximum volume. Then, stylists tied a hair elastic around the ponytail, rather than wrapping it as you normally would, which required one person to hold the hair and another to tie the elastic. (I’m well aware of the possibilities for a “How many hair stylists does it take to…?” joke, but I’ll refrain.)
German claims the trendy fishtail is a snap to do. Suuuuure. Anyway, he says to take two small sections of hair from either side of the ponytail and criss-cross them, making sure you always have two pieces in your hands, until you reach the bottom. If that’s a poor explanation, try YouTube. Since this look is meant to be rough and messy, the only product used was Pantene’s Medium-Thick Hair Solutions Anti-Humidity Hairspray for some added hold and texture.
Next, makeup! And I mean makeup. The looks thus far have been lovely, but nothing has really yelled “runway.” This show was everything I want to write about, not wear.
Greg Wencel, CoverGirl’s Senior Makeup Pro, kept it cheeky: “We wanted to do something really modern and futuristic and still keep it feminine, so we created a really geometric, linear blush.” Using CG LipPerfection Lipstick in “Fairytale,” Wencel drew a thin, diagonal line from the centre of the cheek to the middle of the temple, then blended it downward with a sponge. He swept some CG TrueCheeks #2 blush underneath it and the white highlighter from CHG’s Smoky ShadowBlast in “Onyx Smoke” above it to add some dimension. For the shimmery, smoky eye, he applied the light end of the Smoky ShadowBlast in “Bronze” Fire across the entire eyelid, the inner corners of the eye and along the bottom lash line. He then defined the eye by blending CG LiquilineBlast in “Brown Blaze” along the outer corners of the top and bottom lashes. Lips were blanked out with Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Concealer; for the perfect neutral lip, a soft layer of LipPerfection Lipstick in “Sultry” was stippled atop. Wencel completed the look with one coat of black mascara and some CG Brow & Eyemakers Pencil to fill in sparse brows.
At home: I used Covergirl NatureLuxe Liquid Silk Foundation, Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer and Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer to get a flawless, dewy base. Covergirl’s Smoky ShadowBlast in “Bronze Fire” helped me create the shimmering smoky eye, and the brand’s NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara in “Very Black” gave definition to my lashes in one quick coat. I did the nude lip with the same mix of concealer and “Sultry” lipstick. For the bold cheek, I drew lines with LipPerfection in “Flame” (in lieu of “Fairytale”), blended with a sponge, and then brushed CG Cheekers in “Soft Sable” below the line. I also tapped on a little YSL Palette Metallic Colorama highlighter above the line to make cheekbones gleam. And voil!—a geometric yet feminine look that you can only wear on Halloween.
Verdict: Don’t, I repeat, DON’T even think about trying this at home. Sometimes, the coolest looks for the runway translate into the least acceptable for the real world, and this is one such case. If, however, you replace the linear lipstick on the cheeks with regular blush, lightly swooping up towards the temple, you’ve got yourself a wearable makeup look for evening.
